Late into flowering and going purple

These plants only have a few days left before harvest. The first one I will show should be ready next week. And the second may need another 7 days or so. Both are very close to harvest, and looking great. I have been careful to give them what they need. And making sure they have their "cannabis day spa" all functioning nicely. Keeping the temperatures just right, along with property humidity and nutrients I pamper them... In return I hope to get some high THC yield buds.

Camera Model	Lumix GH6
Lens	Olympus MSC ED M. 60mm Macro lens
Filter	none
Aperture	f/9
Shutter Speed	1/60 sec
Film Speed	3200
Spectrum	Visual Light
Wavelength	380 through 700 nanometers
Location	Central Virginia USA.

Plant 1:

We are now 1 month 1 week into flowering. Or 40 days to be exact. Indicas tend to finish up around this time, hybrids take a little longer and sativa dominant strains take almost twice as long. Since I do not know what kind of cannabis plants I have its hard to say how long they will take. But there are many cues I can pick up on to tell when the time has come.

The technique I used to train these plants is called "mainlining" This allows for more light to hit the buds giving you a larger yield and higher quality weed.

These manifolds split off and form new branches as I have cut them back and tied them down. This allows for more main colas instead of just one.

By pruning them it slows down the vertical growth and allows the plant to put into stems and branches. So now I have some very thick stems.

Honestly I do not think it needs the supports, but in the beginning it was nice to have the hoop to tie to.

I am always amazed by the crystal formations, so much going on in these buds.

And with four main colas I cannot wait to see the weight of them. Hoping for a few ounces per plant, since I grew these small I do not expect massive yields.

As our winters have been quite chilly the inside temps of the house can be in the low 60s at night. This has caused my cannabis plants to turn purple. Pretty cool to see the winter temps do this, no A/C needed. Just a cold room.

Temperatures in the tent while the light is on is kept in the 80s. But when the light turns off it can get quite chilly and this makes the plant change color.

The plants metabolism actually slows down as it gets chilly, and new chemicals get activated if the cannabis plant is predisposed to producing anthocyans. Its all about genetics, but most kushes can go purple along with many other strains. This chemical anthocyan makes many veggies that purple color such as purple cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, and corn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthocyanin

Anthocyans shift the color from green to a very dark green, near black and purple color. Considered a luxury, many weed connoisseurs want this. Though no proof to show it makes the weed better. But in my experience purple strains are very potent and have unique flavor and smell.

These colors just started coming out around day 30, and have gotten more vibrant since.

The crystals are key to knowing when to harvest. But seeing them with the naked eye is nearly impossible to check for "ripeness".

So by the looks of it its only a few more days. But to truly know you must get very close up view of the buds.

Those stems are looking quite strong on the mainlines. Its secondary stems are stronger looking than many main trunks I have seen of untrained cannabis plants.

Looking at the trichomes under a microscope (Plant 1):

The hairs coming off the buds look ready, 3/4 of them on the first plant is a sign of maturity.

But looking at the THC producing trichomes is key.

Those little dots when exposed to heat burst and contains the psychoactive substance inside.

Coloring of them and opacity is how we tell when they are ready.

I can see mostly milky white trichomes but also a few clear ones. And the occasional yellow one.

What I want for this unknown strain is to get them all milky white, leaning more yellow. At this stage it will happen very quickly, so going back daily until they are ready is just what I need to do.

When you know the strain, you can modulate the high by harvesting early or later. But since these are unknown strains its best to do to the far end of Indica ripeness.

So yummy, cannot wait to smoke some purple buds.

Plant 2:

I started all of them at the same time for their flowering period, but they are not all going to finish on the same day. This one has another seven or so days to ripen up. Its hairs are mostly white to a bright green and later we will see how the trichomes are not fully formed.

As I pulled this girl out of the tent, there was an Asian Lady Beetle resting on the leaf. It seemed to be resting, not feeding on anything from my prospective. These insects protect my flowering cannabis plants from spider mites... or at least thats the hope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonia_axyridis

It is probably covered in THC crystals, resting under a large bud.. lol

This one appears to be turning purple as well with anthocyanins activated in the leaves.

Now each of these females are growing into fully blossoming plants I can see the differences in bud structure.

But they still both have the same pruning done to them, mainlining them twice during their vegetative stage. THC crystal dust can be seen on the guide wires..lol

Those crystal covered colas look so tasty, the smell as I open the tent is quite powerful.. Actually makes my nose tingle.

During the whole photo shoot that little predatory mite killer stayed near by.. Maybe it got too stoned.

We can see all the sugar dust forming on the leaves below. And a very high beetle.

Looking at the trichomes under a microscope (Plant 2):

The see through nature of these trichomes tells me its not quite at its max potency yet.

But that all depends on the strain once again. If this was a sativa dominant id say its ready for harvest.

I think they are hybrids, leaning more indica dominant. I say this as its more likely for an indica to go purple, its short stubby leaves and compact growth tell me that.

So I will keep an eye on these crystals as well, but more than likely plant 1 will be ready first.. then followed by this a few days later.

Different sections of the plant are showing signs of being done sooner than others. I think the main colas ripen first and then follows the popcorn buds.