Harvesting your Cannabis plants

It's late-September and the time is near. You raised your cannabis up from little seeds just four short months ago. You created organic soil for your cannabis to derive nutrition from, watered your marijuana plants when they were thirsty, and kept your cannabis safe from disease and pests. You know your plants well because you grew them yourself...which one is the strongest, which one is the runt and which one is your favorite. And now after all your hard work, your cannabis girls are finally ready to be harvested into marijuana. Great job, pat yourself on the back because you deserve it! Now let's show you how to harvest your cannabis.

Prepare your Cannabis Drying Room

This should be your first step before doing anything else. There's no sense in chopping down your cannabis plant without having a location to hang and dry it.
Find a location where you will dry your cannabis, preferably a room where you can control the environment. Your drying room should meet the following criteria:

1. Not too hot for too long (above 85F for multiple hours)
2. Should have basic ventilation and air exchange
3. Cannot be be too humid (above 70%rH) or too dry (below 40%rH). Too much humidity can cause your cannabis to mold.
4. Direct sunlight cannot shine on your drying cannabis. Sunlight causes cannabis to degrade.
5. Access to electrical socket for fan
6. Has space to hang all your cannabis branches or stems

You want to dry your cannabis slowly for the best aroma, smoothest smoke and richest flavor. If your room is too hot or too dry, your plant will dry too quickly. On the other hand, if the room is too humid your buds will mold which is disastrous. Nothing is perfect in life so I will tell you this: A room that is too hot or too dry is far better than a drying room that is too humid. If your marijuana ends up being too dry you can still use it and you'll still be satisfied with it. I discuss this further at the How to Dry Cannabis page.

Cannabis hang-drying. This is how we do it.

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How do I know when to harvest my Cannabis?

Harvesting weed is an art, not a science. I've learned through the years to use a combination of factors to determine when to harvest cannabis. Since this is your first time, you'll likely be anxious because you don't want to ruin all of your hard work. Just relax, you'll be fine because I'm going to walk you through it...I told you I was going to get you to the end and I meant it! See my tips for harvesting cannabis below.

Guide to Harvesting Cannabis

Follow these guidelines for understanding when to harvest your cannabis plants. Remember that you'll need to consider all factors before harvesting, not just one:

• Cannabis plants aren't always ready for harvest at the same time.

Each plant is different, even among the same strain. If you have multiple plants of the same strain (ie two Grape Apes) they might be ready at the same time or they might not be. Each plant has its own characteristics so you'll need to look at each one individually to decide when to harvest it.

• When you think they're ready, wait two weeks.

You will hear this repeated over and over in the cannabis growing community and it's usually true. For the first-time cannabis grower and even for veteran growers, when you think your plant is ready to harvest you should wait another two weeks. Cannabis can look ready to harvest and may actually be ready to harvest, but that extra week or two allows the plant to really plump up its buds as it makes one final push at life. In fact this past year when I was ready to harvest my Fruitylicious and Afghan Kush plants, I dragged the harvest out day-by-day until I ended up a week past my original chop time.

• Check your strain information for the expected harvest time

Any seeds you bought will provide you with an expected harvest time. Even if you bought a clone, you should be able to look up the strain and find out when it's expected to finish. This information is not always 100% accurate, especially outdoors, but it'll get you close.

• Swollen buds should obscure the branch.

When your cannabis is ready for harvesting, the buds will plump and converge to the point that you won't be able to see the branch they're growing on. Granted you might see a little bit of branch depending on the strain you're growing, but the rule of green thumbs is that ripe cannabis buds should be all you see at the end of the branch.

• Observe the hairs on your buds for color change and pull-back.

As your flowering cannabis plant ages, the hairs which emerge from the buds will change color from white/light-green to red, then finally to a reddish-brown. When these hairs are young they reach out and away from the buds, but as the buds age they fall back in towards the bud. It's important to note that not all cannabis strains mimic this hair behavior, but most strains do and this hair behavior is a good clue that harvest time is nearing.

