Issue #9 - Sunday, June 17, 2012
Dear Fellow Grower,
For those who celebrate, Happy Father's Day!
We hope you like our improved, cleaner, easier-to-read newsletter format.
We are dedicated to getting this information out to as many people as possible, and want to make the information available the way you want it! Please hit your reply button and send us your feedback (or questions)! We'll read every response, even if it takes a little while.
Here's the full breakdown of what you'll learn in today's issue...
- 3 methods to pick the most potent moment to harvest your weed
- Learn about a cool (legal) way you can get unlimited access to movies and TV shows
- A quick tip on how you can get your sick plants diagnosed by professional growers
- The answer to a question about growing weed with bubbleponics
- And learn about a special deal to get auto-flowering marijuana seeds... that ends tonight at midnight!
We hope you enjoy this issue of Grow Weed Easy!
Happy Growing!
Nebula Haze and Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com)
"Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time."
~Arnold H. Glasgow
How to Harvest Your Weed At Peak Potency
By Nebula Haze
Ok, you spend all this time growing your plants, you don't want to mess up the whole grow by harvesting your plants at the wrong time.
Luckily, it's easy to know when to harvest your marijuana. Today I'll be breaking down several different ways, so you have as much information as you need to make the best decision for your situation.
Before you look at the methods below, it's good for you to know...
Harvesting a marijuana plant on the early side will tend to produce bud which gives you more of a in-your-head experience.
Harvesting a bit later will give your bud more of that stony, relaxed sort of feeling that makes your eyelids feel heavy.
If you harvest your plant past it's peak point of ripeness, than your bud will not be strong and will make you feel extra sleepy.
Thankfully, there is a relatively long window of time where cannabis can be harvested, depending on the strain.
Let's look at the three different methods you have for identifying when to harvest your weed...
1.) Quick and Dirty Method
- Wait until your buds stop growing new, white hairs. By this point your buds should be fragrant (the whole grow room will likely smell like marijuana), plump and 'filled out'
- After new white hairs stop growing, wait until 80%-95% of the remaining white hairs have changed color (darkened) and are curling in.
- Harvest
Ok, that's as quick and dirty as you can get. :)
2.) Visual Cues Method Method: What to look for
As mentioned above, one method to find out if your cannabis is ready for harvest is to look at the little hairs that have been growing out of your bud.
These little hairs are actually the pistols for the bud flowers (marijuana bud is actually just a bunch of little flowers called calyxes all clustered together).
When the hairs first appear, they are all white.
As time goes on, with most cannabis strains the pistols start to turn yellow, red, or brown.
A general rule of thumb is to harvest when about 75% of the hairs have changed color. However, I personally like to wait until the plant has only 0-10% white hairs left. This promotes higher amounts of CBD in your buds, which is good for anxiety and may help prevent short-term memory loss.
In order to have 90% or more of the pistols to change color, I often have to wait until the cannabis has been flowering for 3-4 months before I harvest.
There will be lots of times where it seems like the cannabis buds are getting close to being done, then they will suddenly grow a whole bunch of new white pistols.
It's hard to be patient and wait for the pistols to all turn, but doing so will also result in much bigger yields since the buds have extra time to fatten up.
While I like waiting until all the pistols have turned, many others prefer to harvest sooner than that and they get great results too! You need to figure out what is optimal for you and your body.
Just remember that there is a 2-week range where marijuana can be harvested, so you do have a little wiggle room.
These pictures will guide you to choose the perfect harvest time, so you get the potent buds you want and deserve:
Not Ready for Harvest
(click each picture for closeup and explanation)
Still Not Quite Ready for Harvest
(click each picture for closeup and explanation)
Ready for Harvest
(click each picture for closeup and explanation)
3.) View Trichomes with Magnifier Method
Visual cues are not precise enough for everyone when trying to determine the best harvest time.
If you want to be more precise, you can look at the glandular stalked trichomes on the buds under a magnifying glass.
In Europe these trichomes are called resin glands. These trichromes are the 'crystals' you see accumulating on your bud/leaves.
A bit of random trivia for you: These trichomes are supposed to taste bad to animals and deter them from eating the marijuana plant but many cats love
the taste of these trichomes! You will notice that many cats will try to lick or chew the leaves and buds of your flowering marijuana plant after they get a taste. Therefore if you have cats, make sure you keep them far away from your plants after they've started flowering!
