Tips for harvest time

Hi everyone, finally the time is here i am ready to start chopping. I have rwo plants and i decided i will cut them in parts, they are filling up a 4x4 so i’d say they are pretty big. One of them needs about 5-10 more days and the other is about ready. I just need some last minute tips anyone can help with. Like is it better to chop during lights on or just before the lights are on? Can i dry in the same room i am growing the rest of the plants in( no bug or mold issues and in a separate 2x2 tent)? Any advice to help me get the best out of my buds will be highly appreciated
Thank you everyone on RIU for all the help

Limber up your scissor fingers, and make sure the scissors you have are good quality. I used to keep a shotglass of 100 proof Southern to wash the scissors when they got sticky. Occasional trichome shots help with the boredom, too.
Have fun!

Some people like to give the plants 48-72 hours of darkness before harvesting. I do not personally do that, because the results people get seem all over the board. With last plant I harvested, I did it while the lights were still on. I am happy with the results already (the buds are still curing).

You want a cool, dark, place for drying though. Air circulation is important, but you don't want a fan blowing directly on the buds.

If you want a good place to soak up a bunch of information about it, here's one:



Oh yeah, and I use one of those "drying racks" they talk about in the article. They have tendency to squish the bud slightly on one side, but work great.

All the crap you're gonna trim off. Have a pot of clarified butter ready to go on the stove. Run it in hot butter long enough. It'll activate in the butter. So fresh trimmings.

Don't try saving a bunch of leaves in a zip lock, freezer. Waste of time.

Ukulele Haze said:

Some people like to give the plants 48-72 hours of darkness before harvesting. I do not personally do that, because the results people get seem all over the board. With last plant I harvested, I did it while the lights were still on. I am happy with the results already (the buds are still curing).

You want a cool, dark, place for drying though. Air circulation is important, but you don't want a fan blowing directly on the buds.

If you want a good place to soak up a bunch of information about it, here's one:

Original Guide to Drying and Curing Marijuana Buds | Grow Weed Easy

This tutorial teaches you the best way to dry and cure cannabis buds after harvest, which greatly increases bud quality. Quality drying/curing ensures the best smelling, most dense and highest potency marijuana buds!

www.growweedeasy.com

Oh yeah, and I use one of those "drying racks" they talk about in the article. They have tendency to squish the bud slightly on one side, but work great.

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Yep, just got one of those drying racks as well. It fits perfect in my 2x2, but since i am chopping in parts I won’t be able to give up a clip on fan so my options are either a small tower air purifier or this duct boost fan that i have laying around. What should i do? Thanks for input bro

Aloecanna said:

Yep, just got one of those drying racks as well. It fits perfect in my 2x2, but since i am chopping in parts I won’t be able to give up a clip on fan so my options are either a small tower air purifier or this duct boost fan that i have laying around. What should i do? Thanks for input bro

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You bet. I only have two years of growing experience under my belt. But, I get the feeling the duct boost fan would move much more air. I think that might be the better choice.

Beehive said:

All the crap you're gonna trim off. Have a pot of clarified butter ready to go on the stove. Run it in hot butter long enough. It'll activate in the butter. So fresh trimmings.

Don't try saving a bunch of leaves in a zip lock, freezer. Waste of time.

Click to expand...

I am studying and working two jobs almost and have only my girl to help me during these fucked times so i only have a couple hours a day to to chop and trim what i can. Can’t i just put on the bottom of the tent and. Store in a jar later?

smokinrav said:

Limber up your scissor fingers, and make sure the scissors you have are good quality. I used to keep a shotglass of 100 proof Southern to wash the scissors when they got sticky. Occasional trichome shots help with the boredom, too.
Have fun!

Click to expand...

Great advice, ill take many shots and post the best!
Yep just got a pair of titanium coated scissors and have another for back-up

Ukulele Haze said:

You bet. I only have two years of growing experience under my belt. But, I get the feeling the duct boost fan would move much more air. I think that might be the better choice.

Click to expand...

Pushing air inside from bellow i am guessing?

Aloecanna said:

I am studying and working two jobs almost and have only my girl to help me during these fucked times so i only have a couple hours a day to to chop and trim what i can. Can’t i just put on the bottom of the tent and. Store in a jar later?

Click to expand...

No. That'd be like laying a salad on the bottom of the tent. Either make something out of it right after trimming or stuff it down the sink disposal.

Any fresh bits of bud. Stick it some in 91% rubbing alcohol. As much as you want. Let it soak a week. Shaking it up every now and then.

After that,

Pour the alcohol in a glass pan, filtered. Let the water and alcohol evaporate. Or use a hair drier. The resulting 'goo' stuck on the glass pan. Scrap up with razor blade. Roll in a ball and smoke it.

Also, there are two main types of trimming I am aware of. There's wet trimming and dry trimming.

With wet trimming, you are removing all fan leaves and trimming the sugar leaves. When it comes time to jar the plant (after it's dry), you would not be spending much time trimming or manicuring because it's basically done already.

With dry trimming, you either remove the fan leaves only, remove some fan leaves, or don't remove anything at all. Then, the bulk of the actual trimming a manicuring happens right before you jar (takes a long time, remember).

The right choice, I think, should depend on the humidity level of your drying area. Dry trimming makes more sense for lower humidity environments because the extra vegetative material left on the plant during the drying process causes it to dry slower.

Aloecanna said:

Pushing air inside from bellow i am guessing?

Click to expand...

