cut the branches individually or the whole plant at once?

[pur3styledj82]

i have noticed that the whole plant does not ripen all at the same time. Which sparks my question? Will the final taste of the bud matter if i cut and hang each branch individually when they are done, or is it better to just find that sweet moment and cut and hang tht plant all at once. I have been doing each branch at a time, usually like 5,6 branches at a time. Any thoughts would be cool.

 

[DND]

Some cut the ripe top branches down and trim them first while letting the lower branches continue to grow/mature. If you are patient enough, go ahead and harvest in stages like you are doing. Otherwise you can harvest all at once, just make sure that your trichs are matured to the high you prefer. Also on the taste, the bud is going to taste like its genetics make it taste. To make it taste it's best depends on a proper flush, dry and cure. Those are the things you can control anyway! Hope this helps.

Clearish=heady
50% cloudy/clear=heady/body
Amber=heavy body stone

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

The plant dries a bit slower when it's picked whole, which is exactly what you want for best quality. What really makes a difference is leaving all the sunleaves on until dry. Allowing all the sap in the sunleaves to travel to the buds while drying improves finished taste, smell, storage ability and maybe even final weight. Too many people chop sunleaves at or before harvest. All someone has to do is try leaving the leaves on once, and they never go back to their old method.

 

[jglass]

^^ what he said! i leave everything on till its all dry.... ive done it both ways and prefer the finished product that the leaves were left on. he's right, it definitely affects the taste imo.
:dance

 

[Green Supreme]

I say cutting the whole plant and hanging it tastes better, but don't take my word for it. Do one each way and see what ya like for yourself. Good luck. Peace GS

 

[420Gator]

yep dry the whole plant and the quality is great. i cut a couple trees for myself this way when i harvest

 

[Seamaiden]

You can do that, but if the lower branches aren't ready yet, then stagger your harvest (that's the term everyone I know uses--staggered harvest). Take what's ripe, dry that, leave the rest til it's ready.

Oh CRAP! I forgot I've got a branch that didn't come with the tree that's still growing down in the planter. Shit.. wonder what it looks like right now.

 

[altitudefarmer]

LOL, Seamaiden. Only users lose drugs...or misplace them anyhow... :)

 

[hugonaut]

I personally grow greenhouse with natural light so plants are complete top to bottom, but indoors by cutting top colas and exposing lower buds to light to let them mature more fully would work for small grows where your not worried about losing cycles. This is generally why I personally cull most bottom buds indoors and let that weight redistribute to the tops so entire plant is done. No matter if just taking tops or whole plants, I found that not watering for a couple days before to some moisture improves curing process as really wet buds sweat heavy when drying losing aroma and darker green appearance. a quick way to tell if plant is to wet to harvest is snip a small stem, if water is beading out of it its to wet. I like it to appear a little hollow in stem. Last I always cut them down prior to sunrise or lights come on as when they do the plant will want to start soaking up water from medium

 

[deadcat]

I pick them as they go but watch out for stressing the plant to Hermie. What I've done w/Fluoro since only the top half get fully done if your plant is 4 ft or so, is cut the top finished half down, then move the lights down to finish the rest. Got an Oz and a 1/2 doing this w/fluoro.

 

[launchpad]

part or whole?

Well, both methods work thats obvious. I have found the situation seems to demand the best practice. Last harvest I took the entire plant and that was a typical practice in the past. After reading info on this forum and trial/error I decided to approach the harvest as needed. In other words, I evaluatated the maturity and bloom around the plants. When the buds reached appropriate doneness, I harvested the majority of the branch, while leaving lower flowers to further mature.

This branch by branch method seems to be more productive and I am getting all the buds in perfect bloom. The lower buds are having a chance at more direct light and the mature top buds are able to cure.

Also the harvest process is easier, yes patience are needed to proceed in this method.

I could see the need with the proper sized plant to harvest the entire plant in one harvest. As I said, the situation may determine the method.