Harvesting and Curing questions

CatatonicChronic

CatatonicChronic

Member
hello, getting ready to harvest my first grow, ended up with three budding plants. I've got a couple of questions if any can help me out, much appreciated. #1) First, I'd like some clearity on the trichomes, you generally want to harvest when the trics have all turned milky white and are barely(10-33%) turning amber if you want a "head" high, if you want that couch lock you want to harvest when the trics are about 50-65% amber??? #2) What is the most effective curing process, I live in a hot and dry place so drying may be about 7-10 days, is jaring it the next best step or should bag it then jar it or is there another process that is better to for curing? I am not worried about speed but I'd like to smoke the stuff with in a 4-5 weeks. #3) Water Curing? please explain? I understand this to be the best especially if your not growing high quality stuff. The process goes something like submerge plant matter after harvest in water, stir a few times a day for a bit and then once a day after until 7-10 days is up, then pull out and dry by hanging and fans in dark room as you would normally, but does this really help out and remove the water soluable toxins??? #4) My dad is an old school hippy growing and he was telling me that they used to pull the whole plant for harvest and dip the roots in boiling water to "shock" it for some reason... sound familiar or anyone know why someone would do this? Thank you for your input and replies
 
k0ijn

k0ijn

Scientia Cannabis
CatatonicChronic said:
hello, getting ready to harvest my first grow, ended up with three budding plants. I've got a couple of questions if any can help me out, much appreciated. #1) First, I'd like some clearity on the trichomes, you generally want to harvest when the trics have all turned milky white and are barely(10-33%) turning amber if you want a "head" high, if you want that couch lock you want to harvest when the trics are about 50-65% amber??? #2) What is the most effective curing process, I live in a hot and dry place so drying may be about 7-10 days, is jaring it the next best step or should bag it then jar it or is there another process that is better to for curing? I am not worried about speed but I'd like to smoke the stuff with in a 4-5 weeks. #3) Water Curing? please explain? I understand this to be the best especially if your not growing high quality stuff. The process goes something like submerge plant matter after harvest in water, stir a few times a day for a bit and then once a day after until 7-10 days is up, then pull out and dry by hanging and fans in dark room as you would normally, but does this really help out and remove the water soluable toxins??? #4) My dad is an old school hippy growing and he was telling me that they used to pull the whole plant for harvest and dip the roots in boiling water to "shock" it for some reason... sound familiar or anyone know why someone would do this? Thank you for your input and replies
Click to expand...

#1: Not exactly. The amount of THC you get from your plants and somewhat the high you get from your plants is determined by trichomes.
What is noteworthy is that THC is not fully realized in clear trichomes, THC is fully realized in cloudy trichomes and THC has been broken down (into CBN) in amber trichomes.
You want to get as close to 100% cloudy trichomes as possible.
Since a CBN high is normally described as an unpleasant high (it's only mildly psychoactive) whereas THC is the main contributing factor to any cannabis high.

What determines the kind of high you get (energetic high vs. couch lock high) is wether you grow a Sativa strain or an Indica strain (or a hybrid for that matter).
Sativas produce an energetic high whereas Indicas produce a couch lock high.


#2: You want a steady drying process (~7 days) and at least a 2 - 3 week curing process.
If you have doubts about what to do there are many guides on this forum as to assist with drying & curing.


#3: Again, there are guides on the forum explaining water curing in great detail, it would be futile for me to repeat what has already been typed up many times.
Save to say, water curing is usually reserved for experiments and moldy weed (or otherwise damaged weed).


#4: People do a lot of crazy shit when it comes to Cannabis growing, I have heard more insane methods than that but I would not recommend doing that, I cannot see what it could possibly help with.
 
CatatonicChronic

CatatonicChronic

Member
k0ijn said:
#1: Not exactly. The amount of THC you get from your plants and somewhat the high you get from your plants is determined by trichomes.
What is noteworthy is that THC is not fully realized in clear trichomes, THC is fully realized in cloudy trichomes and THC has been broken down (into CBN) in amber trichomes.
You want to get as close to 100% cloudy trichomes as possible.
Since a CBN high is normally described as an unpleasant high (it's only mildly psychoactive) whereas THC is the main contributing factor to any cannabis high.

What determines the kind of high you get (energetic high vs. couch lock high) is wether you grow a Sativa strain or an Indica strain (or a hybrid for that matter).
Sativas produce an energetic high whereas Indicas produce a couch lock high.


