Harvest Before or After First Frost?

weedboy613

weedboy613

Active Member
Do you harvest before or after the first frost of the year? I heard letting your plants sit out after the first frost helps push out all the remaining THC, but I'm thinking that could be Bullshit.
And another thing, if you let your plants stay out after the first frost and the weather was nicer the next couple of days, would the plants live or die? And what happens if they die.. are they still smoke-able?
 
Canadaboy

Canadaboy

Well-Known Member
just for argument sake can you elaborate on why you should wait till after the first frost? what are the benefits and why? Some supporting info would be great.
 
I

itsaplant

Active Member
I let mine go till the first rain and it sucked balls with 15 people rushing in all day and chopping and dehumidifers and mold risk.

This year I pick them like apples and then hit them HARD with chems after I take the tops down and with ease get them machine trimmed.
Then do it all over again.

Estimated 20% gain in yield with two harvests.

Plus im drunk and angry right now I would like to add this
K>JSDFNKLDNF:LKNDSFLKNSDFLKSDLFKN
 
H

happy smoker

Active Member
I have heard this too, but it always comes from people that dont grow.lol. These are also the same people who say smoke the leaves.
 
I

itsaplant

Active Member
Hay frost is cool and makes the meds totally purple and amazing and if left out that long would be so 100% ripe and THC would be 20%.

Deal is most of us cant handle the rain and bagging our girls and spraying with anti mild chems and fans and....

WHen its time for the plants to come down its time, unless you have a green house and allow the cold inside, $7,000 to $14,000 for for the houses, extra for the fans plus employee time and yadda yadda...

Mother nature bats last!
 
Vapekush

Vapekush

Active Member
In order to kill your plant with cold, it's got to be really cold out like 33-40 Fahrenheit. A frost or 2 will not hurt a fully grown plant.

Cooler temps tend to bring out purple colors but the plant also wants to protect itself from the cold so it produces more trichs. Think of it as a sparkling THC sweater. Clearly there are limits to how many trichs a plant will produce so there is no point in letting them go for more than 1 or 2 frosts.
 
weedboy613

weedboy613

Active Member
itsaplant said:
I let mine go till the first rain and it sucked balls with 15 people rushing in all day and chopping and dehumidifers and mold risk.

This year I pick them like apples and then hit them HARD with chems after I take the tops down and with ease get them machine trimmed.
Then do it all over again.

Estimated 20% gain in yield with two harvests.

Plus im drunk and angry right now I would like to add this
K>JSDFNKLDNF:LKNDSFLKNSDFLKSDLFKN
Click to expand...
What do you do to get a 20% gain in yield? The combination of you being drunk and me unbelievably stoned isn't working
 
weedboy613

weedboy613

Active Member
Vapekush said:
In order to kill your plant with cold, it's got to be really cold out like 33-40 Fahrenheit. A frost or 2 will not hurt a fully grown plant.

Cooler temps tend to bring out purple colors but the plant also wants to protect itself from the cold so it produces more trichs. Think of it as a sparkling THC sweater. Clearly there are limits to how many trichs a plant will produce so there is no point in letting them go for more than 1 or 2 frosts.
Click to expand...
So lets say I have a plant that is 1-2 weeks to early to pull. If I let it go after the first frost or two, your saying the remaining trichs will come out of the bud, just as if the bud has ripened and fully matured? Obviously the bud wouldnt GROW any bigger but with the extra production of THC I suppose it would be more potent?
 
I

itsaplant

Active Member
weedboy613 said:
What do you do to get a 20% gain in yield? The combination of you being drunk and me unbelievably stoned isn't working
Click to expand...
Just taking all the tops 2 weeks early, getting busy and trimming that down and I hit them with 2 rounds of chems and then the organics and molasses making brand new tops.
 
Carl Spackler

Carl Spackler

Well-Known Member
I think the keys to this situation is the temperature, the length of exposure to those temps and the type of cannabis. A mature sativa-dominant plant exposed to 25-28 degrees F. for 4-6 hrs. will basically stop any further growth or life processes and it is time to harvest immediately. Indica's are somewhat better adapted to lower temps. and can withstand mild frosts (29-33 degrees F. for 3-6 hrs.) and can continue to slowly mature if temps. quickly moderate over the next few days.
Yes, the colors of the flowers are affected by the lower temps but it is debatable as to whether or not it effects potency/taste. Leaving either in continuous freezing conditions can spell disaster as the cell structures of both the leaves and the flowers will rupture when frozen making harvest, drying/curing difficult if not impossible.
 
I

itsaplant

Active Member
You would take your "Money" down within 2 weeks of being perfect. Almost 90% "Ripe" You can keep them out and risk mold, home invasion, other threats...
Almost every one, in fact every one I know will take the tops a tad bit early, but were talking buds the size of your arm or 2 soda bottle.

What I was told was take em down and get them to the club because clubs really dont care about CBD ratio. (Not one club wanted my high CBD medicinal herbs they all wanted cloudy and clear THC Tricombes)
I let mine go LONG and was home invaded. My Mastiff chased them off.

This year Im going to take them as soon as I see "Harvest" and in fact the one plant I did take early was just fine, if not perfect and I hit her hard with chemicals for a week then organic and molasses getting a second harvest of half a pound on one plant.
 
weedboy613

weedboy613

Active Member
Ok.. so now to follow up, what you guys have really been saying about the frost is, It doesnt matter if my plants will only have 7 weeks to flower instead of 8, because the frost ripens the plant and pushes out THC crystals. Corrent? Is there a difference between doing that and actually letting them go for the proper amount of time to harvest?
 
L

Le pic

Active Member
Peoples harvest after the first frost for a simple reason, the plant is not going to survive to much more "frosty" night..so after the first one you harvest.
 
Dankenfest

Dankenfest

Member
IMO when to harvest has much more to do with the state of the trichs than the temperature. Weather can be totally random, your first frost could come weeks earlier than you're expecting, making your harvest too early if you harvest based on the frost schedule, or you could hit a warm spell and the trichs could degrade too far while your waiting for that silly frost to come already. If it comes early I recommend (if this is possible in your situation) covering the plants with as light a plastic garbage bag as you can find so you can keep the plants going a few more weeks. Good luck!
 
weedboy613

weedboy613

Active Member
Ive got some pics here... First frost is expected to be after the first week of october and most of my clones started on the 17th of August, so they are about 2 and a half weeks into flowering leaving only about 4 MAYBE 5 weeks... :(
All these pictures are two days old


Heres a couple pics of some bagseed that has been fowering since August 10th, so just under 4 weeks of flowering.
 
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