For those of you taking bets as to whether we were done here...

I realized a few very important things this week. First of all... since the point of harvest is so subjective and so dependent on personal need and preference, we see very little recommending the new gardener on when to recognize the proper point of harvest. For each person this magical point could be different, so in keeping with the idea behind this thread I realized that I needed to cure at several points in this ripening and sample them all for taste, preference and effect.

With this in mind, today at day 62 I harvested another branch for 20.7gm. I don't believe that I have seen the most potent buds yet, but we are close. Let me show you what I am looking at.

The best advice given as to how to tell when it is time to harvest seems to be, "watch the trichomes" and that does indeed appear to be the trick. The first problem is just how to see those elusive trichomes. I went out and got one of those pocket microscopes at Radio Shack. $13 wasted! In the grow room, standing over a SCRog screen that thing is almost useless for me and only gives fleeting glimpses of trichomes, for my 52 year old father and his less than perfect eyesight, forget it. I did learn that with the macro setting on my camera along with the ability to zoom in digitally on the computer, some pretty good views of the trichomes can be had. Not only that, but by being able to compare pictures every few days, it is easy to see where the "amber line" is.

[align=center]click on these pictures to zoom in on the trichomes


near the middle of the budAttachment 274678 Attachment 274679at the top

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So I have been taking a lot of pictures of the buds every few days and have found that the buds at the bottom of the plant are definitely getting a lot of amber, but still not at the tip tops of each bud. The big buds at the canopy level are showing amber at the screen level to about halfway up, whereas the tops of the buds are now mostly cloudy with a speck of amber here and there. It should be just a matter of a few more days until I see 10-20% amber at the top... and then I am harvesting, but not until then. Rusty was right, Patience above all else.

Hope your spring is going well so far,

Emmie
emilya Reviewed by emilya on . Emmies Grow Log - White Widow Grow Log (pics coming when I get the ability to post them) 12/06 - Started germination 12/09 - 10 5/5 seeds germinated and transplanted to 6? pots. Light set to 24/0. Light is bare minimum at this point, 4? shop light with standard grow bulbs from hardware store. Ordered $500 of new lights online. 12/13 ?? got programmable thermostat and light timer today, now set to 77° day, 70° night. Also set light timer for 18/6 and added a fan to the closet to evenly distribute heat Rating: 5