I wouldn't judge the completion of the plant by the pistils; the trichomes would be a far better indicator. If you have access to a jewelers loupe, magnifying glass, microscope, or a good macro setting on a camera, you can look at the trichomes on your buds. They look like stalks with little bulbous heads on them. They generally come in three different phases, clear, cloudy/milky, and amber.
Clear means they still have some time to go. You can still get medicated off bud with clear trichs, but it will affect you much differently than if you had let it go out longer.
Cloudy/Milky means you are nearing your peak THC levels in the trichomes.
Amber trichs usually means you are at or past your peak THC levels and if left too long, the THC will start breaking down into other things.
This is just my opinion, but I think most people generally like to harvest between cloudy/milky and amber, depending on the type of high you are after. Amber trichs generally lend a more narcotic effect (sit your butt on the couch.) If you get a chance, you should try to harvest a bud during each of the phases so you can decide for yourself what kind of smoke you like best from your plant.
Sometimes, but not always, the trichs on autos will not amber. This is where you want to let the leaves tell you when they are done. A senior member on here, Muddy, wrote a really good guide on how to tell when the plant is done. You can
find it here.
You can get a cheap magnifier (like up to 100x) for around $15-20, maybe even cheaper. Not a bad item to have in your growing arsenal!
As for the amount you get off the buds, there are a lot of factors that could affect your yield: size of the pot, light schedule, feeding schedule, strain, environment, etc. Do you have a journal on here? If not, on your next grow be sure to start one up so you can ask questions and post more pictures so the community can help you grow at your best!
Hope that helps a bit, best of luck to you friend! :beast: :karma Cloud: