Down to the wire - Advice needed

I am on my 3rd grow. The first two were northern lights and were not very successful. I never had many cloudy or amber trichromes and the result was very very unpotent. I am now 8 weeks into 12/12 with a white willow plant. At least 80% of pistals are orange and trichromes a a mix of cloudy and clear. For the last week, it has been under 8/16. Any advice for the next 2 weeks would be greatly appreciated - e.g. light, nutes and harvesting.

Thanks so much.

fcotton,

Welcome to RIU. Your picture is out of focus, so I can't really tell. But All I can say is you should go to radio shack, invest in a $12 pocket microscope, cut off a few sections of leafs around the buds (one with trics) and inspect them that way. All the tricomes should at least be cloudy (this is a head high). You will see like 1 in 20 not cloudy, thats fine. If you want a body high, wait until amber trics.

The type of light you are using greatly changes the length of flower time. HIDs are usually 8-12 weeks, if usinf flouro technology then add an extra two weeks. If you wait too long your trics will turn brown and black, at which point it is too late (but this takes about a week or so after being amber.

Good luck, keep us posted. BlessAmerica

I have a 1' x 2' hydro box with a 150 watt HID. I do have the radio shack scope. From what I have read, White willow should go 8-10 weeks and should be left in 0-8 hrs of light for the last 2 weeks. I have also read that the pistals should be 50-80% brown and that the most odor occurs near peak potency. My concern is that these bits of information seem to be contrary messages. If it is OK for almost all pistals to be brown / orange while I am waiting for more cloudy and / or amber; then I am relieved. On my prior grow, I reduced nutes 2 weeks before the clock would indicate finish time and the plants turned yellow and expired before much was cloudy. I have attached a new picture that is (hopefully) more enlightening.
Thanks for the advice.