Ian Singerdale
Well-Known Member
So coming to the end of my first grow (three down, two to go) I've learned a lot about what I was surprised to see was one of the more difficult and wonderful parts of growing: harvest! Here's some stuff I picked up, please share your own experiences too. I obviously have a lot more to learn as well.
1. Listen to your senses. No any one indicator will truly tell you when it's ready. Going by trichomes alone I thought one plant had over a week, but looking at it, almost every pistil had retracted and they were 100% brown. It SMELLED ready, almost overripe, with a hint of alcohol. The calyx's were so swollen it looked like bunches of grapes. I chopped I think at the perfect time.
2. Trichs can change color after harvest! I had no idea. Almost 100% of the trichs were clear / cloudy right before I picked the aforementioned plant; looking at them again 7 days later there was almost 30-40% amber trichs. This could also do with the part of the plant I had scoped earlier - different bud sites mature differently, even at the same height on the plant.
3. YOU decide when it's ready. It's great to take some early and some later, especially if you have a single-strain grow. Think of your flowers as fruit. Do you like a really sweet, ripe and pungent fruit, or do you enjoy the tang and taste of an early picked mango? There are gradations on when you pick that help decide so many factors like the stone, the smell, the taste and the look. I had to chop one that went hermie about a week too early. And while it is the most far-along in the curing process right now, it smells absolutely amazing: like lavender, cherry blossoms and cotton candy, and has the clearest, headiest high I have ever felt. I have the same strain going now that's about to chop, almost in week ten, and it is the heaviest, most physical stone. Nearly like opiates. The taste and smell are like a candy apple, ripe pears and sticky cognac. It is amazing the difference two weeks can make.
4. Save the best for last. That ONE plant you LOVE? that is your baby, that you would cut off your pinky for if that would save its life? Let her go and fully express her genetics. Let the soil begin drying out a little longer. Overwater when you do. flush for two or even three weeks before chop. Which leads me to my last point
5. Bad soil = best flavor. I wish I knew the science, but while the plants I fertilized closer to the end yielded more, the ones I accidentally began flushing for almost three weeks before harvest were by far the stickiest and stinkiest. Smells that infect your brain and haunt your dreams. The 48 hrs of darkness beforehand seems to really bring out the essential oils, and if I'm not imagining things, seemed to increase trich production further out on the leaves.
6. When you're ready to chop, MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY! Have an idea in place of where you will be able to lay down buds on a clean surface, or even better have a drying rack or box ready to hang the instant they are trimmed. Get gloves. Get good spring-loaded clippers. Scissors will cramp your hands in no time. Have a box for sugar leaves and a box for fans and stems (sugars for hash, fans and stems for iso hash oil or butter if you want).
7. most important: razor blade. This is for taking that amazing gooey hash off your trimming shears. My god I was in outer space
Now most of this stuff is just repeated from way smarter grow masters than myself, but I thought maybe having it collected here could be useful to somebody. I'd love to hear other people's tricks too, or if anything here was complete BS.
1. Listen to your senses. No any one indicator will truly tell you when it's ready. Going by trichomes alone I thought one plant had over a week, but looking at it, almost every pistil had retracted and they were 100% brown. It SMELLED ready, almost overripe, with a hint of alcohol. The calyx's were so swollen it looked like bunches of grapes. I chopped I think at the perfect time.
2. Trichs can change color after harvest! I had no idea. Almost 100% of the trichs were clear / cloudy right before I picked the aforementioned plant; looking at them again 7 days later there was almost 30-40% amber trichs. This could also do with the part of the plant I had scoped earlier - different bud sites mature differently, even at the same height on the plant.
3. YOU decide when it's ready. It's great to take some early and some later, especially if you have a single-strain grow. Think of your flowers as fruit. Do you like a really sweet, ripe and pungent fruit, or do you enjoy the tang and taste of an early picked mango? There are gradations on when you pick that help decide so many factors like the stone, the smell, the taste and the look. I had to chop one that went hermie about a week too early. And while it is the most far-along in the curing process right now, it smells absolutely amazing: like lavender, cherry blossoms and cotton candy, and has the clearest, headiest high I have ever felt. I have the same strain going now that's about to chop, almost in week ten, and it is the heaviest, most physical stone. Nearly like opiates. The taste and smell are like a candy apple, ripe pears and sticky cognac. It is amazing the difference two weeks can make.
4. Save the best for last. That ONE plant you LOVE? that is your baby, that you would cut off your pinky for if that would save its life? Let her go and fully express her genetics. Let the soil begin drying out a little longer. Overwater when you do. flush for two or even three weeks before chop. Which leads me to my last point
5. Bad soil = best flavor. I wish I knew the science, but while the plants I fertilized closer to the end yielded more, the ones I accidentally began flushing for almost three weeks before harvest were by far the stickiest and stinkiest. Smells that infect your brain and haunt your dreams. The 48 hrs of darkness beforehand seems to really bring out the essential oils, and if I'm not imagining things, seemed to increase trich production further out on the leaves.
6. When you're ready to chop, MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY! Have an idea in place of where you will be able to lay down buds on a clean surface, or even better have a drying rack or box ready to hang the instant they are trimmed. Get gloves. Get good spring-loaded clippers. Scissors will cramp your hands in no time. Have a box for sugar leaves and a box for fans and stems (sugars for hash, fans and stems for iso hash oil or butter if you want).
7. most important: razor blade. This is for taking that amazing gooey hash off your trimming shears. My god I was in outer space
Now most of this stuff is just repeated from way smarter grow masters than myself, but I thought maybe having it collected here could be useful to somebody. I'd love to hear other people's tricks too, or if anything here was complete BS.
. Smoke one and give the man some props for writing this up.
