Need Help understanding the ripening process of Indica vs Sativa...

[plumsmooth]

In Particular I am growing a Purple Punch 80/20 Indica Sativa respectively. I have basically only grown C99, which is a mostly Sativa Hybrid.

When c99 ripens the pistils brown/redden and I usually wait right until about 90% of red pistils, but I can really also tell when it stops drinking so much. The odd thing about Purple Punch is that the Pistils look almost all Red and yet the plant is still consuming lots of water and is also only at about 5-1/2 weeks I think I forgot actually. I could have sworn that I started flowering this plant around the 1st of June but it could have been earlier.

Anyway, maybe Indica's keep flowering from the inside or something -- you know as if the plant is still flowering underneath the visible layer or something weird. I just don't understand how a plant whose buds look as ripe as this could still be actively growing? I guess I should post a picture... I also just ordered a usb microscope to analyze the trichome colors.

 

[plumsmooth]

One more picture I could not find the edit button to add it to the original post...

 

[troutman]

One more picture I could not find the edit button to add it to the original post...

You'll be able to edit posts and send PM's after you make about 50 posts.

 

[Gauss]

.

 

[RockinRobot]

Regardless of strain, the trichomes don't lie. Never go by the pistils. Invest in a jewlers loop or a USB microscope and look at the actual trichomes. I usually harvest at 10-15% amber trichs.

 

[Dropped Cat]

In my grows of narrow leaf types I look for marked decrease in uptake
coupled with slightly diminished new flowers, as they keep flowering new buds anyway.

Likely evident after 110 days.

Most true narrow leaf types don't show amber anyway like wide leaf types do.

 

[doams]

was surprised about difference in high between harvesting early clear trichs and late cloudy trichs preffer early clear trichs for energetic not narcotic effect.


the difference is very real and unexpected

 

[Ganja 13]

I've been harvesting when the amber has been forming at same rate as per new (clear) glands still left that are decreasing in percentage. Aiming for equal amber and clear percentage. This should give you the highest percentage of cloudy which should theoretically give you the peak or highest THC level.

Seems to promote high THC for me.

Just my theory....

 

[ikinokori]

that is a great question and i am in the same situation. With indica it is simple, you look at the trichome, if there are amber, thc is starting to degrade. Sativa, or rather "narrow leaf type" (much better i think) sometimes never really amber and i have been told you need to watch when it stops formation of new pistils and is in peak of terpene production. be careful to not wait forever for amber to appear, a lot of times no amber appear ever and you just wait too much so you end up with worse flowers. It happened to me, i have waited wayy too much once, no amber appeared ever and the plant litteraly just gave up in the end and started dying, and you don't want that but rather harvesting at peak with tem. It is apparently common in very long flowering sativa and i have heard some can stay so long in that "non degrading" state they end up revegging when spring comes back and live another year in some places like nepal and thailand

 

[plumsmooth]

The Thing that Gets Me...

The Thing that Gets Me...

The thing that gets me is this Indica Hybrid really looks as though it is barely making new pistils/calyxes...

Yet the plant is still drinking substantial enough in RDWC...

I don't know if it is like this with all predominately Indicas, but it really looks as though at a certain point it is putting on mass from the inside out if that makes any sense. I mean this plant has looked to my eye to be at least at 80% red pistils for two weeks and now I think I must be getting to 6 weeks on this sometimes 7 week strain.

I forgot to notate when I flipped. So now I am flipping... I finally gave in and have my usb microscope and even clipped a tini bud for study and to try it. Now I have my first ever trichome porn... enjoy:

 

[Dropped Cat]

The thing that gets me is this Indica Hybrid really looks as though it is barely making new pistils/calyxes...

Yet the plant is still drinking substantial enough in RDWC...

I don't know if it is like this with all predominately Indicas, but it really looks as though at a certain point it is putting on mass from the inside out if that makes any sense. I mean this plant has looked to my eye to be at least at 80% red pistils for two weeks and now I think I must be getting to 6 weeks on this sometimes 7 week strain.

I forgot to notate when I flipped. So now I am flipping... I finally gave in and have my usb microscope and even clipped a tini bud for study and to try it. Now I have my first ever trichome porn... enjoy:

Looks mostly clear, so go another 5-7 days, sometimes
variation in the grow will prolong harvest window.

