Early Ambers - how early can a plant mature?

[faireOwl]

Basics:

• First grow
• Soil
• Indoor
• Six strains (oops)

This is my first grow, and I've been doing my homework, but I think I am witnessing that some of my plants are ready for harvest early. It is early enough that it is causing me to doubt that I know what to look for.

This is Blue City Chisel, a strain with an average flower time of 54-62 days, at day 39 I got a jewelers loupe and almost panic-pulled that day because I was seeing amber trichromes - so far I have held off and am debating a harvest exclusively dictated by hairs and calyxes instead but upon having some fun with magnification again today I was compelled to seek the insight of experienced growers. Today is day 44 in flower. Am I mistaking the reds from the bud reflecting through the trichromes, or is she (over) ambered and ready to pull?

This second plant is Blueberry Kool-aid, she is also 44 days flowered and her average flower time is 65 days. To me it looks like the hairs are mostly matured and she's showing mostly milky with a significant ambering. Again, should I give her another two or three weeks, or do I see what I think I see?

More generally, I know most strains have an expected flower window because they vary, but how much is that variance? Is it unheard of for a plant to finish flowering weeks earlier than expected?

 

[zigzagman1960]

You have weeks to go. Stop looking at trichomes and learn what a ripe bud looks like—ALL the white hairs need to turn color and die back. The calyxes will appear like popped popcorn and seem to be swallowing the amber shriveled hairs. NOBODY should go by estimated finish time from breeders because they lie to sell more product.
The trichomes in your pictures are clear anyway. If you have a plant that is showing amber early on it’s usually due to genetics. Don’t believe the internet nonsense about letting plants amber makes sleepy weed and clear or white trichs get you wired—Mature Indica bud gets ya stoned, mature sativa gets you high, mature hybrid gets you muddy.

 

[faireOwl]

I appreciate the insight.

If I shouldn't trust breeder flower time claims, should I just assume all photos need 10 weeks of flower?

 

[zigzagman1960]

I appreciate the insight.

If I shouldn't trust breeder flower time claims, should I just assume all photos need (at least) 10 weeks of flower?

No. Not at all. Fixed the above for you.
seeds from the same plant grown outdoors, indoors, LEDs, hps, soil, coco, sun, clouds, wind, climate will probably finish at different times. That’s why learning what a ripe bud looks like at a glance is important.
That being said I find most hybrids take at least 10 weeks indoors—even the ones that claim a 7–8 week flower time.

 

[bluter]

if you're running an auto it might not stop pushing new pistils until it stresses and hermies. photos will stop pushing new pistils as they mature out. at that point i'll check on trichomes, it's generally 2wks or less from finish.

it's good to keep an eye on trichomes overall, but just at the end. most folk shoot for 10% amber as a guideline. that's on the bud, not the sugar leaves. sugar leaves will amber up early. you have to discern what you are looking at.

it's a guideline only, some steep pure sativas will never get amber, only milk. i've had 120 day flower time sativas that never got to 10%. most hybrid and indica plants are good to go at 10%.

 

[faireOwl]

Thank you for your input.

With those things in mind, I may need to take some corrective action.

I'm using GH nutes and was referencing their feed schedule; modified for some of the plants that had projected flower times less than 10 weeks. At this point would you suggest ceasing the modified schedule and switching back to the recommended measurements of the week, or would the nutrient transition and introduction of the Ripen supplement initiate something that should deter me from stepping back a couple of weeks?

(The step back would effectively increase the concentration of the GH Flora Trio nutrients and eliminate use of Ripen for a little longer. General Hydroponics 10 part feed chart for reference in case anyone reviewing this is unfamiliar and interested in the specifics.)

 

[bluter]

Thank you for your input.

With those things in mind, I may need to take some corrective action.

I'm using GH nutes and was referencing their feed schedule; modified for some of the plants that had projected flower times less than 10 weeks. At this point would you suggest ceasing the modified schedule and switching back to the recommended measurements of the week, or would the nutrient transition and introduction of the Ripen supplement initiate something that should deter me from stepping back a couple of weeks?

(The step back would effectively increase the concentration of the GH Flora Trio nutrients and eliminate use of Ripen for a little longer. General Hydroponics 10 part feed chart for reference in case anyone reviewing this is unfamiliar and interested in the specifics.)

lol. i don't run with that complicated shit anymore. you can continue to run the ripen as long as you make head room for it in the base 3. i'm not sure how that balances out on your feed schedule.

if it's a first grow i'd recommend just running the base nutes. if base nutes don't do a decent job then trash them them. gh is decent, but i'd learn to grow on it alone before adding stuff.

all the best growers i know do it on base nutes with few supplements or none. you can tailor it to your own conditions with some tweaking, but you really don't need piles to grow good weed. most of it is light.

 

[faireOwl]

No. Not at all. Fixed the above for you.
seeds from the same plant grown outdoors, indoors, LEDs, hps, soil, coco, sun, clouds, wind, climate will probably finish at different times. That’s why learning what a ripe bud looks like at a glance is important.
That being said I find most hybrids take at least 10 weeks indoors—even the ones that claim a 7–8 week flower time.

Do you treat all plants the same with a 10 week flowering nutrient schedule and let them finish out in an extended flush, extend late flower nutes until you see specific signs, or something else?

 

[zigzagman1960]

Do you treat all plants the same with a 10 week flowering nutrient schedule and let them finish out in an extended flush, extend late flower nutes until you see specific signs, or something else?

Flushing is for toilets. Feed till the end. There is no reason to flush cannabis. You will see people brag about their purple, red or faded plants at the end, but unless you have purple or red genetics your plants should remain green till the end. The colorful plants you see are turning color because they are nutrient deficient. The buds require nutes and they’re taking the stored nutrients from the leaves and those nutrients are not being replaced when you flush. So once the nutes are exhausted from the leaves you are now starving your buds when they’re trying to finish.
I don’t use expensive cannabis specific nutrients that have cartoons on the bottle. Jacks 20-20-20 for veg and 10-30-20 for flower, calmag as needed and I grow baseball bats.