It’s been long since the tiny sprout first appeared from the dirt and since you planted that fragile seed. You’ve seen your plants develop, grow bigger, as well as produce buds.

When it comes to growing, harvesting is typically the most interesting part. All of your hard work finally ends when you chop down your harvest. The harvesting process, however, includes more than just cutting your plants and chopping the buds.

Among the essential elements of marijuana cultivation is determining when and how to harvest. If you start too early, your marijuana won’t be really good. If you wait too long, you’ll get an excessively narcotic influence and a harsh taste.

Whenever it comes to the actual stages of cannabis cultivation, it is a little confusing. You’ve spent so much time raising the plants through seed to the stage that they’re as huge as you are, but the most exciting stage of the process is harvesting.

Harvesting marijuana is similar to grape harvesting. As we all know, the better the grapes, the better the alcohol. When it comes to marijuana, the more you wait, the better marijuana you’ll get.

You could taste the buds from the marijuana plants at various times and have an understanding of what the tastes are when planting marijuana plants. We’ve included all of the information you’ll need to know about when and how to harvest marijuana below.

When Should Marijuana Be Harvested?

One of the most crucial aspects of marijuana harvesting is deciding when and how to harvest the cannabis plants. Harvesting at the right time is crucial because the compounds that produce the “high” through cannabis change drastically, based on when the plant is harvested, so picking the right time is crucial.

Since marijuana is a hot season annual, it is harvested throughout September and November if grown outdoors. Harvest plants between 7-8 weeks after they’ve gone into bloom if you’re planting them indoors. Most strains can take much longer, whereas others may take less time; it all depends on the strain. Understand your local environment; also, speak with other marijuana farmers in your area and find out when they harvest their crops.

However, the easiest way to say whether the marijuana plants are ready for harvesting, whether indoors or outdoors, would be to check at the stigma, which are hair-like strands that surround buds and transform from white to yellow before curling. Also, the trichomes can change color from transparent to dark, eventually amber.

Bear in mind that since top colas obtain additional light, they can develop faster than lower buds. It’s possible that you’ll have to harvest the plant with certain buds that are not really ripe and others that are.

Furthermore, information from the farmer or producer may be useful in determining when a specific plant like marijuana is being harvested.

What To Keep In Mind When Harvesting Outdoor Marijuana?

When it comes to harvesting marijuana outdoors, there are a few pointers to keep in mind.

1.    Pay attention to the weather

With marijuana maturation, as the weather shifts from summers to autumn, you can expect many weather changes. There could be cold waves or heavy rains, depending on the place and location you harvest the marijuana.

It’s not a tragedy, but it really does necessitate keeping an eye on the situation, weather, and potentially making a split-second decision over when to cut down plants, matching maximum ripeness with circumstances that can negatively impact your harvest.

2.    Heavy Rain

Like a wet winter, rain is not really a major issue in itself; however, the length and intensity of the storm are. You could leave almost-ripe marijuana to survive the storm if the weather warms up and dry out easily. If the rain is going to last, the fungus is on the way, so reduce your losses and harvest before it gets too wet.

You could protect plants with several tall poles and a tent if it’s cold or raining, especially rain which could turn into hail. Simply remove the tent after the cold or storm has passed to allow the plants to heat up and then get the sunlight and oxygen they require.

3.    Cold Temperature

Many marijuana plants are unaffected by a slight freeze for up to 3 hours. However, a cold snap, or any temperature below freezing for an extended period of time, would almost certainly result in catastrophe. Ice particles grow outside plant tissue as a result of frost damage, causing tissue damage.

Before becoming darker and dried, the leaves will look faded. The more frost there is, the more the herb is affected. Plant pots are more vulnerable to frost damage than plants in the field because they are subjected to more extreme temperature changes.

How Much Marijuana Can You Harvest?

Harvesting Marijuana Indoors

You can harvest as much marijuana as you like while planting it indoors.

Growing a marijuana plant from seeds to harvest may require from between 3 to 5 months, and you’ll get several harvests of smaller ones or one or more harvests of larger plants per year.

Increasing harvests means further new, organic cannabis to consume, but that also means more effort clearing up space among harvests, cutting, and so on. If you begin with cloning or autoflower seed, which both shorten the growing period by a few weeks, you can fit in far more than three harvests per year.

Harvesting Marijuana Outdoors

Marijuana grown outdoors is usually harvested once per year. Clones and seeds will be planted during the spring and harvested in the autumn throughout most climates. Due to the extreme climate in certain tropical areas, you can get a double harvest per year.

If you harvest autoflower seed, you may easily set up the outdoor marijuana grow to have multiple harvests per year. Autoflower marijuana plants usually have a shorter lifespan because they “auto bloom” whenever they hit a certain size rather than starting the flowering cycle when the amount of sunlight in the environment decreases.

