I think I should pick this now, need advice

[Bryan_G]

I haven't grown marijuana in over 20 years so I'm really out of it but I think my plant is ready for picking, could someone tell me from this picture if it is ready?

 

[BirdLaw86]

Get a jewelers loupe or magnifying glass and look at the budds, there are different ratios of colored trichomes that will tell you if the plants ready. Youre looking for some amber and some cloudy whiteish trichomes. Clear see through means its not ready. To my knowledge like 70% cloudy 30% amber is a good ratio.

 

[Ponky]

You got a little something there. Wonder what that is. I harvest a few days after the plants fall colors. That plants pretty dark still.

 

[Bryan_G]

Get a jewelers loupe or magnifying glass and look at the budds, there are different ratios of colored trichomes that will tell you if the plants ready. Youre looking for some amber and some cloudy whiteish trichomes. Clear see through means its not ready. To my knowledge like 70% cloudy 30% amber is a good ratio.

I'm not sure what the "trichomes" are, I'm assuming it's the little crystals all over the leaves and buds, not the white hairs that turn red, is this right?

 

[Bryan_G]

You got a little something there. Wonder what that is. I harvest a few days after the plants fall colors. That plants pretty dark still.

I'm assuming it's a dead leaf, there are a few of them in some of the buds, this plant had a rough start, in fact I'll post that below this.

 

[Krispy420]

Like Ponky said it doesn't even seem to have changed colors yet which seems strange, but if you are blessed with more growing season then why not use it? Looks fairly close but a few of the pistils look a tad immature still. With that said I have waited TOO long before and the plant lost it's smell so you want to make sure to get it when it's "ripe". Yes the trichomes are the crystals but you will need a magnifier 30x+ to effectively see the trichome heads. And if you go that route make sure you're looking at the trichomes on the bud and not the leaf because the the trichs on the leaf seem to always mature faster.

 

[Bryan_G]

This plant did not have an easy life, I had a major issue when starting. The plant shot up right away, as normal, when it was about 4 foot tall, it started dying. I read up on it and the leaves could have been turning brown from not enough water, or too much water or not enough nutrients, or too much nutrients...
So, I went out and stuck my finger in the dirt to see if it's dry, and when I pulled my finger out, my hand was covered in ants. I moved the wood-chips away from the dirt to see billions of ants, billions. They had dug a hole in my root system and were probably eating the roots.
That day I put a good layer of diatomaceous earth on the top, then mixed it into the first few inches of dirt and 2 days later all the ants were all dead (free fertilizer).
At this point, the main stalk was dead, I had to cut it, so now all I have are the side branches and they were a little bit stunted in their growth, but they did come back pretty well.

A few weeks later the leaves started turning brown again... I figured it was water, too much or too little, so I took a chance that a gallon or 2 a day wasn't enough. The plant is in a large pot (about 3' tall and 2.5' wide) with holes in the bottom so water can escape and worms & bugs can work their way up from the ground. So I started giving it 4 gallons every other day and it came to life. That's a lot of water for a potted plant. Even when it rains I still need to keep watering, I guess the leaves from the plant cause the water to drop outside the pot, so it doesn't get much water from rain. I'm going to set up a rain recovery system on our house next spring so I can use 100% rain water.

20+ years ago I grew indoors and there were times I cut the main stalk just to get better buds on the branches. Someone from Michigan State University was giving away clones of G-13 for years, so from around the late 80's through the 90's I had good weed thanks to those G-13 clones. I only grew from seeds one time, it was a sativa and it took up almost my whole grow space, the thing must have been like 7 feet (in my closet) tall while all my indaca's were around 3 feet tall. Because it was so tall, I had to train it, the plant went all the way around my garden with the indaca's in the middle.

 

[Plainfarmer420]

Looks like you got two weeks when those trichomes start to turn it’s very noticeable but I’d let her go two more weeks if possible or maybe a little less

 

[Krispy420]

This plant did not have an easy life, I had a major issue when starting. The plant shot up right away, as normal, when it was about 4 foot tall, it started dying. I read up on it and the leaves could have been turning brown from not enough water, or too much water or not enough nutrients, or too much nutrients...
So, I went out and stuck my finger in the dirt to see if it's dry, and when I pulled my finger out, my hand was covered in ants. I moved the wood-chips away from the dirt to see billions of ants, billions. They had dug a hole in my root system and were probably eating the roots.
That day I put a good layer of diatomaceous earth on the top, then mixed it into the first few inches of dirt and 2 days later all the ants were all dead (free fertilizer).
At this point, the main stalk was dead, I had to cut it, so now all I have are the side branches and they were a little bit stunted in their growth, but they did come back pretty well.

