need help deciding harvest time?

[clear243]

first time grower
3 female plant
70,110 and 100 cm height
hps light 400w.
1.the plant are only 4 weeks into flowering.
buds are quit small,never the less,
the hairs on the buds are already turning brown!!!
do i have to harvest when 50 percent of the hairs
are brown? or can i wait a little bit longer,
with out losing the chance to harvest any thing.

2.if i decide not to harvest(buds are so small
so there is no point really)can i reverse
the cycle back to vegetative state(18 hours of
light)and use this plant as a mother?(for clones)
or is it to late once the plant go into flowering
to use it for clones.

thanks in advance
clear243

[The Lost Soul]

Your buds are small because it's only in the middle of flower mate. Still got a minimum 4 weeks left (if it's an indica that is) and up to another 8 weeks or more if it's a sativa.
Also, are you counting flower from when they showed flower or when you changed to 12/12?
The only true way to tell if they're ready for harvest is get a scope/loupe.
Cheers

[clear243]

so what your saying is to keep
flowering even if all the hairs turn brown????

i start seeing flowers about 4 weeks ago!

turn to 12/12 about 2 month ago.

the plants started flowering by them self on 18 hours of light hps full spectrum

the strain?i don't know its impossible to
send agriculture stuff to my country
its unbelievable every thing get checked by tax authority!!

so i am growing from seeds that i got form smoking!

[The Lost Soul]

If they started flowering on 18/6 then it sounds like they're autos' mate.
I know feck all about them but i'm sure someone else will be along.
Cheers

[javadog]

some plants pre sex at 18 hrs of light. dont base harvest by pistil color. go by thric color. go at least 7 weeks.some plants can ripen early depending on feed. but as lost soul said 8 to 9 week for indica

[timothio]

If they started properly flowering during 18/6 cycle then they must be autoflowers as said before, and if you put them on 12/12 cycle after this and they've been on 12/12 for 2 months now, I'd suggest they may be done?

[clear243]

the thing is that they haven't been in
flowering for tow month!!!!
they have been in flowering
one month and the hairs already turning brown
i wanted to give them at least another
month more,but i am afraid that like any other fruit
if you leave it to long on a tree
it will get rotten.

so the question is very simple
cannabis less then a month into flowering
white hair already turning brown
in rapid rate.in one week its going to be
50 percent brown hair?
to harvest,or not to harvest????????????

if i will wait longer will it rot or is it o.k??
to make the harvest a little bit latter
with no harm done?

[timothio]

Now I'm confused...


the plants started flowering by them self on 18 hours of light hps full spectrum

turn to 12/12 about 2 month ago.

i start seeing flowers about 4 weeks ago!

So the plants have been flowering for 2 months! How can they have started flowering during 18/6 cycle, been on 12/12 for 2 months, but you only started seeing flowers 4 weeks ago?? Sorry, you've fried my brain, and I havent even had a smoke yet!!

Maybe the flowering during 18/6 was only the PRE-flowers showing, in which case they're NOT autoflowers, just a standard strain (which I guess would make more sense as they're from bag seed), but I dont know what would account for the small bud size and early maturing. Possibly if they have been pollenated? Have you had any males in there with them? Are the calyxes huge and split? Maybe they've hermied really young? (check for balls!!)

If they are a standard strain, you should be OK to take what bud is smokeable but leave some on, then re-veg on 18/6. Will take a few weeks to kick start vegging mode. If they are autoflowers then going back on 18/6 will not re-veg (you will not be able to re-veg an autoflower), but will probably be a good thing, autoflowers should not be put on 12/12, they flower regardless of light cycle so should be given as much light as possible.

Do yourself a favour, post some pics so someone who knows a lot more than me can try and help you out, and get a 30x magnification jewellers loupe (fleabay) to check the colour of the trichromes.

[clear243]

o.k honest mistake(MY BAD)
let me be more accurate.
i started growing 1.8.2010
with poor result,week steam,yellow leaves,no growth.
bought professional gear on the 10Th 5.10.2010.
took couple of days to get organize(don't remember how many)
activated hps,new pot,new soil,new fertilizer.
plants were small 30 cm or so.
wanted to give them one month to recover on growth
and then move to flowering.
in a week or two don't know didn't count it
the plants recover.and grew from 30 cm to 70-100 cm.
at the same time that this remarkable recovery happened
i started seeing little balls on some of the plants.
because i am a first time grower i was not shore if this is flowering(still on 16/8)
if this is male or female,so i gave them couple of days more(again don't know how many
didn't count).
after couple of days more i become convince that this are males
and terminate them.
in this point there were no signs on the rest of the plants for sex.
couple of days later i started seeing white hairs.
from 10 plant 3 are females one hermaphrodite the rest were males.
all this happened with in the last month and a half,from 5.10.2010 to today 12.11.2010.
that should give you the time frame,most of that time the plants were on 16/8
only when it becomes clear to me that they are flowering although on 16/8 cycle
i cut down to 12/12,couldn't be more then 2-3 weeks on 12/12.

pic will be post today
right now the plants are sleeping

[clear243]

pic C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\pic2

[bud_alzir]

hi clear i ain't read full thread plants showing brown pistils very early can be a sign of seeds imo were these male flowers open? was there any pollen/powder visible?.all the best:)

[clear243]

pic of my plants:first plant

[clear243]

secound plant

[clear243]

third plant

[clear243]

hermafodite

[prime]

leave them mate, they need a lot longer yet.

[clear243]

yes some of the males were open altough it was before the females were females(didn't have white hair at the time)
never the less i don't mind having flowers with seeds
its actually good for me because i cant get any seeds by male(like a normal person)
but back to my original question what does it mean regarding harvesting???
should i harvest when the hair turn brown?
or shod i ignore it and keep flowering for the full duration?
witch means that i have 1-1.5 month more.
thanks.

[timothio]

Going by the time scale you need to flower for a lot longer. They have only been flowering for 2 - 3 weeks. Normally you need to allow anything from 8 weeks to 12 weeks, dependant on strain.

Check the calyxes that have the brown hairs: do they look different from the calyxes with white hairs? Are they much bigger and swollen and starting to split open? This means seeds. Bonus!! If not seeds, then maybe the hairs have got burned by the light? This can turn them brown prematurely.

If you want to know when to harvest, get yourself a 30x magnification jewellers loupe from fleabay, less than £5. Then you dont have to rely on the colour of the hairs, you can see the trichromes turn from clear to cloudy and eventually amber. You want to harvest when all the trichromes are cloudy, and a few are amber (but a lot of this is down to personal taste).

[JokerThaToker]

they look like sativa or sativa dominant hybrids and i think they have a while yet m8,hope this helps :)

[clear243]

well thanks timo for the helpful info
i just ordered the x100 microscope
in my country it cost 50 $ yes every thing is expensive here!!
hope it will help
after all this work i don't want to harvest to soon.
will keep you informed on the outcome of this check
once i get it(probably a week from new).

[timothio]

No worries, glad to be of some help...! (where are you, by the way?)