Updated January 2024
In this article, you’ll learn how to harvest a Cannabis plant, how to dry and cure your buds. When to harvest and how to set a drying space. Avoid common mistakes and enjoy a good yield.
The flowering stage seems to be coming to an end and you are eager to harvest your plants as soon as possible. Harvesting is a crucial moment in cannabis cultivation. It is very common for beginners to get too ahead and try to chop their plants too early. The plant gives signals for us to know exactly when she’s ready to harvest.
- Before Harvesting a Cannabis plant
- Flushing Cannabis plants before harvest
- When to harvest your Cannabis plants
- How to tell if your plant is ready to harvest
- The best way to determine Cannabis harvesting time is given by the trichomes.
- When to harvest looking at Pistils
- When to harvest looking at Trichomes
- How to harvest a Cannabis plant step by step
- Congratulations on your harvest!
Before Harvesting a Cannabis plant
Prepare your plants
- Check for pests and discard damaged parts (fungi, severe insect infestation).
- Cut out big fan leaves, especially if they had pests.
- Flushing: When growing with mineral nutrients, flushing is recommended. Start 2 weeks before harvesting.
Flushing Cannabis plants before harvest
Flushing a Cannabis plant is basically to run a lot of water through its growing medium (soil, for example) to get rid of the excess of salt and mineral nutrients. This action forces your plant to use up any amount of nutrients previously absorbed. The result will be buds with better flavor and aroma. The excess of fertilizer in your Cannabis plant may result in buds that are harsh to the throat when smoked.
Flushing with clean, room temperature water will help to get rid of fertilizer excess in the soil.
How to flush your indoor Cannabis plants
Place a container (bucket or similar) under the pot for collecting the excess water, be careful or this may result in a bit of a mess.
Two weeks before harvesting is usually a good moment to start flushing your plants and watering with water only and no fertilizers until the harvesting moment. You can water with 10%-20% more water than usual and see how your plants react, they shouldn’t look droopy and should recover soon. The excess water will slowly drain from the bottom of the pot.
A good visual sign is that, in the beginning, the water coming from the bottom of the pot will be dark and will gradually turn to a lighter color. By running this process once in each plant, most of the salt buildup should flush away from the substrate. Discard the runoff water.
Even though lots of fertilizer companies recommend flushing plants for two weeks before harvesting, many growers nowadays choose to avoid flushing altogether and still have good results. It’s a matter of personal choice and one must evaluate the growing conditions, the nutrient schedule, and the final results.
When to stop fertilizing before harvest
Two weeks before harvesting is usually a good moment to start flushing your plants and watering with water only (no fertilizers) until the harvesting moment.
When to stop watering before harvest
Depending on the size of the pot, you can stop watering 1-3 days before harvesting.
Prepare your drying space
- Dark room or tent
- Temperature: Around 20º C
- Relative humidity: 50%
- Airflow
When to harvest your Cannabis plants
Cannabis strains have their own particular flowering time, which may go from 8-12 weeks for most breed hybrids, and even less in the case of fast autoflowering strains. It is important to use this information as a guide to starting checking our plants, but dates may vary along with cultivation methods, environmental factors, etc. When the harvesting date approaches, it is recommended to start checking the buds for pistils and trichomes ripeness to determine the best harvesting moment.
To know when to harvest we’ll look at pistils and trichomes:
Pistils are those little “hairs.” They start white and as the plant ripens, they get darker and curling until they are brown.
Trichomes are little resin glands (that “frost”) and they also change color as they ripen. They look like little lollipops.
How to tell if your plant is ready to harvest
A simple way to determine harvesting time is to look at the pistils’ evolution.
Pistils start as a pair of white hairs and they start grouping to make the buds.
– Buds with white pistils sticking out are very young. Don’t harvest yet!
– After that, pistils start turning orange, brown, or even pink and they stay “upright”.
– When harvesting time is near, there’s a majority of orange or brown pistils and they have curled inwards the buds. This may also happen due to environmental factors even when the Cannabis plant is not yet ready for harvesting. It’s a good indicator to start looking at the trichomes: that’s the perfect way to know if the plant is ready.
You can see and track these changes without any equipment, just observation by the naked eye.
