New Grower Confused about Flowering - Harvesting

[mdmike52]

Hi:
New grower here with my first White Widow abut 2 ft. high and loaded with buds, about 2 weeks from predicted flowering date. Question 1: Do I actually let the buds flower? Then what happens to the flowers, do they fall off at some point? I read that I am to watch for some tiny clear stalks that are shaped like mushrooms and harvest when they become milky looking. Where do I look for them, and when ?? I know these questions may sound dumb but I have never seen flowers in pot that I have purchased in the past which is confusing me. My plant has stopped growing taller so I have switched to flowering plant food, it is about 2 weeks from the time the seed distributor states as time to flowering.

 

[EEEcubed]

I am a new grower and struggling myself to determine when to harvest myself. But your plants are in full flowering mode right now! Look at those beautiful chollas!!! The clear stalks you mention are the sugary looking crystals on the leaves near the buds and are tiny, perhaps a mm or less tall. No, the flowers do not fall off, you cut them and smoke them.

 

[Chester]

Beautiful plant ... you might want to study some of the grow journals here to get a better understanding of the life cycle of an auto flowering plant ... time to study up on drying and curing threads too ...

Here is a grow journal that is a great example of the life cycle of an auto flowering plant ...
https://www.autoflower.org/index.php?threads/toof-decay-micro-grow.42991/

 

[woody]

The tiny mushroom shaped stalks are the trichomes they contain the thc that gets you high. You need a jewellers loupe with at least 30x magnification (i would reccomend higher) to see the trichome heads. Good luck buddy. Any questions just ask and someone will help out. There are no dumb questions just dumb answers!

Chesters link is a great place to start reading up! Loads of great stickies to read on AFN

 

[JAYAR]

This should help u out some brother
https://www.autoflower.org/index.php?threads/the-life-cycle-of-auto-flowering-cannabis.5113/

 

[JAYAR]

whoops wrong link, although that one is informative. This it the one related to harvesting...
https://www.autoflower.org/index.php?threads/when-to-harvest-autos-your-leaves-will-tell-you.4889/

 

[A Gardener]

whoops wrong link, although that one is informative. This it the one related to harvesting...
https://www.autoflower.org/index.php?threads/when-to-harvest-autos-your-leaves-will-tell-you.4889/

What he said innit

 

[mdmike52]

Beautiful plant ... you might want to study some of the grow journals here to get a better understanding of the life cycle of an auto flowering plant ... time to study up on drying and curing threads too ...

Here is a grow journal that is a great example of the life cycle of an auto flowering plant ...
https://www.autoflower.org/index.php?threads/toof-decay-micro-grow.42991/

Thanks for the help Chester ( Et Al.) I got a 50-500X Digital microscope and took these pics of the Trichomes. What do you think?? They look sort of cloudy but some clear to me. The plant is only 63 days old and flowering is set at 75 days by the seed distributor but I think it is almost ready to harvest.

 

[Chester]

I find that what looks like cloudy heads can be deceiving ... from another angle cloudy heads are often clear heads ... that's why I wait til I see at least 10% amber and very few clear ...

These trichs are ready to harvest ...

 

[Chester]

You have a beautiful plant that, based on the first photo, is 2-3-4 weeks from harvest ... since you have a scope to see the trichs it can be fun to watch them mature but I generally base my harvest time on the overall appearance of the plant ... post a photo every couple days and we'll tell you when she's done ... there is never a shortage of opinions here regarding harvest time ...