Harvest time is exciting for every grower when all the love and care you’ve shown to your plants culminates in seeing and harvesting beautiful buds. Your work is not finished when harvesting, you still need to trim, dry, and cure the buds correctly for smooth, smokable buds that are not too harsh and store properly.
Determining the optimum harvest time is a very important factor that influences THC and other cannabinoid levels. Curing your buds with the right humidity largely impacts mold resistance.
The first step in harvesting is determining the right time to harvest characteristics such as psychoactive effect, taste, and aroma. Learn more about when to harvest cannabis plants and know the preferred harvest time for year cannabis seed strain. Indica strains mature faster and can flower at 6 to 8 weeks, whereas Sativa strains typically harvest later, around 8 to 12 weeks.
Some signs that you’re ready to harvest include yellow fan leaves, which can be a sign of a nutritional deficiency, although are perfectly normal at the end of the flowering stage. One of the best indicators of the right harvest time is to closely examine the trichomes, you should do this with a magnifying glass or a quality camera that you can zoom in on images. Trichomes contain cannabinoids and terpenes and will turn from shimmering translucent mushroom-shaped glands into more of an opaque color when ready to harvest. Many growers focus on <strong>harvesting for trichome preservation, be sure to handle your buds carefully to preserve trichomes when harvesting.