Harvest taking longer than expected

Indoor
#1

Hi there. I’m growing Gelato (F) and Northern Lights (F) indoors in soil using Fox Farms nutes and a 600W LED. I flipped to 12/12 on August 25 but still no amber trichomes. I started flushing about three weeks ago (expecting to harvest at 8 weeks) and I’m worried I did it too soon. Both plants are now entering their 11 week. The NH has already yellowed and is dropping leaves.

Has anyone had any experience with these strains taking longer than the suggested flowering period to ripen. The buds look awesome…just don’t want to leave them on the plants too long.

Thanks!!

1 Like
#2

I like northern lights and just cropped that, Silver haze, White Widow and my Gelato. If anything, mine flower earlier, not later. If you flipped on Aug 25, you either have light leaking in or lower the lights on. Just because you flushed doesn’t mean you cant go back to feed schedule. There could also be a nutrient issue…too much N. Bud boosters / bloom nutes push the PK end of the spectrum. If there is too much N in the medium, you will hang on to veg longer. If this were me, having flushed for almost 3 weeks,I would check the tds / ec of my runoff. If that was good, i would go in with a PK formulas for blooming. I would lower my light schedule to 14/10 and make sure the temps are down, especially at night. You want dark temps 10 degrees less than daytime temps. Are your lamps making too much heat? IS that why you have them 36" out? Did the plants stretch when you went to the 12/12. All these will help with flowering. Hang in there

1 Like
#3

Hey thanks Mike! Yeah I decided to go back to a light feeding schedule. I also just switched to 14/10 and turned the AC down to upper 60s. Hopefully that will help things along. The LED is about 18-24 inches above the plants and isn’t too warm.

One thing that could have factored in is that for the first two weeks of flowering the LED was emitting a very dim glow all night after it was shut off. I didn’t notice until I went in one night to empty the dehumidifier. It ended up being a funky circuit so I switched to another outlet and voila - no more dim glow. So maybe that set me back a bit…although the flowers didn’t seem affected by it.

Yes there was a bit of a stretch when I went to 12/12 but nothing crazy. In spite of being 10 weeks in the flowers seem to still be growing and fattening so maybe it’s just a combination of things that have led to a longer flowering period?

Appreciate the advice! Happy growing!
B

#4

Btw, the buds look and smell great. The trichomes on each plant are mostly cloudy…

#5

I would keep an eye on my trikes. If they are cloudy, you are not far off from cropping. You don’t want it going too far unless you want couch lock. Maybe it will just be a smaller harvest. Light feeding - if I thought I had 3/4 weeks more, I would blast with HIGH BLOOM PK% or if your trikes are starting to get amber, stay very light on the nutes and maybe accept a smaller harvest

#6

Yeah no problem at all with the harvest being a bit light - as it stands there’s more than I could consume in LONG while so I’m extremely happy with the potential output! Also, my wife and I both prefer a bit more of a relaxing “couch lock” high so holding out for some amber make sense for us. The hairs are all red and mostly curled in.

Just not sure of the dangers of leaving on too long…

#7

Remember to not confuse pistils, which will brown out fast, and trichomes…those little clear, mushroom like microscopic items

IMG_20200924_090223
IMG_20200924_0902232448×3264 1.41 MB

It is what all that sticky goodness is all about. When these start turning amber, time to go

1 Like
#8

Hey Mike I think I just figured it out. The outlet I thought was preventing the LED from emitting a dull glow after turning off has somehow betrayed me! I went in tonight and sure enough there was the glow. Unbelievable. So basically I’ve had a light leak for pretty much the entire flower cycle.

Gotta love first time grow issues!

#9

Little stuff like that drove me nuts. I went in one night and found the led from the dehumidifier. I got out my black tape and taped every little light I could find…Even the little lights on my surge bars

1 Like
#10

Yeah I’m finally pitch black now. I’m just going to have to flip the lights on and off manually and try to get to the bottom of the outlet issue before the next grow. Any idea how long it might take to see some amber now that I’ve switched to 14/10 and lowering nighttime temps? Is there a point where you just gotta harvest even if no amber trichs have appeared?

Thanks so much for your input! This is my very first grow…

#11

That depends on the current opaqueness of your trikes. When most of your trichomes are clear some cloudy , thats the start of your window. Within the 2 weeks, most will turn cloudy , with some turning amber . That said, some strains wil take up to 4 weeks to ripen properly

1 Like
#12

Strange thing is that a couple weeks ago I was already seeing some amber here or there - mostly on sugar leaves. But now I’m not seeing any at all. It’s possible the circuit that I have the LED on only recently started acting up and creating the light leak. Because up until about two weeks ago everything seemed to be on schedule.

Btw, most if not all of the trichs are cloudy, and have been for a couple weeks…

#13

can you get closeup pics? Possible that because of light they went back to veg mode, Then you would see new growth at budsites.

#14

IMG_8116
IMG_81163024×4032 2.71 MB

Gelato

2 Likes
#15

IMG_8122
IMG_81223024×4032 2.24 MB

Northern Lights…

3 Likes
#16

Hey Mike just checking to see if you saw the above pics. Any signs they’ve been on the plant too long? The NH is starting to show a few amber here or there…

Thanks for the input!

#17

They look cloudy to me. Close to harvest. You could harvest now if you are ready or if you have to flush (if they are still on nutes) then flush and watch. Stop watering for last day or 2 and keep in the dark. All in all you should be 7-10 days at the most. If just cloudy, you get an energetic high. If amber - couchlock

1 Like
#18

Thanks Mike! I really appreciate your advice!