by Greg Green
Harvesting and curing your bud
Harvesting is the act of reaping your rewards and is without a doubt the most fun you will have with your garden. First of all you should know that harvesting smells. It stinks up the place really quickly, so keep this in mind. Now you will have followed the guidelines that the breeder set forth with his or her seeds about the flowering times. At the end of the flowering time examine your bud. Keep what you see in mind because now you will be able to judge other plants to know if they are finished or not. You do not really need to know the breeder’s flowering time if you have been able to understand and identify a bud that has reached maturity. Here are some things that help identify when to harvest. Some of these things do not appear on every strain though.
50% to 70% of the pistils change colour.
Your plant stops producing crystals.
Your plant stops producing resin.
The fan leaves and lower leaves have turned yellow and are starting to drop off.
The smell has reached a peak.
Bud mass has not increased in the past few days.
These are good indicators that your plant is now ready for harvest. There is only one sure way to harvest your plant and anything else is pretty much a variation of it. Also we must add that harvesting an Indica plant and a Sativa plant is slightly different.