Harvest when 75% of pistils are brown... what if theyre ALL brown?

OK, so Ive done a rather stupid thing and paid more attention to bugs than my plant in general, and Ive just noticed that ALL the pistils - bar one or two - are brown. Sadly I dont have a microscope (well I do have one that a mate lent me, but its not powerful enough to see the trichs) and Ive just remembered that you harvest when 75% of pistils are brown. Well, thats rather vague as we all know, but I dont have the luxury of a 30x microscope. So, do I harvest now or wait a few more days? :confused:
Oh, another thing that may complicate matters. Yesterday and this morning Ive been using a 20:1 solution of water and washing up liquid as a cheap, effective pesticide. If I do have to harvest now, will this affect the smoke at all or not? Should I opt for the water curing method to get rid of the toxins, or is it fine to smoke considering its only been used for about 18 hours? Its been sprayed three times if that helps, once yesterday dusk, once at night and once more right now. Also its been flushed considering its had the majority of its life outdoors and has been fed by Gods own rain :)
Also, could the homemade pesticide have affected the pistils at all and made them start to die for some reason? I havent been keeping check of how old she is, lately Ive had a few too many things running through my head to check on a plant lol. I live in England, so does anyone from the UK know of someplace that sells 30x magnifying glasses? Even a 15x one would do, but 30 would be best.
Cheers peeps :)

Search for 'Pocket Microscope' on ebay dude, there are lots cheap.

You didn't say how long you've been flowering...?

Lol, I cant bloody remember how old she is. My minds been to the South Pole and back lately lol. Ill try and rack my brains a while...

Just worked it out, shes around 45 days old. Nowhere near harvest yet... so has anyone got any ideas why all the pistils are brown? She hasnt been pollinated either, and has spent all of her life from around day 15 outside.

I've seen the following turn pistils brown prematurely. :-
Over fertilizing.
Light Burn.
pH problems.
Misting with water or other mixtures.

Well it cant be over ferting, because this is being grown organically (well, she gets a little bit of 5-5-10 if it hasnt rained for a while... and I mean a little, its at half strength). Light burn - again, shes outside, so she has decent ventilation!
Im guessing its the misting. Im gonna tone it down a little now, just misting once every two days and see what happens. Oh, and shes nowhere near ready, I just bought a 14x loupe from the clockmaker across the road for a fiver (bargain really, cos I had my watch fixed at the same time) and the trichs are 75% clear.

Cheers for all the input and help peeps :)

The hairs turning brown is no way to tell. It's all different for different strains. You need a $8 pocket microscope from Radio Shack to look at trichomes.

here u go tom ... u'll have it in 2 days .. i got one works a treat .. i am also in the uk.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JEWELLERS-Magn...QQcmdZViewItem

Well the pistiles on my low were all amber after 3 weeks in flower. Payed no attention to them, just used the trichs, harvested early cos im impatient and still got a KILLER smoke off the plant.

I hear ya LIP, I harvested a plant a little early (well, I think, hard to tell without magnifying glass) and it was pretty decent, as you could tell from my Lowryder Smoke Report where I was rambling like an idiot.
Shallow Hal, cheers for the link, but Ive managed to get my hands on a 14x loupe from the guy across the road... bargain really, got my watch fixed aswell and paid a fiver for both. Ive had a look and the trichs are clear with literally a few turning cloudy, maybe 25%. I know that pistils arent an accurate way to tell when to harvest, but for the last couple of months its all Ive had to go on sadly.

Its an outdoor plant (Hal or LIP will probably know the answer best seeing as they live in the UK) so when do you think the trichs will be all cloudy? Im harvesting on the 15th no matter what so I have some bud for my birthday - 5 days drying will be more than enough, at least, it better be lol - but I just want to know how quickly they turn cloudy. I prefer more of a sativa high anyway, and when the Lows are harvested cloudy they make you slightly couchlocked and babble at the same time, which I love.
Ive got a small bud which I picked off earlier to look at drying right now anyway. Its literally a small bud, when its dry ittl be the size of a penny :o ah well, its something to smoke on Friday afternoon watching Countdown :D

Can you really see the trichs at 14x? I thought you needed at least 30x.