#2: You want a steady drying process (~7 days) and at least a 2 - 3 week curing process.
If you have doubts about what to do there are many guides on this forum as to assist with drying & curing.


#3: Again, there are guides on the forum explaining water curing in great detail, it would be futile for me to repeat what has already been typed up many times.
Save to say, water curing is usually reserved for experiments and moldy weed (or otherwise damaged weed).


#4: People do a lot of crazy shit when it comes to Cannabis growing, I have heard more insane methods than that but I would not recommend doing that, I cannot see what it could possibly help with.
Click to expand...
when you say that the 'type' of high you get is from the strain being either sativa or indica, I am stuck on that. I thought that the type of high was from the tricome ripeness and that based on the strain was how you would decide when it is ripe. Sativa high is a head high and indica is a couch-lock right? so would I harvest a sativa when little to no amber trics and harvest an indica with more like 1/3rd are amber or more? So are sativas better with higher THC and indicas are better with more CBN or are both strains better served being harvested at the same optimal time and the genes of the plant determines the type or high while ripeness determines the intensity???? thanks
 
B

brimck325

Well-Known Member
My dad thought he new how to grow to....now he calls me for advice.they didnt have the info we have...peace
 
k0ijn

k0ijn

Scientia Cannabis
CatatonicChronic said:
when you say that the 'type' of high you get is from the strain being either sativa or indica, I am stuck on that. I thought that the type of high was from the tricome ripeness and that based on the strain was how you would decide when it is ripe. Sativa high is a head high and indica is a couch-lock right? so would I harvest a sativa when little to no amber trics and harvest an indica with more like 1/3rd are amber or more? So are sativas better with higher THC and indicas are better with more CBN or are both strains better served being harvested at the same optimal time and the genes of the plant determines the type or high while ripeness determines the intensity???? thanks
Click to expand...

I think you have trichomes and species mixed up.
There are three species within the Genus, Cannabis:

Cannabis Sativa
Cannabis Indica
Cannabis Ruderalis


Sativa is the species which delivers a more upbeat, energetic head high whereas Indica delivers a more couch lock effect.
Since many strains these days are hybrids (or later pairings and clones of hybrids), you get a bit of both in almost each strain.
But it's fairly easy to distinguish a 100% Sativa strain high from a 100% Indica strain high.

No, you would harvest a Sativa with as close to 100% cloudy trichomes as possible and the same with an Indica.
You want fully realized THC in both species.

No, Sativas are not better with more THC than Indicas, and neither are Indicas better with more CBN.

Yes, you want to treat the species in the same way, and you want as much THC as possible from both species.
THC is after all the main component in a Cannabis high.

I must stress that I am not denouncing CBN, CBG or THCV for that matter.
I'm just pointing out that THC is quite clearly the main factor of a Cannabis high and although other substances do contribute and can alter the high somewhat, THC is by far the most important one.


Trichomes are indeed one of the factors used for determining peak harvest.
You want to get as close to 100% cloudy trichomes (fully realized THC) and as little amber trichomes as possible (low CBN levels).
What else you should look for is:

Receding pistils & swollen calyxes.

Those three factors are key in determining peak harvest.
 
K

KushDog

Active Member
it is Dry where i am, so I built a Humidor to contol the humitity. I used a humidafyer, a 20-30 gallon tote, some tubing, plenty of tape, and some window screen.

I chop a plant down, toss her in my Humidor, and keep it humid for 3 days than ieveryday i turn it down a nocth, I do that for 7 days, than i toss the buds in a brown paper bag for 3 days than I put all the buds in jars, than crack the jars everyday. after 6-9 day you can be smoking your home grown goodness
 
rocknratm

rocknratm

Well-Known Member
KushDog said:
it is Dry where i am, so I built a Humidor to contol the humitity. I used a humidafyer, a 20-30 gallon tote, some tubing, plenty of tape, and some window screen.