The best way to determine Cannabis harvesting time is given by the trichomes.
Trichomes are little resin glands and they also change color as they ripen. They look like little “lollipops” sticking out
– Trichomes start clear and transparent. and some days later they turn milky white.
When trichomes become milky-white and some of them are amber, that’s the best time to harvest.
If the trichomes are all amber / brown, it’s probably too late!
Look at the trichomes with a magnifying glass or loupe and their color will tell you the best moment to harvest.
In this photo, the trichomes are already milky white and the pistils are orange. Ready to harvest!
When to harvest looking at Pistils
50% brown 50% white pistils – young, light marijuana
70-90% brown/orange – ripe marijuana
90-100% brown – sharp, heavy marijuana
When to harvest looking at Trichomes
How to check trichomes: with a magnifying glass or microscope
Clear trichomes – wait a bit longer
Milky trichomes – near harvest
All Amber trichomes – overripe
We prefer to look at the trichome evolution because it’s a more accurate method. Pistils may change color because of environmental modifications such as high humidity and not necessarily because the plant is ready to harvest.
How to harvest a Cannabis plant step by step
Tools
- Shears or scissors
- Isopropyl alcohol or alcohol 70% (to clean your tools)
- Plastic gloves (it gets messy and sticky)
- Plastic tray to put branches
- A drying rack/box – tent/hangers
Before starting, set your workplace. Clean your tools and hands, wear plastic gloves when touching the plant and keep rubbing alcohol on your tools if it gets too sticky.
1. Cut the plant and its branches
Depending on your plant’s size, cut out all the branches first or cut the plant at its base and then cut out the branches one by one. Cut out big fan leaves, especially if they show signs of pests (insects, mold, fungi). Place those branches in plastic trays.
2. Divide branches into buds
Divide the branches into smaller twigs or individual buds. Depending on the size of the buds and the relative humidity of your drying space, you can leave them bigger or smaller. Work on a clean surface as a big table and be tidy.
3. Dry in a dark ventilated place
Make sure the room is dark and the exhaust fan is running if drying in a tent. If the buds are lying on a surface like a drying rack, rotate them now and then so they keep their shape. Drying may take 10-14 days or even less in some environmental conditions.
4. Trimming buds before or after drying
You can trim or keep the sugar leaves with trichomes if desired. This step may be done before or after drying.
5. Curing: put buds in jars and burp
When the drying process is ready (10-14 days), put your buds in sealed jars, and start the curing process. You can also weigh your yield before curing, as most of the moisture in the buds will have disappeared by then. For the first 2 weeks of curing, open the jars once a day for an hour, and seal them after. This process is called “burping” and helps cure buds uniformly. This process may take from 3 weeks to 2 months.
Don’t forget to tag your jars with strain and harvesting/curing dates! You can log information such as harvesting dates and weights in the Grow with Jane tracking app!
Harvesting is a great moment in every grower’s journey. Now you know how to tell when are buds ready to harvest and how to do it. If you have more questions, please tell us in the comments. We hope you have a great harvest and soon be enjoying your own!
Congratulations on your harvest!
How to dry Marijuana
There are many ways of drying Cannabis after harvesting: using drying racks, and boxes, hanging the individual branches, or hanging the whole plant to dry upside-down with a wire or similar.
Turn on a fan and aim it right beneath the buds if there’s no airflow.
Make sure the room is dark, and the exhaust fan is running if drying in the growing tent.
Keep humidity around 50% and the temperature around 20º C.
The drying process may last 10 and 14 days.
Look at them every day and make sure no mold is growing. If you find some, cut that bud and throw it away before it grows all over your buds.
How to cure Marijuana
To cure your Cannabis buds, keep them in glass jars or similar and open it once a day until they are cured.
Exposure to oxygen and light causes THC degradation. To protect your precious buds, keep them in sealed containers, in a dark place.
Temperature around 20ºC
Humidity 58%-65%
very well written and tons of information.
Hi Jim! Thanks for reading and commenting! I’m happy you find the article useful. Happy growing!
That whole article is awesome great tips especially for beginners
Hi Gary! I’m happy you find the article useful! We are committed to writing complete and understandable content for beginners who want to succeed at growing Cannabis!
Thank you so much for reading and leaving your comment.
