Hello my friends, I think I have a problem. I have four plants going in a 3’ × 3’ tent. Two of them are Indicas, and two are Sativas. The problem is they are not all going to be ready for harvest at the same time. In fact some of the buds on the tops of the plant are further along than the ones on the bottom. Can I harvest, like picking apples ? and take the buds as they are ready ? I am a first timer , maybe they will catch up in the final two or three weeks. I think one of my Indicas that was kind of a late bloomer and has buds all over it, is going to be a couple of weeks behind the others. I was planning on using my tent as a drying room. Have to come up with a new plan now. I’m in Vermont, and the temps, and humidity have been high this summer. Any advice wI’ll be much appreciated.
So, let’s start with a support ticket to see what you have for a setup and any good pictures.
Flowering time can be especially stressful for a new grower because they don’t know what to expect or when to start thinking about harvest. So, first is to know when your plant started to flower: this is why journals are important. Flowering times are an average so it’s only a guideline. What you really don’t want to do is harvest too early as the plant will bulk up in the last couple of weeks before harvest. The white hairs you see tell you straight up that your plant is actively making flowers and you want to let that continue. Some kind of flowering nutrients may be appropriate too, depending on what you are growing in.
A loupe or some kind of pocket microscope is a really good tool to determine the point of harvest and is inexpensive.
So, fill out the support ticket and please be as complete as possible. Tell us what kind of soil, what kind of lights, etc.
To create a grow support ticket we need some basic information to help diagnose the issue.
COPY/PASTE the below list into your forum post.
Answer these simple questions the best you can.
If you do not know, or do not use something; Just say so = NA
Strain; Type, Bag seed, or NA
Soil in pots, Hydroponic, or Coco?
System type?
PH of runoff or solution in reservoir?
What is strength of nutrient mix? EC, or TDS
Indoor or Outdoor
Light system, size?
Temps; Day, Night
Humidity; Day, Night
Ventilation system; Yes, No, Size
AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier,
Co2; Yes, No
If you can, upload a picture of your plant. It helps the diagnosis, if needed.
Add anything else you feel would help us give you a most informed answer. Feel free to elaborate, but short, to the point questions and facts will help us help you 
Strain; Type, Bag seed, or NA ---- Random seeds, save from good weed, two Sativa, two Indica.
Soil in pots, Hydroponic, or Coco? ---- Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil 5 Gal. Fabric pots
System type? ---- soil
PH of runoff or solution in reservoir? ---- 7.2 - 7.5
What is strength of nutrient mix? EC, or TDS ---- FF, Big Bloom, Grow Big, both full strength, and Cal-Mag(tsp per gallon water), until they went into flower. Now have stopped Big Grow, and the Cal-Mag, and started Tiger Bloom. Don’t really know what EC, and TDS are, excuse my ignorance.
Indoor or Outdoor ---- Indoor / 3’ x 3’ x 60" tent, Started with a scrog net that I purchased on Amazon. Scrog started off really good, but I soon ran out of places to tie my branches down, made a beautiful canopy, but grew out of control leaving me with some branches tied down and others not. To complicate things, I have an Indica that just took her time to grow, she did not get tied down at all. shes behind in bud development, but she has some beauties growing.
Light system, size? ---- Philizon 1200W LED
Temps; Day, Night ---- average 72 - 74 Degrees day, 68 - 72 night
Humidity; Day, Night ---- 65 to 75 daytime / 55 to 60 night
Ventilation system; Yes, No, Size ---- Yes, 4" exhaust fan (not in line) ducted out of tent, through window to the outside. Drawing fresh air into tent from the air conditioned house.
AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier, — House AC
Co2; ---- No
@Myfriendis410 @monsterblackbass
A few pics
I’m wondering if I should snip the smaller buds at the lower part of the stems, you can see in the pic with the bamboo sticks there is quite a few. If I sacrifice those, will it help beef up the top buds ? Not sure if they will develop into nice little buds.
