Harvest & Curing Help deciding harvest time, no magnifying glass

[Jackson]

I don’t think you’re ready yet as buds needs to fill out more. Still have a lot of white hairs

 

[Simchaleh]

I usually see a plant ready at least 2-3 weeks after the pistils have turned orange. You will also notice the plant has started to not drink nearly as much, almost stopping.

The ‘not drinking as much’ will be difficult for me to gauge, since it’s outside in the hot summer weather and all the soil dries up there regardless of if a plan is drinking or not. 2-3 weeks after pistils changing color sounds good. The pistils did actually go orange this past week. (They we’re slowly going orange but this week they all suddenly became orange almost all at once. I assumed it was somehow due to the heat wave or something like that).

 

[Simchaleh]

I don’t think you’re ready yet as buds needs to fill out more. Still have a lot of white hairs

Is it possible that when you say there’s still a lot of white hairs, that you’re referring to this pic:?

Because those pics is of the lower buds that we’re hidden underneath a lot of foliage and not getting so much sun.
whereas the main cola and most of the rest of the plant is probably around 80-90% orange pistils:
Here’s the higher parts of the plant:

 

[Simchaleh]

Without a scope, there's several changes that will show when the harvest window is open. The pods that form below buds will swell and ooze, the hairs turn orange and recede, less glistening of trics under bright light to naked eye.
Upper buds that may get more light may be ahead a bit on maturity with lower buds some days behind.....
Some of us older stoners like the 'knock you on your ass' couchlock! There's a reason stoners always say 'another week or two'....

so I have been noticing the hairs turning orange (not sure about receding though),
I’ve definetely noticed less glistening of triches. I was actually worried because of that as I thought ‘oh no! The plant must be degrading’, so that’s good news to hear.
Is it possible that the stickiness of the buds goes down a bit also towards maturity? Doesn’t make sense so much, maybe I’m imagining it, but I think it was stickier a week or two ago and now became less sticky (could be the heat, or me imagining it, or that I sprayed it with soap water to kill out white flies that were attacking the lemon grass)

the top cola and buds definetely look more mature than the lower buds which are hidden behind more foliage. Is it possible to harvest the top buds and then harvest the lower buds a week later???

im definetely not looking for couch lock. I prefer more of a gentle high which doesn’t leave me tired and burned out afterwards. Especially since I read that for a plant with high CBD to not let it go for too long to avoid the cbd degrading…

 

[Talonxracer]

I cheap magnifying glass from the dollar store would be very helpful, I have seen them for under 4$ at a dollar general.

Looks like you will be doing a progressive harvest with as dense as that girl is. That can also allow you to take the buds at different stages of ripeness for different affects.

 

[Jackson]

I agree with @Talonxracer . Cut the ones ready and let the others go another week to ten days

 

[Simchaleh]

I cheap magnifying glass from the dollar store would be very helpful, I have seen them for under 4$ at a dollar general.

Looks like you will be doing a progressive harvest with as dense as that girl is. That can also allow you to take the buds at different stages of ripeness for different affects.

Great idea. Are there any guidelines for a progressive harvest? How much to take off each time etc?

 

[Simchaleh]

I agree with @Talonxracer . Cut the ones ready and let the others go another week to ten days

Thanks for the advice. So you think now that the photos of the main cola and some of those others are yes ready to harvest now?

 

[Simchaleh]

Without a scope, there's several changes that will show when the harvest window is open. The pods that form below buds will swell and ooze, the hairs turn orange and recede, less glistening of trics under bright light to naked eye.
Upper buds that may get more light may be ahead a bit on maturity with lower buds some days behind.....
Some of us older stoners like the 'knock you on your ass' couchlock! There's a reason stoners always say 'another week or two'....

Any pics you reccomend that show examples of swelling pods that ooze? In order to notice, would I have needed to Lee progress if it from the beginning of flower to notice the swelling relative to before, or is it possible to tell by looking at the pods without knowing how they looked a few weeks ago before they swelled?

 

[Simchaleh]

I usually see a plant ready at least 2-3 weeks after the pistils have turned orange. You will also notice the plant has started to not drink nearly as much, almost stopping.

I just noticed today for the first that she didn’t dry out the soil! I was sure it would get dry regardless due to the heat and direct sun, but surprisingly this is the first time the soil is still damp in the morning from the previous days watering.
so that sounds to me like what you just mentioned
do you usually chop when that happens or you wait a week or so?