What's the down side of an early harvest?

[Hackerman]

I have a situation where I want to harvest a little early.

What's the real down side?

If it is just size, I am fine with that.

Here's the scoop....

It's bag seed so the flowering time to maturity is always insanely long. These have been flowering for 12 weeks and the trics are still clear.

The buds are huge and they are packed with trics. I am fine with harvesting now and sacrificing a tiny bit of volume. However, if there is some chemical thing going on that I am not aware of I don't want to end up with shitty pot.

I have been a lurker and reader for some time so I have learned a few things (thanks to all the posters here). I like an up and social buzz rather than a couchlock buzz so I am fine with not a lot of amber trics. However, I usually take them when they are cloudy and these are all still clear.

I would love to take these today but I am afraid that I need to wait for them to, at least, go cloudy.

Any comments would be very helpful.

Thanks

 

[Rosebud]

They have been flowering for 12 weeks? WOW. Take a sample and try it. Still clear at 12 weeks must be sativa leaning for sure...I would taste a sample and see how it is... Good luck and glad you came out of the shadows.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Yes, it is more than volume--there is a chemical thing going on. The trics have to be ready. However since you have absolutely no idea what you are growing, why not take a small test bud and see if it is to your liking. I am also one who lie an up energetic high and often take my sativa dominant plants with mostly clear trichs. I do like to see some cloudy ones so that I know we are in the harvest window.

As a side note, there is no reason that the flowering time on bagseed should be insanely long--the flowering time is not determined by the fact that it is bagseed, but by the strain. If you had pulled a seed out of a bag of indica dominant, the flowering time would be substantially less.

 

[Locked]

I agree with what has already been said. It's about way more than bud size. Trichomes that are not mature will not give you a very good or potent high.

 

[Hackerman]

Sounds like I should wait a little longer.

Here's more ****...

Yes, these are predominantly sativa. Got the seeds from a bag of Columbia Red Bud back in 1971 and have been growing the same strain ever since. Mostly cloning but I had some hermies here and there and they provided an ample supply of seeds over the years. Got my hands on a predominantly Indica seed about 10 years ago and did some cross breeding which was fun.

However, compared to today's finely tuned strains, this seed is unpredictable. From 16 seeds (all from the same plant) I got 9 predominantly Sativa plants and 7 predominantly Indica plants. Throughout the years (since I did the cross breeding) I have found the seeds to be very unpredictable, with some producing sativa plants and others producing indica plants.

 

[7greeneyes]

If you've been planting seeds from hermaphrodites, they will always beget more hermaphrodites.

Sativa's are also known for throwing non-viable specious staminate flowers which look like male pollen sacs but are empty/sterile.

 

[Hackerman]

I pulled some of the lower branches off a few days ago and I have them drying in paper bags right now.

However, that will take a fair amount of time before I can smoke them. What's a good quick way of drying?

Or, can I put them, wet, into my vaporizer and test it that way. It would seem to me that a vaporizer would work as well (or better) on fresh pot as it would on dry.

Thanks again to all.

 

[Rosebud]

Yes, you can vape damp pot. Don't tell anyone but i have microwaved mine at 30% for a minute and a half and continue till dry...

 

[Hackerman]

Just FYI... the trics on the indica plants in this crop are still clear as well. 12 weeks of flowering and indica's are not yet mature??? I need to grab some good seeds. LOL

I need to get The Attitude. LOL

 

[7greeneyes]

Can't go wrong with Attitude.

 

[BenfukD]

Genetic defects I say

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Maybe you should tell us about your setup....it really sounds as if something is off if you have an indica that has been flowering 12 weeks and does not have cloudy/amber trichs.

 

[Hackerman]

Pretty standard setup. 4x4 space. 400 watt HPS. Decent soil mix of 1/4 perlite 1/4 vermiculite and 1/2 commercial top soil (soil is a bag mix of peat and sand).

18 hr veg then 12 hr flower. I just put it to 10 hrs a few days ago to try to help finish them.

I tell you, it's bad genetics. 40 years of inner breeding. Doesn't work in dogs or race horses. LOL

 

[johnnylongjohns]

If you have been growing that strain since 1971 and you still are not sure how to dry the lower branches, you need to think outside the box just once. Growing the same hermie prone plant for 40 years might not be the best thing to do. Have you ever smoked GOOD weed ?

 

[Hackerman]

LMAO.... Yeah, I have smoked good pot. Somewhere between 1968 and now, I probably stumbled on a joint or 2 of pretty good stuff.

Actually, this strain wasn't bad for a number of years. It suddenly started dropping a few years back. Maybe after 40 years my receptors found a balance with this pot. LOL In any event, it's time to move on.

Problem is, all the good pot you buy these days is homegrown and seedless. Trying to find good seed is impossible. I finally broke down and sent some cash to Attitude. We'll see what happens. Some good seeds would put me right back on track.

 

[Locked]

Pretty standard setup. 4x4 space. 400 watt HPS. Decent soil mix of 1/4 perlite 1/4 vermiculite and 1/2 commercial top soil (soil is a bag mix of peat and sand).

18 hr veg then 12 hr flower. I just put it to 10 hrs a few days ago to try to help finish them.

I tell you, it's bad genetics. 40 years of inner breeding. Doesn't work in dogs or race horses. LOL

4x4 space =16 square feet.

16 Sqr feet x 5000 lumens per sqr foot min=80,000 lumens.

A 400W HPS=50,000 lumens.

IMO you are way under lit and your messing with the flower time to 10 hours is probably part of your problem. You want to stick with 12/12. You can't quicken the finish by messing with the light schedule.

 

[Hackerman]

Thanks for the replies. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that some equatorial species that are slow to finish can be helped along by cutting off another hr or 2. Don't really remember where I read it. Still, I just did that a couple days ago so I doubt it has had much effect yet.

As far as being under lit..... I never really thought about it. As I came from a time of fluorescent lights, almost zero availability of quality nutes and Ed Rosenthal and High Times as your ONLY source of information... having a 400w light put me into the big league. LOL Not sure how old my light is at this point but the ballast is humming like a freight train. Time for a complete overhaul.

Thanks again

 

[Hushpuppy]

You have sooo come to the right place to get help getting your personal growing knowledge and equipment up to date.

 

[Hackerman]

Thanks Hushpuppy. I have been lurking and reading for some time. Lots of great info here.

Just bought a new 400w setup but after Hamster's post, I may put it in storage and grab a 1000w setup. Thinking about trading the fluorescent lights in my clone/veg closet to T5.

Is a 4 bulb - 4 foot T5 too much light for clones?

If it is, how about using it just to keep a mother plant going?

It's a 2x4 closet.

 

[Hushpuppy]

A 4' 4bulb T5 will be too much for rooting clones (in my opinion). It won't hurt them, just slow the rooting process some. However, you can always unscrew 2 of the bulbs while rooting and then screw them in once the plants have roots and need to veg a little longer.

Since you already have the 400w and want to get the 1000w light, you could use the 400w MH for cloning/veg if it has a dimmable adjustment. Just cut it down while rooting then back up for vegging. Just make sure to get MH bulbs that produce 6500K spectrum light, not the 5000K spectrum. The 5000K spectrum is good for rooting but the 6500K is better for vegging (same spectrum as the T5)