I think I'm ready for my first chop - Can I get a second opinion really quick?

Hey gang. I THINK I'm there. Ordered a digital microscope the other day, as I thought I was getting close. Looks like I was right.

Thinking these Diesel Autos are about ready. Can I get a second opinion?

I've got amber tric coverage at about 20-30%. Did I go too far, or am I just right?

Either way, I'm not going to be able to chop until Wednesday. I could stick them in the dark now, and then chop in 48h if I'm ready.

Appreciate the assist.

Does seem to be quite a bit of amber but are those leaves or bracts? We don't smoke the leaves of course so those trics' don't matter.
Still a lot of white hairs. My noob opinion is weeks still left, but @Thundercat is the best at this.

Try to get a photo of the calyx or buds they will give you a better idea on time ...sugar leaves always show ripeness early ...before the plants ready ...


But theyook great nice job !

You got at least 3 possibly 4 more weeks to go. There are still numerous long healthy white pistils coming off your colas.
This is a close up of the picture you have but you can clearly see all the white hairs.

You need to wait until at least 90% of those have receded and turn red orange or brown.
Then you will want to check the colors of your trics but only on the buds themselves not the leaves. Also don't check the very tops of the buds as those will ripen 1st before your lower buds get a chance to develop. Plus they receive the best light out of the rest of the plant. I like to check midway down my main colas. Then you will be looking for about 20% ambered colored trics, And I personally pay no attention to what left is either clear or cloudy.
As long as you have all your boxes checked, you're good to cut.
These are what I personally use.

[ ] on at least week 9 of flower. can be week 8 but that's VERY rare for a photo plant to completely ripen by week 8, And as rare as that is I have never heard of one being done by weeks 7.
[ ] 90% of my white hairs have receded and change colors.
[ ] 20% of my trics are amber color mid way down my main colas.

I always check calyxes, that's those little bumps from which hairs grow out. I ignore sugar leaves or even other bud material, and its good to harvest when there are about 20% amber, i know they say thc in amber drops, but its about overall ripeness i think, you will always find some clear cloudy and amber, we are looking for average, and plant will mature from bottom up or in reverse, you can chop when its mature by average or partially, and it almost always takes a bit longer than info says, from my experience that's when almost all hairs change color, and weed is every time very potent. Yours looks like they have a little bit to go, they may even additionally swell and build some more frost.

All great advice everyone. Thank you so much. I read here a lot, but this is the most informative info I've received yet. I really appreciate it.

...back to my normal routine for a few more weeks.

3 weeks

CptTripps said:

Hey gang. I THINK I'm there. Ordered a digital microscope the other day, as I thought I was getting close. Looks like I was right.

Thinking these Diesel Autos are about ready. Can I get a second opinion?

I've got amber tric coverage at about 20-30%. Did I go too far, or am I just right?

Either way, I'm not going to be able to chop until Wednesday. I could stick them in the dark now, and then chop in 48h if I'm ready.

Appreciate the assist.

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Great looking plants! We live gotten some good responses here, but since I got tagged I thought I’d through in my two cents.

Your plants still have some time on them to be ripe. Really looks like 4+ weeks to me. You plants appear to be completely covered is fresh new growth and still making bud for you. The first sign of maturity is for about 90% of the stigma to turn reddish and shrink, until that happens just keep your plant healthy and sit back and relax it’s still growing.

After the stigma shrink the plant still needs to swell and finish ripening. That typically takes another 2-3 weeks. During that time the plant will appear to have stopped most outward growth, but is actually still packing on weight internally and causing the bracts to fatten up. It can easily increase by 20% in yield during this stage.

Finally during the end of that period you can check the trichomes ON THE BUDS, not leaves. As mentioned it’s good to look for the average ripeness of the whole plant not just the top most bud.

Last but not least, it’s really easy to harvest plants too early and miss out on yield and quality. It’s really hard to harvest plants too late. So hard that I’ve never seen someone accidentally over ripen a plant to the point it degraded.

Thundercat said:

Great looking plants! We live gotten some good responses here, but since I got tagged I thought I’d through in my two cents.

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Appreciate the sage advise!