Honestly,..im terrified!

[loolagigi]

ok, here it goes. i have greown a few succesful grows, but everytime, i think i harvested early, and or, dried, and cured wrong.

i will be harvesting these 2 plants in 8 8 weeks or so, and i am worried i will spend all this time, and have grassy/hay smelling/harsh smoking/burnt tasting homegrown sensi.

i want to break the system on this grow.

i have allready read thousands of posts, and quite a few harvesting threads, and tutorials, but i am still shaking in my boots.

i always used the hand to dry, and jar to cure method. after reading i think im going to cut fan leaves off only and hang. letting the little leaves cover the buds as they dry. then come back and trim the rest of the leaves. then i will slow dry at 74-78 degrees f, and 40-50 rh. then once they are semi dry, place them in a paper bag, and keep an eye on them before jarring. what do you think?

sorry if this thread seems desperate, but it is. i hate paying some money hungry dushe hard earned money for ok mj. lend a brother a hand.

 

[racerboy71]

yeah.. harvesting and when to and curing can be a little nerve wracking ehh? i just cut my buds down, leave a nice piece of stem and hang them in the dark.. oh yah, i forgot to mention that i do manicure mine right when i cut them and get all leaf material cut of as good as i can at this time..
i would think that you would want your rh a little lower than what you had said in your post.. imho the lower the rh the better it is for curing..
also, you should get yourself a jewlers loupe.. atleast 30x magnification, and look at your trics with it.. you will want to harvest when trics are all miniminally all cloudy.. and on the way to 50% amber.. if you harvest too early that is how you get that wet grass smell to your buds... just practice patience, and a good rule of thumb to go by is when you think they are ready, wait another week..
best of luck..

 

[2much]

another tip is to seal them up at night airtight then open up to air during daylight to dry. this has a profound effect on aroma, if you dont believe me just do with some of the bud and see for yourself

 

[jolly8541]

I feel you loolaigi, I'm at the 8week mark right now and am trying to hold on for one more week! I've got 4 to harvest w/in the next week and 3 more about 3 weeks out. To cure I usually place mine in a dark place for 4-5 days and then into containers that are burped daily until I feel they have cured properly. Then its nothing but puff-puff baby!!!!! Good Luck!

 

[loolagigi]

yeah.. harvesting and when to and curing can be a little nerve wracking ehh? i just cut my buds down, leave a nice piece of stem and hang them in the dark.. oh yah, i forgot to mention that i do manicure mine right when i cut them and get all leaf material cut of as good as i can at this time..
i would think that you would want your rh a little lower than what you had said in your post.. imho the lower the rh the better it is for curing..
also, you should get yourself a jewlers loupe.. atleast 30x magnification, and look at your trics with it.. you will want to harvest when trics are all miniminally all cloudy.. and on the way to 50% amber.. if you harvest too early that is how you get that wet grass smell to your buds... just practice patience, and a good rule of thumb to go by is when you think they are ready, wait another week..
best of luck..

i have a radio shack micro. but yes i think i did harvest early.

another tip is to seal them up at night airtight then open up to air during daylight to dry. this has a profound effect on aroma, if you dont believe me just do with some of the bud and see for yourself

so bacically your telling me after they dry...place them in a sealed jar 12 hours, and unsealed 12 hours? it is diff from what i have been doing, and doing diff is what im looking for. insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting diff results. how long would i do that for? eventually thet need to be sealed all the time. maybe until smell and taste become acceptable? thanks

 

[loolagigi]

I feel you loolaigi, I'm at the 8week mark right now and am trying to hold on for one more week! I've got 4 to harvest w/in the next week and 3 more about 3 weeks out. To cure I usually place mine in a dark place for 4-5 days and then into containers that are burped daily until I feel they have cured properly. Then its nothing but puff-puff baby!!!!! Good Luck!

by using this method do you get dank smelling weed, and or good tasting? i just want my harvest to be as good if not better than the crap i BUY from the street. the plants are bagseed, but i have been told that with bagseed i should still get premium smoke.

 

[lancer55]

another tip is to seal them up at night airtight then open up to air during daylight to dry. this has a profound effect on aroma, if you dont believe me just do with some of the bud and see for yourself

Do you do this immediately after cutting them down? Meaning, they go into the jar wet, and at night you seal them up and then let them stay open in the day time? Are they receiving light when they are open or is it just the warm air circulating through the room? This would obviously take more time, but if it produces a much better smell/smoke I've got the time and patience to do it. Lemme hear some specifics...

 

[loolagigi]

Do you do this immediately after cutting them down? Meaning, they go into the jar wet, and at night you seal them up and then let them stay open in the day time? Are they receiving light when they are open or is it just the warm air circulating through the room? This would obviously take more time, but if it produces a much better smell/smoke I've got the time and patience to do it. Lemme hear some specifics...

yeah, that

 

[FranceGanj]

flower for 11 weeks wait till your hairs recede into the bud and turn brown/red

 

[DND]

flower for 11 weeks wait till your hairs recede into the bud and turn brown/red

I couldn't agree more! Don't reply on what a seed pack says as far as flowering time, wait until you see no more white hairs and then harvest.