The UK is fucking amazing.....I can walk outside my house and open a bottle of beer and spark up a ridiculously sized reefer and go on a walk. No one says shit.
This is the way it should be everywhere. Nobody has the right to tell me what to do if I am not hurting anyone but myself.

Yep, you can see them quite clearly. A 30x would be much better, but at least I get the general idea of when to harvest now :)

Cheers for all the help peeps :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tom Swierzbinski

Im guessing its the misting. Im gonna tone it down a little now, just misting once every two days and see what happens.

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I'm not 100% sure but I don't think misting is good to do during flowering. If you must do it, do it before the sun comes up.
The best plant I've grown indoors was never misted. Even during veg.

pistals are ok from what i was told you need to worry about the tricomes some people associate the "red hairs" with killer bud but this is not always true

GG23

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tom Swierzbinski

OK, so Ive done a rather stupid thing and paid more attention to bugs than my plant in general, and Ive just noticed that ALL the pistils - bar one or two - are brown. Sadly I dont have a microscope (well I do have one that a mate lent me, but its not powerful enough to see the trichs) and Ive just remembered that you harvest when 75% of pistils are brown. Well, thats rather vague as we all know, but I dont have the luxury of a 30x microscope. So, do I harvest now or wait a few more days? :confused:
Oh, another thing that may complicate matters. Yesterday and this morning Ive been using a 20:1 solution of water and washing up liquid as a cheap, effective pesticide. If I do have to harvest now, will this affect the smoke at all or not? Should I opt for the water curing method to get rid of the toxins, or is it fine to smoke considering its only been used for about 18 hours? Its been sprayed three times if that helps, once yesterday dusk, once at night and once more right now. Also its been flushed considering its had the majority of its life outdoors and has been fed by Gods own rain :)
Also, could the homemade pesticide have affected the pistils at all and made them start to die for some reason? I havent been keeping check of how old she is, lately Ive had a few too many things running through my head to check on a plant lol. I live in England, so does anyone from the UK know of someplace that sells 30x magnifying glasses? Even a 15x one would do, but 30 would be best.
Cheers peeps :)

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When dealing with the cannabis plant , harvest time, and when to harvest, is very important. If you allow your plant to "over-rippen"(wait too long to harvest it) it will start to diminish the THC potency. The THC will literally start to degrade.

dai*ma:stoned: sfca94110

i'm not sure about outdoor tom . a way a friend of mine uses and he showed to me was to look at the tric'S and to see if they where starting to bend over . when the plants come to the end of its cycle the tric's will do this . i have never used a 30x to judge any of my plants in the past ( only ever used the hairs and the bent tric's and i have always had good results) . what i would say is if ur plant is showing 25% cloudly and the rest clear u have at least 14 days maybe even 20 days left to go depending on the strain . one thing i am interested in is u have then outdoors how do u controll the light??

No need to control light - theyre Lowryders :)

Smoked that little bud that I pulled the other day. Tasted real nice, a little planty but nothing like Ive ever tasted. Its gorgeous, and there was about 0.4g there (guesstimating here). Didnt expect it to do anything, but I was suitably stoned for a good few hours. Was planning to see The Da Vinci Code with my dad after I smoked, but just as we got to the cinema the power went out. Over the whole of Kettering, Corby and Irchester the power was out for a couple of hours due to an absolutely wicked thunderstorm. Oh well, I got to see a thunderstorm stoned and run in the rain, which I love doing from time to time :)

Edit: Hal, seeing as its a Lowryder and they finish early, I should have some nice potent-ish bud for my birthday *hooray for me* :dance: Actually, for anyone who only smokes a couple of times a month like me, Lowryder blows yer socks off. I like it.