What late stage am I at? Sour Diesel, flower week 7

[phxazcraig]

I've got 4 plants growing well in coco coir. Sour Diesel, which is supposed to have an 11 week flower stage, is now through week 7 since flip. I'm wondering if these really have 3-4 weeks left, or if they are really just some 8-week flower strain sold as Sour Diesel?

Specifically, looking at the pistil hairs, all the top buds turned brown on one plant over a week ago, and while the lower buds are growing well, the upper ones - hard to say if they are just swelling at this point. Then, recently, the other plants started to look similar in that the white pistils growing all over mostly went brown on the top foot or so of the canopy. But many bud sites down inside the canopy seem to have a mostly white pistils and still show obvious growth.

None of the lower fan leaves (there are many) have started to turn yellow, but a bunch of the highest fan leaves have. Basically some form of light stress resulting from a few weeks at 1300 PPFD in the center. (700 at the edges). 2 weeks ago I turned the power back to 1000 PPFD center, and it seemed to rejuvenate some of the buds that were looking scorched.

Judging from trichomes, I think I'm close, but not quite. The real question is: 3 weeks to go?

 

[growsince79]

They look almost done to me. I don't think it will need another 4, maybe 2 at the most.

 

[freezeland2]

I would add that lower buds will be less mature since they don’t receive the same Ppfd from the light as those upper buds. You can always take the tops and let the lower buds keep maturing if you want more yield.

 

[phxazcraig]

I've been kicking around the idea of doing a selective harvest here. Basically just take the top layer of buds from right under the light, almost opening a bowl-shaped hole up. That would even out the lighting of the canopy from my too-short light and open up the next layer of buds. It's absolutely fascinating to poke around in there, moving the plants aside and looking through the resulting hole. I can't really get to the back two plants, and they are growing the biggest colas. They are very 'foliated' too. I can barely see what is going on there, but the buds are big fairly far down into the canopy.

Anyway, some more semi-gratuitous close-up shots of several buds to try to get a fix on trichome maturity. They seem very close to me, but not quite there yet.

 

[Shayne010944]

have the trichomes gone milky yet or are they still clear ?

 

[phxazcraig]

have the trichomes gone milky yet or are they still clear ?

...he asks as I post pictures of the trichomes to answer just that question...

 

[josefrahl]

...he asks as I post pictures of the trichomes to answer just that question...

To be fair a lot of us have eyes that need a 30x (or 60x) magnification pic (old eyes, lol). I'd say they're at least 2 weeks out, but personally would run a strain like SourD a little longer to get as much amber as possible. But I'm more of a body than head high guy. 😌

 

[phxazcraig]

To be fair a lot of us have eyes that need a 30x (or 60x) magnification pic (old eyes, lol). I'd say they're at least 2 weeks out, but personally would run a strain like SourD a little longer to get as much amber as possible. But I'm more of a body than head high guy. 😌

That's why I'm posting - because of it (allegedly) being Sour Diesel, with the 11-week flower period. These buds are 56 days into flower, and they seem pretty much like other 8-week-flower hybrids.

The back two plants seem to still be growing, a lot more than the front two. Why, I'm not sure, except the back two got a lot less defoliation. Overall, there is a lot of bud growth (growth and fattening) of the lower bud sites, most of which you can't see without getting into the middle of the canopy.

I'm really unclear as to the effects on lower bud sites of having light reach those bud sites, as opposed to just having a lot of leaf everywhere to catch the maximum amount of light. So much to learn. I wish I had 10 tents going, all with different conditions to judge the relative effect of different approaches.

 

[phxazcraig]

That's why I'm posting - because of it (allegedly) being Sour Diesel, with the 11-week flower period. These buds are 56 days into flower, and they seem pretty much like other 8-week-flower hybrids.

The back two plants seem to still be growing, a lot more than the front two. Why, I'm not sure, except the back two got a lot less defoliation. Overall, there is a lot of bud growth (growth and fattening) of the lower bud sites, most of which you can't see without getting into the middle of the canopy.

I'm really unclear as to the effects on lower bud sites of having light reach those bud sites, as opposed to just having a lot of leaf everywhere to catch the maximum amount of light. So much to learn. I wish I had 10 tents going, all with different conditions to judge the relative effect of different approaches.

Sour Diesel - anyone experienced with this strain?

Three of my plants seem to have renewed pistil/calyx growth. Not quite like foxtailing, I think. But for sure there is a fair amount of new growth on the buds on 3 of the 4 plants, making me wonder if this is why Sour Diesel wants 11 weeks to flower. Acts like an 8-weeker, then throws a growth spurt in there near the end. Now I'm wondering about cutting the one plant early, or harvesting just the tops of the current buds and flowering the rest for 2-3 more weeks.

And yes, can't wait to cut something! I went ahead today and talked myself into cutting off the damaged fan leaves on top. Figured at this point they've done any good they might have by shading other leaves from too-bright-lighting, and if anything maybe it would be better to slow down the top buds and speed up lower ones by selective trimming.

Man, are these buds sticky!