People will tell you this is wrong and to look at trichome colors, but if you want to guarantee your plant is ready and ripe, go by the hairs. Dry until the stems snap and jar them, burp jars for at least 10 mins a day for the first 2 weeks.

 

[DND]

And about the trimming... it's much harder to trim when dry and I also believe you lose a lot more trichomes this way. I would trim, hang, manicure and then cure.

 

[darkdestruction420]

Do you do this immediately after cutting them down? Meaning, they go into the jar wet, and at night you seal them up and then let them stay open in the day time? Are they receiving light when they are open or is it just the warm air circulating through the room? This would obviously take more time, but if it produces a much better smell/smoke I've got the time and patience to do it. Lemme hear some specifics...

jar them wet and your gonna get mildew or mold or rot or etc.

 

[Roland]

Check ou Fdd2Blk's Tutorial .. it answers everything ... most important will be waiting 'til Plant is mature .. then dry and cure with patience .. I think putting them in a PAPER bag will cause rapid drying ... the moisture goes to equilibrium between the bag and bud











Click here for fdd's tutorial on harvesting and curing



Spruce Zeus did a nice thread on when to harvest too

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/210501-zeuss-take-harvesting.html

 

[darkdestruction420]

I couldn't agree more! Don't reply on what a seed pack says as far as flowering time, wait until you see no more white hairs and then harvest.

People will tell you this is wrong and to look at trichome colors, but if you want to guarantee your plant is ready and ripe, go by the hairs. Dry until the stems snap and jar them, burp jars for at least 10 mins a day for the first 2 weeks.

thats horrible advice, do you not understand how thc and trichomes and the *ripening* of thc work and give the best indicator to harvest? the hairs can turn way b4 its ready.
When should I harvest my plants?

The 30X and 100X lighted magnifier are tools everyone serious about harvest timing should have. They make it easy to monitor the resin development process. After seeing 400X images of resin glands, I decided to also buy the 100X magnifier. It supplies a superior view, providing an enhanced perspective of resin gland condition and development.

I recommend buying the 30X model first and if you would like to expand your analytical capabilities, buy the 100X model. They both allow for a much closer inspection of the clarity, color and condition of the resin glands, which should be swollen and unbroken while remaining transparent and slightly amber, if at all, at the peak of ripeness. Some prefer harvesting earlier, as THC degrades to more sedative cannabinoids as the glands ripen.

Harvest timing is a matter of personal preference. When the glandular trichomes are clear with very little, if any coloration, THC levels are at their peak with CBD and CBN both at levels that will not overly influence the THC with their sedative effects. Some prefer more overwhelming narcotic type effects, allowing the resin glands to cloud and begin to amber or darken to increase overall cannabinoid content. The resin glands appear and therefore will mature at different times. A compromise is made when determining the desired overall maturity level to harvest. It depends on the growers preference in effect and palate.

https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=157

 

[SpruceZeus]

Just to throw my 2 cents in here.

Gladular Trichome colour is an indicator of ripeness, but it is one of many, not the only one. Different strains of marijuana can be very tricky with trichomes, sometimes throwing out 2 "waves" of maturity, in my experience usually around 8 and 10 weeks of flowering (obviously that is strain dependent though). If you wait, you'll probably find the second wave offers a much fuller and more complex flavour.

Anyhow, heres something I banged out a while back.

Is it ready yet?: SpruceZeus's take on marijuana ripeness.
This is by no means meant to be the definitive guide to knowing when to chop your plant, only my views on the subject.

I'm personally of the opinion that 90% of the growers on this site (And probably in general) harvest too early. By letting the plants go a little longer you're ensuring that the've plumped as much as they're going to.
Despite popular opinion to the contrary(and don't fool yourself, the jury is still out on this one) Recent studies have shown ;contrary to what was previously believed, that THC itself (And its predecessor THC-A) are quite guilty of causing the confusion and drowsiness associated with burnout and other cannabinoids (our friend CBN, and a handful of others) to be the catalyst (along with THC) to being 'high' rather than 'baked'
Regardless, whether or not theres any substance to the aforementioned study, its easy to get the high you want.
If you want a soaring 'cerebral' high: Get yourself a tropical sativa that contains a high level of THC-V and grow it until it is ripe.
If you want the narcotic couchlock stone, grow a rugged indica until its ripe.
Notice a pattern of growing it until its ripe? Its a really good rule to live by.
OF course we have to remember that there is more to a good high than just THC. At last count there are at least 66 cannabinoids, and we don't know what most of them do.


Now alot of people will tell you that you should harvest based only on the colour of your trichomes. But (again, in my opinion) that is far too simplistic and there are too many variables to make that an effective strategy. I've made that point a million times before and i'm not going to re-hash it here,(maybe just a bit) but rest assured there is more to the picture than just trich colour.


