help with sour diesel and blue dream harvest timing

[medmanmilan]

hey, so this being my first outdoor grow and all, I feel a little worried about when I should be gettin my harvest on.
I've got blue dream and sour diesel plants outdoors, and I just checked out the trichs and they're all cloudy, but it's only mid-september, so I'm a little confused as to when I should harvest, everyone says for sativas "harvest when they're opaque or cloudy", but I just don't feel like theyre ready, except it seems like the trichs are saying something totally different. the bud size seems like it needs to grow a bit more, you can see in the photos.

and flushing, at what point in bud development should I stop feeding them nutes? thanks for your responses!

 

[Seamaiden]

Trichs are not, and to me cannot be the only meter by which one judges Mary's readiness. I also look at the pistils (hairs) as well as the overall appearance of the plant. Based on that (some wider shots would be nice in this situation) I say you've got 3-4 weeks to go on those girls.

Flushing in soil is almost an exercise, but I do do it. Don't have the nerve to risk a crop experimenting with that.

 

[ReadySetGrowD9]

^^^ Great advise :)

 

[medmanmilan]

since these guys are in the ground, how much water should I use flushing them? and what week should I start?

 

[rizzle]

Hey medman, I would say 1-2 weeks before harvest to start flushing nutes. When did you last fertilize? I'd go with bigger flush for any plant fertilized month or less before harvest. Good luck!...mmm, blue dream :character0050:

 

[Seamaiden]

You should start giving them water only in a couple of weeks or so. You are not going to really be able to flush, though.

 

[medmanmilan]

I last fed them...saturday, I feed them once a week, oh and what about flushing with molasses? I've heard good reports about it

 

[Seamaiden]

I feed with molasses or malted barley extract throughout the year.

 

[rizzle]

I was left under impression molasses was used to boost resin production, particularly days before harvest. No actual experience with molasses myself, for flushing or resin production.

 

[LightDep530]

As seamaiden said outdoors it's not always about trich colors. I think blue dream and sour diesel arefairly safe as far as mold. Some strains I like to check the big buds or buds in mold prone areas. I carefully peel back the individual buds at the base of the kola and see what colors are back there. If it is neon lime green with brown hairs inside those areas the conditions for mold are very present. Sometimes they gotta go. Pulling big kolas before bad weather comes is sometimes good.
I agree with Seamaiden on the timing of the girls. 3 or 4 weeks. Looking good. Good tasty strains to grow

 

[LightDep530]

I think there could be a molasses thread. I don't use molasses because it is a bacterial food and in flower I like to harbor a fungal condition in the soil so that the mycos get the phos into the plant. Bacteria are pretty easy to grow just with the sugars that the plant's roots exude. I think nutrient manufacturers have just picked up on this and some of them are making the switch. To each their own of course!