Best practices for flush and Harvest
- Thread starter MasDank
- Start date
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
Wait another 7-10 days and check the trichomes again. Harvest when the trichomes on the buds are actually mostly cloudy which means you need to wait till there is gonna be 15-20% amber for it to actually be ripe.
If you wanna feed with only water until you harvest it won’t hurt anything at this stage feel free, but know it really isn’t providing any benefit other then saving you money on nutrients. Definitely don’t flush gallons and gallons of water through the medium. That can damage and stress the roots and delay proper ripening.
If you wanna feed with only water until you harvest it won’t hurt anything at this stage feel free, but know it really isn’t providing any benefit other then saving you money on nutrients. Definitely don’t flush gallons and gallons of water through the medium. That can damage and stress the roots and delay proper ripening.
MasDank
Member
Thanks, I have heard different opinions on the subject. Some say flush for 7 days straight, wouldn't that drown the plant? lol I was planing on using Ripe Ripe nute until the last week of flower.
Thundercat
Well-Known Member
I don’t know anything about ripe-ripe off hand but all the plant needs at this stage is to stay healthy and finish. I wouldn’t be adding any extra nutrients or special sauces at this point.
LinguaPeel
Well-Known Member
Why would flushing drown the plant?
OK the world is officially crazy. Smoking nutrients is good but not putting nutrients in the water makes the water drown plants. Curing is also a myth keep it fresh with bovida
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
You like most don't use the word 'flush' correctly or in the right context. To flush means to pour about 3X the pot volume of water thru the pot to remove all the nutrients and minerals to reset the media pH and nutrient content. That is just done once and only as a last resort when things have gone off the rails and the plant(s) look like they may die otherwise. The last volume of water flushed thru should be a 1/4 to 1/2 strength mix of pH balanced nutrients so the plant isn't starving. A lot of people wait until the pot has dried out again before re-introducing nutrients to a well flushed pot which is the wrong way to do a real flush.
There is no need to flush healthy plants before harvesting. How does one flush plants growing in the ground outside? You can't and it's not needed there or in pots indoors either. It won't remove nutrients from the plant itself but most people will water the plants at the normal rate with just water the last 7-14 days so the plant is forced to draw on it's stored nutrients and use up what's left in the media. When the lower leaves start to rapidly yellow you know the plant isn't overloaded with salts that will affect the taste of the final product. I'll use extra S and K the last couple weeks but nothing but RO water the last few waterings.
I start cropping my plants in stages when the top colas are showing 50:50 cloudy/clear trich that look fully formed with big balls on top. Then let lower buds ripen for another week or more before finishing. Amber means THC is degrading to CBN which is what gives you that couch-lock feeling. I'll grow a couch-lock type strain if I want that but for most I want peak THC. It would take another 4 weeks to see significant amber and the trichs can go amber fast if the buds are exposed to sunlight for a day or allowed to age for months before smoking. My 1000W light costs $3/day to run so why waste that waiting for amber I don't really want?
And you could drown your plant if soaked daily for a week tho that would depend on the media as drain to waste methods keep the media constantly soaked but with well aerated water so root rot doesn't have a chance to get started.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
You must never have smoked a really well cured bud then. Most people think the cure happens after they have hung the plants up to dry in three or four days but the cure happens when the buds are kept evenly moist for at least two weeks but better if four weeks and still moist enough to form a big clump when put in jars for burping for another month or so. Tricky to prevent mold but golden brown buds look and smoke so much better than the green harsh smoking stuff from a quick dry.
Before slo-dry cure and aging.
After.
I got some of those bovida packs and they keep the bud much drier than I like. I keep a moisture puck in the lid that I add a few drops of water to if my buds get dry enough to crumble in a grinder. I don't smoke joints so prefer a bit of softness in my buds to snip bits off for the pipe. A piece of paper towel about 4x1" folded into a pad and taped to the inside of the lid works great.
MasDank
Member
Can you give your curing practice in detail from harvest to smoke. Im sure alot of people would appreciate it!
MasDank
Member
Most Trichomes are still Clear some getting cloudy, no amber. I am in roots organic. Also thank you for commenting on the thread. I ll work on my photography ha!
MasDank
Member
I was wondering if flushing for 7 days straight is too much, could you give an opinion on your style? Yes the worlds been officially crazy for a while now, glad your noticing it!
Doug Dawson
Well-Known Member
I am confused by which part of curing you feel is a myth? Someone posted this yesterday so I will re post it for you to take a look at if you like. It is a bit long but gives very detailed information on the curing process, what it does and why it does it. There is much going on in the curing process but I will leave you to form your own opinions.
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OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
I get asked this one a lot so kept a .txt file to save me time.
When time to crop I only take enough of the larger ripe colas that I can trim up in an hour then go back for more. After a couple of hours the little bud leaves go all limp and that makes it harder to snip them out as I do my final trim and breakup of the colas fresh off the plants. I'll get all the riper, main colas off then let the lower ones go another week to 10 days before finishing off the plants.
