Cannabis Cultivation - Harvesting, Drying and Curing

Harvesting, Drying and Curing

There may be different goals when harvesting a plant :

• Seeds are harvested when fully developed and often after the accompanying buds have begun to deteriorate.
• Hemp grown for fiber is harvested before flowering,
• Cannabis grown for cloning is not flowered at all.

When the goal is to smoke the harvest, a bud production focused cultivation (called sinsemilla) is preformed. A typical indicator that a plant is ready to be harvested for smoking, is when 2/3 of the pistils have turned from clear or white to reddish brown. In general, harvesting consists of drying and curing. Curing is essential for the even distribution of moisture in the buds.

• Dry: Buds left in well ventilated dark place
• Cure: Buds stored in sealed bag and left in dark place

A popular method is the following, will alternate curing and drying, such as:

• Dry 24 hours
  • Cure 6 hours
• Dry 12 hours
  • Cure 6 hours

..and repeat until product is deemed ready

Usually, In 3–4 days buds are ready for consumption.

Cannabis buds are typically harvested when fully ripe. Generally, ripeness is defined as when the white pistils start to turn dark yellow, orange, light to mid red, etc. and the trichomes, "crystals", barely begin to turn milky from clear. These trichomes can range from completely clear (generally deemed underdeveloped), to amberish-red. Ideally, professionals use a decent power magnifying glass, a brix meter to measure "sugar" content, and a microscope. The potential seed pods swell with resins usually reserved for seed production, thus improving the quality of the buds (called colitas, Spanish for "little tails"), which swell to form full "colas" (Spanish for "tails"). Harvesting slightly early will maximize the THC content. Harvesting later reduces the THC content and maximizes the sleep inducing effect desired by some medical users.