What about the leaves?! This is a factor that isn't always accurate (especially with some sativa/sativa dom strains) but if the plant is healthy, the leaves will usually yellow throughout the budding process and begin to die as they feed their energy to the ripening buds. With some strains, the color is not always yellow, the leaves may turn purple, black, red, etc - but there is a definitive change there regardless..

Cool write-up and nice photos!