So im a new grower when it comes to cannabis. Ill be the first to admit my guilt when it comes to chopping too early. Im on my third round at this and am not gonna get fooled again.
Many of us us are guilty at chopping too soon. We get excited as we should. But i think we are over thinking it a bit. @plumbdand has been screaming at me, not really, but telling me to just watch those hairs. Im talking about my tricomb color and he says why? How are those hairs? Right. If they are green hairs all over dont bother looking at your tricombs. Its true.
So this year lets make a topic of it, as all off us outdoor growers are coming up on that decision. So who has the trick that cures all guessing. When and how you like to pick your harvest time.
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So i noticed a difference between morning tricombs and evening. They are more clear in am, before hot sunshine and appear cloudy during midday sun. I have chopped thinking my tricombs were cloudy when in fact they were not even close. But i got fooled.
So now i am waiting till my hairs show color and most of the green hairs are gone.
I still like star gazing as i call it. But im not gonna cut till my hairs and my trics show there color.
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Its all still a guessing game. Every plant is different every grower grows different. Back in the day we went by waiting for nearly all the hairs to turn brown and shrivel up. Mainly we were fighting mold at the end and worrying about cops and robbers. Flowering time was extremely stressful so a lot of weed got harvested too early. Still to this day once my plants get a few weeks into flowering I start reliving all those stressful feelings. When people ask, “how much longer” or " is it ready" I have a canned answer programmed into my phone. It may not be the right answer every time but it works for me every time.
You want to wait until nearly all the pistils have turned brown and receded back into the calyx’s then start checking trichomes for cloudy to amber depending on preference.
Everybody gets anxious even people that have been growing for awhile. I get it. Take a deep breath count to 10 wait a week and check again.
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I can relate to you on the feelings you get around harvest time. I still get a nervous, anxious feeling when im in my patch tending my plants. Feels like someones watching you or something.
So when you buy your seeds and you read flowers in 60 to 70 days? Is this really true? Who knows, but the breeder.
For us home growers these numbers should be a guide line of what to expect. Im finally learning this myself. Also have to factor in your growing environment. There is just know set time for any mj plants. Minus clones.
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I agree, i wait for that first amber tricomes then harvest.
Question: would you still wait if you are battling bud rot?
Growing outdoors in ny with high humidity.
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You use a jewelers loupe and check every few days. You need a loupe and for those trichs to be all cloudy not clear, and then the percentage of amber trichs is dealer choice. I like about 10% amber
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If Im fighting bud rot Ill do my best to go as long as possible. Ive cut off lbs of buds to get rid of bud rot caused by caterpillars but still harvested the rest based on trichomes. Ive had some that I ended up tossing the whole plant.
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I use a microscope and like my trichomes to be mostly cloudy with about 10% amber. I clip off a small bud and take it inside and check the trichomes on the buds/calyx’s not the suger leaves. Sometimes I do a split harvest and leave some buds on the plant for a few mire weeks
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Im down for the split harvest this year. Ill be taking some earlier than the rest. Depends on how it all goes down. Big buds tend to cause me the most problems going later into flower. @plumbdand. Like you said, caterpillars and moths laying eggs. Every year its some, just depends how much. Right. A few buds to a whole plant. But i will spray with bacillus or agrolyte to prolong my harvest if needed. Cut out the bad and spray.
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Its always the prettiest, biggest, fattest most dense buds that get bud rot. I had that Ace killerOG that had caterpillars bad. I cut off every cola on that plant ,he ends of every branch. Probably would have been a couple pounds dried and cured.
The only thing left was the larf buds. Since there was nothing left but them, they grew like crazy. By the time they were done they were all 6-8in dense buds there was a bunch of them. I think I got around a 1/2lb of some pretty decent bud and a few ozs of some ok bud. Learned a lot from that. I spray with bt and Captian jacks as a preventive throughout the grow and check every day for caterpillars. Right now I’m fighting grasshoppers doing more damage than ever before. Nothing kills them not much affects them at all.
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Just gotta hunt em down and squash em.
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Lost Coast Plant Therapy is the 
for getting rid of catapillars and is totally fine up until harvest. It contains isopropyl alcohol which dries up any soft bodied insect. It works amazing and I use every year without fail. Its a bit pricey but worth it. A gallon will get you 128 applications at 1oz. per gallon. https://www.lostcoastplanttherapy.com/
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I have yet to harvest a plant when the tricombs go mostly amber. If the pistils have receded and turned red/orange and bud rot is setting in, they get chopped. I think it’s better get some not quite ready buds than no buds. Morning dew and rain seem impossible to overcome in my climate.
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I have never tried to get mostly amber I usually go for around 10% If I do a split harvest I chop 75% of the plant at 10% amber and let the rest go to maybe 20% Ive had plants that the trichomes never turned amber or very few did. Latest Ive ever gone, I think, was mid November.
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I go out and shake my ladies every morning, to help them get rid of morning dew, Ive found it helps fight the mold. Mine are CLOSE, I have one Godfather OG that I could probably take, but Im waiting for a little more amber coloring.
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I do the same. I’ll also point a fan at them after rain or a very damp morning. Wish mine would finish early but I probably have another 4-6 weeks to go. Your plants are looking great!
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Theyre getting there, Ive got one thats real close, buds are pretty solid and look like this. Ill let them go as long as I can, but about a week and I prob could start taking this one. Rest of them the buds are big, but not rock hard yet. I use this little monocle thing I picked up at a local fair years ago now, best $2.99 I ever spent. 
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Just watch those hairs. If you have green hairs still, then you have more time till there mature.
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beautiful healthy plants, looking at all the white pistils I would think 3-4 more weeks at least, weather conditions are still good to let those beauties ride!
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