Once I have a big pile of trimmed buds, around 100g wet, I double up some paper bags like the lunch bags you can by at the grocery store and put them in there folding the tops over and putting a clip on to hold it shut. I keep them down in my cool basement so they dry very slowly. For the first few days I'll dump them out into a big tray and carefully break up any clumps and let them air-dry for 15 min or more then put them back in the bags. After that few days I'll just open the bags and shake them around a bit and wave the bag back and forth a bit to exchange the air in there and let some moisture out. Takes about 3-4 weeks before they are dry enough to put in jars but still moist so daily burping is needed and some shaking to break up the big clump. Mold is a distinct possibility so you have to keep an eye on things. If you don't have a cool space then you need to open and air-dry more often. It's only 50F down there right now so that's just right for me. Never gets over 65F down there but I consider that warm for curing. Could do it in a fridge too but note that it will stink everything up so the spousal unit may object.
Another good method I've read a bout but haven't tried yet is to use mason jars about 2/3 full of fresh buds and covering the tops with a couple layers of cheesecloth then letting them slo-dry in the fridge laying on their sides. Just rotate and/or shake them around every day for the first couple weeks to loosen the clumps. At the colder temp it's near impossible to get mold started tho it could still happen so be diligent about airing them if it seems the clumps won't break up by shaking or rolling. The same warning about smells and pissed-off spousal units apply to this method too.
I'm looking for a cheap bar fridge myself.For burping I don't use mason jars as they have that shoulder inside so if the buds clump up you have to dig them out. We have been buying tobacco for years and the plastic cans make great curing jars as they are smooth inside with a slight taper so a big clump just slides right out. Good for storage too tho mason jars are fine for that and let you see the buds nicely.
That's it in a nutshell. For the sugar trim and popcorn pile I just use one bag and the same procedure but they are real dry in a week or so then just go into a jar for storage until I get around to dry sifting them for kief and/or making oil from it.
A lot of the pot I grow is just going to be made into edibles or RSO so I'm now just trimming and curing the best colas and larger buds as my arthritis is getting worse every year so trimming is a hated chore that I prefer to avoid. The bulk now just gets a quick trim to take off anything without sugar on it then gets put in my tobacco cans then sealed up with electrical tape and stored in the freezer until needed. I need to get some processing done soon as I'm running out of cans. I use some for plant pots too. Just drill some 3/8" holes in the bottoms for that.
MasDank
Member
what Detail, paper bag method nice!ThanksI get asked this one a lot so kept a .txt file to save me time.
When time to crop I only take enough of the larger ripe colas that I can trim up in an hour then go back for more. After a couple of hours the little bud leaves go all limp and that makes it harder to snip them out as I do my final trim and breakup of the colas fresh off the plants. I'll get all the riper, main colas off then let the lower ones go another week to 10 days before finishing off the plants.
Once I have a big pile of trimmed buds, around 100g wet, I double up some paper bags like the lunch bags you can by at the grocery store and put them in there folding the tops over and putting a clip on to hold it shut. I keep them down in my cool basement so they dry very slowly. For the first few days I'll dump them out into a big tray and carefully break up any clumps and let them air-dry for 15 min or more then put them back in the bags. After that few days I'll just open the bags and shake them around a bit and wave the bag back and forth a bit to exchange the air in there and let some moisture out. Takes about 3-4 weeks before they are dry enough to put in jars but still moist so daily burping is needed and some shaking to break up the big clump. Mold is a distinct possibility so you have to keep an eye on things. If you don't have a cool space then you need to open and air-dry more often. It's only 50F down there right now so that's just right for me. Never gets over 65F down there but I consider that warm for curing. Could do it in a fridge too but note that it will stink everything up so the spousal unit may object.
Another good method I've read a bout but haven't tried yet is to use mason jars about 2/3 full of fresh buds and covering the tops with a couple layers of cheesecloth then letting them slo-dry in the fridge laying on their sides. Just rotate and/or shake them around every day for the first couple weeks to loosen the clumps. At the colder temp it's near impossible to get mold started tho it could still happen so be diligent about airing them if it seems the clumps won't break up by shaking or rolling. The same warning about smells and pissed-off spousal units apply to this method too.
For burping I don't use mason jars as they have that shoulder inside so if the buds clump up you have to dig them out. We have been buying tobacco for years and the plastic cans make great curing jars as they are smooth inside with a slight taper so a big clump just slides right out. Good for storage too tho mason jars are fine for that and let you see the buds nicely.
That's it in a nutshell. For the sugar trim and popcorn pile I just use one bag and the same procedure but they are real dry in a week or so then just go into a jar for storage until I get around to dry sifting them for kief and/or making oil from it.
A lot of the pot I grow is just going to be made into edibles or RSO so I'm now just trimming and curing the best colas and larger buds as my arthritis is getting worse every year so trimming is a hated chore that I prefer to avoid. The bulk now just gets a quick trim to take off anything without sugar on it then gets put in my tobacco cans then sealed up with electrical tape and stored in the freezer until needed. I need to get some processing done soon as I'm running out of cans. I use some for plant pots too. Just drill some 3/8" holes in the bottoms for that.