First harvest questions.

[BigLaughter]

Hi Everyone.

The time have come when I think. I read arround this forum and also from the book named "THE CANNABIS GROW BIBLE" written by "© Copyright 2001, Greg Green" where the author writes
"Here are some things that
help identify when to harvest. Some of these things do not appear on
every strain though.
- 50% to 70% of the pistils change color.
- Your plant stops producing crystals.
- Your plant stops producing resin.
- The fan leaves and lower leaves have turned yellow and are starting
to drop off.
- The smell has reached a peak.
- Bud mass has not increased in the past few days"
But some questions still remains for me since its my first harvest.I was hoping some of you more experianced growers could help me with those.

The reason they dont look so big is because I had to transplant them to save them from the frost.Didnt wanna loose my first grow ever.

This is how some of them look like now.

But....I wounder about this:

1. Is it neccessary to cut down the entire plant, or can I just take the branches and the top of the main steam?
2. I read in this forum about ppl that harvested just a part of a plant.How much can one take of a plant without killing it and ruin the remains of the harvest?
The reason for this is because the plants are topped and are therefore in different stages.All parts of the same plant aint ready for harvest (I think).
3.The author of the book wrote above that
"- The fan leaves and lower leaves have turned yellow and are starting
to drop off."
Does that mean that a plant can be ready for harvest even if 50% of the pistills havent change colour?
Because thats what happends to another plant, and it doesnt matter what I do to stop it.Tried ALOT of different things.

And here is the final questions
4. The authr also write that "FAN LEAVES, LEAVES AND TRIM
These are cured by leaving them dry on a flat surface, away
from direct light and with plenty of fresh air. The leaves will dry up
after 3 weeks and are easily smokable at that stage."
So I wounder if i should save these as well, or are they of such bad qualety its not worth the trouble?
5.After talking to a friend of mine I was told that I could put the dried things (fan leaves and trim) in a glas jar of acetone for a day and then remove the veg parts and let the acetone evaporaze.The leftovers could then be smoked he said.Is that true?

I know this is many question at the same time.Just hope someone can answere them.

 

[BigLaughter]

Can some one please help me with these questions?

 

[LolaGal]

I had a copy of that book too, it was mysteriously delivered to the house and charged to my account on Amazon.

It is a bad grow book in my opinion.

I would not bother saving the fan leafs. They are horrible smoke, slightly better than no smoke at all.

The first pic looks pretty good. I'd say it is close to harvest, but hard to tell from here.

Go to Radio Shack, get a $12 pocket microscope. It has a little light. Cut a sugar leaf and/or small bud. Look at the resin. If the trichomes are cloudy, it is ready to harvest.

If you want more couchlock buzz, let trichomes get amber.

Harvest some now, then later, then let some go long. Cure and smoke, keep separate, then you will know next time which you enjoyed most.

hope this helps. good luck on harvest.

 

[BigLaughter]

Thanks LolaGal. I didnt know about letting the trichomes getting amber, but will certenly look for that now.
The microscope is something I will get as soon as I get to town next time.
Thanks again.

 

[LolaGal]

Most people let 20 % go amber. Cloudy is fine! Good luck.

Most commercial pot has clear trichomes, from rushing the product.

 

[dominicangreen]

start flusing when hairs are 35% to 50% red hairs or go to radio shack and buy Illuminated Microscope with light magnifys 60x-100x cost about 12$ so you can see bud tricromes for ember colors

they should also be standing straight when they start bending means havest time is past due and thc is degradeing

Gland color will vary with ripeness of the individual THC glands, starting at clear, turning to milky, then turning to an amber color. There may be some exceptions, such as some of the Blue strains and Blackberry.These will have darker, sometimes purple gland heads. But by far and large, these three steps of ripeness will exist with the vast majority of strains on the market. The first stage, clear, will tend to make for a more cerebral, up high, withvery little body effect. Harvesting at this stage when little if any trichomes are milky yet, can be tricky. Harvesting too early can make for a beautiful marijuana plant that will not have much psychoactive capability! THC needs to "mature" to be able to pass its psychoactive capabilities down to the smoker. This is why I always recommend waiting until 50% of the trichomes hit the second stage: milky or creamy. At this point, you will definitely have a marijuana plant which has reached its genetic potential.



