This is a general question, but out of 3 plants started at same time, same strain, one began showing massive amounts of trichomes approx a month before the other two. My question is whether or not the length of time the trichomes are on the plant matter, or if the maturity of the plant itself dictates when they go from clear to cloudy to amber?
This is solely for my own knowledge, and one of the random thoughts I had while being high and playing in my tent 
Yes and no. The plant will produce trichomes early on for defense. Late in flowering the plant will start to produce thc which clouds up the triches. After some time of the trich being at the peak of thc production, the trich will begin to degrade into cbn. As new triches are produced the process starts over. So yes, older triches will degrade before new triches. But the older triches are the ones you’re going to want to look at. New triches at a late stage are usually because of foxtails or stress.
Ok, that makes sense. Thank you, I appreciate that. Just had me wondering with the one plant being frosty for so long, what the effect would be in the end, and knew this was the place to ask. Thank you!
Yeah the early frost will stay clear until the plant is ready to produce thc. It also seems the plant likes to start the thc process on the outer most parts of the plant and work it’s way inward which is why you’ll see the sugar leaves cloud and amber before the actual bud.
This response actually clears up my next question before even asking, haha. Really appreciate it. My girls are nearing harvest, so I’m trying to learn all I possibly can, and occasionally I have questions that google just can’t find answers to, so the information is very much appreciated.
But if I’m understanding it correctly, the trichomes themselves are not actually maturing, but the plant is maturing and producing the THC, which changes the appearance of the trichomes. That also makes sense about the leaves and outer parts of the plant finishing first, those would be the first to be impacted in the beginning, so naturally they would be first in the end too.
This has answered a lot of questions for me.
@BobbyDigital got another goofy question for you about trichomes. This might sound dumb, but is there any sort of general timeline between clear, cloudy, and amber? IE, my plants have 5% amber now, it will take roughly “x” amount of time to get to 10%? Or is each grow completely different as far as that kind of thing. I’ve been trying to watch mine closely, but seems like I’m coming up to that line, and want to make sure I harvest before letting it go too long. At the same time, being my first grow I’m a little apprehensive about what to do.
Its different with every plant sometimes it happens slowly over time and sometimes quickly over a few days. I heard of some that never turned amber.
Do you have pictures of the whole plant and some bud pictures
I don’t think she’s quite ready, but was just curious about the trich development. I’ve probably got about 5 percent amber but also still about 5 percent cloudy, so def gonna give her a little more time.
Shes getting close maybe a week or two. Looking good
This is my response as well. I’ve had some turn overnight, some that just never turned.
Yeah still looking pretty shiny. Needs more time. Decreasing light hours by a couple hours have seemed to help some stubborn ones I’ve had.
Yeah I had one last year that I let 25% of the plant go 3 weeks longer never really got any more amber it was all cloudy with about 10% when I finally cut her down. I also had one plant that turned from clear to cloudy to cloudy with 20% amber nearly overnight.
I appreciate it you guys. I kinda figured that was the answer, but wanted to ask to be sure. I’ll just have to keep an eye on them, and see how long they go
