Trichome color changes?

I'm on my first grow. Last spring I put some seeds in some dirt just to see what happened. Low and behold, plants sprouted, so I started reading up on how to keep them alive. I've read and learned more than I ever thought possible. I ended up with, after removing the males, two female plants about 5-6 feet tall. I'm thinking they're sativas just by their size. They're both outside.

My question is, how long do the trichomes take to change color? Most of mine are cloudy with one or two turning amber. I've harvested some of the bigger flowers, trying to keep some as a cerebral high, but I think I harvested too early, as the flowers are light and fluffy. I only took the buds off the top of the plant so the bottom could get more sun and grow, grow, grow. What I've tested is phenomenal greenery, but I want denser flowers.

I'd like to let the others stay on longer to grow and increase yield, but I don't want to pass the window.

I'm checking every day for trichome color, thinking I'd chop as soon as I saw about 20-30% amber, but I guess what I'm asking is, Is the window like a day or two, or a week or two?

The time frame for turning from; say, 1% to 20-30% amber on (my) indoor plants was about 3 weeks. Not sure about outdoors. Sorry, it MAY be about the same time. Never grew outdoors.

Checking everday, or two; is the only solution....enjoy...:thumbsup:

I should probably add I THINK they're about 5 weeks into flowering. I say THINK because I'm a newbie, and from the time I started seeing multiple hairs sprouting from the joints to now has been five weeks. I was able to distinguish sex and remove the boys about three weeks before that. The boys sprouted early and were destroyed. The females just kind of hung out doing nothing but showing their first pistils for about two weeks.

Having an out-of-town trip scheduled the same weekend as a landlord visit threw me into protective mode and the girls spent a weekend in a shower stall, out of view from prying eyes. When I returned two days later I put them back outside and they immediately started visibly flowering. I may have sped their flowering up a while but putting them in a darkened room for two days, but ya do what ya gotta do.

From that weekend to now has been five weeks. I've read that sativas can take up to twelve weeks. Is that true? This is an unknown strain that I just got lucky with so I don't know what I'm dealing with. The hairs are only about 40% brown on the bigger flowers, but I am seeing the beginnings of amber trichomes. The inner flowers at the bottoms of the branches still look brand new with only a few white hairs.

At this point I'm not convinced these "amber" trichomes aren't glands I haven't destroyed trying to see detail with my trusty little radioshackscope.

I'm just glad I've gotten this far (knock on wood), but I sure would like to get the best out of these babies.

Five weeks is early for about every strain. Forget the pistil hairs. When you see trichomes...snip a small piece of bud leaf and put it on a white plate and scope it out...:thumbsup:

example: 40-50% amber trichs...:thumbsup:

Looking at that pic you have on the left, Dutch Pimp, I realize my plants have a ways to go.