How To Harvest Marijuana - Watch Video
Things you will need
- 2 Paper Bags
- Teflon Coated Snips
- Scissors or something to cut main stem
- Pair of gloves
- Baking pan
Steps Summary
- Cut Down Plant
- Singulate Branches
- Trim Fan Leaves
- Trim Nugs
- Spread Harvest on Paper Bag
- Dry for ~4 Days
- Cure
0) Check For Mold
Mold is the bane of the marijuana grower’s existence. It grows in the presence of oxygen and humidity — even in the dark — and can seriously ruin large crops of otherwise healthy ganja.
And before you say, “Oh, it’s just mold. I’ll smoke it anyway,” it’s vital that you understand that inhaling mold can cause some pretty nasty health problems.
Bud rot (a.k.a. Botrytis cinerea) — the least dangerous of the marijuana molds — can cause lung damage if inhaled in high enough concentrations
Aspergillus — the other type of marijuana mold — is a whole ‘nother, more serious ballgame.
Even minimal exposure to aspergillus can cause an infection called aspergilloma. Symptoms of aspergilloma range from a chronic cough to severe fatigue to a bleeding airway. You don’t want that from your pot.
Heavier exposure to aspergillus can even lead to invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, which can be fatal if not treated properly.
Avoid these molds — both bud rot and aspergillus — at all costs.
Check out our article The 5 Best Ways To Check For Moldy Weed, Plus How To Avoid It for tips on finding, preventing, and disposing of moldy marijuana.
1) Cut Down The Plant
You can either cut the entire plant off at the stem or trim off individual branches. Either way will work. It might depend on your style, but don’t give this step too much thought. Just start cutting.
2) Singulate Branches
To make your life easier, cut all the branches off and throw away the main stem (or keep it to show off!)
3) Trim Fan Leaves
Definitely trim the fan leaves off your cannabis plant. You may choose to trim any smaller leaves off the bud as well. That’s fine, but it won’t hurt the process if you leave them until later.
In the end, getting rid of those smaller leaves gives you a smoother experience (too much leaf matter gives your bud a harsh quality). Plus, it just makes your buds look nice.
4) Trim Nugs
This is the part where you make your harvest look nice. You want to trim the nugs closely, but it depends on how you like your cannabis to look. Also, the trim with trichomes may be saved in case you want to make edibles or tincture with it. Just keep the trim and nugs separate.
5) Spread Harvest on Paper Bag
Once you have trimmed your nugs, spread them out on a paper bag. This way, it can absorb some of the humidity and you can transport your harvest to its drying location.
6) Dry for ~4 days
Place your cannabis on the paper bag in a dark room where the humidity is below 40%. You need to leave these here. Around day 3, take a twig and bend it. If it snaps, the cannabis is dry. If it doesn't give it another day or two.
7) Place Buds In Jars & Cure The Buds
Curing cannabis is the manipulation of moisture deep within the bud in order to start, maintain, and control the chemical reaction of decomposition while keeping the ganja from actually decaying.
The easiest way to understand curing weed is to think of it like aging wine. Allowing the wine to sit in a barrel or cask imparts flavor and smoothness that wouldn’t be there if you just drank it right away.
The same concept is true for curing your pot buds. Curing your weed allows the flower to develop a full spectrum of flavors and smells.
Curing is basically just storing your cut buds in the right environment and in the right conditions to facilitate the maturation of the plant matter.
During the curing stage, store the jars in a dark room with the temperature at 70 degrees Fahrenheit and 60-65 percent humidity.
The curing period usually lasts about three weeks. You should open the lid of the jar and let the bud breathe for the first 2 weeks of curing. You can also shake the jar gently (with the lid on) to prevent moisture from collecting in any one place (which can cause rot).
The curing process is one of the most important parts of producing a quality pot plant. At the same time, it just may be the most overlooked and ignored step in the journey from soil to joint.
Don’t underestimate the importance of curing weed. Take the time to do it right and you’ll enjoy everything the marijuana plant has to offer.
8) Store The Buds Long-Term
Place the mason jars in a cool, dark room for long-term storage. A closet or cabinet works great. If you’re going to store your bud for six months or more, consider vacuum sealing or keeping the mason jars in the freezer.
Honest Marijuana goes even further to keep their buds fresh longer. We remove all the oxygen from our unique sealed cans and replace it with nitrogen.
Nitrogen helps preserve the plant so that you see, smell, and taste everything exactly the same way we do at the growery. That way, the products stay fresh for years to come and every time you open a can of Honest Marijuana, it’s the same way it was when it first came off the plant.
Long-term storage has always been an issue for pot enthusiasts, growers, and weekend toker. But oftentimes, it is an invisible problem because consumers don’t think they can prevent it.
Yes, decay and chemical breakdown are natural processes that can’t be stopped completely. But with proper storage and preservation, you can slow it down so that the life and the effectiveness of the product can be extended.
But one preservation method by itself isn’t enough. Like the synergistic interaction between THC, CBD, and other cannabis compounds, preservation involves the entire growing process.
It goes beyond just placing the bud in a baggie and setting it on a shelf for sale. It goes beyond getting the light exposure just right or the oxygen content of the room at optimal levels. It goes beyond using only natural soils and fertilizers.
Preservation is a state of mind. It’s the philosophy that guides all the choices we make at Honest Marijuana. It’s the reason we produce the highest quality marijuana that doesn’t lose its effectiveness the moment you take it “off the lot”.
Reference: https://honestmarijuana.com/when-to-harvest-marijuana/