How late is too late?

[Clemolo]

Hi everyone...

As the title suggests, how late is to late to harvest?

I have been harvesting for about a month, taking (plentiful) samples every few days or so (I did this to see/feel what the difference is at different stages).

The trichomes never got too cloudy and none turned amber, but many buds felt full and tight, and some of these started to loosen up after a while and I panicked to started harvesting more.

After having a break for a couple weeks, I checked again and now a reasonable proportion of the trichs are amber (well, to me it's more of a brown), but overall the buds look quite old, with browning fan leaves and many of the smaller sugar leaves are yellowing with brown tips (which I've trimmed). Theres also the odd black spot on some of the fan leaves. Under a microscope, there seems to be a bit of dirt and the occasional bug throughout the buds.

I'm keen on trying it anyway, but just want to know if it's safe to smoke? I'm not particularly keen on smoking dirt and bugs. Can you wash the buds after trimming them and before drying?

For context, these are from a sativa growing naturally in my back yard, and although I've been following some much valued advice from some of you, I would still say I have no idea what I'm doing. ;-)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Gmix]

They look quite green as in not ready yet however what you described sounds like it is ready without pics of the trichs all anyone can do is guess.

I think this video may help,



Yes you can wash your buds it’s pretty normal for outside plants to get dirty and when harvested washed. You’ll just need 3 large containers to hold water,some backing soda & some lemon the below vid explains.



Umm age verification ok try this if you can’t watch any bud washing vids

Bud Washing: What Is It and Why Should You Do It? - How to grow weed

Ever heard of bud washing? Find out the benefits of submerging your cannabis flowers in water, and how to do it at home. It's more simple than you'd think!

www.zamnesia.com

 

[Imzzaudae]

Hello.
I'm seeing a lot of white hairs, still a couple of weeks maybe 3 weeks early. Not done yet. At the end of a plants life cycle the plant naturally strips all the nutrients they can from leaves for bud production. Yellowing and browning leaves are normal. It also depends on your feeding habits. Did you take them off high nitrogen like 12-6-6 and put them on something with a high middle number for flowering like 5-15-5? You should stop feeding at least 2 or 3 weeks before harvesting as to let the plant strip itself. They really look bad when you do this but this is when they produce sugar.
Those white hairs. 50% nice need to be nice and brown when you harvest. You can also watch the crystal.
Have you ever smoked bud that just would not stay lit. It was not stripped properly at the end of the grow.

A little insecticidal soap sprayed on the bottom of leaves will take care of any bug issues like this and not harm you. Don't spray the buds. Plane old dish soap and water sprayed on the underside of leaves works great on many bugs.

Rough trim and hang those stalks. for a couple of weeks. Then you can give them a close trim. Your going to find that when you lay your buds on screen they get big flat spots. I hate flat spots on my bud so I always hang until they go in the curing jar.

I usually hang my buds in a big oak tree out back for at least a week. This gets the moisture content down before I bring them indoors and let them dry to crispy stalks. I lost a plant to mold once so watch out for that. In the wild where I am harvest time is September for most plants hot and very dry. Latter flowering verity's that get into October are getting into rainy season and must be watched carefully things can go bad overnight. They go in a shed with heat and a big fan blowing on them for at least a week, then I can slow things down and let them dry slowly. Hope this helps you. Ron

 

[Gmix]

just a thought

When it is ready the leaves will be covered in trichs you can use them to make hash or edibles. Toss the fan leaves mind they don’t hold enough.

Good luck

 

[Imzzaudae]

Oh ya. Don't get your buds dirty. You won't have to wash them, I would not wash them your going to create problems, bugs don't smoke well pick out the hoppers lol. I also grow outdoors 100% organic.

Check this link out.
https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/growing-organic-buy-nate-growing-like-a-viking.147687/

You can make great fertilizer like this. Start it now. Put all your trim in it for next year. Stick it in the sun and let it cook.
It stinks but your plants will love it.


Microbe solution like this. I make it 1L a week in a 2 L jar 1/2 a potato.


Wood ash for minerals.


Nitrogen solution. Make up a gallon jug now for next year.


All you need is a couple of 20L buckets and one for mixing.

