Hey I gotta ask I grew yrs ago outside and made oil from everything, mostly bagseed that didnt flower much. oil was best thing for it. Now the last year and this I am growing my own again and outside, Gods big light bulb is best I think. Anyways my question is... when do you find is the time for best harvest results? with temps dropping below 20c for september and october even cooler with either month producing killing frosts or even snow? When does resin production quit and returns start diminishing? I'm hoping that the drop in temp in september doesnt stop them until the first killing frost (when I plan on harvesting) does.
I usually harvest mine around the last week of September or the first week of october.... The best way to find out is to go buy a "loupe/magnifier" to check your trichs. Ive found during my last 2 outdoor grows that they are usually %50 amber %50 cloudy around the last week of september. Ive let them go until the first week of october before and that extra week really packed on the buds. Ill post a few pictures for ya here to explain it further. Checking the trichs under the magnifier. I paid like $10 for this one at a photography store. Heres the size of the main colas when i harvested in the last week of September..They arent trimmed really yet, so they look schwaggy. You can see how there is space between bud sites on these ones... Then in this harvest i let em go until early October. They packed on quite a lot of bud in those last few days... You can see how they are much more solid. So yeah, it all depends on the trichs i guess, although for the sake of having more bud you can leave em out an extra week. As for frost, that doesnt usually show up until they are ready for harvest anyways...
I know about the changing colors and have a gemhound microscope for checking. however its the rate of increase when temps drop below 20c even 15c in days and closer to frost at nights (hell today its only 12c) that concern me. if its cooler will it still grow more crystal or will it quit doing anything and be a waste of time leaving it out? I'm out west middle of the west take a map of the 4 western prov from bc coast to manitoba/ont border put a pin dead center and I'm within 50 miles. Youre a lot more south, have warmer falls temps not as critical as here.
here we expect killing frost in sept, oct for sure. tho depends on yr sometimes have til mid oct before it kills
Damn, yeah i guess i get more time being southern and all... I dunno man. Id have to leave it up to some western Canadians to help ya out.
so you find yours is ready by trichome color before it gets too chilly to keep getting bigger/better? I know last yr I had clear trichromes until frost but that was 18th Sept. anyone else north of 52?
Yeah, you see by that time mine are going from cloudy to amber... Like i said, im pretty sure mine are ready for harvest in the last week of september and could go well into the first 2 weeks of october. We dont usually see frost here until mid october.
ya we get til mid sept usually. rarely into Oct, but then I've seen quite late falls and frost too. tho you figure colors change by end of sept for you. our light periods are very simular at that time of yr, I think if light times make the difference then I will be ready same type of timing. My wife said she'd go take some pictures next weekened for me, I'll be posting them, and I'll get her to pluck a small side bud for me to check. I guess time will tell.
Right on! We need some more updates in the OUTDOOR GROW OFF thread... In fact im gonna go snap some pictures too... :flyy:
This year is supposed to be cold and wet the end of Sept and Begining of Oct just like last year. I harvested the 2nd week of Oct last year bad idea as it rained for 3-4 wks straight would have been better off harvesting the 2nd last week of Sept any gain in bulk was lost to mold. The first frost in Ontario Ranges from 9/6 in Northern On to 10/22 in the south...... http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/ontario.html
Yeah i deal with mold every year. Its never gotten REALLY bad, but its what usually forces me to harvest in the last weeks of September. It does spread really quick, but lucky for me i can check on em many times a day and make sure i dont lose the entire crop. I usually just pluck it out with my fingers (one at a time, and then i wash my hands before i pluck the next spot or plant) and let that area dry out. This photo is from September 21st two years back. Mold has already showed up and ive plucked it out. The spot is now dried out and doing just fine. September 15th. September 23rd of last year, mold/rot plucked out. I guess mid September is when you really need to keep an eye out.
Thanks for scaring me, mold I'm not prepared for, I gotta hope it holds back. Here are some pictures the wife took for me Tomatoes very close to crop. a bud from a side branch the Girls of the "Royal Purple" the "Glistening" girls
I am a new grower this year being my first and i know that I am a rookie and I need some help u said trichs it sounds stupid but where are they I seen ur pic and I don't see what u r talkin about so if u can explain a little more plz it would be appreciated cause I don't want too pull my baby too early and ruin my grow
Yes sir, the cold is coming.... So either rap them or harvest them in october. Cold comes fast and kills fast. Gl bud, Push It To The Limit with the flowering time.
Trichs are the little tiny crystals you see on the leaves near the tops of your plants. The best way to know when to harvest is to cut a few very small pieces off and put them under a microscope or a loupe. I bought one for $10 at a camera shop, but im sure you could find them in different locations. Looking under this magnifier you check to see if the TRICHS are amber/milky. When they are all still crystal clear its too soon. If they are all amber is getting too late. What you want to do, well actually what i do, is wait for %50 amber and then harvest. I could be wrong but its not deathly important to have an exact %50 ratio. If im not mistaken and early harvest of mostly milky trichs an a few amber results in more of a head buzz. Whereas a later Mostly amber harvest will give you a more body buzz/couch lock. Once again i could be wrong. Heres a picture to show you what i mean. i posted this on page one of this thread. These are tiny tiny snips of leaf from the very top of a plant almost ready to come down. Its somewhat hard to spot them here because my magnifier is only 30x. When you view it for yourself in person its much easier to spot them. Good luck!
CanadianDAN, thank you very much for explaining it in laymens terms for me the beginner and so far my experience here on GK has been great i am learning more and more daily, thanks again i am growing some bagseed so i know it isn't gonna be the best so thats why i was wondering about the triches so i can grow it to be the best it can be :growin:
well we had -5.1c this morning, actually had a wireless thermometer set up 1 sensor had a minimum of -0.1c at 8 inches from ground, at 4ft above ground was the -5.1c. it didnt kill the plants so not sure how long it was cold. I am getting mold now, not a lot but some on every 2nd-3rd plant. when I look at the trichs on each plant before I cut it, they are all white/creamy not clear with only a few amber colored maybe 10%. I think the frost did touch the covering of the stalk as some of them the skin slid while holding to trim. When I get home I'll get some photos up. next week sometime. at 5-7 plants a day trimming per person it'll be a bit before I'm done, good thing my med grower bud is here to help trim. with a wet cool cloudy summer/fall a good number maybe 50% of the buds didnt fill in as good as I hoped (lots of resin/sugar on them tho) so only the best thickest buds will get trimmed the rest is going to be put thru a bubblebag type system.
hi hey im on east coast was from ont, in ont id pick em around october no later than the middle we didnt usually get early frosts. but if ur in a rainy place like n.s. then check all the time for mold at like a week after sept starts. i checked em looked at the hair all was white (not ready) i came back 2 weeks later it rained like 3 times i lost about 3 oz dry of mold i was literally ripping big buds apart and ripping big hunks of mold that was like dust... it sucked... all i do now is put em where the wind blows alot (look at the grass/bushes) like on the edge of a treeline and get indicas cuz they flower earlier and if u can unlike me go shake the water off the buds after its done raining. as for the cold i would worry about mold first ive had plants that with stood frost alot seedlings and budded ones. unless it snows or goes to like -10 lol ive had seedlings i put out to early in a cheap see through plastic blanket bag makeshift greenhouse lol the lil cups of dirt were froze i watered them with warm water to thaw the soil and they lived dont ask me how..this info is a lil late havent been on this in like a year
