When to pull? What are the myths and facts

sammysamsam

Well-Known Member
Coming close to my first pull and I have been talking to various people who say different things- for example "make sure you pull her up on a hot day around midday for stronger weed" and "make sure you cut all the leaves off prior to pull" then other old mate says don't do that, keep the soil from the plant and them being told nah start fresh etc I'm getting told so many things it's overwhelming to be honest, but I trust this place I've had good reliable info so far so please experienced growers help me out here is there all these tricks I should be doing or just pull her up?

Ps. She's not ready yet but I like to research ahead of time to be prepared 🙏
 
Sometimes there is something to some of that. Mostly it is what we refer to as "bro science". As in "BRO! my friends cousins uncle told me how to di it right." lol The most important part is deciding when to cut. Early harvest effect the head and late harvest effect the body. Anywhere from 20% to 80% amber trichomes. If you don't have magnification you can read pistols but that is more of an art than a science. Harder to explain in text.

End of the day is when the minerals are the lowest but you will never notice the difference. Whenever you have time, and the plant is ready is best time.

The hot weather evaporated more terpenes so you notice the smell more. No effect on the bud other than a few lost terpene to the air.

Cutting off leaves prior will make it dry a bit quicker, less chlorophyll to cure out and make trimming a lot easier. Leaving them on to drain into buds is the same as waiting a few more hours to harvest. Yes remove fan leaves.

Keep the soil, as in dry with roots on? No.. just no... Not even going into all the reasons this is a bad idea.

1. Trim the fan leaves.
2. cut the plant at the base and hang upside down.
3. Keep it out of the light around 65 to 70RH and 65 to 80F
4. After a week or two when you pull a bud towards the trunk base it pops off with a snap you are dry and ready for cure.
5. Separate buds into 2/3 full mason jars.
6, Open the lids for 15 minutes every day for a week. Then every 3 days for 2 weeks. Then once a week of three weeks. You can smoke it while you jar. Longer it cures the better it gets, to a point.
 
Sometimes there is something to some of that. Mostly it is what we refer to as "bro science". As in "BRO! my friends cousins uncle told me how to di it right." lol The most important part is deciding when to cut. Early harvest effect the head and late harvest effect the body. Anywhere from 20% to 80% amber trichomes. If you don't have magnification you can read pistols but that is more of an art than a science. Harder to explain in text.

End of the day is when the minerals are the lowest but you will never notice the difference. Whenever you have time, and the plant is ready is best time.

The hot weather evaporated more terpenes so you notice the smell more. No effect on the bud other than a few lost terpene to the air.

Cutting off leaves prior will make it dry a bit quicker, less chlorophyll to cure out and make trimming a lot easier. Leaving them on to drain into buds is the same as waiting a few more hours to harvest. Yes remove fan leaves.

Keep the soil, as in dry with roots on? No.. just no... Not even going into all the reasons this is a bad idea.

1. Trim the fan leaves.
2. cut the plant at the base and hang upside down.
3. Keep it out of the light around 65 to 70RH and 65 to 80F
4. After a week or two when you pull a bud towards the trunk base it pops off with a snap you are dry and ready for cure.
5. Separate buds into 2/3 full mason jars.
6, Open the lids for 15 minutes every day for a week. Then every 3 days for 2 weeks. Then once a week of three weeks. You can smoke it while you jar. Longer it cures the better it gets, to a point.
Haha bro science- spot on 😅
Thanks for all this information, and amazingly you already answered my next question about the curing process! Thanks heaps for taking the time to break it down for me, appreciated 🙏
 
keep the soil from the plant and them being told nah start fresh etc
Wait. Were you referring to reusing the soil for the next grow? You can reuse soil but it has to be processed. What soil and nutrient type you are using determines the process. This is why you are getting different answers to if you can reuse it. Did they do it right?
 
Wait. Were you referring to reusing the soil for the next grow? You can reuse soil but it has to be processed. What soil and nutrient type you are using determines the process. This is why you are getting different answers to if you can reuse it. Did they do it right?
Yeah I think they are referring to reusing the soil from pulled plant for the new grow however I assume the used soil would be packed with the old nutrients?? So would this be an issue or not? Is it better to start with a clean slate of soil rather than re use the old 🤔 I used coco perlite blend and happy to recycle that on my other non weed plants anyways and start with a fresh batch just was just unsure if it made things better or not on a new grow using the old grows soil if that makes sense lol
 
I used coco perlite blend and happy to recycle that on my other non weed plants anyways and start with a fresh batch just was just unsure if it made things better or not on a new grow using the old grows soil if that makes sense lol

it's not worth using on new grows. toss it in the garden and re-use it that way.
 
Yes they are starting to go cloudy/milky but the pistils are still small and only a few brown- is this normal should they be more advanced? I'll post a pic tomorrow


you want the majority milky with a few ambers. clear is immature and contributes nothing.
 
Clear is good for nothing. cloudy for the head and amber for the body. Check multiple buds, not the leaves. You want no clear and at least 20% amber. Patience is rewarded.

Coco and perlite can be reused but really not worth the effort. Too cheap and easy to start with a clean slate. Living organic soil could be a different story.
 
you want the majority milky with a few ambers. clear is immature and contributes nothing.
Clear is good for nothing. cloudy for the head and amber for the body. Check multiple buds, not the leaves. You want no clear and at least 20% amber. Patience is rewarded.
Most of my group seems to be more interested in the buds that have cloudy trichomes with just a few amber. That would probably be close to what you are used to and remember from when you first started smoking the herb.