Warning: You need a jewler's loupe or other magnifier to use the method below....
The trichomes look like little mushrooms under a 30x-60x power, illuminated microscope ($10 from amazon.com). You'll also see tiny, clear hair-like trichomes without the mushroom head, these aren't important to potency so just ignore these ones.
Here's a simple picture guide that I made which breaks down
when to harvest your weed based on the color of the trichomes. (some strains have trichomes that turn purple instead of amber)
Click me for "When to Harvest Your Weed" guide
based on the color of trichomes (you need magnifier)
Many of the chemicals we enjoy are produced within these trichomes.
If they are all still translucent (clear) then your plant is not ready for harvest.
The beginning of the harvest window opens when your plant has stopped growing new white "hairs" or pistols (for the most part), and most of the trichomes have turned milky white (when viewed under a magnifier).
They'll all turn milky white over time. Trichomes that are milky will contribute to a 'head high.' With some strains the trichomes will even turn purple!
The end of the harvest window is when all the trichomes have gained a darker color (usually amber/gold). The amber/yellow trichomes contribute to a 'body high'.
When trichomes start looking grey or withered, the harvest window has passed.
Therefore some people who want more of a 'head high' tend to harvest their buds earlier, such as when the trichomes are mostly cloudy.
When growing your own, you could try to sample buds off your plant at different stages to get an idea for what your preferences are.
The hardest part of growing for many new growers is waiting for the right time to harvest.
Luckily, with this article, you are armed with 3 different ways to tell exactly when your plant is ready.
Happy Growing!
About Nebula Haze
In response to the need for more tutorials aimed at new growers, Nebula co-founded GrowWeedEasy.com in 2010 with fellow grower Sirius Fourside.
Since then, Nebula has published dozens of growing articles in print and online, and continues to dedicate herself to serving the medical marijuana growing community.
"My mission is to show other medical marijuana patients how easy it can be to grow pounds of killer weed out of your closet."
Join Nebula Haze on Twitter Join GrowWeedEasy.com on Facebook
Check It Out!
Do you ever feel... bored?
Warning! Do not sign up for a television service for your PC until you have read this.
I am constantly searching for new (cheap) ways to entertain myself.
I've been searching for a way to get unlimited access to movies and shows, but all the programs I've tried are never end up being as good as they claim to be.
Until today...
On the recommendation of a friend, I tried out this service which gives you unlimited access to over 3,500 channels - including movie channels and the best sports stations.
Unlike the services I've tried in the past, with Satellite Direct I haven't had to worry about bandwidth signals, poor picture or poor sound quality. It's like getting the best of cable and satellite television, only waaaaay cheaper.
I've been using the hell out of my account, and I thought all my fellow growers would want to check it out too...
Quick Tip
Plant leaves look sick?
Hey, it happens to every grower.
Nebula,
I just stumbled across your site, and it is a breath of fresh air for me. I think I've been on or signed up for almost every cannabis site on the internet (sure seems like it, anyway). It has been a period of great frustration. There is so, so, so much conflicting information out there!
Then I head to the local hydro and garden centers and get even more confused.
My last grow was a disaster and none of the other sites/forums etc. could give me an explanation. In less than an hour on your site I was able to at least figure out a likely theory for my failed grow ( too hot in room, water temp in mid 80's for long periods).
Your site is now my primary resource! It is simple to understand and very concise.
Thanks!
Questions: Based on the schematics that you have showing the basic set-up for a bubbleponics marijuana grow system, I was wondering how the plants are kept stable? Especially after they start to attain some substantial size. The method seems intriguing, and I am definitely interested in pursuing that practice.
Answer: The plants are held in place by the net pots, which are attached to the cover/lid of the system. When you open the cover, the plants are attached, so you can pull out the whole plant, roots and all, when you're adding water to the reservoir.
This is the lid of the system with net pots
Nirvana Seeds Weekend Whopper
ENDS MIDNIGHT TONIGHT (JUNE 17, 2012)
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Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Financial, Legal, or any other kind of Advice. The contributors to this magazine grow legally under their local laws. If you cannot legally grow where you live, we DO NOT recommend that you start growing marijuana, as you can be arrested, put in prison, or worse!
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