When to harvest your marijuana buds is the eternal question...
The answer is,
not soon enough!
So first of all, you can identify the old-fashioned way, by
looking at the plants.
These marijuana harvest pictures will guide you, so you know when to harvest your marijuana buds:
Not Ready for Harvest
Most "hairs" are still white and sticking out straight
(click each picture for closeup and explanation)
Still Not Quite Ready for Harvest
Still waiting for at least 40% of the white hairs to darken and curl in
(click each picture for closeup and explanation)
Beginning of Harvest Window
Harvest after at least 40% of the white hairs have darkened and curled in
(click each picture for closeup and explanation)
Ready for Harvest
Harvest when 50-70% of hairs have darkened for highest levels of THC
Harvest when 70-90% of hairs have darkened for a more calming,
anti-anxiety effect as some THC turns to CBN
(click each picture for closeup and explanation)
With some strains, it is much harder to tell when the time is right. Different strains can look different ways at harvest.
It's always great to talk to someone who has grown your strain before, such as the breeder. Growers who've grown your strain before can often provide extra insight into what to look for at harvest. Yet a lot of the time that's just not possible.
So here is a SECOND way to identify whether your plants are ready for harvest...
2nd Method to Identify Harvest Time
This method tends to be more precise than looking at the plant.
With this method, you look at the
glandular stalked trichomes on the buds under a magnifying glass.
In some places these trichomes are called
resin glands. These trichromes are the 'crystals' you see accumulating on your bud/leaves.
A bit of random trivia for you: For some reason some cats love the taste of trichomes! They may lick or chew your plants around the leaves or the buds, at the absolute worst time during the flowering marijuana stage. Once they get a taste, you'll have a monster on your hands. So if you have cats, make sure you keep them far away from your marijuana, especially during flowering!
The trichomes look like little mushrooms under a 30x-60x power,
illuminated microscope ($10 from amazon.com). You'll also see tiny, clear hair-like trichomes without the mushroom head, these aren't important to potency so just ignore these ones.
You'll need a jewler's loupe or other magnifier to
use the method below....
These are relatively cheap to buy online, or at a
hardware or jewelry store.
Click the picture to the left for a close-up.
Get this exact Jeweler's Loupe on Amazon.com