Harvesting Your Weed Plant
Finally it is time to harvest. Harvesting your weed plant involves harvesting, drying, trimming and curing. In this guide we show how to dry trim which happens after drying but wet trimming or trimming before drying is done as well. It is something that comes down to grower preference.
When To Harvest
There are a few methods to identify when the right time to harvest is. The first factor is the average flowering time for the specific strain growing. This is a good starting point but the time period normally comes in a 2 week gap. Eg. The average flowering time for Northern Lights is 7-9 weeks.
To narrow in more on the exact day to harvest can be determined by the trichomes color. The trichomes begin their life entirely clear and as they mature turn milky white and finish off with an amber gold. The perfect time to harvest is when as many trichomes as possible are white. If they are clear there is still some time to increase the amount of THC. Milky white trichomes are at their peak THC levels and amber trichomes are starting to increase in CBD levels and decrease THC levels.
So to conclude the best time to harvest for the highest THC levels is when there are as many milky white trichomes as possible.
You’re eye will need some assistance to see the trichomes close enough to determine color. I have tried both a cheap digital microscope and a jewelers loupe and the jewelers loupe is definitely the way to go. It is far cheaper and easier to use.
Drying
To dry we want to hang our plant in our tent and allow to dry until the branches snap when bent. Then they are ready to be trimmed and stored in air tight glass jars.
Trimming
Trimming is necessary to remove all the excess material from our final product. Naturally there will be many leaves growing within and around all the flowers and they need to be removed. The leaves with trichomes on them are know as sugar leaves and are saved for later to make other goodies.
Trimming before drying is known as a wet trim and should be done if you are worried about any mold problems while drying but can result in a less dense final product.
Trimming after drying is known as a dry trim and is the preferred method of drying. You might make more of a mess because the leaves are more crumbly but it is definitely worth it to end up with a more dense final product.
Curing
