Well, I just couldn't wait, so I harvested one of my four plants today. The smallest one, which also has seemed to mature earlier than the rest, yielded some decent buds, but also a lot of what I think I've heard called 'butter buds'. Basically albino buds that formed deep enough in or under the canopy and got almost zero light. Definitely a side effect of the minimal defoliation I did, coupled with flowering too late and making the plants too tall. (Several lessons learned this grow.)
Here is what I took:
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Now I can finally see a bit of the right rear plant. That plant has basically been untouched through most of flower.
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I piled the cuttings on a Trim Bin. There is a lot of leaf to trim off the above.
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The above image shows the trimmings. The vast majority of the leaves left in the bin are sugar leaves or show a fair amount of trichomes. The big fan leaves were cut and discarded separately. These leaves will dry, then be sifted, The leftover will go to oil. If I get enough dry sift, I'll try to make hash.
And the following shows the trimmed buds. Lots of sugar left on the leaves I left!
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Lots of mostly smaller buds, a result of too much (?) topping. The other plants are bigger, I think.
The topping was an attempt to control height. Next time I grow, I'll flower at three weeks in veg instead of five. Shorter plants will get much more even lighting.
Besides the branches I hung, I chopped a lot of butter buds/albino buds and put them in paper bags for drying purposes. There was quite a bit, and while I don't know it will be great smoke, it may press well, or end up making cannabutter.
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I tipped a bag over for a picture. The buds almost filled one bag, but I split them into eight bags for drying purposes.
I've been smoking some for several days. Not cured, of course, but you can tell the strength, and feel the tightness of the buds. It seems pretty good. I just wish I'd not let them get so tall as the lighting in flower really was suboptimal.