harvesting early

[growing up]

Hi All
I am on only on my third grow. I have a combo of blue dragon and some purple. I am on week 8 1/2 of flowering and the purple is starting to turn purple and the dragon seems to be coming along just fine. I would normally harvest in about a week or so but I have to go out of town for 10 days. That means that I have to harvest 5-7 days early and leave it hanging for a week and a half. Any suggestions on how I can trim and store the crop so it won't dry out too much, or develop mold before I get back home?

 

[Fattie]

Make sure that the RH in the drying room is relatively high. Not sure on the exact numbers a week and a half is a really long time to leave them hanging.

Even doing this, I'm pretty sure your going to return to a closet full of hay.

If you can, you should just wait longer to take them down as long as all the trichomes aren't amber already.

 

[jm420]

i'd wait if you can .but 10 days hanging is to long IMO

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Early harvest and 10 day dry ain't an option I'd consider. I'd put the pots in pans, bowls, containers etc and add enough water to make it 10 days but no more than that. In my experience, harvest ready plants take twice as long to absorb the same amount of water as pre-harvest plants.

 

[John Deere]

If you have to chop early I'd bag them up and put them in the fridge or freezer and then take them out and dry them when you get back. I've never done it but I'd think it'd work.

But I'd also recommend not chopping early if at all possible.

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

I would leave them be until you get back. Water them well before you leave and they should be starting to dry on the vine when you got back.

 

[Headbandf1]

^^^^^^^^^^^^Best advice^^^^^^^^^^

 

[growing up]

Thanks for the advice everybody. I guess that I should say that I'm sure that a lot of the trichomes are not amber yet. I more than likely leaning more towards just leaving them in until I get back. I should also mention that I do have a trusted friend (the one who got me into the biz) that would be able to water while I'm gone if need be. I'm just flushing with regular water anyway.

Any advice on maybe shortening the light cycle to slow any more maturity? Possibly 6-8 hrs. on and 16-18 off?

 

[self]

keep it simple, just water heavy and leave a reservoir in your drip tray like peeps said and you'll be fine. you'll probably end up with even better bud then you would otherwise. well flushed and starting to dry for you when you get back. no worries.

not many people are worried about slowing down their flowering! LOL

 

[ItGrows]

If you have a trusted friend... then let him do it if he will. I dont really trust anybody that much. I would put them in a shallow bowl of water, and hope they are dry and ready for jars when I get home.

 

[John Deere]

I would leave them be until you get back. Water them well before you leave and they should be starting to dry on the vine when you got back.

Excellent advice. I've read that some growers always harvest this way.

And if you've got a trusted friend that can tend them while you're away I'd say you're pretty well covered however you decide to go.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Thanks for the advice everybody. I guess that I should say that I'm sure that a lot of the trichomes are not amber yet. I more than likely leaning more towards just leaving them in until I get back. I should also mention that I do have a trusted friend (the one who got me into the biz) that would be able to water while I'm gone if need be. I'm just flushing with regular water anyway.

Any advice on maybe shortening the light cycle to slow any more maturity? Possibly 6-8 hrs. on and 16-18 off?

That won't slow maturity as much as it may reduce yield. But since you're near chop I wouldn't worry about that part.

You could also reduce lumens if you have alternative lighting. Plants under the same time schedule won't transpire as fast.

 

[growing up]

It's not so much that I'm worried about slowing down flowering by cutting the light time down. I was thinking that if the buds are matured then the excess light might "burn" out the trichomes. But it seems that I should just keep the light regiment the same and just keep 'em going until I get back. Thanks again everybody! This is a great site!

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

If you have a programmable timer, you could specify days 'on' and for how long, respectively.

 

[JTqwerty]

Your plant can easily hang for 10 days without being too dry when you return.

Just returned from my 14 days long holiday in Thailand. Harvested before i left, and they are perfect for putting in jars.

I just cut the plant, and hang it, without trimming Any leaves, even the fan leaves.
This will make sure of a nice slow drying process.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Fan leaves will indeed slow the drying process. But ~12% relative humidity might turn 14 days into dust. It pays to know one's respective conditions before applying what might be extreme measures.

Not to mention the op would have to harvest a week to ten days early to do this.

 

[stihgnobevoli]

just leave them in the pots while you're out of town. you were gonna cut em down when you come back home anyway right? water well, leave town, come back cut down wilting half dry plants, finish drying, jar, the end.

 

[bobman]

Each strain and pheno is different but in my experience a week early has a much worse effect than a week later. Once a plant is mature I have not noticed any difference in high if I let it go longer. There is a harvest window and you are inside that window.

On a side note leaving leaves on and dropping temps during the dry will slow down the drying a lot. 10 days no problem.

 

[silver hawaiian]

Early harvest and 10 day dry ain't an option I'd consider. I'd put the pots in pans, bowls, containers etc and add enough water to make it 10 days but no more than that. In my experience, harvest ready plants take twice as long to absorb the same amount of water as pre-harvest plants.

Good to know! Now I know why my damn-near-done Dragon hasn't been so thirsty lately.

 

[Ca$h]

You could just water your plants good before you leave and by the time you get home they'll have started drying probably.

That makes the most sense to me.