Don't Harvest Your Larf? Half Harvest?

[KiLoEleMeNt]

Hey guys so I am doing an experiment here as I am tired of so much larf in my buds as I don't lollipop very heavy so what I plan to do is cut down the top half anything looking a gram or bigger when dry then I am going to just leave the rest of the plant in the system I have done some looking and as far as I can tell the bottom half of a plant is not as mature as the top half the trichomes are way under developed and clear while my tops are 50 fog 50 amber let's see what happens here they are today after being top harvested and what they looked like before anyone with any imput from experience doing this technique would be awesome thanks for checking it out guys

 

[Apollo13]

Very common peractice here, some of mine ripen all at the same time, some bottom to top and some top to bottom. To maximize ripe nugs, keep on keeping on! It usually is just a week for the rest to ripen.

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

I figured it was fairly common but the only threads I can find on many sites are only for reveggin so I figured I would do one for the purpose of prof

 

[Apollo13]

It's actually how u are supposed to harvest if looking for top shelf nugs. Most people have another girl waiting on the grow space. But if you have time and room, It is absolutely the right way to go for glands, weight, potency and taste

 

[rubthe nub]

I've tried doing that before I get impatient.
I'm in hurry to throw the next batch in

I will typically only do that on outdoor plants

 

[Apollo13]

Impatiently picking unripe buds is not the same as pulling fully matured nugs...lol. everybody does it, we don't talk about it though...shhhh seriously, ripe buds should be removed or thc will photo degrade.

 

[rubthe nub]

I run perpetual so it's all about moving things along
I do a lot of lollipopping so I can keep to a minimum but there is almost always a few that could go longer

 

[Apollo13]

For me it's the mix of small and big plants that make my space work. I will cut occasionally but it's as they go I flower, bottoms and unruly branches usually.

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

I run perpetual as well. Trust me it is killing me having 8 spots filled with half harvested plants and 60+ clones/teens just begging to go in, but the way I grow and the amount I feel I lose to .5 or less nugage in larf I feel may be well worth the extra week or two.... I have extra baskets that I can put some into then hand water, throw into dark, set on the floor in the flower room for the week or something Since I don't feed much the first week, the floor is slanted and concrete with dehumidifier so I don't think nute or water run off is a big deal... But I wonder??? I don't usually dark out and starve my girls before harvest like some do, i just use a finisher from the makers of medi1 not sure if it is green planet or what they are called? but when the girls show good 70% fog I dump the rez and put fresh water in with the finisher then let it go till first amber shows! After just a lil amber shows I flush for 48hrs and chop em down!!! What I wonder? Do you think if I skipped the flush, ( "key note" I use flush products not just Water ) and just set them to the side on the floor instead of the teens, and then put the teens in as usual, could I then not just hand water the half chops with plain water as a flush for the week or so and my others would be on the way in the system??? or in your experience has it taken more than a week for them to mature enough to be worth harvesting??? (about the time a plant stores food to survive on) or does it need proper/heavy nutes to finish ripening?... if it takes two or three weeks for them to plump and mature I'm sure I could do the same later down the road for/with the teens and it would be fine but it would be much later than schedule or far too far into flower for my new teens NOT to be in the system long before hand than if i did it now so setting them on the floor and hand watering is not a good option in that case...!? I'm sure you see my delema and i feel im just confusing myself (possibly you) even more with the now seemingly complicated task of keeping timeline guesses to ripeness of larf and keeping my perpetual schedule any Thoughts on this idea/method would be great from anyone!?! What say you @Apollo13 you haven't said anything wrong or dumb yet in my opinion i am more than open to your advice for sure at this point as u have done this type of harvest before!?!

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

Also FYI I do lollipop normally but I top a ton before flower so I still come out with alot of bottom of main stem larf (not directed just stating)

 

[Apollo13]

Really as far as topping goes, to get the best results top clones early, then top tips again in 10 days. Then it should be multi tipped flat top bush. Topping last minute basically just shortens the plant. So, I think topping or tipping is most useful early in a plants life.

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

Yes I understand this I only top in the early stage and I do mainline topping and training when I have time what I ment by i top a ton is my vegg can sometimes go as long as two or three months in vegg as i grow so many clones at one time (about 60-100 at a time) topping them every week or so stopping two weeks before I begin flowering to let them shoot a lil before stretch as I feel it strengthens the stalks then I lollipop them for the most part clean out the bottom 3rd some times more so I have been at this a long while bud i am not looking for noob advice just looking for some Co-operative responses to what I said I think I should do and what others think i should do to get best results out of the larf and a little bit of advice on a time period for it to finish if u have a decent guess co-operative planning can be very helpful when you have growers block as I do rite now

 

[Apollo13]

If I vegged for 3 months, I could never flower it, I would need side lighting and one plant. Outside I do, but have no choice planting in june. And they are 10 foot easy (MY AVATAR ) when they flower. But it is passive hydro.

