@Myfriendis410@Watt-Sun@Royc@MrPeat@BobbyDigital@beardless I am at the end of the 5th week of flowering. I can’t upload a picture but the pistils on the main cola and the higher up branches are definitely looking mostly brown and curled in. The lower sites are still all white pistils. I have looked at samples under my microscope and am having a hard time distinguishing between clear and cloudy trichomes especially on a white paper background.
Is it reasonable to say that I am nearing the cloudy stage or is it possible to have mostly brown pistils and still have multiple weeks of flowering? I am afraid I am going to have to harvest in stages as the top is definitely way ahead of the lower buds.
I also have many leaves that are starting to yellow and even curl up as seen in other posts when harvest time is near. @Royc you had 9 weeks of flowering with your GSC auto. I would imagine some plants flower longer than others for various reasons.
I am afraid I may not be able to distinguish the cloudy trichomes in time to use plain water for a few weeks before harvest. I have no doubt I will be able to pick out the amber trichomes when they appear. How important is it to use plain water for those last few weeks. Should I just start with plain water now. I really don’t feel my calmag and tiger bloom are doing much good since I can’t get my runoff PH above 6.0. If any is being taken in by the plant it is probably the minimum. My buds aren’t getting any fatter at this point either.
The picture of the whole plant makes all the pistils look white but they are not on the top bud sites.
Opinions on the pic of the trichomes? The ones at the top right edge of the picture look clear as glass. I can’t tell if the others are out of focus or cloudy? The microscope has a sweet spot where it will focus but not on trichomes of different heights. Supposed to be 40x to 1000x but definitely not. More like 40x to 100x.
@MrPeat Tomorrow is water day, do you think I should keep using nutes and calmag in case I’m not that close to harvest yet? I have been keeping my runoff TDS at around 1300. I’m sure even without flushing this will taste much better than the dirt weed I have right now. LOL.
My guess is another 2 weeks. The trichome pic is of a sugar leaf. They will turn sooner than the bud itself. Cut a small sample off the bud where the pistils come out. That will give you a truer picture. All of the autos I have grown are browned out by the time I harvest. And that is with a low % of amber. I don’t know if it is because I miscalculate the harvest date and stop flower nutrients too soon and the plant essentially consumes itself or what. So to my eyes your browning leaves are normal. Cut them out as they die back. Will save time at harvest.
@beardless I am having a really hard time figuring out where to take a sample. I thought I took the one in this picture from directly beneath a clump of pistils. It must have been a new growth sugar leaf. In my third picture I notice some of the areas look green, some are more of a beige color and then there are the brown pistils. Can you tell me by the picture which area would be the calyx’s. Is it the ones that look more beige colored? They look to be the areas where the pistils are growing out. Thanks.
She’s nearly there as she is starting to cannibalize herself now. I don’t flush anymore but I do wind my nutes back a bit as I get near the end. Looking good though
This is a severed calyx. The light green is the cut. The tail at the top is its pistil.
Here is calyx and pistil.
I use a USB Plugable 2 to take these…
I hope these help
Thanks for all the replies. I watered today and my runoff TDS was at 1750. A little higher than I wanted but at this point I’m not too worried about nute burn since most of the leaves are yellowing. I’ll start using nutes at a lower dose from here on out.
@Myfriendis410@Watt-Sun@Royc@MrPeat@beardless@BobbyDigital Hey guys, please take a look at these pictures and let me know if I am ready to harvest. Tomorrow will be 8 full weeks of flowering. I am assuming the purplish color I am seeing in a few of the trichomes is the genetics of GSC auto. I was looking for amber but have read you can have different colors.
@MrPeat With my jewelers loupe everything looks clear but with these microscope pictures I feel like I am seeing quite a bit of cloudy, do you? Thanks.
I’ve also been using plain water for the past two waterings. My TDS still came out at 770 and was heavily tinted green from the Tiger Bloom. If I have another week or two left before harvest should I be ok or should I do a heavy flush?
I have a hard time telling myself when using a USB microscope whether it is a reflection or are they actually cloudy. I still use a hand held to confirm. A lot of clear some cloudy. Interesting pink though.
Make sure you are looking at a bud and not sugar leaves.
