As the buzz gets louder and states add up on the list of places where cannabis is legal, more people are getting interested in cultivating the plant at home. The process requires a labor of love, with lots of care, patience, and proper timing.
Preparing for Harvesting
Harvesting cannabis may be crucial, but you can only get to this point when you handled the following steps beforehand:
- Cutting out bigger than usual fan leaves. While overgrown leaves signify life, the size makes the plant less potent due to lower trichome count. However, you can keep these oversized leaves if you want to make oil since they can still be turned into edibles.
- Checking plants for impurities. Keep an eye on your plants, and discard any impurities – fungi, pests, damaged parts, and anything in between.
- Flushing the plants. The step is optional but can be quite helpful if you grow cannabis with mineral nutrients. You have to schedule the process at around two weeks before harvesting the plants.
Flushing may only look intimidating initially, but it’s actually simple and inexpensive. The most important thing in the process is to avoid overwatering the plants. You will water them typically like you would any plants but without supplements of mineral nutrients.
This will take about two weeks, wherein you will notice your plants beginning to change to yellowish in color. Monitor the bud’s sugar leaves color, and start harvesting before they turn completely yellow.
Signs that It’s Harvest Time
Here are some of the keys you have to look into so it would be easier for you to know when it’s time to harvest your plants:
Glossy trichomes. Use a magnifying glass to inspect your plants’ trichomes. They are glassy and clear in the beginning, meaning that they have less potency. Their heads become glittery white and glossy when the plants are ready to get harvested. This state of the trichomes implies that they have the highest levels of CBD, THC, and other cannabinoids.
Buds’ curls. Your plants are ready for harvest when you notice the little curly hairs look more curly and have gone darker in color.