As a result, you could start growing autoflowers earlier this season, in early March, harvest them in July or August, and afterward start growing another collection for harvesting during autumn. You’ll be capable of harvesting several times, but remember because since these are autoflowers, your marijuana plant will be smaller.

In another way, you could use sunlight suppression. A tarp is positioned above a greenhouse to block the amount of sunlight received by outdoor marijuana plants, allowing you to monitor the flowering period throughout the year.

The disadvantage of sunlight deprivation is that it necessitates the use of a greenhouse as well as other devices, as well as the regular placement and removal of the tent. Marijuana plants could be confused, and their growth and bud development can be harmed if they are exposed to too much sunlight, even for a day.

What Kind of High Are You Looking For?

Harvest season, quality, as well as strain type all, influence the type of high you want from the buds. The highs range from an energizing head held high to a drowsy sofa body high, as well as a combination of the two. Knowing what kind of high you want or what suits your health needs can help you figure out when it’s time to harvest.

Factors that influence the sort of high you want include:

1.    Variety

Based on the genetic combination among Indica and Sativa genetics, a form of high can differ depending on the type.

2.    Flowering time

How these fixed features are represented inside the finished product is determined by how long it has been since flowering started. Different harvest periods lead to different chemical properties that produce cannabis’ results. The length of time matters since it decides how well the THC cells have grown. Since THC is what gives marijuana its high, its production at harvest time decides everything about high.

3.    Strain

The marijuana’s effects should be first determined by its strain. Indicas produce a body high, whereas Sativas produce a head high. Hybrids combine the benefits of both highs.

Trimming out your Dry Harvested Marijuana

The worst thing you can do is to get sloppy with the drying process. Most farmers waste their time and effort by hastening the drying process, resulting in bad-quality marijuana. Figure out which way you want to cut the marijuana before you harvest it.

Make a choice if you want to trim the leaves from the buds either before or after they’ve dried. Unless you’re drying in a humid setting, trim the marijuana leaves before drying, but if you’re drying in either a low-humidity area, keep the leaves on. In a humid climate, plants may mold, as well as leafless buds in a low-humidity atmosphere may dry out too quickly. But if the leaves are still wet, they are much easier to trim right after harvesting, as well as the softer trichomes are much less likely to be inadvertently removed.

1.    Using The Wet Trimming Technique

Before the Marijuana leaves have a chance to dry, spend the effort to extract all of the damaged leaves, tiny leaves, then cut and bud separately. Farmers who prefer using hand trimming scissors and gloves early on in the season will put the buds on a net to dry out for 10-14 days.

Fresh frozen live resin plant can also be obtained using this process. Since the plant hasn’t dried yet, they won’t be able to decarboxylate, resulting in far more distinct THC levels upon being cleaned for bubbles, weed or pressed through rosin.

2.    Using The Dry Trimming Technique

Dry trimming effectively removes all of the damaged leaves and enables the whole plant to stay for 10-14 days if you don’t like deciding to cut down every bud freshly or trimming right after harvest and maybe have too many plants.

Only after the buds have fully dried could the sugar leaf that surrounds them be removed. While trimming dry plants, keep a sheet or a tray can be handy to catch the trichomes that fall.

3.    Using Hand Trimming Technique

The easiest and most convenient method for cleaning a plant to excellence is obviously hand trimming due to accessibility and futility; not every commercial enterprise is able to trim the buds by hand, as opposed to just using machine trimmers or any other devices.

4.    Using The Machine Trimming Technique

While machine trimming is very often frowned upon by actual lovers, it could be a great option whenever it comes to trimming huge quantities in just a short period of time. The buds might require further cleaning.

Tips For Growing Better Marijuana Plants

When it comes to harvesting marijuana plants, there are a few things to keep in mind.

• All moldy buds must be removed from the plant then be discarded.
• Leaves that show symptoms of downy mildew must also be discarded.
• If you pick the plants too soon, you’ll miss out on the best flavor & effect.
• It isn’t a smart idea to harvest depending on the amount of black to green buds.
• Harvesting terpene compounds too late results in the loss of maximum terpene compounds.

Final Thoughts

While harvesting marijuana plants, there are many requirements that you have to take into consideration; it might take you a while, and it can even be a matter of months rather than days to learn how each and every plant grows and progresses uniquely. You’ll be well on the way to developing several of the best flavors achievable once you’ve learned all the steps and understand precisely when and how to harvest, trim, and cut.

Harvesting marijuana, either grown outdoors or indoors, could be a complicated activity for newcomers as there are many things to consider and understand before you even start. Each and every single step is crucial to follow through. So if you don’t follow the steps carefully, you might be getting yourself a big loss. You’ll be able to grow and harvest with confidence after reading this guide.