How to Harvest Cannabis – Jorge Cervantes

Harvesting your cannabis crop is the reward for all the fun you had growing it! Here is the basic information you need to harvest your garden. Remember resin glands found on cannabis flowers and foliage are where the bulk of cannabinoids are found. Once harvested they are easily bruised by rough handling and bright light. Cannabinoids stay put in resin glands until they are ruptured and start to degrade. Please treat harvested plants with tender loving care.

Plan for harvest a month beforehand. Here are a few guidelines.

1.     Stop spraying plants with organic and synthetic controls 30 days prior to harvest.

2.     Spray plants heavily with plain water two weeks beforehand to wash away contaminants

3.     Stop fertilizing one week before harvest

4.     Leach grow mediums in containers heavily with water to remove salt-based fertilizers

5.     Outdoor and organic soils are massive, complex and difficult to leach.

6.     Do not remove root ball, roots contain no interesting cannabinoids.

7.     Harvest large “fan” leaves on live plants a day or two before main harvest do speed drying. When large leaves are removed, you can concentrate on the fun part, flower buds! Toss leaves in a cardboard box or paper sack to dry. Turn leaves every few days to aerate.

8.     Harvest first thing in the morning when plants are not yet warmed up; cannabinoid content is at peak level.

To harvest, cut the main stem of an entire plant with pruners or a saw. Or prune off single branches. Individual branches are easiest to handle.

Submerge freshly harvested branches in a 30-second bath of (5%) hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to wash away contaminants and disinfect flowers and foliage. Remove branches from bath, rinse and carefully shake off excess water. Hang in front of a fan for 10-20 minutes; it is now ready for drying. See my YouTube channel for complete details.

Manicure & Dry – trim leafy growth away from flower buds when foliage is supple. Snip flower buds from branches and dry on a screen or net shelf. Turn buds daily. They will be dry in less than a week contingent upon humidity, temperature and air flow.

Dry & Manicure plants and flower buds after foliage is dry. Hang entire plants or individual branches on a line in a dark room. Buds are dry and usually ready to manicure in 1-3 weeks depending upon humidity, temperature and size of plants.

Flowers are dry when 75 percent of their moisture content has dissipated. At harvest, weigh single flower bud on an accurate scale. Let’s say it weighs 10 grams. When the same bud weighs 2.5 grams, it is dry.

Autore: Jorge Cervantes

fonte: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-harvest-cannabis-jorge-cervantes/