Happy growing and happy harvesting!
Thank you Alicia‼️ This is my first grow and this has guided me every step of the way. This will be my foundation for my growing techniques. Thank again‼️✌️
Hi Maryland! I’m happy to know that you find the articles helpful! Thank you for reading and commenting! Happy growing!
very informative, it is good to know abt growing of cannabis, from China
Hi Michael, thanks for reading and commenting! We have more articles in our blog to help people grow cannabis from the seed to harvest! I hope you find them useful.
EXACTLY the type of read I NEEDED, very informative, easy to understand and a quick read… definitely NOT one of those articles where you have to read and re – read the whole article 3 times to find the answers you’re looking for
Hi Neil! Thank you so much for your kind words! We are happy to know you find our articles helpful. Happy harvest!
Jeez, what a wealth of accurate info. Covers all from seedling to harvest. Especially liked the pics of proper harvest and storage. THANK YOU!
Hi Bud! Thanks for your comments, we are always happy to help growers!
Thank you for all this great information and I am a couple weeks from harvesting and now I understand how to harvest. Thanks again , Krista
Hi Krista! Thank you for reading and commenting. Congratulations and happy harvesting!!
This was very helpful and made me understand why my flowers weren’t smelling like they were suppose to. I was trying too fast.. thank you and keep writing..
Hi Billy! I’m glad you find it helpful. Harvesting times vary with each strain so observation and tracking are key for success.
Thanks for your comment, stay tuned for more articles coming soon!
Great read. First timer here. Im on week one of 12/12 and getting excited! Growing a single Bruce Banner plant with a 600W LED, now running red lights. Many white pistols showing throughout. Plant is about 18” tall. How far should my light be from the top of my plant? Growing in a roughly 3’ x 3’ x 6’ grow tent. Thanks!
Hi Robeed! I’m glad you find the article useful! We recommend checking the manufacturer’s site or email them to see the recommended growing area and height for each stage. There are different technologies in “LED panels” and each one has different requirements, wattage does not tell much about it as it does in HPS lights. Some panels branded as “600 w” recommend 35-45 cm for flowering, but it’s better to check for your specific model. LED panels may cause light stress on plants even if they do not emit a lot of heat. If you see the leaves discoloring, pointing up, or adopting a “taco” shape, move the lights up. Otherwise, just move it up as the plants grow to keep the same distance.
Here’s an article I wrote about the flowering stage with pics week by week, tips on temperature, humidity and more. I hope it helps!
https://growithjane.com/flowering-stage-cannabis-plants/
Have a nice day and happy growing!
hi first timer i have a beauty unknown strain from a seed i saved years ago pics on my profile i think anyways we have been in vegetative state for over a month could i put her into a 24 hr light cycle for a week or 2 to help her grow or am i chancing her hermaphriditing and next question where should i clip my clones from and how do i do that sucessfully all help appreciated
Hi Elee! A plant from a regular seed won’t flower until you put it under 12 hours of light and 12 hours of complete darkness. What happens if you leave it in a 24 hr light cycle is that it will remain in vegetative stage. This is good for “mother plants” if you want to take cuttings from it and make clones. Hermaphrodites may occur due to genetics and/or stress. Try to avoid extreme growing conditions and give your plants enough space, light and nutrients to minimize this chance.
Clones taken from the bottom of the plant are said to root more quickly than clones taken from the upper parts of the plant. Those clones should be kept under at least 18 hours of light until rooting with high humidity levels and warm temperatures.
If you need further help with those clones, grower support and personalized advice, please download our free growing app https://growithjane.com/ and write an in-app message. We’ll be happy to help! As Grow with Jane app user, you also access our growing community where you can share photos, ask questions and more. https://social.growithjane.com/
Thanks for commenting, have a nice day!
great reads I am at the harvest stage, I fear I’ve waited to long how fast will the plant degrade ie; how long before there is little to no effect from the reson…excuse my spelling , thanks for the solid science
Hi David, there’s a few weeks “window” for harvesting. After that, the effect decreases but it takes a lot for “no effect”. It’s up to each grower when to harvest.
