first harvest!

i aint exactually new to this but my first harvest.
i am 8 weeks into my red diesel grow and i have a nice bushy plant.. i was just wonderin when harvesting will it be best to cut as 1 and hang to dry or cut it straight up and dry individually??
any tips on drying and curing will help
safe

My first couple grows I was so excited to get the buds ready to smoke I chopped the branches individually and did all my trimming right then. After a while I started to still chop branches individually but then only remove the fan leaves and let the little triangle leaves on the buds stay until dry when I would do a second trim. I noticed improved flavor. Then one time out of shear laziness I chopped a few plants whole and didn't even trim off the fan leaves. Just hung them up to dry as whole plants, leaves and all. Well now I do all my plants like this. I don't exactly know the reason, whether it is because they dry slower this way or because the buds actually continue to suck juices from the leaves, but a plant dried whole makes for a better finished product for sure. Another important factor I've found in the harvest is to chop your plants in the last hour of their dark cycle. There's a lot of myths floating around about increasing potency at harvest but this is not one of them. You must harvest at night.

harvest is upon you once you take a 30x-100x magnifier and see that all the trichomes(crystals) are no longer a cloudy white but a amber color. once they are about 50% amber you chop your plant. manicure your leaves after cutting it down but leave the leaves where the buds come out of.. hang upside down by string or wire for a few days until the outer surface of the bud feels dry/crispy. once this happens put your buds inside an airtight glass jar(not plastic!). every 12 hours open the jar to allow moisture to escape. repeat this process till your buds have the stink you so desire! when put into a glass jar the moisture inside the buds will be drawn out and stick to the glass jar. this is the curing process! just make sure when you're curing the buds that you store the glass jars in a dark, cool place! hope that was some help! good luck!

Yep thats how I do it.Jars all the way.I trim mine when the buds are still on the plant then hang for a few days untill they just get crispy on the out side then it's into the jars for curing.This can take several weeks and dont rush it.The more they cure the better they taste.

if you trim fan leaves, but leave all the little bud leafs in tact during drying, it'll dry the bud out more evenly... that rate of transpiration throughout the entire bud will be even ensuring that drying throughout the bud will also be even... if you trim these leaves prior to drying, drying throughout the bud wont be even and you can get some moisture spots, which will dry out but takes longer since the moisture spots are within the bud themselves and the moisture has to "migrate" to the outside of the bud... it will finish evening out the moisture left in the bud during curing though.. and by moisture spots i dont mean spots of wet bud... just spots where water is still present within the bud, which means a "greener" flavor since some chlorophyll will still be present and some extra moisture... also wether you hang the entire plant or just branches is up to you... entire plant is quicker to trim and easier to hang BUT requires more room, as much room as the plant grew, to hang and dry... individual branches take longer to trim , but require a lot less hanging room since you can hang them in closer... again thats up to you and what you want to do and your allotted space...

now with that said imo and what i personally do is cut of individual branches, trim the fan leaves and buds, and then hang the branches... couple reasons...

1) even if the bud dried more evenly with the little bud leaves on them its not enough of a difference IF YOU PROPERLY CURE YOUR BUDS to make much of a difference in flavor.. just make sure you cure them for a week or so to allow any extra moisture in the bud to either escape or to even out throughout the bud...
2) trying to trim those little fucking leaves after they dried is a pain in the ass... this is really the biggest reason.. itll take you a lot longer to trim the buds if you dry and then trim than if you trim then dry...

when it comes down to it its really up to you... if you take the time and do it right and be patient, no matter if you trim then dry or dry then trim, you'll end up with smooth tasty smoke... its really up to you as the grower and what you want to do... i trim as i said first, dry for 5-7 days, then cure in mason jars for a another 5-7 days.. just depends.. the longer the cure the smoother the smoke... anyways... i "burp" the mason jars about 3 or 4 times a day to let fresh air in... thats just me tho... again.. it just comes down to what works for you and what you want to do as the grower!!

good luck and good smoke

I actually wear a plastic glove and pull the dried leaves off but yea a proper cure makes a much bigger difference than the delayed trimming.

you guys no ur shit
cheers 4 all the help i am goin to cut the branches individually and manicure them before drying then when dry cure them...
hope this works ill hopfully get sum pics up soon..