Harvesting for edibles-different than harvesting for smoke?

I have a plant appropriately named "the runt" that I'll probably use solely for making some butter or canna-oil. Should I treat this plant just the same as I would if I planned to smoke it? Are there any benefits to letting it go longer, or take it early, if I'm going to cook with it? I made some brownies not long ago that made me feel as if I had eaten a hand full of pain killers. They were great, and my friends enjoyed them too. I no idea what kin of bud it was or when it was harvested. It just seemed like some normalmid grade herb.

bud is bud and needs to be harvested, dried, and cured the same way.

My understanding is that if you're going for pain relief, let it go longer for more amber thrichs. Elsewise, harvest as usual.

drolove said:

bud is bud and needs to be harvested, dried, and cured the same way.

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No matter what your method of ingestion is, the finished result will ONLY be as good as what you put into it. It may seem like a runt, but give it the same amount of love and you may end up surprising yourself. The butter absorbs the THC as you likely already know, but the THC absorbed can either be weak or really potent. It sounds like the ones you had last time were good but you likely let that plant grow out like normal. Just treat it like you would any of your other plants

Read and study how cannabinoids are produced and when, taking buds, leaves or any other trichomed part of the plant early is wasting your time. They don't really start to build up and are worth harvesting till almost harvest time for the plant. This varies on strain, growing conditions etc.. you can learn on how to tell that as well by searching.

Thanks for the responses.

@KRATOS015 - I'm still giving the runt plenty of love. She is plenty healthy but just doesn't get the amount of light that my bigger girl does. I don't think I will even get an OZ off her. I have read a lot about taking the plant on the early side of done gives you a more "racey" high, and taking it on the far side of ripe will lead to more of a "couch-lock" buzz. I didn't know if this also applied when cooking cannabis, or if it's even true to begin with. I understand that when I start seeing amber trichomes, that means the THC/cannabinoids are degrading... I won't let many of them go that long.