The harvest window is the period during which a crop is ready to cut. For cannabis it opens once most trichome heads have turned cloudy and bracts have swollen, and closes as heads go increasingly amber and the plant starts to decline. On many cultivars that window lasts about one to two weeks; breeder flowering times are only a starting estimate.
In practice
GenetixBay's guidance (Grower practice, house position): harvest timing is a matter of preference. Aim for a nice mix: a few clear heads, mostly cloudy, some amber. Check heads on bracts, not sugar leaves, and sample several buds, top and lower, over several days.
Other signs that support the call:
- bracts visibly swollen and tight;
- most stigmas darkened and receded;
- new pistil production slowed;
- natural fade in fan leaves.
Large plants often ripen top-down. Some growers take the top colas first and give lower buds a few extra days.
Don't change the feed or lights to "finish" the plant. Keep feeding (taper nitrogen) and keep the lights on until you chop.
Don't confuse with
- Flowering time: a breeder estimate in weeks; the window is what the plant shows.
- Trichome ripeness: the main indicator of the window, not the window itself.
- Chop: the act of cutting.
Myth check
Darkness before harvest and pre-harvest flushing do not improve the crop (Myth). See the flush debate and Mythbusters.
Trichome heads are the bulbous resin-filled tops of capitate glandular trichomes, where cannabis makes and stores nearly all its cannabinoids and terpenes; they are the raw material of hash.In cannabis, the small leaf-like sheath (perigonal bract) that wraps each female flower's ovary and carries the densest capitate-stalked trichomes.A small leaf growing from within the flower cluster, often coated in trichomes, which is trimmed off and commonly kept for processing.The female reproductive organ of a flower (ovary, style and stigmas); in cannabis growers loosely call the visible white stigmas "pistils".The dense, elongated cluster of flowers that forms at the end of a stem or branch; the main cola tops the leader.Gradually cutting nitrogen in late flower, toward zero near the finish, while still feeding phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur and micronutrients; GenetixBay's alternative to flushing.The maturity of glandular trichome heads, read by colour under magnification: clear (immature), cloudy or milky (mature), then amber (ageing).The practice of keeping plants in total darkness for 24-72 hours before cutting to boost resin; GenetixBay rates it a Myth and runs a standing challenge against it.A small handheld magnifier, typically 30-60x for cannabis use, used to inspect trichome heads and spot pests and male flowers.Chop is grower slang for harvesting, cutting down plants at the end of flower; "chop day" is harvest day.The reproductive phase of the cannabis life cycle, from the switch to flowering until harvest, during which the plant stretches, builds buds and ripens resin.