Ok, based on your info… yes you can “apple pick” just pull flowers that are done to your liking after using your loupe) this works well because typically you will harvest the tallest oldest colas first allowing lights to be lowered on remaining flowers. since the girls are on different finishing times and you planned on using your tent to dry. (I have been there) you may need a de/humidifier to dry. Im in a super humid state down south. I have found a carboard box with rods pushed through the top covered with a towel to work well (of course you still need the right RH). My grow room ac pulls enough moisture out to give me a 40-60% RH all year. You definately want to find the sweet spot for your dry though. I have proven to myself that a bad dry ends in a bad harvest regardless of harvest size.
And seriously…those are some nice looking plants for a firat grow. Awesome work
Ok the trimming is really personal preferance. Some of the small braching that looks like its reaching for light i would get rid of in my opinion. I have had really nice flowers develop lower in the canopy though. Really depends what kind of penetration your lights produce. And yes eliminating some cause the plant to focus more energy on the other rmaining flowers.
You got good advice from @monsterblackbass. I have done a split harvest (that’s what you are contemplating) but you are nowhere near thinking about harvest. Those buds are going to fatten for another 4 weeks at least IMO.
If you do want to do a split harvest; try to pick a point on the plant and cut everything off above it; that way the canopy is level and you can get it up under the lights to fatten any lower buds. I would say, having done this, that had I just waited the extra two weeks I would have done as well or better.
If i may…my only suggestion may be backing off on the N. Those girls are a deep green and im sure will be able to ride it out till harvest with little to no N. @Myfriendis410 whatcha think? I agree with @Myfriendis410 your still gonna get so much more “fattening/ripening” sweet plants though! Please post more pics as your journey continues…
Thanks so much for your advice guys. I guess my next acquisition will be a Jeweler’s loupe. Thanks for confirming that I should cease and desist my nutes. Not even Tiger Bloom ? Will they still get bigger without the Tiger Bloom ? This Indica has a ways to go
The other three plants are loosing leaves and turning yellow a little, but she looks like she just started flowering.
It’s hard to tell but she has several branches that are solid buds almost from the stem all the way to the top of the bud. I can’t get to it very well, it’s in the back left of the tent. Next grow things will be different, two plants, not four.
Here is a closer look at the little lady in the back.
There are eight cola on this plant, you can see six in this picture. Each cola is loaded with buds.
Let the Ladies get mature filled out and fluffy before you harvest them.
As another helpful one said…you got another 4 weeks.
THIS is the hardest part for a newbie grower…NOT HARVESTING TOO SOON.
Wait patiently Grasshopper…Besides feeding and watching…your work is over. Let Mother Nature takes it’s course. You will have many more smiles of pride.
Don’t quit all nutes just nitrogen. U aren’t close to stopping nutes for a few more weeks. They just don’t need the N in flower like they do in veg.
Looks too soon to harvest to me as well. Wait till they look the way you want them as far as effect. I wouldn’t stop feeding for flower until your ready to flush. Make sure you final flush about two weeks before you harvest depending on soil. Those plants look great by the way, keep it up
Get that pH down, too. In flower, 6.5-6.7 is great.
If it was me I wouldn’t harvest nothing off of them right now it looks well away yet to me and it will be well worth the wait yeild will be more plus the high will be better your plants look really pukka but don’t be fooled and jump the gun their not quite there yet, good job on your grow they are nice plants really well done 
That indica has a LONG way to go. You know you are getting close when you can’t close your hand around a cola and touch your fingers. That’s what you can expect. If you want encouragement; go to the “bud porn chat room” and admire buds for reference. Seriously.
You definitely have plenty of N in that one plant so reducing that is probably a good thing. As to nutrients; as long as there are white pistils in abundance then you should be feeding bloom nutes (in moderation).
Thanks @Myfriendis410 , and all of you guys for the great advice. This is a problem I didn’t anticipate, when I planted these seeds, I knew little more than the plants grow in dirt. This has been, and continues to be a really cool learning experience for an old guy like me. I will cut back on nutes for my slow poach, and look for a large box I can use for a makeshift drying room.