The milky trichomes have some "cerebral" qualities, as well as some of the more "physical" characteristics of the high. The last stage, amber, brings on a more sedative, physical stone. If this is what you're looking for, than I would recommend a sativa/indica cross, or an indica dominant marijuana plant.



Amber trichomes seem to ruin a sativa high if the marijuana plant goes too long : at least 50% of the gland heads have turned "milky

hope this help bro

============ FLUSH PLANTS 1-2 WEEKS WITH NO NUTES =============

 

[BigLaughter]

Thanks for the help LolaGal and dominicangreen.
You both been very helpfull and kind.Now I understand the importance of studdying the trichome. Before I just seen films and read some books about the pistills when its time for harvest.Thats why it was a bit confusing untill you gave me these hints and answeres.
So now I talked with a friend that went and ordered me a 45 x magnifier.Hopefully that will be enough.It has lights buildt into it.So hopefully it will work well..Just gona take a little time untill it arrives.Cost me a little less then 5$.

Since flushing will be done the last 1-2 weeks I have a question to that to.I grow in soil, and it has some fertelizers in it, and I also added some bone flour when I transplanted them.Now I only ad water with right ph.The buds are still very small because of the transplanting.Should I flush the entire pot to get ride of the nutrients, or u think it will be ok anyway as long as I only ad water in the right ph?

Thanks again for the help....

 

[BigLaughter]

Another question.
I dont know if it has to do with the flowering phase of the plant.But suddenly some branches just kind of dries up.Why is that?
Happends over night.Then I harvest that branch so I dont loose anything.Very strange.Is it because its done with its flowering phase?

 

[dominicangreen]

dude how old are your plants?throw some pics up of the whole plant

 

[BigLaughter]

I dont know exactly how old they are. I think they were planted indoors in mars april, I aint sure though.But they been put outside during the summer.Unfortunally this summer been extremely cold and rainy, so they didnt finished as I hoped for.Thats why i took them inside in late September.By then they had showed some sign of preflowering a long time.Just didnt grow much because of the cold outside.So when they got inside they started to flower directly.

Here are two pics from the same plant.

As you can se it isnt looking to good, and I find it strange since they become like this over night and get water when needed.

Here are how most of them looked before they started to dry out.

If its of any help, then I can say its indica plants.Himalaya gold.

 

[dominicangreen]

looks like a phosphorus deficiency zinc and boron with ph levels thrown off
this is what you should do is fix a bloom solution of about 800 ppm.ph the water to 6.4-6.5
fix enough water so you can flush your soil with the solution if those are 1 gallon pots fix about ten gallon of water to flush with.you are also root bound if you can transplant to bigger size pots before you flush will help alot with your problem.after you flush your plants get a run off test of the first water that comes out of the bottom so you can test for ph and ppm values so you know what is realy going on in your soil. after the flush get a last run off water test so you know where you stand then dont water for few days till soil dries
then just add plan ph water for the next two feedings then feed nutes again and continue that feeding routine,water- water -nutes

dont let day temp go to high 75 is good above 85 plants leaves edges point upword and stretch the buds so you end up with what looks like a bud with an umbrella coming out the bud almust like veg growth with hairs but bud wont form a colas.nights 68-69 cold temps will yellow them 65 and under them cold floors are bad too

 

[BigLaughter]

Thanks for those advices.
I will do the flushing tomorrow, first thing.
But how can they be root bound if they only been in these pots for less then 1,5 months?
The pots they are in now (the big ones) is about 5 gallons of earth in them, and more then half of the earth was added when i transplanted them.Does the roots grow that fast?

The info about the temp was very usefull.I doubt the temp been as high as 85, but the night temp I have to monitor to se.

Thanks dominicangreen.