This organically-grown Fruitylicious cannabis plant is ready for harvest.

This Afghan Kush grown in organic soil is ready to harvest.

• Look at the trichromes on your buds.
  

Trichromes are the sugary, sticky, stanky stuff on your buds. They are what make marijuana magical. They are also the primary indicator of cannabis ripeness. You'll need a magnifying glass like a jeweler's loupe to get a good look at your trichromes. Under magnification you'll see that they have a stalk and a cap, like a mushroom. Trichromes are constantly being produced by your plant and in time they degrade away to be replaced by new trichromes. Under magnification new trichromes are clear, mature trichromes are cloudy and white, and old degraded trichromes are amber. An underripe cannabis plant will have mostly clear trichromes and an overripe plant will have mostly amber trichromes. On ripe cannabis, the majority of trichromes should be cloudy/white. This is not easy to see given the ever-changing mix of trichromes on your buds, so what many people do is take an average of what their eye sees through the loupe, perhaps 30% clear, 40% cloudy and 30% amber. In my case, I'll look for a growing population of amber-colored trichs on my buds. Once I feel the amber trichromes are reaching a population of about 30% of all the trichs I'm seeing, I decide to harvest.

• Take a long look at your plant.

I once read an old-school grower's harvest advice. He said he doesn't look at trichromes at all, he just looks at his plant and when it begins getting a golden hue he knows it's time to chop it. I agree with him in principle and though I still look at the trichromes, I've begun giving more credence to this practice. The trichromes are the same color (clear, cloudy/white, amber) whether under a microscope or viewed with the naked eye, you'll just see far more of them with the naked eye. If you notice your buds are taking on a golden color, your cannabis should be ready to harvest.

• Look at different bud sites.

The branches on your cannabis age at different rates, so you should inspect all of them to make your harvest determination. You should be focused mainly on the large colas at the end of each branch since those are the most developed. Little buds down low on the branches won't yield much dried marijuana; however, I recommend giving them a quick look too. If they look really, really under-ripe then your cannabis might still need some time to ripen. Remember, you're taking a broad overview of your cannabis plant to make your harvest determination. Every data point is important.

This Cannabis clone from a couple years ago is NOT ready to harvest yet. Observe the entire plant to determine the right time to harvest.

This cheap jeweler's loupe is all you need to inspect the trichromes on your Cannabis plants. Dog is not for sale.

The magnified view through the loupe. Zoom in (ctrl+mouse wheel) to see clear, cloudy and amber trichromes on the buds.

Okay I'm ready to harvest my Cannabis plants. How do I do it?

Great, you've learned a lot and now you're within a couple weeks of smoking your own organic marijuana! Make sure you have your cannabis drying room prepared, then gameplan your chop. I like to harvest my plant at night when it's dormant and the neighbors are sleeping, but you can harvest it anytime that fits your schedule. There are different methods of harvesting and trimming your plant, both heavily debated. Some people chop their plant and trim the leaves while they're still wet, then hang the buds to dry, and others (like me) prefer to chop their plant, dry the plant, then trim the leaves when everything has been dried. My instructions will be to dry the entire plant, then trim it later after it's all dried. This is what I do and it's far less smelly, less messy, and less hectic for the new grower.

If you can chop and hang the entire plant to dry I'm envious of you because that is certainly the best way to dry cannabis. But if you're like me, you'll need to chop the plant in segments that aren't too big to hang, yet still large enough to keep moisture in the plant for awhile to prolong the dry. Rather than cut off the individual branches, try to cut the main trunk in segments that you can hang with branches intact. The more of the plant you keep intact, the longer your dry will take and the better your marijuana will be. However, if you don't have the space and have to cut individual branches don't sweat it, just work with the space you have. Everything will be fine.

Now take what you've cut over to your Cannabis Dry Room and meet me over there for further direction.

Get Started Growing Cannabis

How to Dry Cannabis

Hi Resolution Cannabis Photos

How to Cure Cannabis