Harvesting, Flushing, Drying & Curing

By: Simon

When is a plant ready for harvest?

Easy way: When all (or almost all) the white pistils have changed colour to orange/brownish the plant is at the end of its life cycle. You can harvest at any time now.

Towards harvest the biggest and lowest leaves will often also turn colour, yellowish, sometimes reddish, very comparable to autumn colors. This is another sign of being about ready, and nothing to worry about.

When all the pistils have changed colour the plant is ready and won't grow more new flowers. 

But the old flowers will still swell up which increases weight. Indoors it is easy to give the plants more time if you want.

What does this mean in practice?

Outdoors

When all pistils have changed color the plant could be harvested. But if the weather is still very sunny you could also leave the plants a bit longer. The sun will add more weight. Harvest at the end of the last sunny day before weather change.

But if the weather is bad, rain and winds, then harvest right away. The reason is that the self defense capabilities are now running low quickly. This increases the risk of bud rot. Leaving plants out when the weather is bad is asking for bud rot (grey mold).

Indoors

Another way to determine when to harvest is to look at the trichome (or crystal) heads. Use a magnifying glass. Magnified at least 20x the crystals on the flowers look like tiny mushrooms made of glass. 

The mushroom heads in reality are tiny globular droplets of resin. These contain most of the THC/CBD and terpenes. The colour of those trichome heads change color when the plant ages. They change from crystal clear to cloudy, and finally to an amber colour. 

When most of those globular heads are cloudy, and especially when the first amber coloured heads appear, the plant is ready to harvest. This is the moment we ourselves harvest, but this is a choice.

Some people wait to see a lot of amber colored trichome heads. They like weed to be as strong as possible, with sedating, debilitating, numbing effects. Also better against insomnia for instance. The more amber heads, the heavier the effect of the weed will be. The type of seed or plant also plays a role here.

If you harvest when the first trichomes are going cloudy, the effect when smoking the weed will be more clear, a head high (depending on the variety). 

If you wait until there is a lot of amber coloured heads, the effect will not be clear in the head anymore. A bodily stoned effect, a more clouded head, more sedative and numbing effects are to be expected.

Flushing yes or no?

Outdoor plants in pots with soil could be flushed with clear water to rinse nutrients out. The idea is that smoking buds from rinsed plants is smooth on the throat. 

But in practice this is not easy to do (how much water do you need? etc). Plants in the ground are impossible to flush. So is flushing really needed to get a smooth smoke or not? A topic much discussed.

We've done tests to find out if plants need to be flushed. Our conclusion was that flushing is not really needed. We found that it's not the flushing, but rather the slow drying process after cutting them down which reduces the harshness when smoking. 

Slow drying ensures that the plant's enzymes break down the ingredients which cause smoke to be harsh. Flushing is not needed but slow drying is imperative.

How to harvest?

Hold the stem, or side branch, steady by holding the sturdiest leave sticking out from the top. Pluck as many big leaves away as you can by pulling a leaf downwards until it snaps. Fastest is to do it by hand while the plant is still standing upright. 

Start below and work your way up the plant. Then cut the stem just under the lowest side braches and hang them upside down in a dark place like a closet.

Drying after harvest and curing

Make sure that the plants dry slowly, especially the first days up to the first week. You need minimally two weeks to dry well. Faster is too fast. The enzymes are still at work in the slowly dying plant and break down the ingredients which cause the harshness in the smoke. 

Slow drying is the solution to get rid of that, not flushing. No ventilation or moving air the first week, or at all really. 

After two weeks you can cut more leaves away if you want. But more important is to cut the bud from the stems and place them all together in a card board box. The ones you can get for free in a supermarket. 

Look at the thin side of the card board, do you see  three layers? Two flat layers of paper and in between those you can see a 3rd layer which looks like a wave. This makes the box breathable, that is the one to use. 

The box should close totally with four flaps at the top and bottem.

The box should not be too big, with a thin layer of buds in an empty box. and also not filled up totally with buds. There has to be some empty space above the buds. 

Now close the box. Open it the next day to check if the buds are not getting soft again. If the buds seem soft and moist again, then they are still too wet. Leave the box open till the next day. 

When the buds seem dry you keep the box closed. The card board will absorb excess moist or give it off if they are too dry. The card board box is great to cure and to keep your weed in till you use it. When it is cured like that for 3 months or so, you can also put it in a closed container or in plastic. But there is nothing wrong with keeping it in the cardboard box for longer. We have good experiences with storing weed up till a year or more like that.

Curing

About curing in glass containers. This is advertised widely. But glass seals off the buds completely. You need to open the lid every day to let the excess moist escape (plus the gasses resulting from chemical processes in the buds.) This is called 'burping' the curing buds. You should do it every day.

There is a risk of fungus growth when the moist content is too high. And even if you can't see it fungus can be present already. Use humidity packs like 'Boveda' to maintain humidity at 62% in glass. Even when you forget to 'burp' no harm is done.

Card board however will absorb the moist and gasses. No need for 'burping' every day, or to open the box at all. A cardboard box is therefore easier, much safer, and according to our opinion, a better choice. We think that buds remain better, fresher inside cardboard.

Why don't you try both ways? A part in sealed glass containers with humidity packs, and a part in a closed cardboard box. You and your friends choose after 3, 6 and 12 months which buds you prefer (if you can wait that long ;-) And let us know your experiences.