Harvest- How To Test If You Are Ready To Harvest
From my knowledge there are two ways that one can actually test if your bud is ready to be harvested.
The first one involves picking off some bud. You then need to dry it out. There are a few ways you can do this. Some suggest placing the bud on a dish and microwaving it for two minutes or until dry and brittle.
This will give you a harsh tasting and dulled down version of the product but it gives you a good enough idea of what your products state is. It will destroy most of the cannabinoids but, still you can see where the flavor is going as well as a general idea of how strong it is.
The people who do this typically feel the need to get it done instantly. You may also seal it in a closet with a dehumidifier while hanging from coat hangers.
Some even wrap the bud in paper by placing the bud and folding the paper. Lightly press the bud and leave it on a radiator until it’s dry. Essentially you just need to dry the bud so it is ready for use.
The other way is a guaranteed method where you take a 30mm magnifying lens and examine the pistils. More specifically the trichomes and what you are looking for is the ratio of color states, There will be multiple of newly formed trichomes, matured trichomes, and withering trichomes.
It is important to note that even though the trichomes may look unhealthy this is a natural process that the plant will repeatedly go through. You will find pistils and trichomes of all ages growing among each other because the plant will naturally produce new pistils continually until either a change in the photoperiod (the period of the day in which the plant receives light in this case) or the plant dies.
Try to aim for 5% new pistils, 90% mature, and 5% withering. Due to the nature of the cycle the plant will always have some in every stage but it is crucial that a majority of them are mature.
The older ones will turn from white to orange, brown, or red. Once you get this ratio one would notice that the date you harvest will typically line up with the flowering time given by your breeder. But if you forget to ask that or just want to be as precise as can be this method is great for determining when to harvest.