how long do you flower for

[mastashake]

this question has probably been answered before butI cannot find the thread.
how long do you flower the plant for on the 12/12 light cycle?

 

[mountain rambler]

Oh boy are you in trouble. I love this question!

All plants are different, and it depends on how picky you would like to be. But when to harvest is a big question, as it will really affect the quality of your bud and the type of high you end up with. It’s common knowledge that indicas have a more body stone & sativas have a more heady high, but this can be altered by harvest times to an extent.

But here’s the basics first. Most indicas are more picky about when you harvest than sativas. Most take about 8 weeks to flower, and the harvesting window is about 2 weeks, unless you want to entirely ruin your bud. Sativas on the other hand take anywhere from 8 weeks (with the new varieties) to 15 weeks (especially African strains) to flower, and they’re harder to mess up (have a wider window) due to their slower maturation time.

So, easiest way to guage harvest time is by the hairs on the buds. Most people say harvest once 60-75% (but everyone’s different) of the hairs have turned red/orange.

But if you really want to get into it, go out and get yourself a 30x lit magnifying loupe (like 10-20$ at walmart, photo stores, jewlers, etc.) and check out the pics on this website: http://www.uk420.com/boards/lofiversion/index.php/t38959.html

By getting yourself into this, you can better control the high and guage the maturity of your plant. You can tell the levels of THC, CBN and CBD in your bud this way.

Your trichs will start off clear, go milky, then turn amber. The earlier you pick, the more milky (not clear) your trichs will be, and the less CBN and CBD there will be in your bud. You will still have the high THC levels, and if you like an up, cerebral sativa high, you will want to pick your buds earlier while some are milky and some are amber.

Then if you wait longer until the trichs are more amber, the THC levels will begin to drop and the CBN and CBD levels will rise—bringing out a more couchlock stone.

So anyways, sorry to ramble. Most people go with the hairs, but I like my little loupe. It helps me feel as though I’m really important or something. Lol.

 

[Mutt]

Hell yeah Rambler. Nice post.

Print this out with her post. her post explains it better.

 

[mountain rambler]

Nice Mutt!! I was looking for those pics exactly. I had them bookmarked, but I must have deleted it somehow. Use Mutt's pics-- they're better than the ones I linked for you.

And thanks Mutt. I was wondering how the hey I was going to find those pics again!