I had to wait a little longer than expected, around 3 weeks longer than I thought it would take. 24 days ago I wrote in a Hive post how its any day now. Well shows you how varied it can truly be. For the last few weeks, with every watering and feeding I would check on the crystals on the buds. We have gone from clear, to milky to now an amber color. It is always hard to say when they will be ready, and I feel like I told my friends and family.. (just a few more days, maybe a week.) over a dozen times since my last post.. haha... But finally now they are truly ready and we will harvest the buds.
 Camera Model | Lumix GH6 |
|---|---|
 Lens | Olympus MSC ED M. 60mm Macro lens |
 Filter | none |
 Aperture | f/13 |
 Shutter Speed | 1/20 sec |
 Film Speed | 3200 |
 Spectrum | Visual Light |
 Wavelength | 380 through 700 nanometers |
 Location | Central Virginia USA. |
These plants really went through an amazing transformation, from seed to finally harvesting. They look completely different from when I started flowering them 61 days ago.
Under the microscope:
Plant 1
The trichromes were right where they needed to be. Hints of purple can be seen in the microscope shots. Caused by cold temperatures it changes the color from green to purple to a dark red sometimes.
Plant 2
There were more amber crystals on the plant that was slightly further along. But both had amber at this point so it was a good time to harvest.
It was nice both plants finished at the same time, but I could tell they are different strains by their smell.
Using the wires to train the plants helped out a lot and really helped me form a bowl shape to get the most light and airflow possible to the buds and leaves.
Since these plants were mainlined, the manifold is the main stem that everything grows from, and looking quite strong.
It looks like the buds rained crystals down onto the leaves, love it.
With buds caked on this much, I have high hopes for them.. hehe.
All those hairs are orange and ready to go, but they looked that way for the last week or so. Using the microscope is a much better way of telling.
Mainlining these plants has given me so many big colas.. for a plant only 24 or so inches tall it really packed them in.
It was hard getting pictures of them without them shimmering, making the tops look all white. But indeed there are that many crystals.
Some colas were taller than others.
Even the undersides of the leaves got some, I love the neon green color of the stems. They look so lively.
In the last few weeks I feel like the amount of trichomes increased.. Even though it was already impressive around week 5.
The most impressive change to these when I started flowering was the color of the leaves and buds. They have gone from a normal green leaf color to purple and now nearly to black.
The colas are still a little green but large sections appear to be purple. When it comes to trimming I will be able to see them better with the leaves removed.
My other plant did not need as much support so I went for just two thicker ties and left them there during flower. It may have not even needed it. Next time I will try without supports and see what happens.
The two plants next to each other, getting their final photos before its time to chop. Both mainlined twice before going to flower.
Amazing going from a black leaf to a nearly white bud.
Loving those little spots of neon green.
It was also good to see the leaves held up well through flower, just near the end did the tips start discoloring.
The leaves below the sugar leaves can also have a little bit of crystals on them.
Looking closer at that tip of the cola it looks so good.
A close up of the sugar leaves, they are just packed in crystals as well. Not good to be smoked but can be processed into edibles.
So many great pictures of the plants, I cannot pick my favorite.
Harvest time!
We set up a box next to the plants and cut off sections to hang up on string.
The buds will stay in these boxes and depending on the humidity inside I open or close them partially to slowly dry them.
One of the buds I miscut and need to find a wire to tie around it to hang it. Usually we cut right below some popcorn nugs and hang them by that.
Giving my loved ones an opportunity to give chopping a plant a try. Its quite the sticky job. We wear lab coats, to try to minimize the dust being around the sticky buds.
We trim off the large leaves but for now the small ones stay. We just want them to fit into the boxes and then come back and trim them the rest after they dry for a few days.
It can be really exciting for people that have never had the chance to work with a cannabis plant. I feel a little jaded to me as this is not my first harvest in my life but for others it is.. and its truly magical.
And all that is left is a husk of a former plant. I treat these as annuals so once it buds its done. I will grow new plants by seed or clone.
So whats next?
Now we dry the buds, I placed them in boxes but later on after taking pictures I spread them out more in two additional boxes.
It is important to dry slowly, but not too slow where mold can show up. Now I have cut the buds it does not have the plants immune system to protect itself from molds. So I must keep them well under the humidity level where that tends to occur.
Here are all the leaves we cut off before putting them in the box, there are many more still on the buds but we must wait a few days to let them dry a little before cutting those.
With these two plants chopped up it has given me more space to grow. Soon I will post the next two plants I am going to flower with.
@solominer/late-into-flowering-and-going-purple-cannabis-grow-update
@solominer/just-about-half-way-through-flowering-cannabis-grow-update
@solominer/two-weeks-into-flowering-cannabis-grow-update
@solominer/starting-the-flowering-cycles-for-my-cannabis-plants
@solominer/topping-and-training-the-cannabis-plants
@solominer/bigger-better-stronger-plants-by-adding-co2
@solominer/cannabis-plants-update-females-confirmed
@solominer/making-cannabis-tea-from-male-plants
@solominer/luck-has-not-been-on-my-side-2-confirmed-male-cannabis-plants-so-far
@solominer/moving-up-from-sprouting-to-vegetative-growth
@solominer/setting-up-the-grow-tent-and-transplanting-two-sproutlings
@solominer/my-cannabis-sproutling-is-now-one-week-old
@solominer/one-sproutling-has-emerged-moved-to-the-big-pot
@solominer/cannabis-seeds-have-sprouted-now-they-go-into-dirt
@solominer/starting-my-cannabis-seeds-and-my-future-plants-for-growing