Strain genetics or timing of the harvest - which is more important for characteristics of the high?

Grow Cycle Harvesting
1

I read all the time about how harvest timing affects the properties of the bud - cerebral, racy high with mainly cloudy trichomes vs. body high/sedative/couch lock with more amber trichomes. But different strains - typically indica vs. sativa-dominant - are also typically described as having the same type of variation. I’m a first-time grower, who has never yet experimented with this.

So which is more important for the final outcome? If you harvest a sativa-dominant strain at a late stage, or an indica-dominant strain at an earlier stage of trichome development, can you reverse the “normal” strain difference?

2

Trichome maturity is the dominant factor in my experience.

3

yup agreed with Midwest…and specifically regardless of type, Indica vs Sativa, if you harvest too early you will get headache weed with the jitters. We have to let the flower ripen to the correct stage. Then you have options. I like to go with 15-30% amber when I grow Indicas as I grow and smoke for pain/anxiety.

4

I grow for sleep medicine, so I typically go with indicas and ~20% amber. I’ve grown sativas (Durban poison and orange barb) with ~20% amber and I still get the very same effect.