Harvest is nigh -- hopefully

[JDiablo]

Hello gents,

I haven't posted here before but have used all the invaluable information available to me to grow about a 12" plant in my room and everything went really well.

I just entered my 10th week of flowering and I think harvest time is near. My plant's fan leaves are curling and drooping and the bud appears ripe and juicy. There are a bunch of red hairs covering the plant and the pistils are starting to turn amber/brown, but most of them are still white. Just a few amateur questions for the forum: to harvest, do I just clip the plant at the base, or do I pull it roots and all from the soil, or does it matter? I need to dry and cure ASAP so I'm just itching to harvest, and I hope I'm harvesting at the right time. I read all the other posts about harvest times and think I have it right, but I'm not 100%...

I can take a couple pics of her if that would help with an answer. I just want to make sure I don't harvest too early and ruin the whole process.

Thanks
Diablo

 

[Stoney Bud]

Radio shack sells a little hand held microscope that you can use to look at the trichomes on your buds.

The appearance of the buds, leaf and pistils make no difference to the harvest timing.

The only thing that matters is the color of the trichomes. To see that, you need that microscope.

You should be looking for half the trichs to be clear or cloudy, and the other half to be light amber.

When your plant reaches that stage, it's ready to harvest.

You can just pull it up and hang it upside down. Make sure you have lots of air movement between the branches.

Plenty of harvest, drying and curing information is available right in this section of the group. Read it all man.

Good luck! Let us all know how you do man!

 

[JDiablo]

Thanks for the info Stoney. I have a pretty good magnifying glass here at the house which I'm assuming will do the same as the microscope... all I need to do is be able to clearly see the trichs and their color, correct?

One other thing: There are little orangish brown dots at the base of some of the fan leaves. Is this a cause for concern or is it common?

 

[Stoney Bud]

Thanks for the info Stoney. I have a pretty good magnifying glass here at the house which I'm assuming will do the same as the microscope... all I need to do is be able to clearly see the trichs and their color, correct?

One other thing: There are little orangish brown dots at the base of some of the fan leaves. Is this a cause for concern or is it common?

A magnifying glass isn't strong enough. The microscope I'm talking about costs 10 dollars and is a 60X - 100X scope. You have to have a minimum of 25X to see what you need to. Magnifying glasses are generally only 2X-5X.

You'll have to post a pic showing those dots. I don't know what you're talking about.