First Grow - Buds Ready For Harvest Yet?

I am near the end of my first harvest. The electric bill and initial expenses and number of plant pests in this area were the down side. I think the buds are either ready or will be ready in about a week. Some of the plants show a lot of brown threads with the white threads. I checked the little clear mushrooms and can't tell much. I think they are not as bright as they were about a week ago. Some still look clear though. The spider mites came back due to me transplanting some clones in regular soil. I thought I had put enough floramite and azamax in the soil mix but the little buggers came back. I think they blow in the wind. Do the little mushroom crystals have to change from clear to not clear? Sorry there is no terminology and sorry if the pictures didn't come out better. Thanks for the advice and help. Harvest now?

Just taking a glance I would say there are several week left of maturity. The real test is putting them to the scope and measuring trichomes. I'm a full cloudy kinda guy.

Got a couple of weeks yet

I'm inclined to find a cheap USB microscope and hook it up to my laptop. I've got a loupe but can't really see changes in the trichomes. The plants are crowded so I'm probably knocking the tops of the trichomes off. Just hope I get one those "spurts of growth and size" before the spider mites take over the place. I'd like to get some killer weed out of this grow. Next project is to get some fem seeds out of a couple of smaller plants. The Johnny Appleseed in me wants to spread the joy where no cannibis seed has gone before in the Spring.

The crystals are called trichomes.How are you checking them?

Get a good 60x to 100x scope (available online ir any hydro shop) to inspect the trichomes.

Clear trichomes = Immature

Cloudy/Milky Trichomes = Mature

Amber trichomes = THC is starting to degrade to CBN

But...

Trichomes are not the end all be all judgment for peak maturity.

Things to look for...

1) Trichomes are as close to 100% Cloudy/Milky as can be...a good indicator would be 90% Cloudy/Milky and 10% Clear or 90% Cloudy/Milky and 10% Amber.

2) Calyxes aka the little pod the hairs (known as pistils) come out of begin to swell in size.

3) Pustils turn from white to orange,and finally to a dark reddish orange color and begin to recede back into the calyxes.

Ou8aCracker2 said:

The crystals are called trichomes.How are you checking them?

Get a good 60x to 100x scope (available online ir any hydro shop) to inspect the trichomes.

Clear trichomes = Immature

Cloudy/Milky Trichomes = Mature

Amber trichomes = THC is starting to degrade to CBN

But...

Trichomes are not the end all be all judgment for peak maturity.

Things to look for...

1) Trichomes are as close to 100% Cloudy/Milky as can be...a good indicator would be 90% Cloudy/Milky and 10% Clear or 90% Cloudy/Milky and 10% Amber.

2) Calyxes aka the little pod the hairs (known as pistils) come out of begin to swell in size.

3) Pustils turn from white to orange,and finally to a dark reddish orange color and begin to recede back into the calyxes.

Click to expand...

advice doesn't get better then this