If you need grower support and personalized advice, please download our free growing app https://growithjane.com/ and write an in-app message. We’ll be happy to help! As Grow with Jane app users, you also access our growing community where you can share photos, ask questions and more. https://social.growithjane.com/
Thanks for reading and happy harvest!
Hi there. I am a newbie to indoor growing and I have a question. So my top buds are 50-60% amber. Do I flush the entire plant just to trim off these colas that are almost ready for harvest?
Hi Teresa! You can always cut the upper colas if they are already amber (50% sounds like a lot) and keep the rest until it’s done.
If you need grower support and personalized advice, please download our free growing app https://growithjane.com/ and write an in-app message. We’ll be happy to help! As Grow with Jane app users, you also access our growing community where you can share photos, ask questions and more. https://social.growithjane.com/
Thanks for reading! Happy growing!
This article was very help thank you a lot in a first time grower with about 19 females I started growing fir fun and quickly became serious lol rn I have roughly 9/10 of my girls via your article is officially due for harvest again 420blessingand thanks
Thank you so much for your kind words! Happy growing!
i just started the dryig process i had a six and a half footer lol im a first timer so i have a few questions if anyone can help me i trimmed all the big sugar leaves off and i hung everything upside down now if anyone can assist me pls email me asap thanks
Hi John, congratulations on your harvest! All you need to do now is cut the branches/twigs into individual buds in order to place them in jars. Check for humidity levels and inspection your buds for signals of mold or fungi. If you need grower support and personalized advice, please download our free growing app https://growithjane.com/ and write an in-app message. We’ll be happy to help based on your needs! As Grow with Jane app users, you also access our growing community where you can share photos, ask questions and more. https://social.growithjane.com/
Thanks for reading and commenting! Happy growing!
Heya i am for the first time here. I found this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and aid others like you helped me.
Took me time to read all the comments, but I seriously enjoyed the write-up. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am positive to all the commenters right here Its always good when you can not only be informed, but also entertained Im sure you had fun writing this article.
Hi, As with most readers I am a first timer. I live in Ontario Canada so the growing season is reasonably short.
Two plants growing outdoors, one looks male and one looks female. I have been told I should cut the male down so that it does not pollinate the female, and create a ton of seeds. But then again I can use the seeds as I started with two small plants given to me. Is it best to not let them pollinated for quality of the buds?
Your website is the best I have seen for helping me to reap the benefits of my first harvest. Thanks!
Hi Rick! The decision of growing or cutting a male plant is up to each grower and their intentions. If you want to harvest some buds but also want seeds, you can grow the male plant outdoors and “leave nature to do it”. Another option is to take the male plant to grow indoors and harvest the pollen yourself to pollinate only a part of the female plant, not the whole. For example, you could manually pollinate only one branch of the female plant and leave the others to grow buds. The plant will concentrate its energy on growing the seeds but the other buds may develop nicely as well. Leaving the plant to be naturally pollinated outdoors may create, as you say, a ton of seeds. Also, mind that cannabis pollen travels by wind up to 5 km around so it may unintentionally pollinate other people’s plants (and most people do not want that).
I hope you have a great harvest and also be able to continue to grow more plants. Thanks for your kind words, we’ll be publishing more articles soon.
Happy harvest!!
First time grower but when I harvest to dry, the buds shrink and end up paper thin lol. Wtf am I doing wrong?
Hi Paris, thanks for sharing your experience. First, mind that it’s normal that buds dry and shrink a bit as a part of the process, but if you feel they are “too dry” and brittle, there’s a problem. This could happen for many reasons, it could be excessive drying due to very low relative humidity in your drying environment. If this is the case, try keeping humidity around 50%. Mind that high humidity levels may cause rot and fungi so keep ventilation on.
Another reason could be that buds are drying or hanging more days than needed. This depends mainly on the size of the buds and the environment, but maybe you can put some buds in jars some days in advance and see if there’s any difference. To get the idea if they are ready to be jared and cured, take a twig and try bending it, if it bends easily, it’s still not ready and if it snaps, it’s dry and ready to cure!
There are products called “humidity stabilizers”, little packs that go in the curing jars to help stabilize humidity levels at 62% to 55%, recommended for curing. So if the buds are too dry, this would help to keep them at the ideal humidity levels.
I hope this helps, we recommend keeping track of drying and curing stages and taking notes to get better at the process. You can do it with our free app, Grow with Jane.
