JAFR (Just another fn rookie) Question

[BigJer]

First timer and getting close to harvest. My questions are these:

1. Can you harvest a plant at different times? Meaning I have some
stigma's looking brownish and some are still white.

2. I grew outside my first time in 5 gallon buckets. Average height is 5 foot
with a lot of buds. If I switch to say a 15 gallon pot will the plants get bigger?

3. I have a heat pump system with a dehumidifier built in, is that ok for drying and how can you tell the
moisture level?

4.

 

[oldfogey8]

You should not harvest based on the current lot of the stigmas. You should be looking at the trichomes with a magnifier or pocket microscope. There are plenty of posts about what to look for as far as trichomes go(clear, cloudy, amber) but your plants don’t look ready to me yet(though I can’t see the trichomes well enough).

A bigger pot in general will allow the plant to grow bigger and thus give you bigger yields.

I try to maintain about 50% rh when drying. You want to dry slowly or your buds will taste lousy. Again, there are good sticky posts on harvesting, drying and importantly curing. You need a hygrometer to measure rh(relative humidity). You will want to get some small ones for putting in mason jars as you cure. I get them on Amazon. Calibers are good.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

The color of the pistils really does not say anything about whether the plant is ready or not. There are many reasons that they can turn brown before the plant is ready to harvest. Just by looking at the plants, I would say that you probably have 3-4 weeks or so to go. Most outside plants in North America will not be ready until the second or third week of October. Like oldfogey said, you need to check the trichs with 30x or better magnification.

Larger containers will generally give you bigger plants. However this is only true if you have a good soil mixture.

I like to trim my plants and then hang them to dry. I hang until they feel dry to the touch and the stem snaps. Then I jar them up and open the jar a couple times a day for a week or so, depending on how wet or dry they feel. You can buy jar lids that tell you the humidity in the jar. You can also buy moisture packs (Boveda is one of the brands) to keep your jars at specified RH.

 

[2RedEyes]

Hey Gerald, looks like you did a fine job growing that weed...did you say what strain that is...so yes, the most important thing to check coming up on ripeness is the color or those little frosty trichomes...amazon has some macro magnifiers. I got one that slips or clamps onto my phone so I can snap pics right up close like almost touching....then you can see clearly the color of the little mushroom shape goodies...they range from clear thru cloudy to amber...most seem to like a combination of cloudy and amber maybe 10 to 20% amber...looks like you got the growing down though...well done!!!

 

[stinkyattic]

Plants look great, good job keeping them happy in small pots, that says a lot abour your skill as a grower!
Give them time. They'll put on more bulk as they mature, and as others have said, you're a bit away from the finish line yet.
When you are ready to harvest in a few weeks, trim off the water leaves/fans and do whatever you do with them (burn to prevent any resident bugs carrying over is my recommendation ). Then trim the sugar leaves and lay on a screen to dry so you can make butter, or whatever your plan is.
Removing the bulk of the leaves before hanging to dry will do two things: first, the plant will dry faster, and having nothing blocking air flow is great to prevent mold. Second, whatever stumps of sugar leaves are left on the buds will curl in an aesthetically pleasing way while drying, and form a cushion when you jar them up, allowing air flow during the curing process -again preventing mold. And if you are lucky enough to have burgundy undersides of the leaf, these will show off nicely if you choose to leave a long trim rather than a tight manicure.

 

[BigJer]

Thanks everyone, I got my info from a drawing on-line so I panicked. I do not know the strain. Before I dumped a ton of money into something I couldn't grow. I have around $300 in it. I got my seeds off ebay. Out of 18 seeds only one male. He was found early and sent to fiery grave. I will say I've learned a lot more solid guidance reading here than my own research. Oddly enough the leaves toward the top of the bud is a burgundy purple color.

 

[stinkyattic]

Lucky you! Cool temps at night will bring out lovely fall colors in pot, too! Even indoors if I know I'm growing a strain capable of going purple, I'll jack up the A.C. near harvest, just for fun