Harvest & Curing White Widow confusion, should I harvest?

[infused]

So I'm a little confused in where my plant actually is in her flowering period. I'll explain. Please bare with me

So I got a auto white widow that failed to auto flower for me. I let her veg for over 7 weeks hoping she would start flowering. She never did, so I threw her into 48 hrs dark period and then into 12/12. She always had a few tiny pre-flowers from week 3 and on... but real pistols/flowering didn't start popping up all over until she went into 12/12.

My question is should I calculate my flowering period from week 3 when I saw those inactive 3 or 4 tiny pre-flowers or from when all those pistols started showing up after the 12/12 transition? she has been in 12/12 for 4 1/2 weeks now.

Heres a some photos of the buds. Trichs are still clear but some bud leaves are starting to die. Some have said that's a sure sign to harvest. what do you think?

 

[Mr Piggy]

Flowering period is calculated from when flowering is triggered, not from when they show sex. In your case you would start from when you induced at 12/12.

HOWEVER this is not a very accurate way to determine when to cut a plant, just a very basic guideline to help you narrow it down. What you want to do is get yourself a hand microscope like they have for kids to look at bugs or for even less a jewelers loupe like this http://www.amazon.com/SE-Triplet-Jewelers-Loupe-30X/dp/B001BSGGQ2
You then use that to take a very close look at the tricomes on your plant, that's the crystals on the buds. You want to harvest when the tricomes are no longer clear but a majority are a milky color with about 20-30% of them an amber color. Look around this part of the forum and you'll find more info on that.

She looks tasty, best of luck!

 

[infused]

Thanks Mr Piggy. That's most helpful. I do have a jewelers loupe and have been checking those trichs daily. I've just been so impatient because it felt like an eternity while vegging her hoping to she would auto flower. I'll give her a few more weeks and hopefully she'll be worth the wait. thanks again.

 

[Mr Piggy]

No problem. Just remember that your patience will be greatly rewarded and your haste punished, always.

 

[Muddy]

Even though you had to switch here to 12/12 you can still go by the color of your fan leaves. This might help you: https://www.autoflower.org/f44/when-harvest-autos-your-leaves-will-tell-you-4889.html