Harvesting
When your flowering phase is done, it's time to harvest. Harvest involves taking your finished plant from the ground or pot, and preparing it for drying and aging.
A typical stalk weighed before washing and after pulling off fan leaves. We try to preserve as much of the plant as possible during the curing phase.
Optional: Pull off fan leaves
While the plant is still in the ground or pot, pull off all of the largest leaves. You can continue pulling until only buds and leaves that have trichromes are left. If you are utilizing a high-brix growing method, nearly all of the smaller leaves will have sticky trichromes, and are perfectly good for smoking along with your bud. Trimming before curing tends to lock in chlorophyll and impart harsh, unwanted flavors. As a matter of preference, we try to only remove the biggest fan leaves before curing. If we're going to trim, we do it post-cure for best flavor, smell, and effect
Cut the stalk
You can delineate the stalks by the 'colas'. Each cola, or bundle of bud, will have grown, appearing largest at the end of a stalk. Cut each of these cola'd stalks at their base, near the trunk of the plant. You can collect/transport them on a clean tray or in a clean bag.
This is the absolute most we will ever trim our plants, handling gently and preserving as much trichrome as possible.
Wash the stalks
Yes, we wash our weed!
We always wash the fruit and veggies we consume--why should cannabis be any different?
In washing our harvest, we're able to leave our bud free of any dust, pollen, insects, or anything else that might have gotten lodged in or around the flowers during the grow.
For more information on washing, visit our washing guide.
Hang the stalks to dry
After washing, we will have wet stalks that are ready to be cured. Find a way to hang or otherwise keep the stalks separated as much as possible so air can move between and around them. You will need a clean room (or makeshift room) that stays below 72* F, and between 40% and 55% relative humidity. Seldom-used indoor closets that can be cleaned to be free of dust. In this room, strings can be run from wall-to-wall in a number of creative ways, from which the washed branches can then hang. We want to keep light and wind off the buds, but keep the air circulating in the room.
Now, we wait for the branches to dry so we can put them paper bags and then, begin the jarring process.