Cloudy trichs...young looking hairs and leaf...

[Aksala]

So I have a mental floss plant that by looking at you would think is probably another 3-4 weeks away....and I was thinking it was taking a long time to finish...no orange hairs...no leaves starting to fade...calyxes haven't really swollen ect...

So I decided to check trichs cause its been a good 8-9 weeks since I first flipped this plant...

And they were all cloudy....not a single clear one...but no amber either...

Usually when I don't see any clear...then about 20% or more are already amber...

So...I'm gonna wait til I get about 30% or so amber before I cut it down...because I'm really not sure how to judge it at the moment...hopefully the next few days will tell me...

Just wondering if anyone else has had a plant that does this?

I wanna wait til the calyxes swell more but I'm starting to wonder if that's gonna happen on this plant....

Maybe its a plant that doesn't swell til the trich's are almost all amber...who knows...

Either way it looks like its gonna be killer.

 

[DocLeaf]

LOL .. try wiping the resin glands onto a rolling paper. A few days later new resin glands will appear in the same location The person that originally suggested that 'cloudy trichomes was any guide to harvesting cannabis was a ,,, let me think of a suitable, yet non offensive word , since there are so many to pick from,,, idiot!

Any 'cloudiness' is related to the process of oxidization (or mishandling) ,, which is related to the age of the resin gland or plant overall. As the plant matures it will produce fresh growth, and fresh resin glands in the process. So no panic, it is a most natural event

Btw: we used to harvest plants at 75% red/orange/amber hairs or sepals,, when growing commercially,, never used a spyglass yet. These days we judge by eye and age and need to smoke the dope mainly. The scent also helps

All the best with ya harvest,, please throw up some photos,, or at least let us know how it grows

 

[bobman]

yea, agree with doc. i have seen amber in the 30's and i have yet to see more than 10-20 percent amber no matter how long i take a plant. been interested in mental floss does it really take that long? i thought it was a 8-9 weeker.

 

[DocLeaf]

Q: Did anyone ever test the colouration of trichomes against cannabinoid content; as an empirical test?

A: Nope.

Still your findings are interesting Aksala It is still very much a process of learning and threads like this add to that

 

[Hammerhead]

Doc i'm a bit confused by your reply. Are you implying that harvesting your plants by Trichome color is wrong??. I have been doing that for many years. I like my meds to be at least 70/30 Cloudy/amber.

 

[DocLeaf]

Doc i'm a bit confused by your reply. Are you implying that harvesting your plants by Trichome color is wrong??. I have been doing that for many years. I like my meds to be at least 70/30 Cloudy/amber.

Not wrong. No way. Do what you do I say!
It is just completely foreign to the method in Europe. People over here use light-loops to judge the quality of the flowers post-harvest,, not before it

A Cannabis plant grows as it grows, flowers as it flowers , and ages as it ages.. regardless of trichome clarity. Younger flowers are richer in THC.. perhaps THCV, and older flowers richer in CB (the D to G to N).

For example the Medi folk we know swear buy harvesting indica early and sativa late.. for medi.. and i'm inclinded to lean towards that vibe in recreational smoke also (esp. when grown under glass)

Hope this helps

 

[DocLeaf]

To add :

#1 much is to do with the time of day you aiming to get blasted at

The older I get the more i'm preferring a sativa (THC/THCV) start to the day ,, an indica sativa hybrid in the afternoon,, and an indica (CBD CBG CBN) nightcap in the evening.

#2 much is to do with personal taste

keep it green marines !

 

[Noobian]

Docleaf would be discounting the prevailing "grow lore" as our friend Crush would say. I think he's on to something myself

 

[Hammerhead]

we use loops in the US to check for the same but we also look at the trichome color as a indication of the type of medication or high one would get. I was pretty sure this was the standard by all. I'm completely the opposite I smoke many Indica's for pain relief any sativa will need to be mostly amber for me to enjoy them there just to racy for me.

 

[igrowone]

i've had a bit of experience with some different ripening trichome colors, and trying to make sense of them
one plant, a nl#5, never showed me a cloudy tric, or an amber
the trics would instead turn a clear honey yellow color
trichome color seems to be a black art

 

[Hammerhead]

I would not call it a black art yellow or honey color is not uncommon with Sativas. My Destroyer had yellow heads. what ever you choose to determine whats right for you is all that maters.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

Here's how scientific I am

"Looks done. Let's chop it".

I used a microscope, but have not done it in a bit. They are deceiving. Now I just look for it to be "done". Done is a relative term anyway. My "done" is different than your "done".

 

[guest3854]

Saw this thread title and wanted to jump in...

Firstly,Alaska states in tha second paragraph he started counting tha days @ trigger. You need to wait till they "start", then count yer weeks...

Secondly, I know thats a Chimera cross however I dont know tha pedigree, genetics need to be considered...

Thirdy, I have had a HUGE problem with tha way folks judge maturation. Looking at tha maturity of trich and to some degree pistas is appropriate, but I almost NEVER see any talk of calyx maturity. Many times I have trichs showing to be ready but tha calyx' haven't swelled... This is a huge mistake, once nugs are dried you will really be able to see the error, as they will look shriveled and ill formed...

Regarding trich color, my DMT KUSH produces tha sickest yellow crystal, you'd think you were smokin some of that nasty real dope... So it's not always gonna be an indy/sat thang either...


Steele

 

[igrowone]

to follow up, the term 'black art' may not have given quite the impression i wanted
was more in the vein that trics are part of the picture, not the whole
that damn nl#5 i had made me a bit crazy with the tric charts because it just didn't match up to the 'usual' colors
i ran it at 11 weeks, then revegged/cloned and ran it to 12 weeks
same environment, feeding, lighting, etc.
the difference in tric color between the 2 runs was undetectable to me, maybe it was there, but i couldn't see it
but the difference in effect was huge, 11 weeks it had a head rush that would take down an elephant, not what i was looking for with anxiety issues
at 12 weeks, bye bye head rush, most of it anyways, a far more gentle(yet strong) effect
so when i see some posts with tric color charts, and the advice this is all you need, well, i've learned better

 

[TGT]

I find some strains never go amber and stay cloudy for a long time. I'm sure they would eventually go amber (or something close), but I never wait that long because it could end up being a couple weeks over-ripe. The CCA (clear, cloudy and amber) method is a good way to judge if the plants finished or not, but only in conjunction with other methods will it be close to accurate. Personally I just harvest when I think it looks done as I usually know my strains very well. If it's a new strain I use the CCA method along with the look and density of the bud. I find the hairs help out also.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I am curious to know when the flower time starts, at trigger or after multiple formation of hairs start to occur?

TGT