My beautiful budding indica

I am growing some LSD strain and it is beautiful. The pistils on the inner buds of the plant are starting to turn amber, most of them are still white but they are starting to get amber hairs. And the hairs on the outer rim of buds on the plant aren't amber at all.

So a few things,

1. Do i wait till 80% of ALL hairs on the plant are amber or just most of the buds?
2. What do i need for harvesting?
3. How long do i dry the buds when they hang upside down?
4. After the drying duration, do i just put the buds in air tight jars for curing?


Also, i need a drying setup. I have a closet with big open shelves so i can probably do my drying in there but i need a way to get a drying line up without damaging the walls in the closet.


Here are the pics of the plant right now.


http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...9/IMG_0378.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...9/IMG_0377.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...9/IMG_0376.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...9/IMG_0375.jpg
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...9/IMG_0374.jpg

http://boards.cannabis.com/grow-faqs/60954-drying-curing-your-buds.html

I have a magnifying glass and i can se the trichomes. But will i be able to determine if they are amber or not with a typical decent magnifying glass used for fine print i picked up from the pharmacy?

30x-60x power scope or loupe is best. Kinda depends on your eyesight.

I have a 10x jeweler's eye piece. It works fine. 20x would certainly work better to be sure.

Also should i wait for all the big popcorn buds on the outter rim to have the desired trichome color i want before i harvest or am i just basing it on the trichomes in the bulky mid section.

Also another question, relating to my question above, if i wait for the outter rim buds to have the desired 80% amber trichome, will the trichomes in the middle of the plant have already all turned completely amber?

Aim for an overall / average amber trichs for the whole plant. The main colas will continue to ripen if you wait for the smaller buds to finish and you will end up in a different place.

Alright and how do i get a drying setup accomplished without really using the walls for the big closet shelf i'd be using. These shelves are big, i keep all my bongs and other smoking crap on 1 shelf.

Should i use a cardboard box and perhaps cut off one of the sides so i can check on them without removing the boxfrom the closet so i dont risk having the buds fall off the line?

I just string a line over my grow area, then I tie together two or more buds using string and hand them over the line. Not sure what your space is like so it's hard to give advice.

Hey there Jeremy! Your plants are looking really great by the way - Barney's LSD seems to be famous for those crazy white bunches of hairs most of the way through flowering!

1. First off, a common mistake is watching the plants' bud 'hairs' for amber colors to determine harvest time. What you want to look for is the color of the 'trichomes' on your buds, not the hairs. Do you see the 'frosty' coating on the leaves and buds? Those are the trichs which when viewed under a simple 60x scope (or a macro-lens camera), look like small stalks with a roundish head on the end. The heads on the end of these trichs are what you want to watch for the color changes. Clear trichs will appear first one they're starting to develop - then they will slowely change to whitish (cloudy) - and eventually a rusty (or amber) color. Most growers will wait for about 10-25% amber trichs before harvest. Clear trichs tend to produce a 'clear-headed, up-beat' effect from it's THC, while amber trichs tend to have more of the 'knock-out stone' effect... and cloudy is the transitioning color that's is medium between those two extremes. So by the look of your pics, it's hard to tell what stage they're in, but try not to go by the hairs, as this will not be accurate. At a glance, I'd say you have at least 2-3 more weeks to harvest, but try to get a close look at the frosty 'trichomes' to get a better idea...

2. That's a big question, and is different for everyone. Basically, ensure you have at least a good half-day dedicated to trimming. Get some good needle-nose clippers (Fiskars is the best) and cover your table-top or clipping surface with plastic to keep from getting everything sticky with resin. Use some nice white paper-plates to catch the close trimmed leaves that have 'frost' on them, so you can collect it all to make hash or butter later on. Setup a clothes-line type string nearby your trim area, and hang the trimmed stalks upside-down by the bottom branch-pits as you trim them. Then move the entire string of stalks to a closet or dry-dark area somewhere to dry for 5-7 days - avoid having a fan blow directly on them, but air circulation in the area is important... I'm sure I missed many things in between, so feel free to ask more questions!!

3. Answered somewhat above... remember that the hanging buds will smell quite a lot when drying (usually a smell of fresh 'hay' or cut grass clippings), so if you have a carbon filter from your grow, use that, or better yet, convert your grow area into a drying area!

4. Once the buds are dry (will feel slightly 'spongy' still, but also a bit 'crispy'), cut all of the buds from the stalks (now is a good time to weigh them all to get your 'dry weight') into bowls and them into your air-tight containers. You may notice them 'fogging up' a lot at first - be sure to open the containers every few hours at first (for the first day or two), until the cloudiness get lese and less.. what you're doing is actually 'drawing out' the moisture slowly from the inside of the buds, to get an even dryness... A good cure can last as long as 2-3 months or more - don't expect awesome tasting bud only weeks into the cure..

(gasp...) sorry for ranting - I hope that helps! I may write a book someday on these processes. =)

Yea i'll probably go with a cardboard box because i have nothing else to attach the string to.

Also i probably need to harvest sooner than 3 weeks cuz i will be leaving for vacation in late December and i'll be gone for about 2 weeks, so i was wondering if i could possibly cure the buds up until i leave, leave them out in a bag and continue curing them when i get back from vacation?