Have a nice day and happy harvest!
I’m a newbie and growing to extract CBD. I have three auto flower plants that appear to be ready for harvest based on your wealth of information!
The majority of the trichomes on all three plants are solid amber, sticky with resin, and have an earthy aroma.
Do I follow the same steps above regarding hanging, drying, and curing before I extract the CBD? I found a fairly simple extracting method that uses a double boiler and grain alcohol to isolate the CBD.
I have three other plants; non-auto, that are nearly four feet tall with thick, dark, and light green leaves so they seem to be very healthy. Two germinated on April 12 and the other on May 4. However, none of those three show signs of beginning to flower. Maybe I am spoiled because the three au-flower plants flowered very quickly!
Do you have suggestions as to how I can (or should) accelerate the three Non-flower plants?
Thanks!
Hi Mark! Yes! As you say, it is recommended to follow the drying steps to get better results before making extractions.
Regular (non-auto) plants need long dark periods in order to start flowering and they may grow in the vegetative stage for months (all spring and summer). Indoors, you change this giving them 12 hours of light and 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness. Outdoors, this is more difficult with big plants. Some growers cover their plants at night in an attempt to get them to flower but it’s not 100% effective. If you have potent outdoor lights that you can turn off at night, that may help.
I’d recommend starting by giving them flowering nutrients (feeding via foliar and watering) so when the flowering response is triggered, they already have all the nutrients they need for rapid growth.
Here are some tips for the flowering stage https://growithjane.com/flowering-stage-cannabis-plants/
I hope you get the best extractions. Let us know how it’s going!
Have a nice day and happy growing!
Hi, I just want to say thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! It’s taking the “trial & error” part out (for the most part 🙂 I do have a question regarding the drying. I realize it’s going to be different depending on plant size etc. So what should I look for to know if it’s good @ 10 days or need to wait?
Hi Shelley! Thank you for your encouraging words! To get the idea if your buds are dry, ready to be placed in jars and cured, take a twig with buds and try bending it: if it bends easily, it’s probably still not ready and if it snaps dry, then it’s ready to cure! Also, buds must feel a little more brittle. Buds that feel spongy and fluffy need more drying. If all buds have more or less the same size and trim, they are probably going to be ready at the same time. If you keep some big colas and some popcorn buds drying aside, the smaller buds are going to be ready before the big colas. You can do both, just give each one the right time to dry and cure. 10 days sounds like enough but it always depends on the plant and the environment. Opening the jars periodically helps to get rid of extra humidity in case there’s some and prevents the rot and mold from developing on your buds. Follow those steps and take notes of each step and you’ll get perfectly cured buds! Next time, you’ll have an idea of what to expect in drying and curing times.
Congratulations on your harvest!
Very very accurate and informative. Really liked how to I’D the best time to harvest ie: when pistils and tricomes are the best color. Thank you so much.
Yours forever,
William Bud Thom
Hi I’m a first time grower and I have no idea of the strain but it’s beautiful I actually have it in my garden they are fat and getting so tall and green with the little bud like thingies. They are awesome. However I have no idea what to do now. I mean they are up to my chin and I’m 5.0. Anyway I of course read the article but do those also pertaining. To the plants that are actually grown in a garden I dontvhave plant lights just the sun. But I’m so excited but I don’t wanna mess them up. I really just threw those seeds in there and I got like 5 plants. But they are doing do good. How do I find out what kind it is. Thank you in advance for your help!!
Hi Lee! Outdoor plants grow just great with sunlight if they have enough! If you have specific questions about your plants, please download our app from http://www.growithjane.com and contact us via an app message. In that way, we can see your photos and give you better advice. We’ll be happy to help! Thanks for commenting and happy growing
Not really a beginner but not really a pro by any means. Always looking for information on drying and curing. Have referred back to this sight on numerous occasions to refresh my knowledge. Thank you for making it straight forward and easy to understand.
Hi The Rock Star! Thank you so much for reading, commenting, and recommending our content! Happy growing!!
