need harvest help

well, it's come that time, and my first grow is ready for harvesting.

unfortunately most of the buds aren't very big and most of them are underdeveloped. the buds on the ends of the branches are decent but the ones closer to the "trunk" or whatever of the plant are like not even half an inch or so.

i have a pic of some of the buds i took off today. most of the plant is still in tact, and i was wondering:

if i keep the plants on the 12/12 cycle that they've been on, will they keep maturing (after i have semi-harvested them already)?
should i just cut the little buds and cut my losses as well and just grow better next time?

i am afraid they'll just die after being cut up so much, but i really wanna try and get more bud off of them. it's depressing seeing a plant that still looks like it wants to grow just being thrown out.

i've got the ones in the pic hung up and drying now, gonna prepare for my second grow.

all in all this first grow has been exciting and most delightful.
i've learned a lot about growing (i feel like an expert now) but all i know for sure is that there is so much more to know. i am going to do a lot of things different next time, such as keeping better control of my plants height, using better ferts, and keeping stricter control of the lighting schedule.

thanks for your helps cannabis dot com

the image is of a large paper bag with the most mature buds from my plant layin on it. it's all hung up and drying right now

also i have another question: what is LST exactly, and what does it do? i know it has something to do with tying the plant down, but that's it. if there's any good websites or resources on this technique, please let me know. i would like to have a guide or something on exactly how to do it, and information about what it does. i'm currently searching the boards so i might find something

thanks

also what is topping?

i got an idea though, if i can't get anymore growth i'm gonna cut off my little buds and bake em into a few cupcakes. that'd be the shit, and i should have enough of those little suckers to give me and a friend a good stone

Well, I'd say, leave em on for a week or so more to see if they mature a little. That's just my newbie opinion, though.

The harvested buds look very nice. Good job, bro. Let us know the dry weight, if you weigh, and give a smoke report, please.

Did you have a log? Did you flush your plants? How many plants?

LST...do a search, you will find a lot of info. Basically, though, it is just pulling the plant in the direction/shape you want it to grow in. This involves pulling some of the branches down so they are horizontal, then the ends of tehm will curl up to the light. Check out the one in my thread JOURNAL OF A MADMAN. ;)(shameless plug)

Topping...cutting the top off of a plant so the plant grows 2 shoots instead of one. 'We' did a LOT of that too. It's the bomb. :D

:rastabong: smoke...

TGF

First of all mate i don't know if they will mature, but if your going to regenerate a plant for another harvest your meant to leaves some buds on but still smoke them before the next harvest.
Secondly LST is, like you said, tying the plant down. When doing this all hte sideshoots grow up towards the light creating mini colas (instead of one big one). If you want info just go to www.google.co.uk and type in 'Cannabis LST'. Some growers choose this due to hight problems, others simpley do it because it increased the yield, its also alot of fun :D.
And finally topping is where the top of the plant is removed just above the nodes (fan leaves). This is usually done 2/3 nodes down. This method also allows more colas, new growth occurrs where the top was removed and it can be 2 new shoots, sometimes more. You can top these again to make more colas. However this method isnt Low in stress unline LST (Low stress training, the plant will take a few days before new growth begins. Also not all cannabis strains like this method, some cope better than others do.
Hope this helps, the skiing arab

if your intrested in topping try looking up info on the fimming technique it can result in multipal tops from only one topping

good luck-smokes

hey thanks for all the info, i'm really learning a lot of the art. this is just some bagseed so i'm probably gonna up it to something a little more exciting next grow.