when to harvest. first grow please help.

hello all. this is my first grown and my first post on this forum (though i have used it for many useful tips over the months).

i have a little grow closet that i have been growing a few plants in for a while now. it has been \ cfl light sources throughout the whole grow. only one plant made it through to the flowering stage.
the plant has been growing from seed for 15 and 1/2 weeks now (almost 4 months in a week or so). i lost my time sheet were i wrote down when i switch to 12/12 light cycle but i can tell you that on the 21 of January 08 i saw the unmistakable beginning of flows forming at the top of the main stock and the rest of the plant as well. so its been four weeks of flowering as far as visible flowers go but much longer as far as the 12/12 light cycle goes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...0219082003.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...0219082002.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...219082001a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...0219082001.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...0219082000.jpg

when can i harvest this thing?
i tried looking at the trichromes with a 60-100x pocket microscope and i couldn't really see anything (not the greatest eye sight). any help or estimated time lines would be great.

the only true way to tell is through a pocket microscope, if you cant see the hair with the ball at the end(trichome) look for redish looking stuff in the trichome head you see redish stuff its time to come down, and if that doesnt work go the more old fashion way and look at the pistoles and when they are mostly red go for it, regardless she looks good.

hope it helps any

thanks for the input i will see if i can see anything next time i look through the pocket microscope, maybe ill have better luck this time around.

if anyone could tell me how long they wait to harvest from when they first see the flowers form?

ok i did check them again and got a bbetter view of the tricromes.
they are clear for now (not milky or amber). it has been a month sense seeing flowers so i cant imagine it being much longer.

hey roust.. Im planning of doing my first indoor grow really soon. Its going to be small like yours so I was wondering if you can tell me your light setup.

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Originally Posted by kaj621

hey roust.. Im planning of doing my first indoor grow really soon. Its going to be small like yours so I was wondering if you can tell me your light setup.

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yea sure man. i got 6 light fixtures that i got at walmart and variety of bulds that i got at walmart as well. mixture of 100 and 150 watt output bulbs. just watch what range of light ur getting ie. soft white cool white, apparently one of these easily available ranges dont work to well with growing (dont recall which though).


ok guys well my stuff is drying and all but im afraid its too dry now. i dont know if this is possible or not but its only been a week maybe even less and the nugs feel like dry tender. they dont feel like anything i have smoked before much much crispier and dryer.

they aren't in any crazy hot environment, just hanging in my room. so why do they feel soo crispy or am i just being paranoid....on a happier note they have become almost totally orange during drying.

did i just fuck up my whole harvest?

hey - i dont wanna get you all panicked but... you harvested your plants after only 1 month of flowering?
hrm.. well, im not an expert but doesnt it take at least 7-8 weeks of flowering on 12/12 to be fully mature?
i dunno.. you said it yourself the trichomes were clear... why didnt you wait another few weeks?

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Originally Posted by bluntwiz

hey - i dont wanna get you all panicked but... you harvested your plants after only 1 month of flowering?
hrm.. well, im not an expert but doesnt it take at least 7-8 weeks of flowering on 12/12 to be fully mature?
i dunno.. you said it yourself the trichomes were clear... why didnt you wait another few weeks?

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no biggie man any criticism is welcome of course. u are correct that i did say they were clear. but i check a few days after or something like that and they were turning milky and there were alot of orange hairs hanging around. u are absolutly right about wanting them to be milky. i did hit half a bowl and it knocked me on my ass so i think i didnt mess up too bad.

as for only a month for flower....it was longer than one month for the 12/12 light cycle but i didnt record the date of changing light cycle so what i ment by that was it had been one month from me seeing the first flowers starting of form. might have been about 2 months form time of 12/12 to harvest. what ever the time frame was the weed is good.


any more observations please feel free to share... thanks