I have over topped before and got many smaller buds instead of bigger colas, which makes trimming suck. And too many leaves shading others. Instead of nice colas, each with its own area. I think a lot of energy gets put into stem, and you could have real bud support issues and need to tie or net everything. Like harvest, I believe there is a proper day to top for your grow environment.

Even with failure comes success if you learned something.

 

[Apollo13]

Must be awesome working with those numbers... I can't wait every year to greenhouse and have a couple girls like the California grows I've seen in high times forever.. to see a 10 footer in flower is just awesome! I still wonder what a field of them must be like... and it's the cheapest weight I produce.

 

[Apollo13]

Flush is very important, unless u do oil, u better flush it, pure water or flush. I would set up barrels or buckets and flush as a dwc. If I understand your question right? Problem is flushing in a perpetual harvest right?

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

No if u read over that part again I said I do flush with a flush agent from black label or botanicare depending on what I got on hand! however my question is should i keep feeding these baby's real good for another week or two then flush and wait to put more girls in the system for the sake of continued normal feeding on the larf or do the lil larf buds trichomes usually ripen in the first week after half cutting like I have and it's not worth the time or nutes to leave them in the system.? the plan is this I have extra baskets that go in my hydro unit and i can pull the larf baskets from the system but leave them in the room to grow under the lights and just Water with plain water for a bit on the floor and get my new baby's going or should I leave the larf in and let them feed and wait for the trichomes to ripen more (all clear now) so i guess what I am really asking you is how much longer did you experience growth on the larf before you decide to harvest them

 

[Apollo13]

Lol, usually a week to 10 days but it depends strain. But I'm not positive it's worth it. Weight wise over 10 days jump on new girl. I do however enjoy many herbs pre-ripe. My Apollo if you harvest on time, u can't hardly function. I find a different buzz on pre-ripe bud. More of a do stuff in a good mood smoke. I usually harvest at one time unless it's a monster plant. Outside it's nessacery for me to chop top, then week, chop rest. But it's fall and gh season is over. I would eyeball the bud and decide how much weight u think u may get by weighting(lol).
You can just mix up the plant buds too so they get a blend of ripe and almost ripe.
I guess what I'm saying I live with a few not 100% ripe buds most of the time and just try to keep it shuffling. My speed queen can finish in 42 days...so almost 25 % being 10 days..

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

Hmmmmm........ well alot of the purpose in this little experiment is because I do get some monsters every now and then and I mean monsters iv got a 12ft celing and sometimes when I let a few of one strain go to far in vegg I fill the whole spot between the 2ft deep pot and the 2ft deep hood so that's an 8 ft plant as u said I have to use vertical side lights to compensate the lack of light below the canopy (this has actually only happened twice ) but when they are all foggy and a lil bit of amber on top they are usually still clear on the bottom with all white hair so when this does happen if there is some kind of drastic growth made by letting it go I think this one time delay will be worth the knowledge for the future!!! even though you said it wasn't really worth it let me ask you this! How small was the larf when first cut/harvest was made and it was exposed then how big was it when it was finished regardless of the actual size of the buds did they double in size or close did they get any denser or fill in from a see thru bunch of hair with no bud really to speak of to then grow into a recognizable bud that would be considered meds not blasting matter or did they stay relatively the same as they were and just the hair and trichomes matured more

 

[Apollo13]

Weight was a bad term because I don't think it's much, it's definitely not going to make u harvest double or something and size won't change really except gland size maybe. Ripeness is what ur waiting for. It boils down to what you are growing for, best buds or most profit. Since u won't likely smoke the whole plant yourself...most go with most profit and just keep the tops for themselves since it takes a grower to appreciate a fully mature top and most couldnt tell if it was a lil unripe...least how I feel.
Like me with beer, I don't drink enough to tell brands, all tastes like beer to me.. and it all works well.

 

[KiLoEleMeNt]

Oh hey @Apollo13 I would also like to share with you that if done carfully and correctly you can take a 3 foot vegg plant (Givin that it has at least 6-8 tops if not do not attempt) and at the third to last node on each of the 6-8+ stalks just before the y from here you take some nice teen size clones and clone them (of course) and at this point you should be left with a 1-2ft plant with 6-8+ hefty sticks with three leaf nodes on each of them, then let them go about another week or two weeks more vegg to counter shock and let these spots grow out just a bit clean out anything below the three node spots on your stalk and toss those babys into flower it's like a lazy man's mainline you come out with 12-24 tops no larf just beautiful large top cola (Note if the lowest node decided to stretch into a stem itself you may consider Chopin it off) and that is why I grow so many vegg at one time I like to have lots of variety in flavor grow technique I even have so many different hydroponic systems I can't use them all at once so I also like to swap systems alot too have yet to find one I didn't like lol so a ton of vegg is really a smart way to go never know when u may want to Scrog out 50 or do four huge monsters