Harvest Time

[Twist1]

Hey guys

I'm not exactly a brand new grower, but I'm no expert either... just always looking to improve my skills.

I have read so much about people's techniques and preferences for deciding when to harvest, but I wanted to clarify it a little further...

When people talk about percentages of trichomes of a certain colour, how do they reach these percentage figures? The reason that I am curious about this is because my plants rarely seem very uniform in terms of ripeness... for example there will be some buds and calyxes that ripen well before some others. These more ripe buds and calyxes may show a high percentage of amber trichomes, while other newer ones may still be exclusively still clear/cloudy. I believe that some of the more ripe buds/calyxes may have been damaged/bruised etc, and some have clearly become seeded (Had a herm) which has contributed to their earlier ripening.

I imagine that most other folks try and average out these differences to try and reach a general feel of how ripe the plant is, and no doubt experience is the greatest tool in this regard. It just seems hard to generalise about the ripeness of the plant as a whole. I have previously experimented a little with harvesting a plant in stages, as those stages appear to ripen, but it seems like most people just chop the whole plant down at the same time.

I am keen to hear people's feedback on this.

Cheers and stay green

 

[Iffy]

Harvest Time.

Harvest Time.

Hi Twist1,
Yeah I'm kinda with you on the approach. Obviously we monitor them more often & more closely as they get closer to harvesting and yes there are always buds that are more mature than others. I have 'selectively' harvested before, just to see how much more I could get but it was a pain in the arse. I also depends on where you are with your clones/seedlings for the next grow. If they're ready to go in, you don't have the time to fuck about. But if you do have a little time in this regard, I have found that you do get more in total, by just taking those top buds that are clearly ready. Obviously leaving the rest to mature over the next 7-10 days. This way your bud is more consistently 'mature' and a bit stronger across the whole 'bag'. I suppose if you're organised and plan for it, it might not be the onerous task that I found it. Mind you I do have a serious spine problem, so bending over 'processing' anything is a nightmare, so anything I can do to ease this is a help. So if my back's really bad, I have to do things in stages anyway! Lol.
Mine are currently about 3 weeks from harvest & piling on the weight. However, temps are a real issue here in the UK at the moment.
Stay safe & happy growing

 

[Twist1]

Hey thanks Iffy - I appreciate the input.

I did once harvest one of my plants in stages, as you describe, and I did like how it turned out too... seemed like optimum ripeness all round. I think this is probably the best thing to do, but I agree with you - I find it a bit of a pita too - would much rather just do it all in one go. I guess that's the crux of it really - to really get the optimum results there are no shortcuts.

Anyway good luck in these last weeks with your girls - I've actually got a couple coming down in 3 weeks too

Peace