Week 6-8: Buds Ripen, Pistils Darken It's normal for some of the bottom leaves to begin to turn yellow as the plant continues to put its energy in the leaves and buds getting the most direct light, though the plant should still be mostly green from top to bottom even in week 6-8.
In weeks 6-8, the buds of your plants will begin to harden; the delicate trichome heads of your flowers will cloud and turn amber, and the once milky pistils of your buds will shrink, turn brown and become fragile. Also, as your plants continue to ripen, new aromas, flavors, and pigmentation will develop.
Changes from Week 6 to Week 7 to Week 8
In addition to all the colors, you will also notice that the plants have gotten bigger. Marijuana plants in general put on most of their weight in the final weeks of flower.
Weeks 4-6: Buds Fatten Up
At this stage of cannabis flowering, your buds are getting bigger. They'll still have all the white pistils sticking out, but you'll be able to see the buds getting bigger every day.
The flowering stage is when your plants will produce buds and what we commonly refer to as “weed”. During the flowering stage, your plants should be ready to harvest after 8-12 weeks, depending on the strain.
Days to 50% flowering was determined by recording the number of days following transplanting (DAT) until 50% of plants in a plot had at least one open flower.
Cannabis hair Changing Colors on top is the first indication that it's closer to harvest. This happens when the plant is starting its floral maturity. The hairs turn yellow from being white in the beginning. In an 8-week blooming strain, the hairs might stay white for 4-6 weeks throughout the flowering period.
Late flowering / Ripening stage – week 6 to harvest
They are sticky to the touch and can be very smelly. You are very close to reaching your goal = harvesting! Most importantly, buds are now covered in trichomes, which are rich glandules for secreting THC and other cannabinoids.
To some degree, more light translates to fatter buds and higher yields (you'll need to pay attention to the distance between your grow light and plants or your plant may suffer from light burn). Increasing light intensity is the most effective way to fatten up buds.
Lack of light is perhaps the most common reason that cannabis produces fluffy, light buds. You may have noticed the lower, puny 'popcorn' bud sites that form below the main canopy. Often these buds are discarded by growers allowing the plant to focus biochemical energy on the main blooms.
Cannabis plants need water and nutrients to grow and develop big, healthy flowers. Drought, overwatering, and over/underfeeding can all affect your plant's ability to develop big, dense, and heavy flowers.
The yellowing of plant leaves is simply due to a nitrogen (N) shortage which is a perfectly natural phenomenon as the plants nears the end of its life cycle. You are in the eighth week of flower, so you are likely close to harvest time depending on your strain.
Are Small Buds more Potent? Small buds are generally the same potency as large nugs of the same strain. Small nugs come from the same plants as large nugs, they're simply pieces of flower that tended to get less light and thus didn't grow as large.
Short Answer: The smell starts at 3-6 weeks old (depending on strain) even in the vegetative stage.
The flowering stretch. This usually occurs in the first two weeks of bloom and is when the plant shoots upwards. In some strains, it may almost double its height before it focuses on producing the bud. Since larger plants will often produce more buds, most growers want to encourage this stretch period.
If you can wait, you'll see that buds bulk up noticeably in the last couple weeks before they finish growing. Give the plants only water—no nutrients—after you see the buds are mature. Hold off on picking them for another 10 to 14 days, when they'll be at their peak.
Increasing the amount of CO₂ in your grow room can help you grow bigger, denser buds. By doing so, you'll help plants photosynthesise faster and encourage them to take up more nutrients and water.
In order to get more potency in the flowering stage, you want to inspire your plant to produce more resin-producing trichomes. You do this by cranking up blue, white, and UVB lights to 100% and backing red down to around 50%.
Magnesium is important for healthy cannabis plants because it helps with light absorption to produce more flowers or buds. Iron and manganese are also useful in helping cannabis plants produce chlorophyll so they'll have more energy to grow bigger buds.
Changes from Week 8 to Week 9
Early in the flowering stage, the trichomes begin to emerge. Then they begin to grow. Later, they grow heads, like a mushroom. Eventually, these transparent heads go from clear to milky white, to amber in color.
At the absolute minimum, you should wait until 50% of the trichomes are cloudy and 50% of the hairs have changed color. Again — do not harvest if fewer than 50% of the trichomes have turned milky. And do not harvest if fewer than 50% of the pistils have turned brown/orange.
There's a simple test to know if your buds are dry: Simply take a small branch and try to bend it. If it snaps, your buds are dry and you're ready to move on to the curing process. If they bend, your buds need a little longer to dry.
Check out the different colours of pistil hairs below, and what each of them signifies: White: White stigmas indicate that the pistillate flowers are in a state of immaturity and feature a low cannabinoid and terpene content. The grower shouldn't harvest their buds at this time.
Never harvest your buds when most of the pistils are still white. This indicates your plants should be left to mature for a little longer. To ensure optimal THC levels, you should wait until at least 60-70 percent of your pistils have turned an amber color before you begin harvesting.
Harvest-ready trichomes are milky-white, almost looking like plastic. These vivid trichomes also mean the plant has potent THC and/or CBD levels. If the trichomes still look clear and glassy, your plant isn't ready for harvest. If you harvest your plant too early, the effects won't be as potent.