Might be worth considering taking some buds when the trichomes are all cloudy and drying and then doing a test smoke. Then a couple of days later check the trichomes on the plant and if the number of amber ones has noticeably increased do another dry and test.
 
Do you enjoy activities when high? 20%. Do you like to melt into the couch? 80%

More amber is more THC so you will have to smoke more of the 20%. Once you start to grow quantity is no longer an issue. Next step is perfecting quality. You stop chasing those THC numbers real quick.
 
Coco and perlite can be reused but really not worth the effort. Too cheap and easy to start with a clean slate. Living organic soil could be a different story.
Have not used a hydro style mix like mostly Coco or Perlite but the organic soil I can understand.

My soil mix is 50% compost and a dirt mix with Peat Moss and Perlite taking up the rest. Some Bio-Char added. Real easy to re-use it several times.

It can be amended with some home-made "Aged Forest Products". Compost mixed wood chips and the chips will decompose down and create more compost. Mix that new stuff with my used soil at 50/50 and so far it seems to be working for potted flowers, some vegetables, a few common kitchen herbs and, of course, Cannabis plants.

About 1/3rd of the wood chips seem to decompose in about 4 to 6 months depending on how warm the weather and the amounts of rain and snow.
 
More amber is more THC so you will have to smoke more of the 20%. Once you start to grow quantity is no longer an issue. Next step is perfecting quality. You stop chasing those THC numbers real quick.
I was under the impression that the max amounts of THC are available when the trichomes are cloudy.

Then when the trichomes start to turn amber it is a sign that the THC is starting to degrade. When this starts to happen the amount of available CBD is increasing.
 
I was under the impression that the max amounts of THC are available when the trichomes are cloudy.

Then when the trichomes start to turn amber it is a sign that the THC is starting to degrade. When this starts to happen the amount of available CBD is increasing.
Technically yes, but only when looking at one trichome, max production values. The max total cannabinoids converted are at early amber. It's the difference in looking at one trichome vs a cluster of trichomes. You don't pick all the apples off a tree as soon as one is ripe. You pick them all when some are rotting on the ground so you get more ripe apples.

When the heads swell they fill with clear CBN. That converts into all the other cannabinoids. They are all the same molecular formula with different molecular shapes. CBG are first to form fallowed by CBD then THC. They all break down in a combustion reaction with O2 and photons as the catalyst. All three "decompose" at a similar rate.

Not all trichomes fill and begin converting at the same time. When the first trichome that headed starts to break down THC (amber), the last ones to head have not started to make any THC yet. Cannabinoid production is faster than the decomposition. The more trichomes in THC decomposition the more there are that have finished full THC production. Ultimately leading to a highest THC average at 80% amber. After that, decomposition will begin to out passes production. The CBD and CBG were completely finished forming two weeks earlier, roughly when the first THC ambers form. During that time while creating more ambers the CBG and CBD are continuing to break down with no new significant production. There is still production, but at a net loss with decomposition.

20% amber has some CBN, high CBG/CBD and lower THC. Uplifting mental effect but less physical effect.
80% amber has no CBN, lower CBG/CBD and higher THC. Some people have increase chance of paranoia. Full body melt into the couch effect.
 
I started typing this early in the morning then late at night finished. Kept getting the abbreviations screwed up between my brain and fingers. I was trying not to get too many cannabinoids in there to keep it simple. Ended up confusing myself.

CBG is clear precursor not CBN
When THC decomposes it converts to CBN. CBN is a mildly psychoactive component. High CBN with low CBD causes the couch lock effect.
 
I started typing this early in the morning then late at night finished. Kept getting the abbreviations screwed up between my brain and fingers. I was trying not to get too many cannabinoids in there to keep it simple. Ended up confusing myself.

CBG is clear precursor not CBN
When THC decomposes it converts to CBN. CBN is a mildly psychoactive component. High CBN with low CBD causes the couch lock effect.
All good ☺️ it's really good info thankyou, don't worry when i read that first bit I hadn't processed it yet haha was too wrecked, but had a good read of all the info fresh this morning cheers 😊
I guess I have another question though that's popped into my mind then about indica and sativa strains- my northern lights is obs indica heavy and my gg is higher in satviva than indica, so for eg if I was to pull the northern lights before the amber trichomes would it's still be couch lock type strain or would it change its feels to more of a sativa feel? Haha very random question I know but my brain went there and now I wanna know haha 😄 and same goes the other way for the gg would mostly amber make it more indica feel?

20241108_182435.jpg
 
All good ☺️ it's really good info thankyou, don't worry when i read that first bit I hadn't processed it yet haha was too wrecked, but had a good read of all the info fresh this morning cheers 😊
I guess I have another question though that's popped into my mind then about indica and sativa strains- my northern lights is obs indica heavy and my gg is higher in satviva than indica, so for eg if I was to pull the northern lights before the amber trichomes would it's still be couch lock type strain or would it change its feels to more of a sativa feel? Haha very random question I know but my brain went there and now I wanna know haha 😄 and same goes the other way for the gg would mostly amber make it more indica feel?

20241108_182435.jpg
(My nail isn't bleeding 🙃 I'm a hairdresser by day 😅)
 
Back
Top Bottom