 

[dominicangreen]

if their in five gallon pots then i must of confuse it for one gallon pots even if its been one and half months you said the roots grow faster then you think i go from styrofoam cups to one gallon pot and they take a week to fill the one gallons very fast bro but five gallons should be fine

 

[dominicangreen]

I dont know exactly how old they are. I think they were planted indoors in mars april, I aint sure though.But they been put outside during the summer.Unfortunally this summer been extremely cold and rainy, so they didnt finished as I hoped for.Thats why i took them inside in late September.By then they had showed some sign of preflowering a long time.Just didnt grow much because of the cold outside.So when they got inside they started to flower directly.

Here are two pics from the same plant.

As you can se it isnt looking to good, and I find it strange since they become like this over night and get water when needed.

Here are how most of them looked before they started to dry out.

If its of any help, then I can say its indica plants.Himalaya gold.

by the looks of the middle pic it looks like you have 4-5 weeks to go since your pistals are still white but i could be wrong as i'm looking at a not so clear pic. as you get closer to harves the hairs will turn red or brown color but best way is check trichomes

 

[BigLaughter]

I kind of messed up when I was making the nute solution to flush with and spilled the bottle.Had to get a new one.Hopefulle I get it in a day or two.But since it looks ok now I just wait untill I get the new bottle.A higher concentration of P and K in this one.

Sorry for the pics, its the light from the HPS that makes everything look yellow.But there are a big difference from branch to branche.But I will post more pics when I got the nutes and flushed them all.

 

[LolaGal]

I kind of messed up when I was making the nute solution to flush with and spilled the bottle.Had to get a new one.Hopefulle I get it in a day or two.But since it looks ok now I just wait untill I get the new bottle.A higher concentration of P and K in this one.

Sorry for the pics, its the light from the HPS that makes everything look yellow.But there are a big difference from branch to branche.But I will post more pics when I got the nutes and flushed them all.

Nutrients or nutes are not needed to flush. Flush is simply putting plain water in the soil to wash out nutes in the soil already.

Flushing allows plants to use the nutrients they have stockpiled in their leaves.

This is supposed to make the weed taste better. I rarely bother flushing my weed, and I ain't dead yet. Tastes pretty good to me.

It is not a good idea to come online and let one person tell you how to grow your weed. Much research is necessary to gain knowledge. You are on the right track with reading those grow books!

Greg Greene tends to contradict himself, and ride the middle of the rails.

For instance, I prefer 6.8 soil pH and I think Greg is much higher with his pH recommendations.

I would just keep reading! Try some Ed Rosenthal Books I like his best!

good luck.

 

[the Rock]

use bigger pots next time

 

[dominicangreen]

you are not flushing to harvest the plant. so by you not flushing with a mild solution will only add more problems to your deficiency..if you use plain water and flush it is gona wash out the nutrients that have been keeping your plant alive.the bad condition your soil is in needs to get flushed but not to where your going to be lacking nutrients ,causing more deficiency...i have done test in soil and found that it is easier to ph a soil using mild nutes to flush with..so flushing with a mild solution will fix your ph much easier and correct nutrient that are in your soil and flush out unwanted salts build up

peace bro

 

[BigLaughter]

Finnaly I got the nutes I wanted and flushed them as good as I could.Some plants had a ppm WAY under and others had WAY to much.So I think I put them all straight now since the messuring I did after is ok.
From now I will just have to wait and se if something happening (hopefully grow bigger buds).
I just wanna say it wasnt an easy job.hehehe. Hope I dont have to do that ever again.
Thanks for the guiding dominicangreen and Lolagal.
I post some pics in a few days when I se the result of this treatment.

the rock...I didnt plan to have them in pots since I put them outside.But as a newbe I (of course) chose the wrong strain to use this far north.I just didnt wanna loose them after all the job.Thats why I took them inside to save them from the frost.

 

[BigLaughter]

I guess the treatment just did the trick, because now it speeded up a bit.Just had to take a sample to se (and learn) a bit more about the differences in different maturing stages by the old fashion way "Learn by doing".

This is how it looked when i took it.

and

Gona take a while untill its finished though.Just wanted to share the development with a few pictures.