Yeah @happilyretired is right. Its way over done. Ive noticed towrds the end of a plants bloom cycle if you feed it. It starts to think theres abundant food and shoots off more pistils and bract flowers in an atempt to get polinated to live for the next season. So when they do that like happy was saying it will make its own flowers of both sexes and self polinate to ensure survival of the plant. Its what they do naturally to continue on in the wild.
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In that case, I’d better chop them both down tomorrow!
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You’re not alone brother, I have a shaky hand and that thing doesn’t like it at all 
I can’t get ANY good shots when I’m holding the darn thing. So I cut a little bit from a bud and inspect it under the microscope, stationary on a table. But even then it can be a pia to get it zoomed and focussed enough… When I try to adjust it looks like an earthquake is taking place.
You made some killer shots tho. 
Bet you’re the 2nd worst operator.
What kind of jewelers loupe are you using? One of those microbrite thingies?
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OK…
On the topic of that little remote camera, there is a button, maybe even more than one. But one of them takes pictures. So you can set your phone down hold your flower and your camera at the same time and when it’s perfect on your phone or close snap five or 10 pictures. You’ll probably get one good one. And as previously mentioned, also my preferred way is to snip A nice bud off, preferably one large enough to fill a couple of bowls. then I use one of the microscope holders in the below picture to hold my microscope. You can zoom in zoom out. Do whatever you need. Perfect focus every time. Then you can throw that flower out on the counter for a couple of days and then sample it… win – win
One other thing to think about is these plants do not ripen throughout the bud evenly. So I always always look at the bottom of the flower through the microscope and also tear it open and look inside. Absolutely no reason not to since you already cut it off the plant and it will dry quicker
There you have it. Options…
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This is the one I normally use.
But at the end of the day, I need to get proficient with the fancy one. I totally missed my Zweet Inzanity turning amber. Oops! Anyway, lesson learned.
Glad I’m not the only one who struggles getting pics with the digital microscope! Thanks for your empathy! Lol!
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Thank you, sir! May I ask, what trichome look are you after when you check the inside of a bud halfway down the plant? That is, will you see cloudy or amber trichomes, or are they still clear in there? I think your approach makes a ton of sense, per usual.
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Well… I deleted all my weed photos off of my phone. Taking way too much space. With that said, you can scroll through my journal and just stop and look a little closer when you find a trichomes picture. there should be plenty of places through it showing my methodology…
To answer your question, I take mine down when they have maximum cloud…
Not a fan of Amber. It puts me to sleep too. 
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Last Friday, I chopped both plants. I gave the branches a bath in a three-bucket system with a little peroxide in the first bucket.
Question: does water temp matter when washing the buds? I used water that was chilly, and it made me worried that I was losing trichomes. Any ideas?
After the wash, I hung the branches for a day in the open inside my dark garage. After that, I hung the branches in great big cardboard boxes. My hope is that this enclosed environment slows the drying process. My garage is only minimally climate controlled, so the temp has gotten up to 65, and the RH has gone as low as 55. I know that more control would be better, but I’m doing the best I can to mitigate. Stable temps this week will help.
Here’s the Crescendo x Grandpa’s Stash.
Here’s the Zweet Inzanity.
It will be fun to trim and jar these babies in a week or so. In the meantime, I have to admit that I’m depressed to be without my daily plant routine. Thankfully, the outdoor garden is getting started, and I’ll be planting my first round of outdoor autos real soon.
I hope anyone who sees this post has a great Monday and a perfect week!
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Feeling more optimistic today! The hay smell is coming off the buds, and they are beginning to smell and feel closer. Not ready to trim yet, but moving in the right direction at a nice, slow pace.
While processing those plants, I noticed the stems were hollow. One plant in particular (Zweet Inzanity) had stems with extremely thin walls around large, hollow tubes. My outdoor plants have never had this issue. Their stems are always rock solid. I assume this difference is the result of nutrient deficiency or environmental differences (i.e., less wind and no rain in the tent). Can you shed any light on the hollow stems??
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I gave up on reasons a long time ago. If the outcome is sufficient, I’m OK with that. i’ve had a lot of hollow stems. Usually it’s on the plants when they’re in the veg stage. You notice it when you do harsh training. When you take a half-inch stem and smash it between your fingers and then bend it sideways.
Take a little bit of time and enjoy the success of your grow. You can pick it apart later, if you so choose. But right now it’s time to say. “LOOK WHAT I DID”
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Hollow stems are a sign of a healthy plant in most cases. Plants with hollow stems grow taller and the hollow stem helps distribute nutrients (lower chance of nutrient lockout). Very common that tomato plants have hollow stems. One of the problems with hollow stems is as they flower the limbs will need to be supported as the buds get heavier. Just my 2 cents on the subject and what I’ve experienced. You will see it a lot if you’re using BBP.
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I have jarred up all the Crescendo x Grandpa’s Stash as well as the Zweet Inzanity. I’ve trimmed a couple ounces of each.
Zweet Inzanity
Crescendo x G’pa’s Stash
Did a quick trim of the rest and got it in jars. I’ll trim it nice and close as I use it. I jarred a lot of it before trimming it well because it was drying too fast, and I didn’t want to lose my opportunity to cure it. All told, the buds only dried for a week, and they were down to 60% or lower before I got them jarred up. Next grow, I’m going to find a way to optimize my drying, even if that means shelling out for a dedicated fridge.
At the end of the day, I harvested about 6 oz. from the Zweet Inzanity plant and about 7 oz. from the crescendo plant, although there was much more larf with the crescendo. I’ve sampled both, and they’re both lovely. The Zweet Inzanity is fruit/cherry nose with very smooth smoke and long-lasting effect.
Crescendo has a unique smell. It’s like earthy grapes and wine. It hits pretty harsh, though I hope that will ease with curing. The high is a strong “couch lock” sort of thing. Makes me want to think and not talk very much.
Both these plants produced the frostiest buds I’ve grown yet. Despite the mistakes I made on this grow, I’m proud to say it was my most successful indoor grow yet. I am truly excited to build from this success and continue to learn about these plants.
Now that I absolutely have more bud than I’ll be able to smoke in the near term, I can say with confidence that I like growing it even more than I like smoking it. My evidence of this fact is included below.
I’m going to grow two autos in the GroBuckets in my tent. These are both freebies I received last spring. One is a Gnome Methane plant, and the other is an Atlas TriCross.
I soaked them in some distilled water for about a day and then placed them in a Tupperware with some wet paper towels for another day. This morning, they went into some moist Black Gold seedling mix under a little dome and my junior light. I’m using my little heat mat again, too.
The purpose of this grow is to gain some confidence with autos. I have not done too well, even with good genetics. Most of my autos have been drastically stunted. This time, I’m going to leave them in these seedling pots for only a few days, and then it’ll be into the buckets with more of my soil mix, which is mainly Promix, worm castings from my mom’s worm bins, and Coast of Maine compost. I’m also going to use BBP this time and the Gen Hydro Trio.
I am very grateful to you for the feedback, encouragement, and advice you provide for me as I learn about this cannabis growing. This experience has taught me a lot about plants and much more. Thanks to you! Have a great day!
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@pbaker1111 santa cruz shredder the best 
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Mr Baker,
Re: BBP, please don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions, or if I can be of help assuring you maximize your grow !
Bob
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Thank you, sir! I will bug you in the next week or so to ensure I’m doing it right.
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Second best Grindersforlife absolute best imho.
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about the same looking you want the square pegs not pyramids
better grind from what I can tell
last forever
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I also use Santa Cruz grinders.
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