How do you know when it’s the right time for harvesting and trimming cannabis? You do want to harvest your crops at their peak quality. There are a couple of ways you can tell:
Take a close look at the buds. Once you see that the stigma, or those little hairs growing out of the calyx, have begun changing from a milky white to an amber or darker color, it’s time to start watching them a little more closely. When at least half of them have changed color, it’s time to pick a harvest date within the next week or so.
To get an even better view of exactly where your plants are in the flowering stage, buy an inexpensive illuminated 30x pocket microscope and examine the trichomes more closely. Trichomes with clear THC inside aren’t ready for harvest; the THC needs to take on an amber, or at least a cloudy, appearance in order for it to have fully developed chemically. Refer to the chart below.
7 – 10 days before your harvest, stop fertilizing your plants and start giving them plain water instead. This forces them to extract the last remaining chemical nutrients from the soil and use up any traces remaining within the plants themselves. Chemicals left over in your harvested buds will make the smoke harsh and less flavorable.
Also, on the first day of your water-only period, flush each of your growing pots with at least 5 gallons of ph neutral, chlorine-free water. This will help remove any remaining chemicals and fertilizers from the soil.
On harvest day, cut each plant off about an inch above the soil’s surface. Make sure to leave enough stem to be able to grip the plant with. Be as gentle as you can as you don’t want to crush the sticky calyxes and lose any of the THC content. Using clippers with small blades, remove all fan leaves and stems. Since the THC-laden trichomes are attached only to the buds and the leaf surfaces closest to the buds, trim off any remaining leafy material that extends past the circumference of the bud. Removing the non-THC laden leaves will help ensure your smoke is mellower and more potent.
