Indoor Help with degrading Trichomes

[BigBuddha]

Hi folks.. wonder if somene can help me.. I've been googling this but cannot find a page that talks about the issue..

I've got some flowering plants that are about 10-14 days from harvest.. but at least one of them seems to be losing trichs. They're not all milky yet, let alone amber, and I'm wondering where they're going?

She had a bit of nute stress about 10 days ago and as the smaller bud leaves went from green to yellow the trics seemed to disappear from the leaves. She got a flush + some organic stress-relieving additives but I don't understand why the trics seem to be disappearing. Are they even disappearing? Or is this just because no more new ones are being put on and the ones there are being degraded by the lights?

If the latter what would you guys recommend for a quick boost of trich production before the chop?

Thanks for your help folks.

 

[namvet]

I don't think they are disappearing.What strain is it? If the bud growth has stopped then so will the trychomes.Lights shouldn't degrade them,How many try's are still clear.Some autos get little if any ambers.It sounds to me that there growth and flowering has stopped and there life cycle is over.

 

[BigBuddha]

Cheers pal. They're big buddha automatics. From planting the seed they're 71 days old.. and the trichs are about 70% milky 30% clear so normally that wouldn't be mature.. but you reckon that might be strain dependant. Interesting. Hadn't thought of that.

I wonder..

 

[KindredSpirit]

I've seen people around here do a couple different things. One thing is to put the ladies in complete darkness for 2-3 days before harvest. I've never done this, but some of the best growers on here do so I'm sure they wouldn't be doing it if it was a waste of time. Something else I've seen and done myself is to give a steady supply of 1 tbsp / gal of molasses every watering for the last 2 weeks before harvest.

 

[namvet]

Check trys in a week and if ther is no change,there done.

 

[BigBuddha]

You were right, nam, they aren't losing trichs. What it is (and the reason only one of the two looked weird) is because I made a dual-bulb reflector out of a diamond (currently running 400w MH on one side and a 250w DS on the other) and the corner that this automatic is in is lit more by the DS bulb. I happened to move it to the other side a few minutes ago and noticed it for the first time.

So apologies for wasting your time. I'm just being a bit of a knob.

 

[Mossy]

So apologies for wasting your time. I'm just being a bit of a knob.

Hey..we All do it..:thumbs:

From having a problem to solving it..it is all Good..huh..:smokebuds:

 

[namvet]

No problem,I take it the 250 ds means dual spectrum,that is a much better light for flowering than that mh.I'm retired so all I have left is time.I hope that DS helps.

 

[BigBuddha]

Hey..we All do it..:thumbs:

From having a problem to solving it..it is all Good..huh..:smokebuds:

That's a nice way of putting it.

No problem,I take it the 250 ds means dual spectrum,that is a much better light for flowering than that mh.I'm retired so all I have left is time.I hope that DS helps.

I use a full range.. from DS, to MH to SHPS. Depends on ambient conditions because I try to maintain as stable an evironment as possible.

I'd also have to disagree on DS being 'better' for flowering for 3 reasons:

1 - MH bulbs give out more PAR watts than any other HID bulb
2 - MH bulbs increase trich production (allegedly a reaction for UV protection)
3 - MH bulbs produce denser buds (although smaller in appearance)

So.. I could support the idea that they're "different".. but I'm not sure they're "better". I'm not certain of my claim by the way it's more a belief based on what I've learned about the effects of blue light on flowering plants.
Mostly what I aim for is a mix of the fullest possible spectrum unless there are only vegging plants under the light in which case it's 7200k MH bulbs all the way. Way more PAR watts and useable blue light. Never done a pure HPS grow but when I've used DS bulbs they can't compete with MH bulbs for dense buds and internodes.

 

[BigBuddha]

The enriching lesson that we can all take away from this thread is that trichs don't look so abundant under light that's more in the red spectrum, and that if you want to see how many trichs there are on a plant do it under a blue light instead of being a knob like me and starting a thread about it.

Never mind the science, never mind common sense... no.. just dismiss all that and stand there at the tent door scratching your arse and wondering what could be causing the non-existent trich reduction instead.*



Disclaimer:

* That's a joke, by the way, I don't seriously recommend dismissing established science and common sense and standing at your tent door scratching your arse (ass) while wondering what's causing the non-existent trich reduction on your plants. So don't actually do that. Just use the blue light instead and you'll see that they're still there.