The Final 2 Weeks Of Flowering. If you grow strains with an average flowering time, the majority of bud development will occur by the 6th week of bloom. In the last two weeks, the buds will mostly be ripening and not really growing much more in size.
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).
Thicker, more compact, and heavier buds are what we're looking for. Usually, you can see the most bud development during weeks 5-7 and it can be disappointing to see the light, airy buds; they are not what we imagine when we first start growing.
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 ...
Your buds in Week 6 will be noticeably bigger than they were in Week 5. At this point, these plants are deep into flower, and are really maturing day by day.
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.
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.
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.
It's then followed by the Flowering Stage. 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.
At week 7, buds should be pretty thick, with swollen calyxes, orange-brownish pistils, and erect trichomes that should now contain some amber-colored caps filed with resin. These amber trichomes should make up around 10-15% of the mature trichomes visible on buds, the rest being mostly cloudy/milky.
As plants grow taller, the bigger leaves on top shade the lower leaves and branches. That can lead to small plants with buds on only the highest tier. By gently bending the top of a plant, you bring light to the lower leaves, increasing the colas (nodes where buds form) and bringing light to lower-level buds.
A bud hardener is an additive you can use at the end of the flower cycle to tighten up your flowers and pack on weight. They are typically used in the final 3 weeks or so of the grow cycle and contain a mix of macronutrients, micronutrients, minerals, essential oils, etc.
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.
Week 4: Growth Stops and Plants Focus on Their Buds
Even though there are still white hairs sticking out from the buds, the buds themselves become larger with each day and as the buds grow more and more, the plants will produce more trichomes. This causes the odor to become much more pungent.
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.
Environmental Factors are Important for the Cannabis Plant
Another reason that a cannabis plant may have small buds is due to environmental factors. If the plant is not getting enough light, it will stretch out in search of more. This can lead to a large plant, but small buds that are spread out along the stem.
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.
By week six, your crop's flowers will have reached their full size. While your plants may look and smell amazing, the show is far from over. Over the next two weeks, the resin glands and flowering hairs of your plants will slowly begin to deteriorate, adding new colors, flavors, aromas, and psychoactive effects.
You can harvest your plant by either cutting the entire plant down at once, cutting the stems down one by one while keeping the buds attached to them, or by removing the individual buds from your plant.
Loose, sponge-like flowers can be highly disappointing. Caused by a combination of poor genetics, inadequate nutrients, swings in temperature/humidity, insufficient lighting, and stress, loose buds are hardly worth harvesting. Soft, fluffy flowers can also be deceiving.
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.
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.
In the last two weeks, the buds will mostly be ripening and not really growing much more in size. At this point, the previously white pistils on the buds will now slowly turn amber-brown.
Marijuana buds grow the most during Weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6 of flowering. During Weeks 1 through 3, your plant will be going through the post-veg stretch.
Indica strains and fast-flowering hybrids tend to fatten up their buds the most between weeks 4 and 7 of the flowering cycle, but sativas and later hybrids will not enter this phase yet.