Suppose you were succeeding in implementing the proper cultivation steps to ensure perfectly healthy vegetation and robust flowering.
In that case, you must be thinking about the next step, the harvest season- when your plant matures; when a child grows and becomes a teenager, they have many questions, and each one is a mystery. Similarly, after cultivating the plant, you must be struggling to harvest your plant.
The question that must be nagging you is how do you know the right time to harvest your plant? You may even argue- If you can harvest the top half of my plant first? There is no excellent timeline for when your plant becomes ready for harvest.
Every case is different. Thus, growers will have to monitor their plants and check them themselves. Still, a standard guideline can support you to know when to start watching your plant for signs that it is ready for harvest.
Answering The Question
Due to extreme light exposure, the top of your plant will ripen and mature earlier than the buds below. This maturation will allow excited and impatient growers to harvest the top of the plants before the rest has reached the perfect color on the trichomes.
You can do this by simply following the steps listed below:
- Trim the branches
- Start the drying and curing process. Leave your lower buds under similar lightning and flowering conditions you have had in the previous weeks.
- You will observe that the buds on the lower sections have a few various color configurations. This configuration is because they mature relatively slower than those in the top half.
How To Harvest Your Plants
The first information to follow when harvesting focuses on the time frame taken by buds to mature. In general, your plants will have separate set time windows. These consist of:
- Auto flowers: 10 weeks (an automatic switch from vegetative growth to the flowering phase.)
- Sativa: 10 weeks (leaves of this subspecies of the marijuana plant are lighter in color and narrower than their counterparts.)
- Indica: 8 weeks (from flowering)
It is known for its relaxing and therapeutic qualities.
Harvesting at the Right Time
” Even a single second matters when it comes to life” It is imperative to note that timing is crucial when we discuss harvesting your plant as well. If you notice that the pistils are incredibly white or the trichomes are very clear, the plant is still young and lacks the ideal THC impression. Whereas, if the pistils are left to become extraordinarily dark, or the trichomes become amber, it could mean that the plant is robust and exhibits an obnoxious taste and smell.
You are suggested to go through the overall schedule of your plant and keep an eye on the bud itself. Eventually, you will understand when it would be best to harvest your plant.
Checking the maturation rate of the trichomes is the best approach to determine whether your plant is set for harvesting. You will get to know trichomes as the gummy resin glands that wrap the buds and the leaves. Trichomes will generally go through three different stages during their development:
- It emerges clear, which means that it is still not mature and that its THC content is still not enough to provide you with a high.
- It appears cloudy, which means that it’s at its peak with completely mature THC.
- It seems amber, which means that it is past its prime, and the level of THC is cheapening.
Step By Step Explanation
You can conclude that the weed is in the harvest window when most of its hairs curl and darkens from inside. You can also find buds underneath the strands. Hence, you know that now is the time to harvest weed.
Look at the picture above and notice carefully. You will find glittery trichomes. Here it would help if you had a magnifier to find the trichome heads. They look evident and have a glassy texture. So, when you see this note, your buds are still not functional. For better understanding, you can have a look at the picture attached below:
The trichomes will turn milky slowly and gradually. Also, it won’t be glassy anymore. It will start seeming more like plastic. The white coat symbolizes a high level of CBD and THC in them. And any weed plant containing high CBD and THC is healthy to harvest. You can leave and provide some more time till it turns golden in color. Hence, contemplating it has less THC and now has a relaxed body.
So here is the quick and straightforward answer, your buds are ready to harvest when they have hairs and buds. But if you miss the time, then have glassy trichomes, and milky trichomes are not the best time to reap.
Please wait for it to turn golden to do the process.
Advantages of Harvesting the Top Half of the Plant
Now, the reason why some farmers are keen to harvest the top half of their plant is not just because they are naturally excited to cure and dry the yield. It is because there is a plus side to performing this harvest.
- Harvesting, the top of the plant, will precede the plant for more light to stretch down to the lower portions. The plant has a new root system which now carries half the produce.
- It protects the buds from the attack of parasites. You may already recognize that buds are responsive to fungus and mold, mainly when the humidity is not regulated to the approved levels, and there is no adequate ventilation. Once the parasite army starts to attack, it would be sensible to immediately schedule the harvest to prevent the damage from reaching other buds.
- The concern with these parasites is that they crush and ravage the colas wholly. Harvesting the top half of the plant can protect the tight colas, and you can save the potential yield.
Also, harvesting the buds before then usually could mean more impressions in terms of THC.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What Should Be Done with The Left-Out Part After Harvesting the Buds?
There isn’t much left to do after properly harvesting your buds and beginning the drying and curing process. Do not neglect the tinier buds and sugar leaves spotted on the plant, as these can be dried and utilized along with the standard buds.
As for the rest of the more giant plants, leaves and stems can be thrown away as there won’t be any value in keeping them.
Q. Can Cannabis Grow for More Than a Year?
Cannabis is acknowledged as an “annual” plant, indicating that it will have one growth cycle and die. It is in contrast to perennial plants, which will have multiple growth cycles with the same plant.
While you can clone certain plants, each cannabis plant will have one life cycle for the most part.
Q. When Should I Stop Watering Before Harvesting?
It would help if you curbed watering time within 1-3 days.
BEFORE HARVEST- You stress your plant by stopping water in the final days of harvest. Here, you want to allow the plant to wilt just a tad bit. Why’s that? Because then the plant will think that it is about to perish, thus, increasing its resin development.