A few weeks later the leaves started turning brown again... I figured it was water, too much or too little, so I took a chance that a gallon or 2 a day wasn't enough. The plant is in a large pot (about 3' tall and 2.5') wide with holes in the bottom so water can escape and worms & bugs can work their way up from the ground. So I started giving it 4 gallons every other day and it came to life. That's a lot of water for a potted plant. Even when it rains I still need to keep watering, I guess the leaves from the plant cause the water to drop outside the pot, so it doesn't get much water from rain. I'm going to set up a rain recovery system on our house next spring so I can use 100% rain water.

20+ years ago I grew indoors and there were times I cut the main stalk just to get better buds on the branches. Someone from Michigan State University was giving away clones of G-13 for years, so from around the late 80's through the 90's I had good weed thanks to those G-13 clones. I only grew from seeds one time, it was a sativa and it took up almost my whole grow space, the thing must have been like 7 feet (in my closet) tall while all my indaca's were around 3 feet tall. Because it was so tall, I had to train it, the plant went all the way around my garden with the indaca's in the middle.

it's alot of work to keep them disease and pest free outdoors but you're practically at the finish line, good job

 

[Bryan_G]

Like Ponky said it doesn't even seem to have changed colors yet which seems strange, but if you are blessed with more growing season then why not use it? Looks fairly close but a few of the pistils look a tad immature still. With that said I have waited TOO long before and the plant lost it's smell so you want to make sure to get it when it's "ripe". Yes the trichomes are the crystals but you will need a magnifier 30x+ to effectively see the trichome heads. And if you go that route make sure you're looking at the trichomes on the bud and not the leaf because the the trichs on the leaf seem to always mature faster.

Thank you for the reply. I think my 30x magnifying glass is really just 10X, they all lie on Amazon, I know this is not a 30X, I can hardly see the trichomes with it, I'll have to order another one and hope it's really 30X.

One thing that I did read, the big sun leaves should be turning yellow but they're not, everything is pretty much green and purple (mainly purple now) except for a few dead leaves.

We haven't had a frost yet, but it did get down to 38 degrees a couple of nights ago, so I'm sure a frost in on the way. We had a weird growing season, it was mid 70's all the way up until about a week ago, then it dropped to 50's with lows in the 30's, so even though there is less sunlight to start the budding, it was very warm this fall so maybe that has something to do with it still being so green. I have 2 friends growing the same clones, but I haven't talked to them lately, I'll have to see how theirs are doing, I have a feeling mine are way behind becuase of their rough beginning.

 

[Bryan_G]

it's alot of work to keep them disease and pest free outdoors but you're practically at the finish line, good job

Thank you

 

[Krispy420]

Thank you for the reply. I think my 30x magnifying glass is really just 10X, they all lie on Amazon, I know this is not a 30X, I can hardly see the trichomes with it, I'll have to order another one and hope it's really 30X.

One thing that I did read, the big sun leaves should be turning yellow but they're not, everything is pretty much green and purple (mainly purple now) except for a few dead leaves.

We haven't had a frost yet, but it did get down to 38 degrees a couple of nights ago, so I'm sure a frost in on the way. We had a weird growing season, it was mid 70's all the way up until about a week ago, then it dropped to 50's with lows in the 30's, so even though there is less sunlight to start the budding, it was very warm this fall so maybe that has something to do with it still being so green. I have 2 friends growing the same clones, but I haven't talked to them lately, I'll have to see how theirs are doing, I have a feeling mine are way behind becuase of their rough beginning.

Yeah the rough beginning could have something to do with it. I had a plant that took major damage this year right around the onset of flowers and it was quite a behind everything else and I'm sure that was why. Late frost yet here also but the temps dropped quite a while ago. Would have loved to keep a couple of mine going this long but it's been mostly rain and clouds last couple weeks. It is a bit strange to see no yellow but the purple and color change was more apparent on the last picture you posted. That could have to do with the genetics too though not really sure. I wouldn't sweat it though just keep your eyes out for that frost and give her as much time as you can get

 

[Santa.ClausHOHOHO]

Cool looking plants.
Whatchya Feeding her with ?

Pick up a scope for a few bucks. They have better ones for closer to $40, but this one is only 20 something. You will love it. Hooks to your phone and it is pretty frickin cool. I love mine.

Amazon.com

 

[BirdLaw86]

Thank you for the reply. I think my 30x magnifying glass is really just 10X, they all lie on Amazon, I know this is not a 30X, I can hardly see the trichomes with it, I'll have to order another one and hope it's really 30X.

One thing that I did read, the big sun leaves should be turning yellow but they're not, everything is pretty much green and purple (mainly purple now) except for a few dead leaves.

