as you get better at noticing the glass vs salt difference you can accurately view your trichomes without a scope(though a few amber can go unnoticed at first).
how swollen you let the calyx's get directly translates to yield. there is a point where she'll have thin calyxs, maybe all orange pistils, and tons of crystals but if you wait even just one more week those calyxs will burst. when your calyxs are round and look almost independent of each other they're so swollen. they get very round, like a pea when ripe. obviously this varies from strain to strain but the swelling itself looks similar across them.
onto pistils. pistils are the most useless after a point. as the pistils orange and recede, the calyx swells and prepares a space for the seed. however, a lot of strains put on new flowers to harvest and high light and heat areas will show new flowers with white pistils and tiny calyxs all the way to the end. however, if the majority of your "base flowers'" pistils aren't aged to orange or red(depending on strain), then your calyxs are probably tiny.
in my experience trichomes and calyx size have huge, direct effects on final yield and so i observe them the most carefully. I'm talking massive changes in flavor, aroma, potency, effect, and up to half the potential yield. seed companies have a vested interest in making those numbers lower but in reality plants take much longer usually. my fastest plant was a 3ft. cheese that was slightly early cut at 67 days. i would have liked to let it go another 3-4 days though. if you want a thorough investigation it's best to show the whole plant, a close up of the cola and the bottomest, light getting buds, and a trichome shot or four, preferably of calyxs at various heights. once you smoke your first, fresh, fully ripe plant, if you haven't yet, you will experience a vastly better flavor, aroma, and effect from your cannabis that can change your life.