A ripe marijuana plant will be filled in, will have an amber tinge to the buds. The pistils should have browned (or orange-d) off and receded into the buds. The seed bracts should be swollen and the trichomes should be sticking straight out with bulbous ends. Also, because you're coming close to the end of plant's life cycle, the leaves should have yellowed off and started to die.

one of my plants, 3 days before chop-chop.


Another very important (imho) reason to let your plants mature is Terpenoid production. Terpenes are responsible for alot of the complex (And enjoyable) flavours that cannabis produces. Some of the most intense flavours are produced on the "downslope" of cannabis's life cycle. My personal experience with this first came when i was growing GH cheese. One of the plants i harvested at 8 weeks and it tasted pretty nice and had pretty dense buds. The other i grew until about 9 1/2 weeks and it had most amazing, sour, skunky, delicious taste with rock hard buds.


Here is my interpretation (and maybe exaggeration) of a scenario i see all too often...

Quote:
Quote:noob mcboob
I'm a new grower and i've been reading all this great information about when its time to harvest. Theres pictures and everything!!!

Look at my trichs, they look nice and milky with a touch of amber just like the ones in the picture that says its harvest time now!!!


So i just have one question....

Does this look ready to you?
That plant is 4 weeks into 12/12. Granted not all of the trichomes are that far along. And most people arent going to harvest weed that looks like this. But my point with this is that you have to look at the big picture. Stop being so scientific and start being practical.
I'm not anti knowledge, i just cant stand these "rules" that more often than not lead people down the wrong path.
Lets cut through the bullshit and spread good information in a way that is not so absolute. Or at very least explain the growth stages of cannabis making sure to mention that the pistils should have receded back into the bud before you chop. Regardless of trichome colour.

If I could offer one piece of advice on picking the right time to harvest, it's all about watching the pistils. Not so much the colour, but the movement. They should have receded into the bud and the seed bracts should be swollen.

It should look less like this

And more like this.

Trust me when I say, it is worth the excruciating wait.

again I'll quote myself, this time on flushing.

I've done side-by-sides in both soil and hydro, and after a decent cure, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the plant that got a 2-3 week flush and the plant that was fed until the day of harvest.
Having said that, I always flush. Saves me a buttload of expensive nutrients without sacrificing plant quality/final weight. Plus, people like to hear that they're smoking the 'cleanest' dope they can. Since you're not going to find me growing organics (at least in my basement) this is the best I can do on that front.

Also flushing will bring out pretty fall colours.

As far as harvesting, I like to manicure immediately, taking off as much leaf matter as possible (less chlorophyll = less "fresh cut lawn" taste) Hang dry, or on a wire rack if i'm feeling lazy. When the buds are crispy and the stems will break but not snap, I'll take off the big stalks and loosely pack into jars. From there I will leave closed for 12 hours, open for 12 for the first few days, then I'll pretty much leave the jars closed, just burping them occasionally.

Give it at least 2 weeks, and IMHO no more than 4 months (that seems to be about the point that all the good flavours disapears)

My Ideal bud is 6 weeks off the plant and smoked in a big ole joint!!!

Heres some nugs that are right about there. Very fruity, skunky flavour. Smooth to smoke, with none of the hay taste that we all hate.

A little leafy I suppose. I must have been feeling lazy when I was trimming it.

anyhow, sorry for the long ass post.

 

[DND]

thats horrible advice, do you not understand how thc and trichomes and the *ripening* of thc work and give the best indicator to harvest? the hairs can turn way b4 its ready.

Horrible advice because you believe and do it a different way?

I guess I'm wrong too because I choose to not flush my chemically grown plants and let the ppm stay at 1300 all the up to harvest?

How about I start my clones in 1300 ppm and never stray away from that number, they never burn either. Even better I use only a 1 part nutrient with zero additives and have no deficiencies, problems with ph...nada. Can you believe that?

I also never change my reservoir water every 2 weeks, in fact I only dump it after a flowering cycle is completed.

I understand completely about thrichome ripeness, doe not mean I agree with it.

I believe that when you cannot see any or >10% of white pistils on a plant, it's ready to harvest. IMO

Show me a plant where almost all of the pistils have mostly turned amber/brown and the trichomes are not at an acceptable stage of maturity to harvest. Show me one...just one.

My point is, there are MANY different ways and beliefs about how to grow marijuana. From what method to use all the way into harvesting, just because my beliefs differ than yours does not mean I'm wrong. I grow perfectly good tasting, yielding A++++ bud using my methods. Are you wrong for thinking/growing the way you do? NO. BUT, don't knock mine till you try it!

 

[darkdestruction420]

i stick with my other post but i do feel i should apologize for my rudeness in saying it the way i did. you were right to get mad, but it didnt sound bad in my head when i was typing it. my bad, im sorry

 

[DND]

i stick with my other post but i do feel i should apologize for my rudeness in saying it the way i did. you were right to get mad, but it didnt sound bad in my head when i was typing it. my bad, im sorry

I wasn't mad I was just making a point that everyone has different ways of doing things to get the results. I was asking questions to make have you think outside of the box. Are you right, am I right, are we both wrong? No, I think we accomplish the same goal with different methods. Apology accepted and I offer mine as well if I came off rude. Peace