Too late for outdoor grow?

[Green Leaf Organics]

Hi bud

Try this out it may help , cut a sugar leaf of one of the buds and take it inside and put it under a good light . Then take your camera/ phone  and put it down on the table and focus is on the sugar leaf using the table as a tripod. That way you will be able to keep still enough to take the pic. If you using a phone set the focus and stuff and use a voice command to take the pic , that way there is no camera shake.

Cheers

 

Ps ... make sure you light source is as close to 6400k , if you use a warm white build it will make you trichs appear amber

 

Pps.. put a white piece of paper under it , it helps the camera to focus

[Surv0]

I have been trying to get a pic nice enough to make out if the trichomes are turning amber, but somehow my pics come out all blurry. Today I'll go search for a magnifying glass rather than risk having the perfect time to harvest pass.

 

If I get nice pics I'll definitely post them.

 

Not sure where you are based so cannot recommend a shop, but try look for a 45x and up loupe magnifier. Takealot has them I think. If you can find a 100x loupe even better. Great for checking the trichs on the plant itself.

[Sativa]

Just a small update.

 

I got a magnifying glass yesterday and it seems like all the trichomes are still very white, I didn't notice any amber. My plant is starting to loose colour in the bottom fan leaves and they're starting to turn yellow. Is this something I should be worrying about 13 weeks? I've read that the plants loose colour closer to harvest time, but if my trichomes aren't even starting to go amber yet. All the pistils have curled and none of them are white.

 

Something that is probably not helping is that fact that I don't know what strain this is, being bagseed n all (I only collect seeds from good weed I bought the last +- 9 months - Greenhouse weed from International seedbanks). I just know it's got one hell of a pine/citrusy smell to it and somehow I can't remember having many piney/citrus strains. I was thinking it may be Tangy, because the seeds I collected from the bankies I bought were not that flavour, except for the Tangy and I got a few of those bankies.

 

I'm based in P town if that helps.

[Totemic]

Consider that after the pistil brown the calyxes still need to swell considerably before ready to harvest. It can be another 2 weeks or a month. Patience is worth it.

[Sativa]

Thanks, I will be patient, not that I'm a patient person at all. Knowing that the yield will be better makes it easier. The dry and cure will probably be even harder

 

Then an update on the grow. Sadly we had some hail here last night and the plant got hit a bit. Not too sure if this will impact the eventual harvest figures a lot, or maybe the bit of stress is good for growth? On a positive note, I did try and shake excess water off with a light shake. In the process felt the main cola to feel what it feels like, never done this before and never touched them. Pleasant surprise to feel it's reasonably dense and tight, just hope it dries out before issues develop.

[Sativa]

Small update here

 

The fan leaves on my plant is drooping a bit and some are turning yellow a bit. Not sure if this is a shortage of something, or maybe it's just taking the nutrients from the leaves? Will try and post a pic later, maybe someone can advise.

 

This plant is testing my patients, I was under the impression that it would be done by now. It looks like it's still massing up those buds, so it's easier to be patient.

[Totemic]

You'll find she wants less water now, and the fan leaves yellowing is normal for this time of the season. Please dont try correct it with a nitrogen feed. You will surely slam on the brakes there instantly.

 

You can only really be sure on flowering times with known genetics. With bag seed regardless from what bud it came will more than likely be a long flowering (16-20 weeks) landrace or very sativa dominant.

 

Be patient. Harvesting that bud a week to early is ruining it imo. Especially if it is landrace. You really want almost all those trichomes amber.

 

[Sativa]

I know this is probably strain dependant, but is there a range of days or weeks from first trichomes to last ones turn amber? It doesn't look like there is any amber ones yet. 

 

Regarding the nutrients, I've only given the plant nutrients twice, that was Nitrosol when it was smaller and veging, and about two weeks ago I gave it some water from a 10 L container with one t spoon Epsom salt in, that's it. We've had some rain and cloudy days, I was wondering if this might have something to do with it?