From what I've read, the fan can be positioned in different places. You can have it on the floor, or pointed at ceiling...doesn't really matter so long as you aren't blowing right on your buds. Also, I think it's important that air has a place to escape. If you put it on the floor, maybe you could open up a vent sock. Some people leave the tent door open. But, that will cause the bud to dry faster. Keeping your dry area dark is good too.

Personally, I just hung my drying rack upstairs (out in the open). I know there isn't much light up there. It's been about 60 degrees F and 31% humidity also. Admittedly, those might not have been the best drying conditions. But, I do like what I'm seeing so far. For the fan, I had a pedestal unit about eight feet from the rack and pointed slightly towards the ceiling.

Ukulele Haze said:

Also, there are two main types of trimming I am aware of. There's wet trimming and dry trimming.

With wet trimming, you are removing all fan leaves and trimming the sugar leaves. When it comes time to jar the plant (after it's dry), you would not be spending much time trimming or manicuring because it's basically done already.

With dry trimming, you either remove the fan leaves only, remove some fan leaves, or don't remove anything at all. Then, the bulk of the actual trimming a manicuring happens right before you jar (takes a long time, remember).

The right choice, I think, should depend on the humidity level of your drying area. Dry trimming makes more sense for lower humidity environments because the extra vegetative material left on the plant during the drying process causes it to dry slower.

Click to expand...

I do have an average of 45% rh in my house i guess that’s too low and i do have a humidifier. I am afraid I cannot wet trim because i am using the racks and i heard it’s better if you wet trim before. And I don’t have an extra room to dry in. I heard it isn’t good drying in the same room you’re growing in so my only option is my kitchen. Will that be risky?

Beehive said:

No. That'd be like laying a salad on the bottom of the tent. Either make something out of it right after trimming or stuff it down the sink disposal.

Any fresh bits of bud. Stick it some in 91% rubbing alcohol. As much as you want. Let it soak a week. Shaking it up every now and then.

After that,

Pour the alcohol in a glass pan, filtered. Let the water and alcohol evaporate. Or use a hair drier. The resulting 'goo' stuck on the glass pan. Scrap up with razor blade. Roll in a ball and smoke it.

Click to expand...

Can I pour the alcohol in a jar and keep adding trim over the period of a week? If not how can i dry the trim that is loaded with trichs?

Aloecanna said:

I do have an average of 45% rh in my house i guess that’s too low and i do have a humidifier. I am afraid I cannot wet trim because i am using the racks and i heard it’s better if you wet trim before. And I don’t have an extra room to dry in. I heard it isn’t good drying in the same room you’re growing in so my only option is my kitchen. Will that be risky?

Click to expand...

I don't think it's a problem drying in the same room you are growing in so long as the conditions are right. You certainly would not want to try drying in a tent that has plants growing in it though. You need darkness for sure if you want to do it right.

Also, I did a dry trim due to low humidity and got good results from the drying rack, I think. Not to self-promote too much, but this is my harvest thread:

Aloecanna said:

Can I pour the alcohol in a jar and keep adding trim over the period of a week? If not how can i dry the trim that is loaded with trichs?

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The oil of the plant matter is all you care about. Anything stored in alcohol is sterile. You can keep the solution as long as you want within reason. Add away.

Its also used as such as a muscle rub.

You can soak the trim in for an hour. Shaking the living crap out of it and be able to extract the oil. Longer, better.

The water will be a by product. It and the oil won't mix. Let it evaporate.

Beehive said:

The oil of the plant matter is all you care about. Anything stored in alcohol is sterile. You can keep the solution as long as you want within reason. Add away.

Its also used as such as a muscle rub.

You can soak the trim in for an hour. Shaking the living crap out of it and be able to extract the oil. Longer, better.

The water will be a by product. It and the oil won't mix. Let it evaporate.

Click to expand...

Think i got it, thanks man

Ukulele Haze said:

I don't think it's a problem drying in the same room you are growing in so long as the conditions are right. You certainly would not want to try drying in a tent that has plants growing in it though. You need darkness for sure if you want to do it right.

Also, I did a dry trim due to low humidity and got good results from the drying rack, I think. Not to self-promote too much, but this is my harvest thread:

Wonka Bars Bagseed Hermie Harvest

Strain: Wonka Bars (Exotic Genetix) Type: Sativa Dom. (70 / 30) Flower Time: 60-70 Days THC level of source flower: 27% Soil: Organic PROMIX Nutrients: FoxFarm Trio, Molasses Light: "600W" Blurple, Switched to Mars Hydro TSW 2000 on Week 5 of Flower. Training: Topped Twice, LST, Defoliation...

www.rollitup.org

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Great grow man! So you left the sugar leaves while they were on the rack? Or trimmed completely before?
And if you did good with 35% rh i should be hould at 40-45%?

Aloecanna said:

Think i got it, thanks man

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Smoking. All the stems, sugar leaf, crumbles. Stick them directly in the alcohol bottle. After 3 months it be dark green. Keep going.

Keep it out the light. Stick it in a cabinet.

Aloecanna said:

Great grow man! So you left the sugar leaves while they were on the rack? Or trimmed completely before?
And if you did good with 35% rh i should be hould at 40-45%?

Click to expand...

Thank you very much! Not a huge haul, but it's just for my own personal use. I did leave all of the sugar leaves on while they were drying, yes. I agree my humidity was too low. But, it's Par for the course this time of year here. Ideal humidity would probably be about 50% in my opinion for drying. So yeah, if you can get closer to that I would. The slower it dries the better (to a certain point). For my harvest, the total drying time was only four days and eighteen hours. That's on the low end.