Harvest advice for new grower?

[narmohare]

Hey guys. New grower here. I believe I'm VERY close to harvest. Unfortunately at this current time, I cannot post any pictures, however I will provide all the details I can.

I have been growing a Northern Lights autoflower the past 124 days. To me as a newbie, I can't tell if she's done or not. From what my inexperienced eyes can tell, she's done fattening the flowers, and I should be waiting for the trichomes to change. The thing is, my trichomes are still all cloudy. They have been cloudy for a while, and there has been no change in the size of the flowers. I have heard something several times. This something is that "some autoflowers just don't have their trichomes change to amber". Could this be possible? It seems unlikely due to the fact that, from what I understand, the trichomes turn to amber because of the cannabinoids inside them breaking down and changing to different cannabinoids.

The other thing that leads me to believe the plant may be done, is it has stopped drinking much water lately. I grow in coco, and previously she was taking 4 Liters a day to maintain 50% or more at all times. Now, she is taking about 1 Liter before I get runoff. I believe this is another sign she is coming to the end. So my big question is, WILL my trichomes change to amber? Also a stupid side question. If using a strain made for Insomnia, would I even want my trichomes to turn amber? Would you let a strain MADE/USED for insomnia turn amber? Or would this just make it less effective at treating that condition?

Thanks to anyone who responds, this post became much longer than I had intended.

 

[Badfinger]

That's almost 18 weeks, IMO, you waited long enough, you can wait to long too!

 

[Perpetually Automatic]

How does the plant look over all? Have her leaves faded? Have the pistils changed colour/ receded? TBH at this point if I saw all cloudy I think I’d call that good enough. As long as you don’t have any clear showing you should be fine.

 

[narmohare]

How does the plant look over all? Have her leaves faded? Have the pistils changed colour/ receded? TBH at this point if I saw all cloudy I think I’d call that good enough. As long as you don’t have any clear showing you should be fine.

This is my other thing, as far as I can tell, the plant has fully matured. 80+% of the hairs are red, and all of the red ones have curled up. The only white hairs are left in the bottom/larf of the plant. But alas, no amber ANYWHERE.

 

[narmohare]

That's almost 18 weeks, IMO, you waited long enough, you can wait to long too!

I was thinking about this but she was definitely a slow grower. I was using shady genetics (growers choice seeds) and the plant was not the best. Her sister who is two weeks behind, still looks to have 5+ weeks left in flower. Meaning seed to harvest the sister plant will take over 4 months total. I have purchased better genetics(Barneys farm) but haven't got into Mephisto yet.

 

[Perpetually Automatic]

This is my other thing, as far as I can tell, the plant has fully matured. 80+% of the hairs are red, and all of the red ones have curled up. The only white hairs are left in the bottom/larf of the plant. But alas, no amber ANYWHERE.

Yeah lower stuff will always mature slower than the bits fully exposed to the light. Some strains for reasons unknown to me just don’t seem to want to amber up, cloudy are still mature and some people prefer to chop before much amber shows up. It’s only immature, clear trichs you should try to stay clear off, so if everything is cloudy like you say it is, I’d say she’s ready and you should go for it.

 

[Badfinger]

I was thinking about this but she was definitely a slow grower. I was using shady genetics (growers choice seeds) and the plant was not the best. Her sister who is two weeks behind, still looks to have 5+ weeks left in flower. Meaning seed to harvest the sister plant will take over 4 months total. I have purchased better genetics(Barneys farm) but haven't got into Mephisto yet.

My last grow was GC seeds, I had a 60% failure rate with their seeds. In the end I got 3 growing seeds for $90+
But I got 4oz per plant, and for a first grow I was a happy camper. They were slow growers too, cut at 15 weeks and I think I should have waited another two.
I switched company's just cause I couldn't get over the germination losses.

 

[narmohare]

My last grow was GC seeds, I had a 60% failure rate with their seeds. In the end I got 3 growing seeds for $90+
But I got 4oz per plant, and for a first grow I was a happy camper. They were slow growers too, cut at 15 weeks and I think I should have waited another two.
I switched company's just cause I couldn't get over the germination losses.

WOW. Isn't that funny. I quite literally also had a 60% failure rate with the seeds. I bought a 5 pack and only two germinated... I'm glad I only bought a single pack from them. Growers Choice is poor quality genetics IMO.

 

[Badfinger]

WOW. Isn't that funny. I quite literally also had a 60% failure rate with the seeds. I bought a 5 pack and only two germinated... I'm glad I only bought a single pack from them. Growers Choice is poor quality genetics IMO.

I bought a 5 pack 3 germinated, bought a 3 pack, none germinated.

 

[Rasterman]

Hey guys. New grower here. I believe I'm VERY close to harvest. Unfortunately at this current time, I cannot post any pictures, however I will provide all the details I can.

I have been growing a Northern Lights autoflower the past 124 days. To me as a newbie, I can't tell if she's done or not. From what my inexperienced eyes can tell, she's done fattening the flowers, and I should be waiting for the trichomes to change. The thing is, my trichomes are still all cloudy. They have been cloudy for a while, and there has been no change in the size of the flowers. I have heard something several times. This something is that "some autoflowers just don't have their trichomes change to amber". Could this be possible? It seems unlikely due to the fact that, from what I understand, the trichomes turn to amber because of the cannabinoids inside them breaking down and changing to different cannabinoids.

The other thing that leads me to believe the plant may be done, is it has stopped drinking much water lately. I grow in coco, and previously she was taking 4 Liters a day to maintain 50% or more at all times. Now, she is taking about 1 Liter before I get runoff. I believe this is another sign she is coming to the end. So my big question is, WILL my trichomes change to amber? Also a stupid side question. If using a strain made for Insomnia, would I even want my trichomes to turn amber? Would you let a strain MADE/USED for insomnia turn amber? Or would this just make it less effective at treating that condition?

Thanks to anyone who responds, this post became much longer than I had intended.

Your question about amber and insomnia (for plants that actually have amber) - the more amber, the better it should be for insomnia. For me, it doesn't matter though. Even the raciest weed helps me sleep - I just have to wait a little longer.