Also. check this out. I can see now that you do in fact have some fully-formed trichomes.
Check them out with a 30x loupe, if you can. Sometimes your camera’s zoom function will be all you need (sometimes you have to use it like you are filming a video – that will sometimes give you zoom capabilities).
Anyway, my point is: know your trichomes! They look like little mushrooms, with bulgy tops.
The goodness – the THC, the high, etc. – is the white liquid that fills them up.
So the progression of events should typically be:
Trichomes form. When they are new, they are probably “empty” of THC too. So collectively, when you step back, your plant looks crystalline.
Remember, those are just empty trichomes.
What’s next? They will begin to literally fill up with white/cloudy substance. This is something you will see with the loupe.
As they fill up, the trichomes will often (not always) stand up straighter, and their mushroom bulbous tops will inflate even more. Good things!
This is where the plant will go from being “sparkly” (empty trichomes) to being “snowy” (full trichomes). This is why a weed plant at the end will go through some subtle changes – the crystally sparkliness of the empty trichomes, vs. the more uniformly white, snowy coating of the full trichomes.
And this is where I harvest. Max potency, probably on the “racier” end of the spectrum.
Amber trichomes? That white milky THC liquid goes amber as it ages and converts into other stuff. Long story short, the more amber, the greater the THC potency loss and the sleepier the high. I don’t really like any amber.
Btw, that THC liquid? It’s also sticky. Sticky bud is sticky because of two reasons:
- Part of the sticky is naturally exuded from the plant as a way to ward off insects
- Part of the sticky is because you’re smooshing the trichomes with your fingers.
Number one is fine, number two less so. And believe me, those fuckers are delicate. I’ve damaged my weed by simply dragging my sweatshirt sleeve over the buds as I reached for something.
Remember, this is just trichome identification. Those are different from the “hairs” (which are pistils) that people reference. The pistils don’t require any magnification. Most of the time, those white hairs will be 70 - 80% brown or rust colored, kind of spindly looking, and closer-in the the bud than they are when they’re new.
When you find your trichomes and your pistils in those two states, that is the time to harvest.
FYI, this is all true, whether you’re growing in soil, hydro or coco.