Some people say the amber trich issue is a myth? What am I to believe?

[Ryu]

Yup, I got a couple thai haze x skunk the same and a free sativa freak of something that needs 18+ to fatten up and ripen. Smoked any gone past 17 yet FreezerBoy?

I don't see the problem in letting one plant go extra long so you can get a greater understanding of it's life cycle. That is unless you were just commercial or barely had enough room to grow enough to smoke.

Not knowing exactly how long you like your strains to go is not cost effective in my book.

 

[HYDROJUNKIE]

remember guys that whatever percentage of amber trichs you see will increase during the drying/curing phase and will generally take you way past what the percentage you intended...

they dont stop ripening the second you chop...

I wait till I see 75% cloudy/25% clear and know that when its dry/cured all that were clear should have ripend up with a tiny percentage going amber.

theres also alot of variables like co2,climate,light height,nutrition...ive never chopped at the same time for the same strain,...whats done at 60 days for one guy could take 49 days for another...
just food for thought.



all clear/too early imo



mostly cloudy/couple still clear and a few amber-perfect time imo



way past peak potency/really couchlock smoke

 

[Ryu]

thems some damn fine tric shots Hydro, your own?

 

[HYDROJUNKIE]

No Ryu,..those are some macro shots I borrowed from monkey from the macro photography 101 thread to use as an example...
but yeah, I thought those were pretty cool photo's also.

 

[Ryu]

Cheers HydroJunkie, hurricane kicking my way over there now

 

[fideralala]

had some strains which did not turn milky for quite a long time. even at harvest there was as ~60/40 ratio of clear/milky. the turn is perfectly fine and potent.

so i guess its mainly strain related thing.
ive grown mandala seeds

 

[Igignokt]

My plants were thrown into 12/12 in late January...I don't see any amber and cant tell cloudy from clear, but it's probably time to chop em yea?

 

[Pops]

After reading this whole thread, I see that there is some false info early on. Both THC and CBD are processed from CBG. It depends on whether the plant has a Bt allele(THC) or Bd allele(CBD). Most Dutch genetics have all the CBD bred out in favor of THC. CBN(canabinol) is a degraded product of THC. It is still somewhat psychoactive and causes the couchlocK many people desire. CBC is a degraded product of CBD. Neither CBC or CBd are psychoactive. When trics are completely cloudy,THC production is at its peak. Most drug strains have from less than .1% CBD to a max of about 1.4% CBD.Fresh herb has very little CBN. As a plants trics turns amber, the THC is starting to degrade into CBN. During the curing process, exposure to light or air will degrade THC to CBN, not CBD. Unworked Hash strains will be far more likely to contain nearly equal levels of THC/CBD. Don't always count on this, as the enzyme that tells the plant to produce THC or CBD can have several variants, which accounts for some plants within a strain being more or less potent than some of its sisters. While both sativas and indicas contain THC, you will experience different kinds of highs, due to different combinations of cannabinoids and terpenes which affect the way the THC is utilized in your body. There are now 72 cannabinoids (6 more were just discovered) and around 200 terpenes in cannabis. Most dutch worked strains contain primarily THC. Hemp strains have CBD as the primary cannabinoid. Hash strains have a greater diversity and mix of cannabinoids. Sativas will turn amber, but it often takes longer. Hope this clears some things up. I am not an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once.

 

[trouble]

Hope this clears some things up. I am not an expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once.

Pop's, you funny bastard!

You must spread some reputation around before giving it to Pop's again!



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[Ziggaro]

I watch for about 20% amber trichs. I have only tried it on BBxNL5 (peakseeds) White Whidow, and AK48 (nirvana) but I have no reason not to believe that amber trichs are worth the wait.
The only plant I had that didn't reach amber was my first plant which I had to do an emergency transplant and did major damage to the root ball in the process (and it probably would have if I were willing to wait for my plant to come out of shock)

BTW- I know how much you all love the Radioshack microscope, but I own one and find it difficult to use without cutting pieces off, or bruising trichomes trying to perch above my plant.

I use their 3 lens magnifier instead ($8.99) using all 3 lenses and I get an awesome view with plenty of detail to let me know if my babies are ready, yet not so much that its hard to focus
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102638&cp=

 

[NickMode]

 

[bounty29]

I harvest at the first sign of amber. Trichs will continue to change for a bit after harvest, and if you wait til 50/50, you're going to end up with mostly amber trichs. Way too much for me.

