Killing plant at harvest via allowing it to completely dry out

I harvested the tops on a couple of autos, it was a seed run so that was the priority over the smoke and I let it get good and mature even after noticing some mold forming. One of the flower spikes was dry and brown. I took the seeds out and smoked it and got absolutely blasted and it tasted like it was hash. It was pretty great.

Anyway after taking the tops I let the bottom start to finish up for a couple more more weeks and then put the plants up in the attic to dry till death before harvest in an experiment to get the rest of the plant to resemble that first flower that I'd smoked. Although the pots were pretty dry when putting them up there they continued to live for about a week and only now appear to be dying from lack of water.

I haven't tried smoking it yet so don't know if it'll be like that first sample but was wondering if anyone else has done this before? I'm guessing dry down will be almost instant when I harvest. Can probably put immediately into jars and skip hanging altogether. Will find out soon.

When you harvest actively growing plants, they produce the injury signal. The injury signal is synonymous with the replacement of fatty acid derivatives that potheads desire with fatty acid derivatives that predator insects desire. The plant thinks it's being attacked by pests. This is why many people get the lawnmower deck smell before it switches back to dank smells.

In other words, letting the plant begin its cure without going through injury is the right way to do it. There is so much misunderstanding of this plant. I shake my head every time someone states the "hay smell of chlorophyll is overpowering the skunk smell of weed" . That makes no sense, at all. These people have never smelled hay or a skunk, or chlorophyll, obviously.

It's the same reason wet trimming is the worst thing you can do. The less injury you cause to a living plant the better.

But what do I know, I'm one of those weirdos who hates what the internet egos are doing to Cannabis, and leaves his roots connected after harvest, not because some internet narc site told me to but because it makes sense in the real world.

I have done this and yes it works great. Not gonna say better than chopping the plant but it might be.

Funny, this is something you dont hear about often. I do it regularly. Let them dry and die while they stand. Great results, saves time. It's a no-brainer for me.

Most people, when re-inventing the wheel, make them square...

Huh, I have had this happen a couple of times with near opposite results. I found that it totally killed the flavor and frost of the bud. I imagine it depends where you keep it though, cus mine was still in flower room...

The less injury you cause to a living plant the better.

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Does this work with any other fruit or vegetable? Does 'killing' lettuce make it taste bad? I suppose you could eat it off the ground like a rabbit. A chopped up tomato or apple tastes as good as a whole one. Isn't death by thirst an injury too? There's a big difference between a disease, for instance mites, that cover a healthy vegetative plant and suck it's juice over months and cutting a plant and hanging it.

The idea of 'slow killing' a plant isn't a new one. The idea of girdling a plant, cutting off it's supply of water and food from the roots by scarring the stem. This is the same as depriving a plant of water, which is the same as depriving a plant of it's roots by harvesting. I've had plants girdled by boytritis. It caused the plant to mature much faster but didn't improve the quality. I can see how it could be useful in certain situations.

The biggest problem with murdering your plants by thirst is the sun. It's going to do a lot of damage to the flowers, to the cannabinoids as the plant dies. An indoor grower can avoid this by putting the plant in a dark room to starve and it's been tried. Some growers like giving a plant 24 or 48 hours of darkness, without water or whatever. Hell, build your own plant torture chamber, whatever gets you off.

If you're harvesting your plants at the right time, when it's entered senescence and peak potency, there's no need for all this shit. When a plant naturally reaches the end of it's life it's ready. Growers try all sorts of tricks but there's a reason people do things the way they do. The less the terpenes and cannabinoids degrade the better.

Harvesting your plant at the right time then hanging it in a dark room at a cool dry temperature for a couple weeks is the best thing you can do for your ganja. I've smoked ganja that's been cured and fucked with all sorts of different ways, dried killed and whatever, and some of it was okay. Some of it got me baked. None of it was as good as the stuff that was treated right.

You can always run a test experiment. Two identical clones, one harvested and one left to dry and wither. I've done this myself by accident, harvested most of a plant, then forgotten about he last part and found the dried out lower half a month later. The dried out part was harsh and the cannabinoids had degenerated a bit but it still got me baked. The stuff I'd hung in the dark, cured properly, and kept in a jar was much better.

MindEater said:

When you harvest actively growing plants, they produce the injury signal. The injury signal is synonymous with the replacement of fatty acid derivatives that potheads desire with fatty acid derivatives that predator insects desire. The plant thinks it's being attacked by pests. This is why many people get the lawnmower deck smell before it switches back to dank smells.

In other words, letting the plant begin its cure without going through injury is the right way to do it. There is so much misunderstanding of this plant. I shake my head every time someone states the "hay smell of chlorophyll is overpowering the skunk smell of weed" . That makes no sense, at all. These people have never smelled hay or a skunk, or chlorophyll, obviously.

It's the same reason wet trimming is the worst thing you can do. The less injury you cause to a living plant the better.

But what do I know, I'm one of those weirdos who hates what the internet egos are doing to Cannabis, and leaves his roots connected after harvest, not because some internet narc site told me to but because it makes sense in the real world.

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So how do your weed end up tasting/smelling? I could swore during my last grow....that before cutting the plant...it smelled great. Immediately after I cut the plant...it got this bad scent to it. Not good I was guessing.

Let em hang whole like your nutz

Sunshineinabag said:

Let em hang whole like your nutz

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Do ya wrap 'em in a bag?

tried it

tried it

Ive tried letting the plants die and dry in the pots a few times, both in the dark and in the flower room. First thing I noticed is most plants throw a few more white pistils, seems especially the ones in the dark for a week. It seems like a stress response, where as the ones I would leave in the flower room just kinda hang out, maybe a few new pistils but not as many. I also tend to get a few bananas on certain strains. Main reason I probably wont do it anymore is I noticed some parts of the bud will start to die sooner then others, and they are a prime site for botrytis to start forming. I noticed the same with plants that I intentionally pollinate... after the seeds mature the calyx starts to die and is the first place I find botrytis. Its worth an experiment with certain strains, and I think a few days in the dark isnt a bad thing, but I when I pushed it over a week I had problems.

Sunshineinabag said:

Let em hang whole like your nutz

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I musta been stoned to the bone stallone my bad

There is a plant from Reunion that is named after the practice.

Le sec au pied (dried while standing)

This is a very different Sativa lineage of the Zamal, whose alleged origin would be Afghanistan or North Africa. Very resinous, this weed induces intense effects, mainly because it’s generally harvested after drying it (hence the name).