Hi I’m a newbie , Read your awesome article amd help me understand what’s goin on . My CBD are ready for harvest . One question is when to I get their seed , is it before or after curing them . Thanks
Hi Stephanie! You can harvest seeds before or after curing, whenever you can. It’s the same, the seeds are usually ready when you harvest your plants. Thanks for reading and commenting, have an excellent harvest!
Such an informative article. Very helpful with my first attempt at curing.
Hi Growbeck! Thanks for reading and commenting! Happy growing!
Hi Grow with Jane, Im from Tasmania, Australia, and also have grown with seeds out of only good buds I’ve bought and stored over the years. Just downloaded your app to keep track. I have to say, the amount of free, detailed information is incredible and I have to commend you for putting it out there!
Currently just started pre-flowering and so glad I can supplement my horticulture knowledge with these specifics. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this article. I am a new grower and this reassured me I am on the right track. Wish I could share pictures because I feel I have some beautiful buds.
Hi! Thanks for reading and commenting! You can share your pics with us via our free growing app. You can also ask questions regarding your grow and also share them with the community in our forum. Download for free at http://www.growithjane.com and keep a nice grow journal to show off those beautiful buds! Happy harvest!
I found this very informative and well written. It was easy to understand and i feel much better planning and preparing for my first grow now. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed to this wealth of knowledge and preparatory advice. Knowledge is power and sharing it is priceless and very selfless and helpful.
Hi TurlteTom! Thanks for your kind words! We are happy to share our knowledge and see how everybody benefits from it by growing the best plants. Happy growing!
Hi, I have 6 cannabis plants in my grow tent. All the same age. Is it possible one is ready to harvest before the others?
Hello Al! Yes, absolutely! We recommend harvesting each plant whenever it is ready. Every plant is a different individual so this is perfectly normal. Harvesting estimated times provided by the seed banks are a guide but you have to look at each plant separately to define if it’s ready or not. Thanks for reading and commenting, happy harvest!
ok I am truly a newb here. so question of the day.
You say start flushing two weeks before harvest then you tell me how to know when to harvest… how do i know when to start flushing? I cant exactly go back in time after the tricombs are ready…
again very confused
somthing that says, look for this sign to start flushing and then this sign to start harvesting are what I need. I got a few diffrent strains going and it is hard when i have no idea when to start flushing and then cause one to go mafro because i screwed up.
Hello Jason, harvesting time is a personal decision of each grower but as a guide, you can start flushing when you see white (and no transparent) trichomes. In a matter of a few days, you’ll start finding some amber trichomes and there you have your harvesting window of a few days before it’s all brown and too late. Also, pistils are usually brown and curled up when it’s near harvesting time. Lots of white pistils indicate that the plant is still fertile and it has a few weeks ahead before harvesting.
Some growers prefer more % of amber trichomes, some cut their plants with all white. After harvesting a few plants, you’ll start developing your own criteria for harvesting exactly as you like your weed. Also, there are some growers that skip flushing altogether and only look for harvesting signals. Again, if the nutrient brand you are using does not recommend any schedule for flushing, it’s up to each grower.
thank you for that. Using chemical blend so flushing is a must, and i feel two weeks of flush might be better then the last time I did it.
my only drama is I don’t want the trcombs to go amber, I want to hit them near the sweet spot of just a few amber showing.
again, if I haven’t started flushing way before then it becomes a issue as they will go amber way before the chemicals are gone.
I also noticed last time the longer I flushed more color came out of the plants.
ok so based on what your saying, white hairs point to it still needing some time to develope.
so when they become all orange you would figure it is time to begin the flush?
or could that be to late to do two weeks of flush? (I really would like to avoid the harsh flavors this time around)
These articles have helped me a bunch for my first grow, Thanks!
I’m ready to trim some of my plant. The lower half isn’t ready yet. Would I trim just the branch off the main stem? Or would I cut the main stem down to the unready buds?
Hi Christopher! Yes, you can trim some parts of the plant and keep the lower buds until they are ready. You can do either way, but if you want to keep the main stem you can just cut out the buds that are ready and keep the stem with some leaves. Have a great harvest!
Excellent article for this beginner! Now, if you just had links to places to buy some of the stuff (like something to dry mine in, having no dark room at all!) it would be perfect! THANKS though! Love the information!
