First time grower here - any advice on when I should harvest these Indicas?

It is really hard to say when plants should be harvested when they've only been flowering for 4 weeks.

Since this is your first grow, I totally understand how eager you are to get the buds nice and fat quickly, then chop them down and smoke them. If they've been flowering for 4 weeks, they probably need another 4 weeks. Those look like nice little buds, so with some patience your grow should be fine.

Harvest your plants when most of the pistils have turned from the white color they are now to a shade of amber.

Keep posting pics of your plants every few days, and within a few weeks someone will probably suggest you start flushing them in preparation for harvest.

SunnyJim said:

It is really hard to say when plants should be harvested when they've only been flowering for 4 weeks.

Since this is your first grow, I totally understand how eager you are to get the buds nice and fat quickly, then chop them down and smoke them. If they've been flowering for 4 weeks, they probably need another 4 weeks. Those look like nice little buds, so with some patience your grow should be fine.

Harvest your plants when most of the pistils have turned from the white color they are now to a shade of amber.

Keep posting pics of your plants every few days, and within a few weeks someone will probably suggest you start flushing them in preparation for harvest.

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Thanks for the advice, man. I'll post some more pics later on then.

Here are some new pics. I'm guessing another week or two - any ideas?

Looking good, man. I agree that you'll probably need to harvest her in a week or two, so I would start thinking about flushing her in preparation for harvest.

Are you sure it's an Indica? The fan leaves look too thin for an Indica, and look more like a Sativa dominant strain, although I could be completely wrong. Still, looking really good.

Keep us updated with pics over the coming week or so and keep your eye on the color of the pistils. Once they start turning amber it'll be ready for the chop.

Thanks for your reply man.

I was under the impression that Sativa strains were pretty tall. This one is only a yard tall, but you're probably right. I think it's a hybrid, perhaps that's why it's short, but has Sativa leaves.

Here's a link to what I think is the plant I have.

http://www.cannabis-seeds-bank.co.uk/underground-originals-smile/prod_1629.html

Apparently it is Indica / Sativa.

From the description, that strain sounds great! Let us know how it smokes when you finally do harvest it.

So what type/wattage of cfl's are you using and how many? Its amazing the results people are getting from just cfl's alone, one guy on another forum grew a White Widow plant beautifully that produced fat sticky buds with only three small wattage cfl's, one 42 watt over head and two 27 watters on the sides if you can believe it. Also, if possible could you please post some pics of your setup? I'm growing a White Widow and a Indica Purples in my closet under a 125 Watt CFL, 4 ft Fluorescent W/two grow bulbs standing upright and two cfl's on the sides, one 68 Watt and one 27 Watt, the 27 watt was all I had left so its better than nothing. I also tried my hand at cloning and was amazed out how easily I achieved success, I used a plastic cake tray very similar to the clone domes you can get/Free left over from my nieces birthday, Jiffy Pellets/$2.50 for 36, Take Root Rooting Hormone/$4 at wall-mart, Vitamin-B1/already had, SUPERthrive/already had and a couple drops of Peroxide. Using these VERY SIMPLE things that you can get practically everywhere very cheaply I was able to root my cuttings in 5 days but I actually saw a tiny white root tip poking out the side of a Jiffy Pellet on day 4 so really it only took 4 days to root, not bad for my first time would you say? I was so impressed with how easily and fast they rooted I'm going to start a thread on it outlining my technique so as to help others achieve the same or similar success. I tried to take some pics but both my camera batteries are completely dead so I'll post some later when I can. Thanks for your time and stay green.

Actually I'm using a single 150 Watt HPS lamp. It's enough light so that I'm growing four plants at once.

I must've posted this in the wrong place...sorry.

To clarify, many of the pistils are already amber on both of my plants. Their color should be more visible in these two pics. For some reason, the red color seems to show up better when there's less light.

I am a noob grower, but i have grown with a 150 hps and cfls before and 2 outdoor grows. every grow i had i harvest to early for the main reason i wasnt fully comfortable growing in these locations. Your plant is beautifull thumbs up. But if you can let it grow for atleast 2 or 3 more weeks or more. your plant looks like it still has the ability to grow and gain more weight.

dude what longer than a week. try to get a microscope to look at the trichs

thatguy1122 said:

dude what longer than a week. try to get a microscope to look at the trichs

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Don't have a magnifying glass :/
You can see how the pistils are getting pretty amber in this pic I took today, though.

View attachment 1752939

Sounds like a plan. Hopefully the buds on this plant will get bigger than they are... I think I'll wait and hope they grow more. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any new growth for about a week or so. Here's a pic I took today; as you can see, the pistils are starting to look pretty amber.

View attachment 1752940

Wow, it's amazing what 4 weeks did for your sweetie. I think she looks close. take a small sample quick dry and if you like pick. If you have a radio shack close by you can get a little microscope for "models" for about 10-15 bucks. stay high.

Hi - Here's a great way to spot if your plants are mature. When still unripe the trichomes will be clear. This gives you a "diamond shine" from the bud when you look at it under the lights. As the trichomes ripen they will become white/milky and the "diamond glittering" will disapear and you'll notice the whole bud just looses the shine and is more milky white. You don't need any magnifying glass. I have one, but never use it to dertermine maturity anymore. Remember that it can take several weeks from when it starts looking yummy until it's really ripe.
Hope this helps.

I did a quick search if you do get a microscope here is what to look for... I'm sure Brimi's method will work just fine too. I'm a noob so I still like using my microscope... I'm sure I'll get to a point where I won't need the microscope anymore either.

Brimi said:

Hi - Here's a great way to spot if your plants are mature. When still unripe the trichomes will be clear. This gives you a "diamond shine" from the bud when you look at it under the lights. As the trichomes ripen they will become white/milky and the "diamond glittering" will disapear and you'll notice the whole bud just looses the shine and is more milky white. You don't need any magnifying glass. I have one, but never use it to dertermine maturity anymore. Remember that it can take several weeks from when it starts looking yummy until it's really ripe.
Hope this helps.

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Thanks for your response. I'll use that method from now on. I'd noticed the shininess you mentioned before...it's pretty sparkly right now actually. I Guess I'll sit it out for a while and see what happens.

Incidentally, don't suppose you would have any idea as to why my buds are as small as they are?

Some strains just grow smaller buds than others. That could be one reason. Plant looks nice and healthy - that's the most important one thing. They'll might grow a little bigger before you harvest them.

SunnyJim said:

Harvest your plants when most of the pistils have turned from the white color they are now to a shade of amber.

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Tricombs. Not Pistils.... Wait for the Trics to get amber.