Questions regarding amber

Grow Cycle Flowering
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hey fellas…I need to pick your collective brains for some clarity here…sorry if it seems so simple, lmao.

Trichomes,…start clear, turn cloudy,…then turn amber…

it is my understanding that the more amber they are allowed to turn, the more “couch lock”…or …“stoney” the high is…correct??

however,…one can harvest a bit sooner and have a more energetic, upbeat, social, can get some shit done around the house type of high,…right??

but if there are not enough amber trichomes,…then one becomes paranoid, suffers anxiety, and has an all around tweeker affect…?? correct?

I like being high,… but being stoned is an entirely different matter,lol…don’t have time to be stoned during the day…
is there an estimate as to exactly how much amber one needs in order to ensure not getting the highly anxious tweeker affect?..and will this differ from one strain to another?
for example, I notice some strains are advertised as having a more upbeat and social high…so should these be allowed to amber a bit more than a strain advertised as a couch lock stoney kind of high?

I hope I am being clear,lol… truth is I am a 300 pound skinhead lookin’ redneck hermit who is heavily armed and lives way out in the sticks already…I don’t need anything that is going to make me anxious as I get that all on my own… I just don’t want to be pinned to my couch when I have shit to do either.

any advice? Info? suggestions? experiences?. please discuss.

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Yes most of that is right, but I don’t agree with…

but if there are not enough amber trichomes,…then one becomes paranoid, suffers anxiety, and has an all around tweeker affect…?? correct?

Honestly I think it has a lot to do with whether it’s Indica sativa or hybrid

Yes the Amber trichomes are more sleep producing, but 20% Amber on a sativa and 20% on an Indica are going to have different effects

I like 10 to 20% as a general rule, but some people here like all Amber, so it’s really a personal taste and it depends a lot on the strain / type weed your growing too ?

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@Oak,

Watch Pistils

This is the simplest harvest method. Watch the pistils/hairs growing on the buds and harvest based on how many have darkened and curled in.

For a speedier high, harvest when about 40% of white hairs have darkened and curled in

For highest THC levels and buds that make you soar, wait until buds have fattened and 50-70% of the white hairs have darkened and curled in.

For higher CBN levels, which cause more of a relaxing effect, wait until new white hairs stop growing, and 80-90% of the hairs have darkened and there are few white hairs.

Watch your Trichomes

For the marijuana scientist, watching the trichomes gives you a bit more insight into what’s going on with your plant’s cannabinoinds.

Plus it’s really fun to look at trichomes through a jeweler’s loupe or microscope.

Early on, when there are still many clear trichomes, buds tends to produce a heady, wired kind of high. THC levels are lower at this point, though they’re ramping up each day.

For highest THC levels, harvest when nearly all the clear trichomes have turned milky white. This will produce buds with the most mind-altering effects.

For a more relaxing effect, wait to harvest until many of the milky white trichomes have darkened to amber/gold. These amber trichomes have a bit less THC, but more CBN. The presence of CBN often reduces the anxiety some people feel from high THC levels.

Click for “When to harvest marijuana by looking at trichomes” infographic
When to Harvest Marijuana By Looking at Trichomes

There is a lot of variation between strains and people’s preferences, so it is highly recommended you experiment with your plants to see what works best for you.

Important Tip: Exact harvest time isn’t as critical as we once thought.

Don’t stress too much, often buds have similar levels of cannabinoids even when harvested weeks apart.

How do I experiment with harvest time if I only grow 1 or 2 plants?

It is totally okay to harvest different parts of your plants at different times.

Just make sure there is enough green foliage left to support the plant.

Some growers say that harvesting different parts of the plant at different times is stressful for the plant, and that is true.

It’s also been shown that stress near harvest time actually causes an increase in resin/cannabinoid production, which most growers find beneficial.l
While you’re in the harvest window, your plant puts all her effort into making the most awesome buds possible.
As long as you have a healthy plant, I highly recommend harvesting different parts of the plant at different times to (labeling them so you remember which one you harvested when!) and find out what works best for you.

