Lil' help with harvesting time?

I have some Strawberry sativas and on paper have 1 week left of flowering.
However, I'm just not sure what I'm looking for to know they're ready to chop down.
They are sativa and I like a cerebral high so would be at the start of the 'right time' but what am I looking for?
The heads of my plants are still quite soft and not hard like they should be for harvet (?).

Maybe some photos of your plants are harvet time would help. I would post mine but I can't figure out how it works... all that URL stuff is beyond me!

 

Best way to tell when to harvest is with a microscope.........i use a 60-100X microscope to examine the trichomes on the small "bud" leaves. I like them to be a ratio of a few amber and the rest milkyish...........check out this thread for a more indepth answer...........well i was going to send ya to subcool's thread on this site, but it no longer has any pics.....but heres a couple other links instead!!

Cannabis and Marijuana seeds :: HomeGrown420 - Harvesting by Trichome colour

http://www.hg420.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6799&stc=1

- 42o -

 

cool, may have to look backwards through a pair of binoculars instead of the microscope... I'll look for a cloudy set of trics.

 

You can pick up a 60-100 microscope from Radio Shack for like $10.

Peace...j.b.

 

Yeah I wouldn't rely on how the buds look and feel. Each mature sativa I've had has yielded buds that are different from indicas. fluffier, dryer and with fewer trics. sativas can b a pain to grow but I love the high and the certain pungence they have.

 

I got my micro off of e-bay for under $10 with shipping. Really, it's the only way to tell for sure. If you harvest when the trics are 50/50 milky/amber you will have a wonderful all around high. That's what most people will strive for. If you harvest when the trics are more clear to milky, you will have more of a head high and if you wait till the trics get more to the amber side, it will take you to more of a body stone. I grow mostly indicas, but last grow I had a monster Sativa that after 12 weeks in flowering, she wasn't finished. I harvested her anyway and really wished after that I had given her an extra couple of weeks. So Be patient. Sativa buds look a lot different in my opinion and will be a lot flufflier but be patient and wait some extra time and they will finish filling with resin. You'll be glad you waited. A 30x julers loope works well also for seeing the trics as I find with my 60x-100x I have a really hard time getting the corect distance from the bud to see them proper