Hi Elaine! Thank you for reading and commenting! You can start drying your buds in cardboard boxes with horizontal strings to hang the twigs inside. If you are growing in a tent, you can just switch off the lights (or take them out for a while) and hang your plant there. Some nets designed to dry clothes work as well. We hope we can add some places to buy from soon, stay tuned!
Super helpful. The whole article is great for this beginner. Harvest info VERY clear!
Hi Tena! Thank you so much for reading and for your kind comment! I work hard writing these guides and more are coming up soon so stay tuned! I’m delighted to know you find it helpful. Happy growing and happy harvesting!
Hey Alicia. I’m a few weeks from harvest. Are the buds any good it they get hit with a frost?
Hi George, frost may damage cannabis buds indeed but they still may be good to harvest and consume. Some growers harvest early to avoid this and some others cover their plants (if possible) to avoid frost damage. For personalized advice about your plants, please send us an in-app message from the Grow with Jane app and our Grower Support team will be happy to help! Thanks for reading and commenting, happy growing!
Can you freeze buds for storage
Hi Paul! yes, you can freeze buds for storage and it’s indeed one of the best methods to preserve terpenes and cannabinoids, especially if you plant to keep those buds for more than 6 months. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Why does my weed sometimes smell and taste green is it picked to early I thought it might be because I did not trim it good enough or picked to early.
Hi Paul, it may be both. Early harvested cannabis buds taste and smell “green” because they have high percentages of chlorophyll and lower % of terpenes and cannabinoids developed. When trim is nearly done and the buds still have too many sugar leaves, that green taste appears as well for the same reason, chlorophyll in the leaves. Try trimming the buds a little more (fresh or dry) and waiting a little more before harvesting for better results. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Thank you for all of this information! Much appreciated ?
Hi Stacey! Thank you so much for reading and commenting! Happy growing!
This is such a helpful forum! I love the step by step guide that includes photos which I’ve found many lack in the past when seeking information. You are the best!! 🙂
Hi Jas! Thank you so much for reading and for your kind comment! I’m happy to know you find my articles useful! Happy growing! 🙂
I’m not a smoker but anted something to occupy some time. I’m about to harvest my first crop and I’ll say hands down I’ve learned more from this article than I have from all the 50 or more I’ve read anywhere else. Thank you!!!
Hi Summer, thank you so much for your kind words. I’m happy to know you find the articles useful. Happy growing!
My sentiments, exactly,
Thank you both for your comments! Stay tuned for more articles coming soon! =D
Good guide to the final stages of the grow, this article answered my questions thoroughly
This is the absolute best information I have ever read in regards to growing and especially harvesting. The pictures are extremely helpful and informative. I cannot thank you enough as I am just getting ready for harvest on my first grow. Thank you.
Hi Jack! Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m glad to know you find the article useful! Congratulations and happy harvesting!
Found your site today, at the end of my 1st grow & excited for harvest So glad I found you, as you give all the details I was looking for, and others stepped right over.. I wasn’t sure about cutting the main stem of plant or should I uproot it & dry with or without the roots or cut into sections So I you gave me options that are VERY appreciated! Thank you!! And as others have said, very well written & understandable! Crossing my fingers on this harvest, as my personal stash is about depleted I also have 2 different types that recently germinated and can’t wait to watch these ladies grow
Hi Rob! I’m happy to know you find the article useful and well-written! Thank you for your kind comments, they mean a lot to me. Here’s an article I wrote about the vegetative stage including nutrient management, lighting, and much more. https://growithjane.com/cannabis-plant-vegetative-stage/ Stay tuned for more articles coming soon and happy growing!
I could repeat all previous comments & compliments.. but, what I will say is that I am especially grateful for the pictures that accompanied the stage/s!! Thanks for posting info for all of us!
Hi R McGrath, thank you for your kind comment! I’m glad to know you find the article helpful. I’ll be adding more photos to all the articles soon. Happy growing!
I must agree that with this information any farmer is good to go with his/her plants.
Hi Spiky, thank you so much for reading and commenting. Happy growing!