I have more info if you need it. Hope this helps

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Thanks for the information fellas. I have had some of that paranoid sketchy kinda weed before and I just want to make sure I do not actually grow any,lol…
I have been considering growing one plant as a daytime smoke and another as an evening smoke… thus, harvest one at around 20% amber and the other at around 75% amber…
also, the canibinoids should be beneficial for pain management, etc and building a decent blood level of CBD’s should have affects even throughout the day when I am smoking the lower CBD weed is my thought.

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One thing nobody has mentioned, in any threads that I’ve seen at least, is what about the plant AFTER it’s been cut.

What I mean is, I harvested a plant earlier than it needed to be. All the pistils were white. After dry, all the pistils were brown/red/orange.

So if my pistils still finished out during drying, wouldn’t your trichs do the same thing?

Meaning, if you harvest at 50% clear and 50% cloudy trichs, wouldn’t they finish at something like 80% cloudy and 20% Amber?

I’ve been wondering about this for some time now. Does the dry time actually add to the development of buds and trichs?

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so your thinking the drying and curing process help the plant to complete it’s cycle. It makes a bit of sense as buds can gain potency during the cure.

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I have no idea @oak, I was just hoping others would chime in and give their thoughts on it.

It would make sense though.

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Great question!

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The hairs and trichs aren’t directly related, the hairs start to orange once they sprout like on a time basis and the trichs mature with the bud. It just so happens that the time frames are similar. So after you harvested the hairs turned orange with time whereas the trichs just cured and didn’t mature more

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I’ve been wanting to harvest my outdoor Widow, but it’s still got probably 1-2 weeks to go. I’m contemplating that whole better to get a whole plant that’s a couple weeks immature than lose the whole thing last minute to the elements thing.

612×816 212 KB

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kushpa … me ,Id risk it , and jut watch out for hard frost Or cover it …This Bud is Just starting it’s second stage of bud ."just starting " Hammer

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Thanks for the pro tip, I’m gonna take that advice! :maple_leaf: ( <— closest emoji I could find to an amberish looking pot leaf :wink: )

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Are you my uncle😂

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me?..Who knows? I usually get asked if I am someones daddy,lol.

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I figured I would chime in with a thought.

The darkening of the hairs is due to the age of the individual pistil, if I’m not mistaken. Hence waiting for the white hairs to stop forming as a sign of being finished with the flowering cycle.

Once the plant is harvested, the pistils will naturally darken as its life cycle has been cut. Would this really apply to the trichombes?

It seems the plant would still need to be living to affect any kind of resin production. It IS an interesting thought that deserves some experimenting.

Checking coloration at harvest compared with coloration after the cure is finished would answer the question.

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I would think, because the “ripening” is a chemical reaction…as long as the components are there, it will continue reacting.

Water is probably the biggest factor. If there is enough moisture present, the trichomes will amber more, until the water is gone.

The lower water content eventually slows the ambering.

I haven’t examined the trichs, but the effects seem to change, get better, as it ages a little.

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@ktreez420 Interesting question and I can only answer through personal experience, my last crop I had to harvest atleast a month early probably even more than that. Trichs stayed the exact same throughout the drying and curing process as they were when they were pulled, half cloudy half clear. Through all the set backs, still some top quality pot. Cheers to Robert and a big FU to mildew

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and how was the high??..was it anxious, energetic, sketchy??..or was it mellow and stoney…and couch lock?

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It was still fairly mellow, I’ve only smoked it twice, everyone seemed to enjoy it. It was gold leaf and ak, so no pure sativa strains. Just my two cents as a guess, but id say you can pick indicas earlier than sativas without having to worry about a paranoid high.

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I didn’t realize water played such a large role in the ambering process. I thought the coloring was due to the maturity only.