So how do you know when it's time to harvest? The telltale sign of harvest-ready weed is when the hairs of the plant, or pistils, have fully darkened and curled in. If your buds are looking thick and dense, but there are still some straight white pistils, it's not time yet.
Beware of overripe cannabis buds
Plants given a little too much bloom time may have a general appearance of overripeness. Trichomes may be all amber, the terpene profile may be past it's best (possibly with a light aroma of fermentation) and the buds/leaves may take on a browner, less inviting, appearance.
Most of the ripe trichomes turn completely yellow while some of them could still be milky with a slight golden hue. You need to wait until 70% of trichomes have turned amber to get higher concentration of CBD and THC. This is the moment when most of the growers harvest their plant.
The best way to check the trichomes on your buds is to use a magnifying glass or a specially designed-trichome viewer. If you see that the trichomes are mostly clear, the plant is not mature enough to harvest. If you see that the trichomes are milky white, the plant is ready to be harvested.
At the absolute minimum, you should wait until 50% of the trichomes are cloudy and 50% of the hairs have changed color. Again — do not harvest if fewer than 50% of the trichomes have turned milky. And do not harvest if fewer than 50% of the pistils have turned brown/orange.
Check out the different colours of pistil hairs below, and what each of them signifies: White: White stigmas indicate that the pistillate flowers are in a state of immaturity and feature a low cannabinoid and terpene content. The grower shouldn't harvest their buds at this time.
Never harvest your buds when most of the pistils are still white. This indicates your plants should be left to mature for a little longer. To ensure optimal THC levels, you should wait until at least 60-70 percent of your pistils have turned an amber color before you begin harvesting.
Bud structure
High quality, developed flower from a healthy plant has a sturdy, fully three-dimensional structure. The buds should be solid, with no gaps that you can look through. It's properly cured: not too soft, but not so dry that it grinds down to dust. Flower with poor structure will appear flimsy and flat.
Once the buds (the flower) are fat and sticky with THC-rich trichomes, they are ready to be harvested.
When should you trim cannabis buds? Ideally, you should start trimming days before you begin the harvest process. At this stage, growers usually start removing fan leaves when senescence, or when larger fan leaves start wilting, begins.
Clear trichomes indicate underdeveloped buds, whereas amber trichomes indicate overdeveloped flowers rich in CBN. Milky-white trichomes are the sweet spot, signalling buds full of THC. So if more than 15% of trichomes are amber, then your buds are becoming overripe.
Healthy trichomes are glittering, sparkly, tall and thin resinous glands separated by small spaces. They contain minute hairs that look transparent or milky white with mushroom-like tips.
Your plant should have clear trichomes with a few that have turned milky. This signals it is ready to be flushed. When growing in soil, you'll generally want to flush 1-2 weeks before harvest.
Lack of light is perhaps the most common reason that cannabis produces fluffy, light buds. You may have noticed the lower, puny 'popcorn' bud sites that form below the main canopy. Often these buds are discarded by growers allowing the plant to focus biochemical energy on the main blooms.
A bud hardener is an additive you can use at the end of the flower cycle to tighten up your flowers and pack on weight. They are typically used in the final 3 weeks or so of the grow cycle and contain a mix of macronutrients, micronutrients, minerals, essential oils, etc.
Bud rot, or botrytis, is a common fungus many cannabis growers face at some point, especially those who are unfamiliar with controlling humidity and air circulation. The fungus causes poor water and nutrient delivery to plant leaves and flowers, resulting in death.
If you over-dry your cannabis, it'll be more likely to go moldy, so it's important to monitor the drying process closely. If your buds are too dry, they'll be more likely to crumble when you try to break them up for smoking, so it's important to take them out of the drying chamber before they become too dry.
Higher THC
The reason why weed is sticky is the overabundance of trichomes, which also makes the product more potent. Trichomes are tiny hair-like appendages that collect THC on their tips. Trichomes are present on all marijuana plants, but sticky plants have the most and therefore generate the most THC on their tips.
In general, your bud is ready to start the curing process when the stem at the base of the bud easily snaps when bent, and the bud feels dry yet spongy. Here are some of the basics when it comes to how to cure weed. Glass is the ideal container when curing cannabis, as it will leave no aroma on your flower.
Feel: When flower is of a lower quality, it will often be dry or brittle to the touch. Dry bud will feel light and airy with no weight behind it, unlike dense, sticky flower. Additionally, bad weed will easily crumble when handled, or might even be falling apart.
Look For Crystals
Great weed will have crystals. When your bud is frosty with teenie white little prongs and shimmering crystals, you know it's good quality. These are the most common indicators of good weed. That's because the more crystals you see, the higher the THC content.
Are Small Buds more Potent? Small buds are generally the same potency as large nugs of the same strain. Small nugs come from the same plants as large nugs, they're simply pieces of flower that tended to get less light and thus didn't grow as large.
For most cannabis harvests, growers look for a certain ratio of cloudy trichomes to amber trichomes. Many expert growers believe that the best time to harvest a plant is when the trichomes are 70 percent cloudy and 30 percent amber.
To answer your question—yes, you can cut the mature buds from the top of the plant and clear the branches and leaves to allow better light penetration to the lower portion of the plant. And the lower buds will continue to grow and ripen and can be harvested a week or two later.