We haven't had a frost yet, but it did get down to 38 degrees a couple of nights ago, so I'm sure a frost in on the way. We had a weird growing season, it was mid 70's all the way up until about a week ago, then it dropped to 50's with lows in the 30's, so even though there is less sunlight to start the budding, it was very warm this fall so maybe that has something to do with it still being so green. I have 2 friends growing the same clones, but I haven't talked to them lately, I'll have to see how theirs are doing, I have a feeling mine are way behind becuase of their rough beginnig

IF the experienced growers above suggest more time to ripen, then as a suggestion To combat the frost and assist with temps, you can create a micro environment around the plant, ive seen it done with pot plants, i dont think it'll be any different in the ground. Plastic from home depot, some sticks or poles to frame it and some zipties&or duct tape to secure it. Youtube diy microclimate for plants and see if itll work for you.

 

[BirdLaw86]

I'm not sure what the "trichomes" are, I'm assuming it's the little crystals all over the leaves and buds, not the white hairs that turn red, is this right?

Also best way to figure out what the trichomes are would be to google trichomes on marijuana plants and get a grasp on what you should be looking for.

 

[Madbud]

I’m sorry but thats not what this plant is supposed to look like, better luck next year.

 

[Bryan_G]

Cool looking plants.
Whatchya Feeding her with ?

Pick up a scope for a few bucks. They have better ones for closer to $40, but this one is only 20 something. You will love it. Hooks to your phone and it is pretty frickin cool. I love mine.

Amazon.com

To start I just used the extra dirt made from compost we bought for our garden. I mixed it with worm castings, about 10%. 2 times in the growing stage I added several handfuls of worm casting.

25 years ago when I grew indoors I always used Peters. Something with even numbers for growing like 10-10-10 or 15-15-15 then something high in the middle for flowering like the Orchid stuff 5-50-5.

Now that there is so much more info on growing, I was looking at and studying organic fertilizers but the ones I found available were either not what I wanted or too expensive, all the ones I really wanted were sold out everywhere. During the grow period I wasn't worried, the dirt and worm castings should have had enough nutrients (I'm guessing), but I wanted to add food for the budding.
While I was still debating and studying what to buy, my buds started, so the quickest thing was to go back to my old standard, Peters, so for the flowering stage I water every other day with 4 gallons of water and one full scoop of "Jack's Classic 10-30-20 Blossom Booster". I think I could be using more than one scoop, there is no burn at all from the current dose, plus to me the plant looks like it could use more food, but I'm not sure, I've been out of this for so long I'm actually new to it, again.

Thank you for the scope idea, I could use that for so much more than just this, I'm ordering the $20 one right now!

 

[Bryan_G]

I’m sorry but thats not what this plant is supposed to look like, better luck next year.

Check out my post on this page as to why it looks that way, it actually looks good for what it's been through, it was almost dead on the 6th to 6th weeks.

Someone gave me a clone for free and my wife allowed me just enough room in her garden for it. I'm sure it will do the job and get me high, and considering how many dead branches I had to cut, including the main stalk, I'll still get an ok harvest. It was more for fun, screwing around, I never grew outdoors before. If I wanted to grow seriously, I'd start indoor garden again, where you have more control over the environment, but I don't smoke enough to spend all that money. I smoke a gram or 2 a week, it's easier just to buy it, and it's fun having something different each week, plus during harvest season my friends give me weed that I store in mason jars with Boveda Humidor Packets, usually enough to last until next season.

 

[Krispy420]

Check out my post on this page as to why it looks that way, it actually looks good for what it's been through, it was almost dead on the 6th to 6th weeks.

Someone gave me a clone for free and my wife allowed me just enough room in her garden for it. I'm sure it will do the job and get me high, and considering how many dead branches I had to cut, including the main stalk, I'll still get an ok harvest. It was more for fun, screwing around, I never grew outdoors before. If I wanted to grow seriously, I'd start indoor garden again, where you have more control over the environment, but I don't smoke enough to spend all that money. I smoke a gram or 2 a week, it's easier just to buy it, and it's fun having something different each week, plus during harvest season my friends give me weed that I store in mason jars with Boveda Humidor Packets, usually enough to last until next season.

He's just trolling Bryan...that was mighty nice of you to feed him though. Trolls need food too.

 

[Madbud]

Check out my post on this page as to why it looks that way, it actually looks good for what it's been through, it was almost dead on the 6th to 6th weeks.

Someone gave me a clone for free and my wife allowed me just enough room in her garden for it. I'm sure it will do the job and get me high, and considering how many dead branches I had to cut, including the main stalk, I'll still get an ok harvest. It was more for fun, screwing around, I never grew outdoors before. If I wanted to grow seriously, I'd start indoor garden again, where you have more control over the environment, but I don't smoke enough to spend all that money. I smoke a gram or 2 a week, it's easier just to buy it, and it's fun having something different each week, plus during harvest season my friends give me weed that I store in mason jars with Boveda Humidor Packets, usually enough to last until next season.

Never apologize for a healthy plant, shes kinda leafy but you made it.