End of Run - Harvest

[IronFerro]

Hi All,

I have a quick question about the end of a run or procedure before harvest.

What I'm currently doing is feeding up to 8/9 weeks depending on strain. Thereafter its just GHE Ripen for 7-10 days. then I flush with pure pH'd water (5.8-6.0 pH) for 2-3 days. thereafter i leave them to dry up in the pot a bit for another 2-3 days before they're slaughtered.

Someone told me that one should give more light for the last couple of days so was just checking up.

I'm currently growing indica strains mostly, is there a specific way to harvest??

Thanks again!!

 

[ogkush420]

Just chop em, after your flush, and hang whole plants upside down for a week or so. Then throw in jars. Bomby! Trim off as much as you can to speed up the process, or you can just trim off the big fan leaves and dry em mang.

 

[ThcInfused]

IMHO 3 days would be near pointless as far as flushing goes.. i dont know why a 'ripen' fertilizer is need either.. IME flush for 2 weeks for best results.. best of luck with that

as for your harvest question.. indicas are more prone to mold when drying, depending on your climate and dryroom situation of course.. i would recommend taking the branches from where they meet the main stem and hanging them vertically from that point, as whole plants invite budrot and PM mold

 

[b8man]

I wouldn't give them extra light at the end. All I can see it doing is stressing the plant more and drying out the ends of the buds - not something you really want to do (makes it crispy).

Personally, I cut up indica colas and put them onto wire racks for drying. Don't forget to carefully check for budrot and remove anything that looks suspect (the smell is the real giveaway).

 

[whadeezlrg]

IMHO 3 days would be near pointless as far as flushing goes.. i dont know why a 'ripen' fertilizer is need either.. IME flush for 2 weeks for best results.. best of luck with that

as for your harvest question.. indicas are more prone to mold when drying, depending on your climate and dryroom situation of course.. i would recommend taking the branches from where they meet the main stem and hanging them vertically from that point, as whole plants invite budrot and PM mold

i second everthing said here. minimum of 10 days flushing hard(at least 3 gallons of water into a 3 gallon pot daily) jar it up when the stem that connects the buds to the stem snaps & is still just moist enough to peel some of the outer skin off of the stem, wait a day before opening the jars and leave em open until the top layer of the jar gets crispy on the outside

 

[Scrappy-doo]

Good advice here. Just flush and nothing but water for the last 2 weeks.

 

[CheifnBud2]

I never saw a point in "flushing" with so much water.

I give a 3 gal pot 1/2 gallon and get runoff and im done. 3 gallons and your flooding the thing.

2 weeks of watering RO water, medium runoff waterings and the buds come out tasty and smooth with a white ash left over.

 

[highonmt]

2 weeks of watering as usual with ro. Try putting ice on the surface of the pots for the last three days of the flush period. Really bulks em up and builds potency and flavor. I like to leave them in the dark for a few days with the ice on em to really panic them into protecting themselves before chopping. Also I run night temps lower than 50 and days at 80f during the entire two week flush to fool them into senescence and chlorophyll catabolism, then iced roots really spur them into finishing. The colors, smoothness and taste using this method are unbeatable IMO of course. Here is a trim table pic notice the absence of green in the picture.

 

[whadeezlrg]

I never saw a point in "flushing" with so much water.

I give a 3 gal pot 1/2 gallon and get runoff and im done. 3 gallons and your flooding the thing.

2 weeks of watering RO water, medium runoff waterings and the buds come out tasty and smooth with a white ash left over.

my basic rule of thumb is to run water through the pots until run-off is coming out nice and clear(i mentioned volume of water = volume of medium merely as a general guideline), the next night it will usually take a little less water and so on. I'm sure your buds taste and burn awesome. my reason for doing things the way I do em is have you ever heard anyone say " man, this herb is waayy overflushed!" ? probably not, and i've had plenty of shit come my way that looks great smells great and then bam! tastes like straight harsh nastiness...so when advising someone without a whole lot of experience in the matter I feel like its a safer bet to recommend overflushing rather than flushing just enough. my herb tasted good enough to win a cup fwiw.

 

[IronFerro]

Thanks guys!

really appreciate all the input! I think I wasn't flushing long enough... was only going for about 3 days flushing with RO pH'd water. buds weren't tasting as good as other growers i know and my leaves weren't changing colour! Do the leaves usually change colour at the end of a cycle???

Thank you all again!

 

[whadeezlrg]

yeah your leaves should start fading yellow or into "fall colors" there is usually a point where the plants stop drinking as much (usually around 7-8weeks in 12/12 most of the time it coincides with the first pistils starting to turn red) I usually start flushing when i see this start to happen because the growth rates start to slow down and the plants aren't going to process as much of the nutrients that get left behind. I try to get em to get hungry right before they stop growing/start ripening

 

[whatsupdoc]

Try putting ice on the surface of the pots for the last three days of the flush period. Really bulks em up and builds potency and flavor.

Hmmm. That's damn interesting. Might have to give it a try.

 

[NE_GROWER_978]

make sure you save that trim to make Bubble Hash, BHO, or some edibles .

 

[highonmt]

Hmmm. That's damn interesting. Might have to give it a try.

Whats really damn interesting is the triggers of senescence in cannabis and the resulting processes that result. It is know that environmental stresses such as lack of nutrients [ie flushing] , cold temperatures, darkness, etc can trigger rapid onset of senescence in annual plants. The hormones ethylene, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid are implicated as well as gene regulation.

The bottom line is that cold temps, and lack of nutrients would logically slow down growth but in fact the exact opposite is true and the plant metabolism is actually accelerated by triggering senescence. chlorophyll degrades and all the plants energy is focused on it's reproductive organs to give it's seed there best chance of finishing in time. In our case we are smokin those reproductive organs,[gets ya thinking don't it] so focusing energy on em is just what we are looking for.

Give cold and dark conditioning a whirl it is really easy and the results will not disappoint.