Zeus's Take on Harvesting

zoso914

zoso914

Well-Known Member
SpruceZeus said:
Okay, I've posted this a couple times, but I though it deserved its own thread.


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 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...

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.
Click to expand...
Well my friend I was only a week and a 1/2 tops from where I had to go before I chopped it was a little late seeing this thread chopped day before yesterday. Thanks again for the excellent information you rock my friend appropriate name for you too.

zoso914
 
Eire

Eire

Member
Dude, you just saved my first harvest. I've been dancing like a kid holding a pee. But now I see that I'm not missing the moment, it has yet to be. Thank you very much!
 
novgro

novgro

Member
not ready to harvest yet but at least when i am i can do it properly, thanks for the post, much appreciated, helps us noobs out a lot + rep
 
V

vittujoo

Active Member
hey man, thanks for the great info, im harvesting in around 4 weeks and came across your sig by accident and found this thread. one of the best and most useful reads i've had. I'd rep you if i knew how haha
 
phenix white

phenix white

Active Member
this is awsome!i have a Pyramid seeds Northern Lights a 3 time spanabis cup winner genetic! well its 9 weeks and 1 day now,,the breeder time for harvest was 8-9 weeks but its wrong! trich s are whiteish milkey and clear and some have a amberish hue to them..but it the plant still has some growing in her1 pistels havent all receeded id say 10 percent have receded..im going to take it day by day,,any suggestions??? soil organic grow earth juice
 
Eire

Eire

Member
I had some NL clones, I think #5 or #7, not positive of the genetics but they turned out great. I had similar concerns as you and I harvested on day 71. It is great, but beyond couch-lock, it's a knock-out. After curing, a pro that I respect told me that I should have taken them down a week earlier.
 
Samuel Caldwell

Samuel Caldwell

Member
Just bumping this one up to say thanks. I've got 4 beautiful girls that I've been getting anxious to chop, checking the scope daily. But after reading this I've completely changed my mind. I've been a gardener since childhood so comparing to fruit, vegetables and especially flowers really makes a lot of sense. They're going to go until they're done.

I'm really looking forward to it.
 
downsouth305tn

downsouth305tn

Member
I just harvested my girls too early cause of just watching trichs...wish I would've saw this thread a month ago. Still came out to be a decent product but nowhere near what I expected and now I know why. The tell tale that I now know is that the hairs on them weren't receading yet and they weren't as full as they should've been. Now I know so next season will be on point, Thanks!
 
C

Cronicclock

Member
Was heading to chop down my ladies when i came across this thread. Definitely going to be waiting till they have increased in ripeness. Thanks Zues
 
I

InCognition

Active Member
I have yet to finish my first grow, but after roaming this site for quite a while I always figured the look of the plant had to of showed maturity more accurately, than just one part of the plant (trichomes).

Thanks for this info.

I was still considering buying a jewelers loupe for the sake of it, but I'll pass on it now. Thanks for saving me some $.
 
Phaeton

Phaeton

Active Member
Last year I bookmarked this thread while in a different forum.
I find it again today and it is still the #1 tutorial available.
Never thanked you the first time.
Thank you.
 
kneecapman

kneecapman

Well-Known Member
Great info here. I live in a Medical Marijuana state, and believe me, the price of Kind HAS went down, and it is NOT because of the law being softened - it because of this very reason. Not saying that there wasn't a fair share of "not quite done yet" shit floating around the pool before the laws changed... Back then, prices were more according to quality. Now that every block has a grower or two, the pool is brown with shit swirls and when someone like me comes out with properly grown, harvested when done, dried proper, cured for more than a week buds, everyone expects the price to be the same. Its a tough sale to say that it is worth more when everyone and their brother can sell their "learning curve" weed as if it was medical grade. So the hope is that more people read this and take it to heart. The incentive for getting compensated more for the effort is harder to find out there (at least in this low-population area I live in now) even when I send my buds to the lab and show lab reports, people (and dispensaries) are less likely to give a shit when they know five other people that has stuff "better than schwagg" for just a couple bucks less than what I want to charge. I refuse to go down the path of not caring just because the market don't care. I urge growers to fall on the safe side of this argument by waiting until their plants are ahowing signs that it is dying. Dying is just a fancy way of saying "nearing the end of its life cycle." Amber overtone and leaves failing is a great time to wait. By then, most plants should have hardly any visible pistols anywhere near the tops of the plants. Don't worry that you are waiting too long - if you don't see any of these more obvious signs, then there is NO WAY you are waiting too long. I mainly use my magnifying glass and microscope to check leaves for bugs, fungus and shit like that. Trichones look cool, but they make people want to jump the gun just because they see amber... they begin to fear that one day, two days after seeing amber, the whole plant is just going to be brown and all the THC will be like fart dust. It happens over a period of days, not hours. Hell, indoors in the right conditions, it could take over a month PAST your 8 week deadline before a plant is truely "dying." If you take away nutes towards the end of the life cycle, YES, it will speed up the ripening process, but not so much that you have to keep checking it hourly. JUST LET IT GROW>!!! You'll thank yourself later.
 
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