 

From what I've read at a few sources, the best time to harvest is when I think 50-70% is amber. This is apparently a nice balance, too late and you getting THC converting to CBD? Also more of a couch lock, not what I'm really after. Please correct me if I have this wrong please. Still have a lot to learn and trying to cram everything in in a short period isn't the best way for me.

[Totemic]

A landrace sativa or any pure sativa will never couch lock you. That is a very indica based trait to couch lock. Most of our landraces have a really high CBD ratio that is often 1:1 or close with regard to THC which is a plus.

 

Using the 50/50 or whatever ratio on trichs is a good guide with hybrids that have indica influence as the indicas are usually really high in THC, low CBD, and the THC mostly degrades to CBN which is the one with the most notable couch lock effect.

 

Honestly, if you have a landrace sativa, mostly amber you cant go wrong.

 

[__DANNY__H__]

If I may go off-topic for a moment, @Totemic: I've read on the internet numerous times that African sativas are known for their zero CBD content and higher THCV content... Is that a load of bollocks or is it maybe a subpopulation somewhere on our continent that has those properties?

[Totemic]

Yeah apparently pure swazi, malawi and DP are low/devoid of cbd, but what has happened over the last few decades with the constant attacks on those genepools, skunk was introduced at some point by breeders working with the locals and there you find a lot of CBD influence was introduced.

 

There must still be untainted populations out there, but the bulk of what we get smokes different from bud to bud, so populations are very mixed imo.

 

It will be great when labs will be able to legally start testing locally. We will definetely get a much clearer idea of what's what.

[Sativa]

I'm now starting to worry about my plant. It's just about lost all it's fan leafs after turning brown and getting really dry and yellow. The plant also doesn't appear to getting past the white trichomes. Maybe I'm just overly worried about nothing, but I'd hate to screw up my first grow completely and not gt some smoke at all. I'll try and post some pics later, then maybe I can get some good advice.

[Totemic]

If she is all white, Id say chop her, or at least some of her. Maybe leave a bud or so on to test a later harvest? Especially if you intend growing out that type of plant again.

[Sativa]

What do you guys think, is it time to chop it or do I still leave it for a bit? It doesn't look too healthy, but having said that, the smaller sugar leafs looks to be doing ok and they are green and healthier looking. The one thing that also bothers me a bit is the pip looking things on the buds that looks like they are turning brown.

 

Looking forward to some solid advice SOON, please.

 

 

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[Green Leaf Organics]

That Plant is as ready as it will ever be , chop her.

[Sativa]

It's chopped, so now I know how long still.

 

Now I have a question regarding the drying. I cut the plant at the base and hanged it in my garage. Didn't trim it, just took the last few fans off before I cut it. My plan is to dry the whole plant for a week or so, but when can I take the sugar leaves off without loosing any potency from them for baking purpose? They were very hard to remove when I took a little test bud. Hoping there is a great time when they just come off easily.

 

My understanding is that the plant dries nice and slow when you hang the whole plant, this sounds like the better way and I'll try that this time round.

[Sativa]

Just a close to final update.

 

Yesterday I decided that it's time to trim and store the plant after hanging upside down in my garage for 6.5 days. The buds seem to be dry and I did test a bit of the smaller pieces. It's exactly like I've read, harsh and needs to cure for a bit, but it's got an amazing taste of pine/lemon. I also removed the the male plant too late and ended up with loads of seeds. Luckily it's a very pleasant strain, so it would probably be nice too.

 

Anyway, my plant yielded about 36g which doesn't include the one small tester head I took off and another piece used as as tester yesterday. This is obviously still wet-ish and after a few weeks cure it will probably be closer to 25g or less even? My main objectives was to learn and hopefully end up with a full bankie. This seems to be likely looking at the quantity I have in a jar.

 

I'll try and post some pics of the total later.