How to Harvest Weed: Prep, Timing and Where to Make the Cut

To harvest weed, check the plants for pests and mold, strip the big fan leaves, flush with plain water for about two weeks, and cut once most trichomes have turned milky with a few amber, either branch by branch from the top down or the whole plant at the base. Harvesting cannabis at home takes patience and care, but it's a labor of love that pays off in quality weed.

Harvesting weed isn't as complicated as it looks, but timing is definitely everything. It's one of the most exciting and important steps in the whole grow, and there are a few things to take care of before you get there.

First, check your plants for anything that shouldn't be there. From pests to mold and everything in between, look your plants over carefully and toss any damaged parts.

Next, cut off the oversized fan leaves, since they carry way fewer trichomes than the buds and small sugar leaves, which makes them less potent. That said, you can still use them for edibles or some other kind of extract. 

Another key step is the root flush. Do it two weeks before harvest; it's dead simple. Just cut off all nutrients and fertilizers and water with plain water only. Be careful not to overwater.

Once the flush is done, it's harvest time. The exact timing will depend on where you are, the time of year and the kind of plants you're growing, but there are a few key signs that tell you when it's time to chop. 

If you're growing a specific strain, check the flowering time listed by the seed bank or on the pack, since it varies quite a bit from strain to strain. Indica-dominant strains tend to finish flowering in seven or eight weeks, while sativa-dominant strains can take much longer, even 24 weeks or more.

The buds will tell you when they're ready to cut. The trichomes should be a bright, milky white, with some turning amber.

On top of that, keep an eye on how big and heavy the branches are getting. As the buds keep filling out, the branches get heavier and droop lower.

Once you've checked the plant and confirmed it's ready, it's time to cut. It's crucial that every tool you use at harvest is clean and disinfected.

Should you harvest the whole plant or branch by branch?

When it comes to harvesting cannabis, you can do it in sections instead of cutting down the whole plant at once. The buds on the top branches usually ripen faster. Harvesting in stages takes a bit more time, but it makes the whole process run a lot smoother. The idea is to take the top branches first so the lower branches and buds can keep developing if they haven't hit their full potential yet. The downside of this method is that the cut branches can dry out too fast.

Other growers prefer to harvest the whole plant in one go, cutting at the base of the main stem. That makes trimming the buds a little trickier, because the leaves curl up as the plant dries. On the other hand, drying is more even, since the whole plant loses moisture uniformly at the same pace. If you go this route, hang the whole plant upside down for a successful dry. 

Harvesting cannabis at home takes a lot of attention, care and patience, but with the right tools, tips and tricks, you'll have it dialed in in no time.

How many times can you harvest a weed plant?

A cannabis plant is usually harvested once in its life cycle. Harvest happens at the end of flowering, when the buds have matured and are ready to pick. Along the way, the plant goes through several growth stages, including germination, the vegetative stage and the flowering stage.

During flowering, the plant develops the buds, which are made up of the cannabis flowers. Once the buds are mature and the trichomes have hit their peak, you harvest. After harvest, the buds are dried and cured before you consume them. Worth mentioning: in some cases, growers do selective pruning or partial harvests to push new bud growth on the same plant. That's not really a full harvest, though, more of a crop management strategy. Generally speaking, weed is harvested once, at the end of flowering.

When is outdoor harvest season? (Argentina and the Northern Hemisphere)

In Argentina, outdoor cannabis is usually harvested in the fall, roughly March through May in the Southern Hemisphere (in the Northern Hemisphere, that's about September through November), when the plants have matured and the buds are ready to pick.

The right moment to harvest comes down to looking at the buds and judging how mature the trichomes are; those are the tiny resin glands that cover cannabis flowers. When the trichomes go cloudy or milky white, the buds are at peak ripeness and ready to harvest.

It helps to keep the terms "bud" and "flower" straight: the bud is the compact cluster that holds the cannabis flowers, while the flowers are the individual structures that develop on the plant. After harvest, the flowers need to be dried properly to preserve their quality and potency.

You do that by hanging the buds upside down in a dark, cool, well-ventilated space for about two weeks. That lets the flowers dry gradually and keeps mold from forming. In short, in Argentina weed gets harvested in the fall, once the buds have matured and the trichomes are at their peak, and then the flowers are dried properly so they keep.

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