By weeks 5 and 6, your plants will be well into flowering. Their buds should be big, thick, and loaded with white pistils. They will also be developing a thick coat of trichomes, which should be giving off a nice, pungent aroma.
Well that concludes are look at Week 6. The plants are deep into flower, all vegetative growth has ceased, and the only part getting bigger are the giant fat colas! Next week, we will get to see these plants inch closer to the finish line, and we will also see the beginnings of some real color expression.
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.
During the seventh and eighth week of marijuana flowering, the buds finish forming, increase their weight and density, most of the pistils wither, and many of the trichomes change color, going from transparent to white or from white to reddish or amber All these changes are symptoms that announce that the harvest of ...
Week 7: The calyxes in the seven-week varieties swell to near bursting as THC is produced in the glands. At the end of the week they will be ready. The trichomes stand more erect and the caps swell with newly produced resin. At the end of the week the flowers reach the peak zone.
Late flowering / Ripening stage – week 6 to harvest
In the last few weeks, buds gain the most weight. They are sticky to the touch and can be very smelly.
Weeks 4-6 – Buds swell
Next, in the cannabis flowering stages, you can expect the swelling of the budlets. They will fatten with each passing day. The buds will still have a bunch of white pistils shooting out in all directions. Now that your plant is focusing more on fattening the buds, you can stop training.
You will need to wait 6-12 weeks until the harvesting depending on the strain. Harvest when around 90% of trichomes are milky white, and 10% are amber. Plus, around 50-70% of pistils should have turned red, brown, or orange.
Weeks 6, 7 and 8 (Late Flowering Stage, Right Before Harvest) Not all cannabis strains require the same amount of time for their flowering, but many varieties will be ready to harvest in these last three weeks. There are, however, not too many strains that will be ready before week 8.
The last three weeks is when your buds can actually gain the most weight – that is if you feed them Overdrive®. After your peak bloom phase, your plants enter their late bloom phase (the precise timing and length of which depends on the strain of cannabis you're growing).
Light intensity
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.
Because bud formation starts after 7 hours of dark period, it is also wise to always maintain a minimum day length of 17 to 18 hours during the vegetative period. A dark period of 12 hours is used as a standard in cannabis to ensure a smooth flowering process.
The bigger the leaf area, the bigger your buds will be. Nitrogen is the nutrient needed most for this green growth. When plants reach their mature size and begin flowering, they need more phosphorus, the nutrient most essential for budding.
Most cannabis strains stretch for around the first 2 weeks of flowering. Some stretchy strains will continue to stretch into the 3rd or even 4th week of bloom. Sativa strains will stretch more than indicas. A sativa may double or even triple her height during bloom whereas an indica may increase her height by 50%-100%.
It is in Week 5 that the buds really begin to fill out. Even more growth will occur in Week 6 and beyond. If you recall the vegetative look and feel of the first three weeks, Week 4 represented a distinct shift away from veg and into flower.
So there are three different times we recommend defoliating during Flower: Right before you switch to 12/12. Once between the beginning of Flower and the 3-week mark. 3 weeks after beginning flower is the last time you'll want to defoliate.
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.
If you harvest too early, you will have premature buds which leads to a poor product and a smaller yield. Harvest too late and the potency of your weed takes a steep decline or turns to rot.
Learn How To Grow Cannabis! Make sure that you remove enough plant matter for light and airflow to reach every area of your plant. Finally, you can defoliate one last time around week seven of flower if you need to. This will ensure that your nugs have plenty of light and airflow as they finish up.
When the plant approaches maturity, the pistils change color and take on a brown or orange hue. This is a sign that the biological functions of the plant have slowed and it is no longer seeking pollen for seed production. Guideline #2: Harvest marijuana when 70% of the pistils have turned brown or orange.
In contrast, the very early female cannabis pre-flowers are more ovate in shape: pear-like, but with a longer slender pointed tip. That is called her calyx. Extending from the tip of the calyx may be a pair of pistils, or white hair-like protrusions.
#1: Start to Flush 10-14 Days Before Harvest
There's an industry consensus that plants in soil/soilless substrates need at least a 10-14 day flush. So, time your harvest correctly, and make sure to cease the use of plant food approximately two weeks before your crop's harvest date.
Any kind of stress, be it from poor watering, a lack or excess of nutrients, the environment, pests, plagues, or improper care, can affect a plant's ability to grow big, dense flowers.
In contrast, fluffy buds yield disappointment and less plant matter. These airy flowers are often the result of suboptimal growing conditions, a lack of light, or nutrient deficiency.
The best way to check the trichomes on your buds is to use a magnifying glass or a specially designed-trichome viewer. If you see that the trichomes are mostly clear, the plant is not mature enough to harvest. If you see that the trichomes are milky white, the plant is ready to be harvested.