 

[inefectualize]

this it at 83 days....still looks pretty clear, and this is an indica dominant strain

 

[charlesweedmore]

hey guys first of all i am a first time grower.i looked my plants with RS microscope today and i saw amber trichs on my seedsman white widow .
IMO amber trichs are NOT a myth.

 

[SickBoyZap]

I think there are too many variables to give any kind of a definative answer on when you should pull. There are tendencies, as pointed out before: 'earlier' is more of an upbeat and active sort of high , 'later', more couch locky, but all strains are unique.

Even within a strain, each phenotype (seed) is as individual from others of the same strain, as you are from a brother or sister. Combine that with the fact that everyone wants different things from the same plant (type of high) and you can see the difficulty inherant in telling someone what to do on a Blog.

When someone tells me that I should pull my Bananna OG when the Trichromes first get cloudy but not too amber, I just smile and thank them for their help.

People claim that red hairs have nothing to do with trichromes. True. But they have to do with how far along the overall plant has gone in flowering, and can actually be very reliable as an indicator IF YOU KNOW YOUR PHENOTYPE.

If you run a certain Phenotype for awhile you can become very familiar with what 'IT' needs and when 'IT' is ready. They are all INDIVIDUALS.

KNOW your Pheno, NO mistakes.

 

[Carl Carlson]

why is amber considered degraded?

I would like to point that our ability to know when THC is degrading to CBN by looking tricomes color is due CBN reflect orange, while THC is translucent. So a clear tricome still hasnt reached the max THC content, a translucent (milky) is loaded with much THC, but a amber one is degrading THC to CBN (more as deeper orange-brown).

[..]

This depends on the high you want off your weed as to when to harvest.

The cloudy/milky is when the thc is at it's peak, it's not on or off, it's working it's way to full potency, and that's when it's cloudy/milky.

The potency doesn't go by the couchlock affect you get off the weed, that's caused when the thc is starting to degrade, which is when the heads turn amber.

For the highest potency of the weed with the cloudy heads, it gives you more up the upity high, and want to go out and do things type of a high, and not the pain relief the couchlock high people get off the amber heads. Which comes from the weed is technically on the degrading side of things.

This makes a big difference to the high you get off your weed.

And then take the sativa/indica amount of the strain into the account, and the more sativa, also the more upity of a high you should get off your weed.

The highs from when the weed is gaining it's potency is more upity, and when the marijuna is degrading, it's giving off the couchlock high.

 

[bigbadwasg]

its ready when u grab the shears and say its ready. chop chop chop

 

[gators7]

knowing when to pull is just part of becoming a seasoned vet. why use one method when you can take all the input and make an educated decision. I use hairs,trichomes, and growth. some plants i feel never get amber anyway.I always check the trichs and see when theyre all cloudy. If ambers are poppin up then I pull. If not why not just give it alittle more time. I just wait for it to stop swelling and when the frost stops pilin on its time to pull!

 

[reckon]

starks published this YEARS ago,....the gland heads will turn amber with exposure to LIGHT, and this is a degradation process.

ALL gland heads will turn amber eventually, but this will be COMPLETELY dependent on the strain, available nutrients, and the amount of light hitting the surface of the flowers.

really all you are doing by waiting for the heads to turn is an INDICATOR of the plants development,...I have had cloudy headed buds that knocked you on your ass, and I have had amber ones that felt like I drank 3 cups of espresso

each strain, and pheno within that strain will act slightly different, and couple that with all the environmental factors and what do you get?

gland head color is an unreliable indicator of the plants development into flowering, or as a date of harvest indicator.

only experience, and test harvests (followed by test smoking) will tell you when EACH variety of plant is ready for YOU,....and really you need to fully cure the buds before you can make ANY kind of objective decision. (so the evaluation isn't going to help you on THIS crop, only the next)

so I harvest using the color of the heads as only ONE indicator

mostly I go by the previous harvest, using the number of days from light flip to harvest, and the smoke tests,....then you go "that was really good, but I'll let it go another week next time",....OR,...."that was WAY too late, I should have pulled em up a week sooner"

THAT is a reliable method of determining ripeness and harvest dates.

 

[SickBoyZap]

Well said Reckon...