Thank You for this comprehensive sight. You are extremely knowledgeable. My indoor feminized and auto flower bushy indica’s are 5 weeks into Veg stage. I was checking with magnifying glass for Hermee’s and noticed that some of the pistils under the fan leaves are brown and appear dead. Is this normal? How high should the 2000 watt Led be from top of plant (its about 6-8 inches currently running 20L and 4 darkness? Any advice as I’m a newbee? Thanks again
Hi Kathryn! As the flowers mature and are no loger fertile for pollination, pistils or stigmas turn from white to brown and curl inwards. This is the normal development of the female solitary flowers also called preflowers. It’s normal to have some of these solitary flowers around even during the veg stage. The distance depends on the type of light and temperatures, for some lights it’s a good distance and for some others is too close. You can download the Grow with Jane app for free at http://www.growithjane.com to show us your plants or join the community, share photos and get personalized advice. Thanks for reading and commenting, happy growing!
Great instruction! How do you know when your buds are done hanging in the dry room? I’ll be at day 10 tomorrow and don’t know if I should go to 14 days or go ahead and start the jar process. Thanks!
Hi Jacki, buds need to be hard to the touch and dry (but not too dry as to go to dust when crushed). If the buds feel mushy and soft to the touch, they need a few more days of drying. A quick way to test this is trying to break a thin twig, if it snaps the bud is probably dry. If the twig bends, it probably means it’s still not dry. You can try opening a small bud as well to see how it goes. Some people dry their buds for 2 or 3 days in controlled environments while others leave them to dry for 14 days or even more.
After drying, you can place the buds in jars for curing. When going to the curing phase, buds still have some humidity inside that goes out slowly and steady when placed in jars. Open the jars once a day for an hour in a room with 50% relative humidity and watch for fungi. After two weeks of curing, most buds will be ready for storage in ait tight containers for better preservation. Thanks for reading and commenting! Happy harvest!
All the information I have read on the “Growing with Jane ” app has been the best that I have read for me as a beginner Cannabis grower. Although I have quite a bit of experience with plants, I have gleaned a great amount of information about the “does and don’ts” and what to look for at the various stages of development.
I am in central Alberta and started my seedlings inside, mid April. I am new at this so I did not keep good notes starting off but now I have been reading about my plants, I realize it is a good idea to do so.
One thig that I found is, that it is easy to get confused when you start your plants under artificial light in early spring in pots and then you move the pots to the out side environment. This reduces power cost and changes the whole approach on growing,
This is great until you start to run out of time for flowering. I got into a timing issue when I started to flip my plants to 12 and 12 in mid July by putting the plants into a dark place for 48 hours and then returned them to my garden thinking that was all I had to do. The problem I ran into was that they didn’t start flowering. The reason was that we were still getting 15 hrs of daylight and the plants stayed in the vegetative state and kept growing. The plants got much bigger. To remedy this I built a shelter in my garden so I could control the light to 12 and 12. I covered them at 7 30 pm and uncovered 7 30 am. Because I am now off my time line to harvest and we are starting to get cool at night. I am heating my enclosure when they are covered maintaining about 12 to 15 degrees C. Uncovered during the day they are getting up to 25 degrees.
So the moral to the story is, when reading any info be sure your environment is the same as the information you are reading, When outside growing in the North keep in mind that you will have to flip to 12 and 12 and be able to control that by tarping or some other way until harvest. This site is by far the best for beginners and I highly recommend it, thanks
Hi Phil, thank you so much for sharing your experience with such detail! You are very welcome to join our Grower Community for free via the Grow with Jane app. There you can share your experience with fellow growers from your area and all over the world. http://www.growithjane.com
It’s true that you have to take into account the light hours when choosing when to start your grow or else you have to consider tarping or covering your plants in some way. You can also choose strains or cultivars that start to flower with more than 12 hours of light, some can start flowering even with 15 hours of light. Autoflowering plants are also an option if you need them to flower independently from the light hours. Again, thanks for reading and commenting, happy growing!
This is my first time growing cannabis, mainly stuck to vegetables with success. I opted to grow indoors and purchased a grow tent. I was able to grow an autoflower seed which was a success but i needed to know how to harvest, I found this website and it has been a blessing!! I searched the web and found a lot of articles that are vague or intended for long time growers. Thanks for all the help.
Hi Robert, thanks for reading and commenting. I’m glad you find my guides for beginners useful. There’s lots of them in the blog about different topics, I hope you like them too. Happy growing!