Great close up pics, what 'scope you using anyway.

 

[plumsmooth]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XNYXQHE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is this 40 dollar one. It seems if the material is close enough you can get 2 different magnifications: one around 50 and the other around 250 I am guessing.

Here is the latest. I had to harvest a little. And I still feel like I might be 4-5 days from optimal maturity not counting Amber potential, which seems like a debatable topic -- some claiming that amber is not a "true" couch lock but a degraded CBN one?

Curious for any opinions... This was a bud about 6-8 inches below the top I harvested; picture might be expressing a sugar leaf (I think that is what people call them).

One more thing I am having hard time feeling confident that the difference between clear and milky is not being distorted by the microscope lighting and its glare and reflection. Seems a matte black background might be ideal. But even then when the light is shining through I wonder if it could be making milky trichomes appear more clear than they actually are?

I hope I am close enough that I am not losing much by this selective cut. I cut the most purple leaf tops. I have never seen a plant whose buds have minimal white pistils showing but still drinking as much water as this. To the untrained eye this plant looked done 10 days ago... To my untrained eye it still looks done, but very minimal amber to find. I did find some on a tiny leaf snip yesterday. But to me it was inconclusive...

 

[St. Phatty]

Regardless of strain, the trichomes don't lie. Never go by the pistils. Invest in a jewlers loop or a USB microscope and look at the actual trichomes. I usually harvest at 10-15% amber trichs.

Different strokes.

I've spent 30 years going by the pistils - as a growth indicator.

When buds are putting on weight, pistils are white & growth is obvious.

When the bud has its fall colors - red pistils - it's usually close to harvest time.

I tend to let plants go 1 to 3 weeks beyond the official time to harvest.

When the buds look like they are "done", then they get harvested.

Though sometimes, upper buds look done & lower buds are still going.

Then it's a question of how many plants you want to track during the drying process.

 

[plumsmooth]

When buds are putting on weight, pistils are white & growth is obvious.

Well this seems not the case with Purple Punch.
There have been very little White Pistils visible for over 2 weeks and the plant is clearly still ripening and putting on weight.

 

[AgentPothead]

For determining harvest, the pistils are a red herring. It's all about the trichomes, clear, vs milky, vs amber. The problem is everybody is chasing a different high, so the best time to cut for me won't be the best time for him/her, won't be the best time for you. I would cut some before you think it's ready, cut most of it when you think it's ready, and save a tiny bit to cut a week or two after you think it's ready. They will all smoke different and you can figure out which you like best, cause only you know the high you are going for.

 

[sdd420]

For determining harvest, the pistils are a red herring. It's all about the trichomes, clear, vs milky, vs amber. The problem is everybody is chasing a different high, so the best time to cut for me won't be the best time for him/her, won't be the best time for you. I would cut some before you think it's ready, cut most of it when you think it's ready, and save a tiny bit to cut a week or two after you think it's ready. They will all smoke different and you can figure out which you like best, cause only you know the high you are going for.

Absolutely go by trichomes every environment is different

 

[exploziv]

Always go by trichomes, and also keep in mind that they will amber a bit more during the initial drying/curing, so the 10-15% amber might be too much for some smokers. With some genetics this will yeld cou hlock weed. I usually harvest them at around 5-10% amber, and with as much cloudy ones as possible. By the time it dries it's perfect (for my taste).

 

[grayeyes]

And now another country heard from. The Hash man, Frenchie Cannoli recently said in an interview that tricome heads are not at maximum potency until the tricome is amber.

I don't know but he knows more about that stuff then I ever will.

 

[Dropped Cat]

The Hash man, Frenchie Cannoli recently said in an interview that tricome heads are not at maximum potency until the tricome is amber.

Perhaps in some wide leaf types, but my narrow leaf types,
and most of my hybrids, never show amber, so I make my determination
based on other criteria, and with those criteria applied to the wide leaf type,
chopped with some amber, 2/10, never disappointed.

Any wide leaf type chopped with more than 6/10 amber
is not for me, as after drying and the sweat, makes for a
dull, muddy session.

 

[exploziv]

Sativas (100% ones) also change their smell to more frutty/sweet when ripe. Also the smells get a bit more intense. I might be more receptive to smells than most dudes but still it might be something that helps someone.