Whether you are growing indoors or out, the anticipation of harvest starts about three weeks before the plant is ripe. The buds are in the home stretch. Every day they are a little closer to ripeness, but not quite there. By this time the buds have almost finished growing. Although a few more flowers will appear, the major change will be in appearance, from a young bud with thousands of tender stigmas vainly searching the air for pollen grains, to a mature bud.
At the start, the stigmas are a pale, translucent color, white or cream, sometimes tinged pink or purple. When they catch the light, the translucent stigmas glow. These structures begin to dry out by the time the bud is ripe, they will turn orange, red or purple. The ovaries behind them will swell and seem to absorb the stigmas. The glands develop taller structures and stand erect from the tissue. Precursors are manufactured into THC on the inner surface of the membrane. As ThC builds up in the gland, its shape changes. The thin stalk, which holds the head, swells and strains the membrane. The gland begins to look like a mushroom.
Using a photographer’s loupe, you can get a better look at the bud and its glands. If the gland head membrane looks like it could be stretched, the bud still has a way to go before ripening. If the gland head membrane looks taut, like a filled balloon, the bud is probably ready. When the glands look clear, the THC is still accumulating. When they start to turn cloudy, the THC is deteriorating to cannibinol, which is only one-tenth as psychoactive as THC.
Indoors, plants are certain to receive light and moderate temperature. Their maturation adheres to a fairly rigid schedule. Outdoors, bud growth is subject to the vagaries of the weather. The size and development of the bud, its maturity and ripening time are all dependent on the environment. This is one reason why all farmers throw the dice each time they plant. For marijuana growers, the stakes are higher; tomato farmers rarely worry about thieves or bullies in blue. Despite the gamble, hundreds of thousands of ganja gardeners harvest beautiful plants each Autumn.
No matter how big the plants are, the initiation of flowering and the maturation date are determined by the number of hours of uninterrupted darkness they receive each night. Any interruption of the dark period results in delayed flowering and may affect the bud’s growth pattern, making them lanky. Plants use red light to measure day length.
This is most relevant to people in urban areas, who might consider growing near a street or outdoor light. Gardeners who wish to examine their plants at night should also be concerned. Most of a flashlight’s light is the yellow, orange and red spectra. Even fluorescent ones emit some red light. The solution is to place a green filter over the light source, as plants are not sensitive to this color. If you are gardening out in the woods at night, a green flashlight is an essential tool. It gives you sight, but is unobtrusive, hard to see from a distance and blends into the background.
A green filter can easily be made from a stage-light filter, or, more conveniently, from four or five layers of green plastic from an appropriately sized pop bottle. Choose a size that slides over the flashlight top, but is not too loose. Cut the bottle about four inches from the bottom. Then cut four pieces from the side of the bottle. These should be small enough to fit inside the pop bottle bottom. Slide the bottle bottom with the extra green pieces in it over the flashlight and tape it on.
Plants in the South, which have shorter days throughout the summer and fall than the North, mature earlier. Plants grown at high altitudes mature faster than those in the valley. Varieties also differ in maturation dates, and the buds exposed to the most light grow larger and mature faster. Buds grown in the shade don’t reach their full potential. In very shady locations they may never fully mature.
Marijuana buds grow fat fat and juicy under an intense sun. How ironic that they flower just as the suns strength wanes in the fall. Every sunny day speeds the plant to maturity. Overcast days do nothing. The plant just sits there, in suspended animation, waiting for some ripening energy. The worst are the cool rainy days, which promote mold and fungi. A season’s efforts can be spoiled in hours. Beautiful buds are turned to mush; white or gray molds are visible or turn brown and crumble when touched.
Outdoors, gardeners often face hard choices. The buds are a few sunny days from harvest, but the weather predictions are for rain and overcast days for the next week. Neighbor’s kids have already clipped a few immature buds from the plants. Helicopters are active in the next valley. Hunting season begins next week. That’s why a lot of outdoor bud out there is often slightly immature.
Harvesting situations vary a lot. Guerrilla growers who often make incursions into parks or other people’s property must work quickly and efficiently with no time wasted. Although it is a joyous moment, it may also be a time of extreme vulnerability, with valuable contraband and no good excuses. These people should quickly cut all the branches with buds, stuff them into a knapsack or bag, and leave the scene as quickly as possible. The proper tools make the job easier. Make sure to have a high-quality clipper.
For example, I viewed a 1,000 square meter greenhouse in Holland, where seven foot plants were harvested with the help of a hedge pruner. As on most naturally growing plants, there were branches on four sides. Starting from the top, the pruner clipped through one line in a few seconds. The branches fell in a neat pile. Then the other three sides were harvested. When the plants were lined up by the growing tip, it was easily seen that each branch had the same amount of foliage. The longer branches just had more bare area where they had all been hidden by from the light by the canopy. Guerrilla growers who have a space or weight problem in their knapsack or bag should consider this. By lining the branches up, they can easily eliminate a good part of the bulk.
Backyard and indoor gardeners who do not feel threatened may wish to harvest on a bud-by-bud basis, cutting them only as they mature. The outside buds mature first. When they are removed, it opens the inner buds to light, giving them energy to grow and mature. Larger plants are more likely to mature in stages. Smaller plants usually mature uniformly.
Once the branches have been harvested, they should be hung to dry. This should be in a space with dim light, constant air circulation, low humidity and temperature no higher than the low 70s. This allows the buds to cure a bit before they dry. The curing, which should last two or three days, creates a smoother smoke. After the buds have dried for a few days, it is time to increase the drying speed by raising the temperature to the low 80s. The buds will dry within a day or two.
There are many opinions about the best time to manicure. When the plants are left unmanicured until they dry, they dry slower and keep the room humid because of all the extra leaf. However, manicuring dried marijuana is faster than working with wet material. Some gardeners remove only the fan leaves and work on the smaller trim leaves after drying. The fan leaves are simply pulled down. They break easily from the stem. This is very fast and speeds up drying. However, one connoisseur told me he thought this interfered with the curing, hastening it.
Whether manicuring wet or dry, growers gravitate to either scissors or hands. The correct method is the one you like, that feels comfortable and results in efficient bud processing. Scissors make a big difference. Find a pair that is not tiring, is sharp and helps with precision work. Professional growers gravitate to small scissors with springs, so they need only push them closed, not pull them open.
There are also some other tools you may want to use. A small garden’s yield can be dried in a closet, basement, spare room or attic. To minimize odor, use a negative-ion generator or two, or an ozone generator. Chemical odor neutralizers are available at some indoor garden shops. Dehumidifiers remove moisture from air and add heat. Room air conditioners also remove humidity. Fans keep the air circulating.