Preparing for harvest

[fizoster]

Hello all,

Sooo excited, time for me to harvest in a week. This is my first ever grow, so I want to make sure that I do everything right. I have been flushing for the past week, and I have been doing hours and hours of reading. I still have a couple questions. If anyone could help me out, I would really appreciate it.

-The top cola isn't as fat as I was hoping, and a lot more leafy too. I have been reading a lot about doing some pruning of leaves a week or so before harvest, and there seems to be mixed opinions. Does anyone have any experience with this? Will this help make the top cola fatter? Will it have negative effects? I have read very mixed reviews on the subject, so if anyone has an experience with it that would be awesome.

-I really want to make sure I cure my buds right when the time comes. Anyone care to share their curing regiment with me? Tips?

-Lastly, I have been reading a lot about perpetual harvesting. From what I understand, I can harvest the buds from my plant, then put it back into veg cycle for a few weeks, and then put it back into flowering again. Is this really an option? Anyone have anything to share on the subject?

Thank you sooo much for anyone who actually reads this entire thing lol. I know it's a lot but I really want to be sure to get everything right. Peace!

[Upstart Rookie]

My belief is that you only take a leaf from a plant if it is dying (50% or more), or dead, let the plant have the best shot at producing it's best buds by allowing the growth process to occur uninterrupted.

Drying is important, it precedes the cure. I like to follow the 7's for ultimately dried buds, 70 degrees (F), 70% humidity, and 7 days minimum (or longer). Curing begins mostly after drying is complete.

Perpetual harvest (IMO) is a term describing rooms that have plants in different stages of flower, say 25% started on the 1st, 25% on the 15th, 25% on the 30th, and the remaining 25% on the 14th of the following month, that way you have 1/4 of your room being harvested every 2 weeks.
I believe for most strains, that reverting to vegetative from flower and triggering again will give you problems. Plants like to follow their natural cycle, and attempting to replicate a natural cycle indoors is your best bet.

Good luck, and keep asking, it's the way to learn, we all had to at one time....

[fizoster]

Thanks a lot man I really appreciate the response. Yeah, like I said, I've been reading very mixed reviews about pruning before harvest time. Some people say its great, some say it's a bad idea. I don't completely trust the information provided on most other websites (they seem to contradict themselves a lot), so I wanted to run it by the good folks at FMB lol. Thanks again!

[DrBudGreengenes]

What U R discussing is called ...
Revegging/Rejuvenating
a plant
and it works quite well if you follow some simple steps...
Pay attention when U harvest...as U cut the budz
try to leave as MANY leaves as possible still attached to the main plant....and U MUST leave some flowers for her to consume during the Change over.


After U finish harvesting rinse the container with 3 times its volume of Clean water
after that give a nice watering w/ some N in the mix
(Fish Emulsion works well for this)
Now
Place her under 24/0 or 18/6 light
and then we wait..
at first U will see some spiraled leaves followed by single bladed leaves ......followed normal growth
At that time U can take cuts from her or "Clean Her" up and flower her again
:smoke1:

[DrBudGreengenes]

[QUOTE=Upstart Rookie;31461]
Drying is important, it precedes the cure. I like to follow the 7's for ultimately dried buds, 70 degrees (F), 70% humidity, and 7 days minimum (or longer). Curing begins mostly after drying is complete.

QUOTE]


Thats sounds like Mold just waiting to happen...70% humidity in the dark for 7 Days?
:sick1:

[fizoster]

Ahh ok very nice. Thanks for the info man. If thats the case, I'll probably just cut the whole thing down and start from scratch. There's a lot of sugary leaves on there and I want to make hash with them lol.

[aqualungs]

I agree with DrBudGreenGenes a more acceptable humidity while drying would be 40-50% probably closer to 40%. Keep an eye on them and in 7-10 days they should be ready to go in to jars (when the main stem will snap and make a crisp snapping sound).

[YukonBikerGuy]

It always amazes me when you guys say a week to dry herb and so long to dry bubble..... Its so humid where you guys are or something.... I'm in a semi-desert climate.... my stuff hangs for 3-4 days till the outside the bud is crispy to the touch and the stems are still bendy. Then they go into jars to sweat and rehydrate for about 24 hrs, then open the jar and air out the buds till they get crispy on the outside again, then reseal in the jar. They go into jars to sweat and rehydrate for about 24 hrs, then open the jar and air out the buds till they get crispy on the outside again, then reseal in the jar. After about 4-7 days in the jar they are near perfect. This needs constant monitoring, dont want the buds getting musty when sealed or drying all the way out when airing before the cure is complete.

[Upstart Rookie]

That is exactly what happens when you let buds dry normally, we're in the same region YBG, and I did just that for years, then I learned from a guy who constantly had buds that were softer, smoked smoother, and had better taste/ultimate potency than mine (same strains), I asked him what he was doing and he told me how the long slow smooth dry moves more chlorophyll/sugars/etc during drying and even starts the cure sooner.
I tried it and my weed became better, lighter colored, and smokes cooler/smoother.
He also suggested making the plants cool for 1 to 2 days before picking them (hot leaves/buds/stems when picked make for hot smoke), and I agree.
Everyone has their ways....