When to harvest

Hello everyone

1st ever time trying to grow bud I currently have a setup of 300 w led and started with 3 plants unfortunately as expected I lost 1 and a second in the flowering stage so I'm left with the final plant however I am not sure when to chop as I have read a few posts but mine does not seem to be ready if anyone has any thoughts that would be great

Strain - hulkberry
Light - 300 led
Small grow tent 6 plant max

Am_grow2019 said:

Hello everyone

1st ever time trying to grow bud I currently have a setup of 300 w led and started with 3 plants unfortunately as expected I lost 1 and a second in the flowering stage so I'm left with the final plant however I am not sure when to chop as I have read a few posts but mine does not seem to be ready if anyone has any thoughts that would be great

Strain - hulkberry
Light - 300 led
Small grow tent 6 plant max

View attachment 4390299 View attachment 4390301

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Get yourself a 30x, or stronger, Jewelers loupe or handheld magnifying glass, and look at all the crystal mushroom looking things growing all over the leaves and buds. Those are "trichomes" and judging them is the most accurate way to tell when to harvest.

Mostly Clear - Not ready yet
Mostly milky/cloudy - Getting real close
10% Amber - Amber is when the trichomes are past ripeness. You want to let some of them turn amber, which will give a little time for more to turn milky.

It's personal preference at this point. Some like a little more amber, which will relax you more, while some like very little, which won't give you possible couch lock.

It looks like you've still got a little more to go.

Next time you might want to consider leaving a few more leafs on the plants. Granted, your buds look great, but I think you might do better with some more fans left to catch the light.

Repost in one week - it looks close enough but not yhthe best of pics. I see most hairs withered and some good swelling of calyxs.

Dont buy a loupe just eyeball her and wait till she looks done - loupes are another complexity you dont need and when it looks done so will the trichs

Nice job

Ok cool thanks for the quick reply guys think I will have another check maybe mid week next week just flush until then ?
I have some northern lights seeds that I was considering next bit have heard they are tricky .. I thought these were tricky

We dont bother flushing.

If you have a veg and flower tent youll have them nl ready to go straight into flowering by now.

When you harvest hang till they smoke then hang a little more and you got bud to smoke and store in a fancy glass mason jar

Kingrow1 said:

Repost in one week - it looks close enough but not yhthe best of pics. I see most hairs withered and some good swelling of calyxs.

Dont buy a loupe just eyeball her and wait till she looks done - loupes are another complexity you dont need and when it looks done so will the trichs

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I just suggested the loupe as a starting point. After growing for a while, it's easier to judge by just looking. But for noobs, that could be tricky.

Decided to chop on Tuesday , usually a 5-7 day dry or is that too quick?
Also had a mate who had dried there bud but smelt like damp grass is that an issue with drying or did he chop too early ? Don't want the same thing to happen with mine as I only have the one left

Dry till it smokes - easy to judge.

Dried weed be like 10% moisture

Am_grow2019 said:

Decided to chop on Tuesday , usually a 5-7 day dry or is that too quick?
Also had a mate who had dried there bud but smelt like damp grass is that an issue with drying or did he chop too early ? Don't want the same thing to happen with mine as I only have the one left

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You need to read up on the curing process, which includes drying. This is extremely important. You can end up with really harsh, shitty tasting smoke, if you do this wrong.

Go to the GrowWeedEasy site and read up on it. Drying, isn't a length of time, it's a measure of moisture content. You'll trim according to how humid or dry your drying environment is, and you jar them up when the smallest of branches snap when you bend them. Too much to go into here. Like I said, read up on drying/curing.

Tbh id just dismiss the cure and focus on drying if you dont know how to. Some seem to make it exponetially complex but really there only a few easy steps -

Hang somewhere dark or very dim thats airy and dosent have stagnant air.

Hang on a line, clothes horse or whatever so long as buds are spaced out with room for air to move on all sides.

Wait a week at which point they should be dry or atleast smoke in a joint, wait another week as they will be smooth tasty and primo by now.

Thats it, do whatever you want with it from here, jar if you feel like it or leave in a big pile on side of couch and chong the lot in one sitting. Either way thats natural drying in a few sentences, can divide your bud up and experiment with locations to dry in your house, i just hang in my living room and keep curtains closed.

Am_grow2019 said:

Decided to chop on Tuesday , usually a 5-7 day dry or is that too quick?
Also had a mate who had dried there bud but smelt like damp grass is that an issue with drying or did he chop too early ? Don't want the same thing to happen with mine as I only have the one left

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Also, the cut grass smell will be there well into curing in jars. It's normal, and will go away after some curing time.

Kingrow1 said:

Tbh id just dismiss the cure and focus on drying if you dont know how to. Some seem to make it exponetially complex but really there only a few easy steps -

Hang somewhere dark or very dim thats airy and dosent have stagnant air.

Hang on a line, clothes horse or whatever so long as buds are spaced out with room for air to move on all sides.

Wait a week at which point they should be dry or atleast smoke in a joint, wait another week as they will be smooth tasty and primo by now.

Thats it, do whatever you want with it from here, jar if you feel like it or leave in a big pile on side of couch and chong the lot in one sitting. Either way thats natural drying in a few sentences, can divide your bud up and experiment with locations to dry in your house, i just hang in my living room and keep curtains closed.

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Everyone's got their own method. However, I think slacking at this point, even though it's easy, can make a big difference.

The ideal drying environment is 75 degrees and 50% humidity. Have a fan going in the room, but not pointing at the drying branches. If you're in a humid area, trim more of the leaves off when trimming. If in a dry area, leave more of the leaves on when trimming. Doing this will help drying too quickly or slowly.

JSB99 said:

Also, the cut grass smell will be there well into curing in jars. It's normal, and will go away after some curing time.

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Main Colas this big get me nervous, the headband in my avatar was huge but that main cola had a million foxtails and some internal mold. Yours look great and I hope you don't experience similar results. Very nice

nl5xsk1 said:

Main Colas this big get me nervous, the headband in my avatar was huge but that main cola had a million foxtails and some internal mold. Yours look great and I hope you don't experience similar results. Very nice

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That's huge! I've had problems in the past, as well. Takes forever for the center to dry out, and can easily rot.

JSB99 said:

Everyone's got their own method. However, I think slacking at this point, even though it's easy, can make a big difference.

The ideal drying environment is 75 degrees and 50% humidity. Have a fan going in the room, but not pointing at the drying branches. If you're in a humid area, trim more of the leaves off when trimming. If in a dry area, leave more of the leaves on when trimming. Doing this will help drying too quickly or slowly.

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Humidity is more to do with wether the bud moisture stabalizes at 10% or say 13% and isnt really that important as bud dries in wide humidity range.

What i present is the natural dry and has been used for hundredsof years to make primo bud.

Its nay complicated just hang where it dont mold and smoke when it smokes