 

[Harpua88]

Hey can I ask what general area you're in? (that you're harvesting in April/May). Do you know more about the variety/genetics? I saw some posts where you said it was some sort of unknown seed but I don't know if this is the same one. My point being, does your area, space, amount of sun, season, etc. match the strain? Time is one factor but to properly mature/ripen, sativas have other needs too.......an extreme example would be trying to grow oranges in Alaska.....maybe tomatoes in Alaska would be a better example. It's one thing to grow a tomato plant, it's another to produce juicy, sweet, vine-ripened tomatoes.......

You might wait until they're literally dying, but they still won't be mature/ripened.....for that strain/variety. So you'll satisfy the time requirement, but that's all.

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

Oh ya. Don't get your buds dirty. You won't have to wash them, I would not wash them your going to create problems, bugs don't smoke well pick out the hoppers lol. I also grow outdoors 100% organic.

Check this link out.
https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/growing-organic-buy-nate-growing-like-a-viking.147687/

You can make great fertilizer like this. Start it now. Put all your trim in it for next year. Stick it in the sun and let it cook.
It stinks but your plants will love it.


Microbe solution like this. I make it 1L a week in a 2 L jar 1/2 a potato.


Wood ash for minerals.


Nitrogen solution. Make up a gallon jug now for next year.


All you need is a couple of 20L buckets and one for mixing.

I grow both indoors and outdoors. I don't wash my indoor buds.

HOWEVER

I always wash my outdoor harvest. My wash is similar to what was described above but I add 1 more step to it ... I also use an H2O2 bath. I have never had any issues caused by washing my buds.

 

[GNick55]

Hello.
I'm seeing a lot of white hairs, still a couple of weeks maybe 3 weeks early. Not done yet. At the end of a plants life cycle the plant naturally strips all the nutrients they can from leaves for bud production. Yellowing and browning leaves are normal. It also depends on your feeding habits. Did you take them off high nitrogen like 12-6-6 and put them on something with a high middle number for flowering like 5-15-5? You should stop feeding at least 2 or 3 weeks before harvesting as to let the plant strip itself. They really look bad when you do this but this is when they produce sugar.
Those white hairs. 50% nice need to be nice and brown when you harvest. You can also watch the crystal.
Have you ever smoked bud that just would not stay lit. It was not stripped properly at the end of the grow.

A little insecticidal soap sprayed on the bottom of leaves will take care of any bug issues like this and not harm you. Don't spray the buds. Plane old dish soap and water sprayed on the underside of leaves works great on many bugs.

Rough trim and hang those stalks. for a couple of weeks. Then you can give them a close trim. Your going to find that when you lay your buds on screen they get big flat spots. I hate flat spots on my bud so I always hang until they go in the curing jar.

I usually hang my buds in a big oak tree out back for at least a week. This gets the moisture content down before I bring them indoors and let them dry to crispy stalks. I lost a plant to mold once so watch out for that. In the wild where I am harvest time is September for most plants hot and very dry. Latter flowering verity's that get into October are getting into rainy season and must be watched carefully things can go bad overnight. They go in a shed with heat and a big fan blowing on them for at least a week, then I can slow things down and let them dry slowly. Hope this helps you. Ron

hey brother you have lots of good advice but some is totally wrong,
like not feeding the last 2-3 weeks of flowering, that is when K is needed most.. so like 5-15-5 ratio is only good till week 5-6 than NP need to be lowered while increasing K until the last 7-10 days when you lower the amount used..
unhealthy plants will uptake heavy metals from the medium and nutrients..
if you feed the plants correctly with the correct nutrients she will “fade” naturally at the end if left too..
and joints don’t go out because of not being stripped of nutrients..

 

[Imzzaudae]

Thanks for the input Nick. An old bud grower told me about the won't stay lit thing must be 20 years ago. Before I started growing organic I finished many grows as I post. Always have a great harvest. All the best. I'm looking forward to another great year.
Ron.

 

[Clemolo]

Thanks once again for all the great advice people! Will look into all your bids and links and see how I go. Hard to believe they're still not ready yet but there's so much of it that I'm still harvesting every week.

For what its worth...

Yes I am the same guy who pays about the unknown seed and yes it is the same plant. I've attached some pictures of how it is today.

I've never had it on any feeding schedule (this time, again i don't know what I'm doing yet). It's just growing on its own accord and gets watered every second day with the rest of the garden. Gets morning sun only. I live in lower Western Australia.

I'm not exactly sure how long it's been, but the pic of the small bud growth (first pic) was taken on Jan 16th. The rest of the photos were taken in the last few days. I tried getting a good pic of the trichs through my microscope, but this is the best I could get.

Thanks again everybody!