If you joined us in the spring to learn how to grow your own cannabis at home, you know by now that cultivating beautifully buddy plants is only half the experience.
Fall is known as Croptober among commercial outdoor growers because it’s that special time of year when marijuana is ready for harvest. The same goes for homegrown plants.
Boulder resident Sean Roby has been growing cannabis both commercially and at home for the better part of three decades. While the exact time for harvest varies by strain, he said the magic window for most is early- to mid-October. But there are other telltale signs to look for, such as an amber color in the trichomes, which are typically viewable with some sort of magnifying glass.
“Generally, when you look at the flower you’re going to see that the hairs that were all white have now started turning red or orange or amber,” Roby said. “It’s just really crisp and hard to the touch and pulsing with resin.”
Longmont home grower Ben Owens agrees, saying he looks for a color similar to the amber in “Jurassic Park.” Another way Owens knows his plants are ready for harvest is that the leaves start turning yellow, which signifies the buds’ growth is depleting nutrients from the plants.
The weather where you live may also play into the timeline for harvest. Owens said to get those crops down before the first freeze or risk damaging the buds.
Owens works as a guide for The GrowHort, which teaches people the basics of hobby home growing, and as editor-in-chief of ETHOS Magazine. Roby serves as CEO of Bud & Breakfast, a website where tokers can find 420-friendly lodging across the globe, as well as a consultant to mom-and-pop growers.
Both recently spoke with The Denver Post to share Croptober expertise that will help beginners make the most of harvest season.
What you’ll need
Be warned: Harvesting cannabis is a sticky job. Therefore, you’ll want dedicated tools, clothing and spaces at your home to complete the task.
Essential equipment includes hangers for drying and one or multiple pairs of scissors. Fiskars scissors tend to be a favorite among cannabis enthusiasts, Roby said, while Owens recommends the Chikamasa brand.
Nitrile gloves will help keep your fingers from getting sticky and isopropyl alcohol will be necessary to de-junk the scissors. You may also want to invest in a trimming tray or repurpose a folding table that you can put a tarp under to create your workspace. You’ll also need storage bins or mason jars for the final product.
Owens suggests keeping a hygrometer on hand to track the humidity in your drying area. And for those who have dogs or want to mitigate the weed smell in their homes, a tent with a carbon filter could be beneficial, he said.
Lastly, Roby suggests having comfortable seating, good entertainment and trim-specific garments.
“Anything you use is going to be absolutely coated in resin forever,” Roby said.
Step 1: Chop down your plants
Now that you’re prepared, it’s time to cut down your plants. Both Owens and Roby suggested clipping branches individually – versus cutting down the whole plant at its stalk – to manage the workload and ensure all the marijuana buds ripen.
“You can harvest the top two-thirds of the plant and then leave the rest of the plant for another week or so for those bottom buds to get more sun exposure, harden up and come to full ripening,” Roby said.
Roby said to start by snipping branches from the top of each plant below where two stems meet so there’s a “V” that will hang on each side of a hanger. (You can also use hangers with clips to hang individual branches.)
The buds will dry more uniformly if the branches are similar in size, Owens said.
Step 2: Hang them to dry
As you put your buddy branches on hangers, remove the fan leaves, meaning the big, five- or seven-finger leaves with long stems. One hack Owens suggested is to flip the branches upside and remove leaves where you can see the petiole (the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the stem).
Hang the branches in your designated drying area, which should be a cool and dark space with good ventilation and air circulation. (Consider using fans, Roby said.)
Whether it’s in a guest room or garage, Roby said the optimal drying temperature is 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Ensure the hangers are on a clothesline or rope where they can be spread out. You can also use clothes pins to keep the hangers separated, he added.
Depending on the humidity, Owens and Roby suggested drying the branches between four and 10 days. (If you hang the whole plant the drying process will take longer.) If you can bend the stalk on a hanger and it snaps, that’s your cue it’s dry, they said.
Be careful not to overdry the product, Roby warned.
“Letting it dry too long before getting it into bins and just crisping it out where it’s brittle and falls apart — I think in Colorado that’s the No. 1 mistake people make,” he said.
Step 3: Trim, trim, trim
Once your weed has dried, it’s time to cut the buds off the stalk and start trimming. The goal here is to remove excess leaves or plant matter from the bud, leaving just the smokable flower.
How closely or “aggressively” to trim varies between growers. While most marijuana sold in dispensaries has been trimmed to remove all leaves, Roby and Owens said keeping some leaves, known as sugar leaves, helps save time and preserve the terpenes, aroma and flavor long term.
“Because I also make hash I’m diligent about what I remove,” Owens said. “If you’re not doing that then you can trim as desired.”
Step 4: Store and burp
Once the buds have been trimmed, place them in bins or mason jars to begin the curing process. Because the buds will still be releasing moisture, it’s important to “burp” the containers regularly and circulate fresh air in them.
Owens suggests burping a couple times a day for about a week, or until you can no longer smell moisture.
“Open (your vessel) and let it sit there for a few minutes to allow fresh air to come into the jar and moist air to be released,” he said.
Step 5: Cure
Once the burping period is over, keep your flower in closed containers until you’re ready to smoke it. Both Roby and Ownes suggested having one jar that’s accessible for your near-term consumption needs and letting the other sit for a while in a cool dark place.
How long exactly?
“Your cannabis is ready to smoke two weeks after harvest. But for optimal, I would give it three weeks to a month to really get optimal terp taste and flavor and experience whether it be indica, sativa, or hybrid,” Roby said.
“If I can get it to a six- or eight-week cure, those jars are often the smoothest and most enjoyable,” Owens added.
What to do with the excess trim
Harvesting cannabis, either at home or commercially, creates plenty of excess biomass that can be transformed into other products. That extra trim is great for infusing into butter or oil for use in cooking. Roby has seen chefs infuse it into sauces, too.
Owens, for one, uses his to make bubble hash. If you’re not sure what to do with it, you can freeze it for later use or compost it.
Other considerations
Yeast, mold and mildew can infect cannabis plants even in Colorado’s arid climate. Ingesting moldly weed can cause health problems and is not advised.
However, before you throw out your crop due to an infection, Owens recommends trying to mitigate the problem with spray-on sterilization treatments or by “dunking” plants in a solution to kill whatever has infected them.
These kinds of treatments are controversial in the growing community, but Owens speaks from experience when he says they can save your crop.
“You don’t have to take a ton of effort to grow clean, but if you do have a problem there are options. You don’t have to kill your crop, call it a day and go buy weed,” he said.
