Sativa Harvest/Ripeness

[Afrikaaner]

So I bought clones from a friend's cousin who though he knew that the plants were Burmese Kush, but here we are on week 13 and they're not ripe, so obviously they're some mystery plant with stupendous growth characteristics. However, I'm only well acquainted with indica plants, which tend to be easier to tell when they're ripe and ready for harvest. I have been reading all sorts of differing reports about how some sativas don't get amber trichs, and you need to look to other signs like calyxes swelling, pistils turning orange, etc. So what are you guys' rules for telling when you should be harvesting sativas?

 

[Rosebud]

I have only grown one pure sativa and it was a mess. You plant has been flowering for 13 weeks? What are the tricomes looking like. Could we see a picture?

 

[Afrikaaner]

http://imgur.com/a/YXuJK

These are from a little lower on the plant, where it's looking more ripe. And actually, these are the first time I'm seeing more than just a random stray amber trichome, so it might actually be time to cut, your thoughts?

 

[Rosebud]

You don't think the plant is burmese kush? How bout a picture of the plant?
I have taken a half burmese at 8 weeks and the other half at 10. I like it more up so if that was buku, i would take it now.

Lookin good.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Why not take a "taste test"?

 

[Afrikaaner]

rosebud - it's definitely not burmese kush, because there wasn't a single amber trichome at 10 weeks, let alone 8. Now on the lower portions of the colas, i'm suddenly seeing a bunch of amber trichs, which I hadn't notived about 4 days ago.

hXXp://imgur.com/a/EZk6Y

 

[Rosebud]

I agree with THG, take a taste and see what you have. I have never seen buds like that.

 

[Old_SSSC_Guy]

Sure you don't have a light leak?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

I'm with Old SSSC Guy. Your plant is revegging. This is almost certainly the cause of the long flowering period. And about the only way this could be happening is light leaks.

I have edited your link. Please do not post direct links.

 

[Afrikaaner]

sorry about the links, how do you recommend I post them in the future?

also, why do you think it's revegging? i took another small piece off from lower down again, and found zero amber trichs again. this picture is much more in line with what i've been seeing all over the plant.

hXXp://i.imgur.com/5QPES.jpg

so that picture also lines up with the progress i've been seeing so far in terms of maturation rate. and the colas were very still rather light and airy 1.5 weeks ago when I had to cut 2 down because i discovered mold. so i don't think i missed the initial harvest window. with this latest push of new growth, the colas have filled in very very nicely. also, they look like they're all over the place because i ran out of vertical space during flowering and had to lst a bunch then, which it seems to have responded to very nicely.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Yes, that is the way to deal with the links--thanks.

I can think of no other reason for the reveg rather than light leaks during the dark period. The plant truly needs absolute 100% dark during the 12 hour dark period. You almost certainly have to have a fairly substantial light leak for the plants to be revegging. If the plant is revegging, it is going to slowly stop producing flowers (and trichs)--the reason that the buds are light and airy and no mature trichs.

Tell us more about your space and set-up--size, lights, ventilation, nute regime, etc.

 

[Afrikaaner]

setup is a closet, sealed the door with a thick blanket folded in half plus black poly on the door itself - it should be VERY close to 100% dark during the dark cycle. been using DWC with general hydro nutes, some massively oversized (375 cfm?) fan hooked up to an activated carbon filter, 400 watt hps/mh switchable ballast. it's about a 1.9' x 3.8' closet, 2 plants in 1x 10 gallon tub.

So first of all, I'm 100% sure this wasn't Burmese Kush. It never had the right growth pattern, it didn't mature nearly fast enough, nothing was right about it, and seeing as I've have 3 or 4 very successful grows before this one, I think I was doing things right enough for me to know this wasn't doing what it was supposed to do. It was always airy, and I cut a big nug off at the 8th week to check trichs and such, and they were 100% clear, and when it dried, it was fluffy bud, with a really mediocre head high - in my experience, unripe bud. What you're calling "reveg" growth I think is more of just the plant filling in nicely, kind of as my past plants did (around 1-2 weeks before harvest date, they go from looking alright to looking SUPERB).

Also, the trichs have been moving along fairly steadily from clear to cloudy, so I think they're on track for proper maturation, it was just that seeing as this seems to be a fairly sativa dominant plant, and I was reading that some sativa plants never turn amber, I was just looking for you guys' advice on what ripeness indicators you look at on sativa heavy plants.

 

[Old_SSSC_Guy]

I said light leak because your plants are showing it. The over leafing and stretching of the buds are classic signs. Buds become a pain in the rump to trim & manicure. When you trim back the leaf there will not be enough supporting structure to hold the pistils, because you end up with thin, runny buds mixed in a bag of shake.

Either that or that strain is simply crappy. Even among quality hybrids you can get mutants; and that includes plants which look drippy-sweet and turn out to have zero high. Just the nature of the beast for unknown strains or poorly bred strains.

The flower room can not be "VERY close to 100% dark" it has to be in total blackout for the entire dark cycle. Some strains just don't seen to notice any light leak - others will go weird from even the smallest, tiny, tiny light leak. Some plants will show leak symptoms if even one branch or bud is being hit with a light leak. Confuses the plant.

Remember that the plant is not judging how many hours of light it gets - it only cares how many hours of darkness it gets.

Just my opinion... Looks like a light leak to me, and what the trichomes are doing does not have any interest for me if a plant is not happy.

 

[Afrikaaner]

Old_SSSC_Guy, you may well be right about the leak, I don't know for certain, nor will I be able to know I cut down my plants (can't get in the grow area to check). What I do know, is that when the lights are on inside the closet and it's dark in the rest of the house, I can't see light coming out of anywhere.

However, that being said, I still want to know what the pros look for when judging if a sativa strain is ready to come down. Let's ignore my plants, and look at an ideal situation where they're perfectly happy. What indicators do you use to decide if you want to cut that sativa plant down?

 

[Old_SSSC_Guy]

Better way to check for light leaks is to go into the tent/room/closet when the lights are out. Close your eyes and count to 100, then open and stay there a few minutes more. If your eyes can catch -any- light then you have a leak.

I am not so scientific about harvest time. I do it by 'zen' or seat of the pants. After doing it this many years you just get a feel when they are done. Some people use trichome status, other people use 'the law of diminishing returns'; where they harvest when the plants are just not growing anymore and just seem to be sitting there doing nothing.

 

[Afrikaaner]

Yeah, I figured that would be the best way to test for light leaks, but it's just a tiny closet that's completely filled with 2 plants tied to the ceiling, so I can't really squeeze in there too at this point, hence why I need to wait for them to come down to check for leaks.

But I gotcha on the harvest date. I know what you mean about them just being done. I remember my first grow when I was looking at my plants and thinking, "damn, they look ready" and then two weeks later, thinking, "holy hell, i thought these were looking ready two weeks ago!? what's wrong with me?" Since then (and a couple grows later), I know to at least some degree what ripe buds look like, so I guess I'll go by your zen method.