Harvest Time

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Originally Posted by bedrockbob

Well, you plant what you can get, really. You might go looking for Matanuska Thunderfuck and find they only have Mendocino Madness. If you are getting clones you need to ask about the nature of the mother more than the name of the strain.


In the southern part of the state you can grow heavily sativa strains outside and they will harvest right about Thanksgiving. You can get 'em big and they will yeild a lot of fine bud. Sativa grows good almost anywhere it just takes forever, and south of I-60 and below 5000 it will have time to bud.

Otherwise you want to stick to faster, cold resistant indica varieties above 5000 feet.

White Widow, White Rhino, and that family of indica dominant plants are potent, easy to grow, and suited for inside or out. My suggestion is to not grow some extreme variety...stick with an old standby that is easy to grow and get good results.

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That's pretty good advice.

yes VERY good advice! Is there a old fashion way to tell when your buds are done? This is my very first medical grow!

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Originally Posted by NEWMEXICO420

yes VERY good advice! Is there a old fashion way to tell when your buds are done? This is my very first medical grow!

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Here is a tried and true method I use to figure out when to harvest.

First I take a close look at my tops. Then I take an even closer look at my stash box. If I notice my buds are nice and fat, and my stash box looks like it is empty, then I know for sure it is time to harvest.

Hope this helps. :hippy:

LOL nice one! Well i planted a good seed but my buds are NOT nice and fat right now! Might it be because of the strain and indoors? They look like popcorn buds right now. Is there a way to tell if its mature or not mature? Before the 30x-100x scope came out how could you tell if they were done or not?

You can go by the pistils kinda, when almost all are dried red/brown and not much more are growing it's done from my experience. Not a perfect method but it works if you don't have a scope.

Just a 10X magnifying glass gets you in the ballpark. I have a 20X and 30X magnifyer I use rockhounding that work excellent. I got 'em at the surplus store for $5 each.

All plants are different. Some get heavy resin late, and others the thrichromes are amber when the hairs are still white. As a general rule of thumb I start looking at those buds when half the hairs have receded. I look on the top buds in the light, and down deep in the bud where not much light penetrates. Then I do the same with the lower buds.

On a lot of strains the top buds will harvest a week or ten days before the bottom ones. I try to harvest when 10% of the trichromes are yellowing and most are milky. I hear some people leaving them longer and some will tell you they are ready when the first trichrome yellows.

Any time after those trichromes get chubby and start to turn milky the bud is ready. After that it is a matter individual preference.

I have been doing some research and information gathering about this topic. Here is what I have found.

Harvesting time should be dictated by what effect you want. If you harvest early, you will get a more cerebral effect. If you harvest late, you will get more of a body high. What I mean by early and late is the time of harvest in the harvest window.

Apparently if you harvest early, that is when the the elevated resin heads appear clear, the plant is at its peak THC production. The high THC is what gives that head buzz.

If you wait till the resin heads become cloudy or amber, this allows time for higher levels of CBN acid to build up from the degradation of THC acid by light and heat. The CBN will give you that body buzz.

For our purposes, late harvest seems best. Doing this will give the effects of pain relief and restful sleep needed by the user of medical marijuana.

Here are some links for more in-depth study. :rastasmoke:

Amber Alert | Cannabis Culture Magazine
Peak Harvest | Cannabis Culture Magazine
Harvesting Marijuana! When To Harvest Marijuana

THANK YOU ALL very much for the good info it was helpfull!

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Originally Posted by pepurr

Apparently if you harvest early, that is when the the elevated resin heads appear clear, the plant is at its peak THC production.

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Careful not to confuse this with peak THC content :thumbsup: From what I've gathered, the peak THC content is at about 95/5 or 90/10 cloudy/amber.

I checked out one of those links, and it said the trichomes start out clear and amber??? I've never seen or heard of this before, and I'm kind of starting to doubt the validity of that information.

Not trying to knock ya pepurr, you're right about the early harvest = head high and late = couch lock and pain relief...

But in the end, we're dealing with plants and not machines, so each plant will have different tendencies and probably peaks in potency, maturity in trichomes, etc. The only real way to find out what's best for you, is to grow clones and harvest at different times, then see what you like best. If you choose a new strain, you'll have to do the same thing all over again. :twocents:

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Originally Posted by bigtopsfinn

Careful not to confuse this with peak THC content :thumbsup: From what I've gathered, the peak THC content is at about 95/5 or 90/10 cloudy/amber.

I checked out one of those links, and it said the trichomes start out clear and amber??? I've never seen or heard of this before, and I'm kind of starting to doubt the validity of that information.

Not trying to knock ya pepurr, you're right about the early harvest = head high and late = couch lock and pain relief...

But in the end, we're dealing with plants and not machines, so each plant will have different tendencies and probably peaks in potency, maturity in trichomes, etc. The only real way to find out what's best for you, is to grow clones and harvest at different times, then see what you like best. If you choose a new strain, you'll have to do the same thing all over again. :twocents:

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Good points bigtopsfinn. I missed the 'trichomes start out clear and amber' statement. I must have been reading to fast or slow or something :stoned:.

Before you said clones, it was in my mind. I do think that is the best route to go for consistent results. Getting to these holy grail of marijuana clones is a different matter. It will take a few generations, trial and error and a lot of experimentation. Experimentation being the most fun part.

It would help a lot if you know some one who is kind, and wouldn't mind sharing a clone or two of a strain that you know has the properties desired.