When to harvest cannabis
If you’re new to the world of cannabis cultivation, you are probably eager to taste the fruits of your labor at
harvest time. In this beginner’s guide to harvesting cannabis, you’ll learn the best time to harvest marijuana as
well as the key indicators that tell you when cannabis plants are ready to harvest.
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What is the average time from planting to harvesting cannabis?
From seedling stage to harvest, marijuana plants have a broad range of growth periods. The duration of the
growth cycle may depend on several factors, including growing medium, desired yield, and marijuana strain. This
combination of factors means that you’ll need to wait between six weeks and 16 weeks to harvest most cannabis
plants. On average, you can expect between nine weeks and 12 weeks to elapse from planting to harvesting, but
again, timing is contingent on a number of factors.
Here are three strains known to grow faster than average, in case you want to accelerate your harvest:
- Early Girl. As the name implies, Early Girl is speedy and may be ripe to harvest within seven weeks of planting.
- OG Kush. Known for its earthy, spicy taste and high THC content, OG Kush is a perennial favorite among weed lovers and can be harvested within eight weeks.
- Chocolate Skunk Auto. Like other autoflowering strains such as Northern Lights Automatic and Easy Bud, Chocolate Skunk Auto impresses with its rapid growth and is usually ripe within eight weeks.
How to know when to harvest cannabis
As a grower you’ll know that your cannabis plants are ready to harvest when you observe these visual clues:
Trichome color: The appearance of the trichomes, the small resin glands on flowers, is one of the surest ways to
tell it’s time to harvest. Ideally, half of the trichomes should appear milky white and the others should be a vivid
amber. Clear trichomes, on the other hand, indicate that it’s a good idea to wait a little longer before harvest. Of
all the signs to look for, trichome color is the most reliable. This color change might be hard to see with the naked
eye, so make sure you have a magnifying glass handy.
Leaf color: Another reliable indicator of when a marijuana plant is ready to harvest is the changing shades of the
fan leaves. During the flowering stages, nitrogen gives the leaves their green color. When it’s time to harvest, fan
leaves will turn yellow and start to fall off as nitrogen decreases.
Curling leaves: As the fan leaves turn from green to yellow, they may also curl and dry. The lack of moisture is a
natural occurrence as cannabis plants take in less water when harvest time draws near.
Brown pistils: For photoperiod cannabis plants, the pistils will turn brown at maturity. The optimal time to
harvest is when about half the pistils are shaded brown. Similar to checking trichome colors, you’ll want to have
your magnifying glass handy for this step.
Bud shape: Though not as surefire a way to know when it’s time to harvest as the trichome test, the shape of the
buds can still offer a few hints about the plant’s maturity. Look for firm, tight buds on a marijuana plant as a sign
that it’s ready to harvest.
These visual indicators are all observable with the naked eye and are clear signals that it’s time to harvest.
Likewise, there are other clues that demonstrate when a plant is either too young or past its prime for successful
harvesting.
How can you tell if it’s too late to harvest cannabis?
Check the trichomes again and note the color. If you observe mostly amber trichomes, then the cannabis flowers
are overripe. At this stage of development, the harvested weed will have an unpleasant taste. In addition,
cannabinoids such as THC begin to degrade when amber trichomes overtake the milky white ones. In rare cases,
trichomes can even begin to turn black if growers didn’t harvest their marijuana plants. Besides the amber color,
trichomes can also become noticeably brittle. Trichomes on overripe buds may even crumble in your hands.
Harvesting cannabis past its prime is not recommended but may be preferable to harvesting prematurely. The
terpenes, which are believed to contain healing properties, can become more potent during a late harvest, but at
the expense of scent and flavor.
Next steps after harvesting cannabis
Drying, trimming, and curing are the important next steps after you harvest marijuana plants. Once these steps
are complete, your weed will be ready to enjoy or store for future use. If storing cannabis, be sure to keep it in a
vacuum-sealed container in a cool, dark place for maximum freshness and shelf life.