I chop a plant down, toss her in my Humidor, and keep it humid for 3 days than ieveryday i turn it down a nocth, I do that for 7 days, than i toss the buds in a brown paper bag for 3 days than I put all the buds in jars, than crack the jars everyday. after 6-9 day you can be smoking your home grown goodness
Click to expand...
quick, but reasonable. Lots of people will say too quick. Me, mine taste good with no cure when dry, and better with some cure. So I understand ur method :)
 
K

KushDog

Active Member
I dont have to cure "nutes out of my buds" so i can smoke it when it is dry. cureing defently brings out more flavors, i have my jars 1 week old, 3 weeks, 5 weeks, 7 weeks, and it does get better with age. I harvest every 2 weeks so I need a consistant way of drying.
AT day 6 I smoke it up,

My humidor idea : lots of freash humid air, it kinda steams the buds but with out heat. And for the fisrt 3 days my buds mite even be getting wetter than they were. day 4, 75% day 5, 70% , 65%, 60% than into paper bags to dry, (or toss a bud on the table to dry really fast.

after the humidor my buds are damp but are evenly damp inside and out, the stem now has the same moister content of the buds.

if your buds dry before 3 days, it can leave a hay taste/smell. that is hard to get rid of.
 
W

wbd

Well-Known Member
KushDog said:
I dont have to cure "nutes out of my buds" so i can smoke it when it is dry. cureing defently brings out more flavors, i have my jars 1 week old, 3 weeks, 5 weeks, 7 weeks, and it does get better with age. I harvest every 2 weeks so I need a consistant way of drying.
AT day 6 I smoke it up,

My humidor idea : lots of freash humid air, it kinda steams the buds but with out heat. And for the fisrt 3 days my buds mite even be getting wetter than they were. day 4, 75% day 5, 70% , 65%, 60% than into paper bags to dry, (or toss a bud on the table to dry really fast.

after the humidor my buds are damp but are evenly damp inside and out, the stem now has the same moister content of the buds.

if your buds dry before 3 days, it can leave a hay taste/smell. that is hard to get rid of.
Click to expand...
Horrible advice. Curing is essential. I read a thread where you said you pull buds early at 6 weeks and enjoy that too.

Maybe someday you will smoke some good weed and see the difference, but for now I'm thinking your posts need a disclaimer that states you have no taste in quality pot.
 
K

KushDog

Active Member
wbd said:
Horrible advice. Curing is essential. I read a thread where you said you pull buds early at 6 weeks and enjoy that too.

Maybe someday you will smoke some good weed and see the difference, but for now I'm thinking your posts need a disclaimer that states you have no taste in quality pot.
Click to expand...
I have no taste in quality pot, thats why i stop feeding my plnat 2 weeks before harvest, because I dont know what good pot taste like. LOL I live in michigan we have capassion clubs where you can get Cannabis. And since i go though a oz a week I think i ran acossed good pot once or twice considering it cost $375 oz it better be good, Mine is same quilty.

I smoke good pot all day everyday. bought and grown. but I anit trying to brag, i am just trying to help people get better meds,..

But dont listin to me, do only as "WBD" say he knows it all plus some ... FYI l
 
W

watchhowIdoit

New Member
CatatonicChronic said:
hello, getting ready to harvest my first grow, ended up with three budding plants. I've got a couple of questions if any can help me out, much appreciated. #1) First, I'd like some clearity on the trichomes, you generally want to harvest when the trics have all turned milky white and are barely(10-33%) turning amber if you want a "head" high, if you want that couch lock you want to harvest when the trics are about 50-65% amber??? #2) What is the most effective curing process, I live in a hot and dry place so drying may be about 7-10 days, is jaring it the next best step or should bag it then jar it or is there another process that is better to for curing? I am not worried about speed but I'd like to smoke the stuff with in a 4-5 weeks. #3) Water Curing? please explain? I understand this to be the best especially if your not growing high quality stuff. The process goes something like submerge plant matter after harvest in water, stir a few times a day for a bit and then once a day after until 7-10 days is up, then pull out and dry by hanging and fans in dark room as you would normally, but does this really help out and remove the water soluable toxins??? #4) My dad is an old school hippy growing and he was telling me that they used to pull the whole plant for harvest and dip the roots in boiling water to "shock" it for some reason... sound familiar or anyone know why someone would do this? Thank you for your input and replies
Click to expand...
I would listen to your dad. He obviously knows what hes talking about. IE shocking the roots with boiling water or simple drowning. Both cut off the roots and plants oxygen supply kick starting the fermentation process. Listen to Kushdog and your just listening to a parrot repeating what he has read/heard...and what he repeats is 99% forum myth........
 
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