Harvest Concerns

So I'm thinking about the whole harvesting process.

My plants are about ready but what do I do when it comes to clipping leaves.

There seems to be a lot of little leaves around the buds. Do I try to remove those or just dry them along with the buds. And theres a lot of little trichomes on the leaves around the buds. Is there something special I should do to that?

Any advice will help. Thanks.

hey!

congratulations! hope you have some nice buds to smoke

yes.. you should take as many leaves as you can (try to cut them close to the main stem) and then let the buds dry. let the leaves dry separately and then use them to make hash! there are many ways to do this.. you can do it with dry extraction or with water. search the forum for threads that have that kind of information.

ok. Awesome.

Will the pistils turn noticeably red or will it be just a tint. I'm noticing a kind of colored tint to all the pistils but i didnt know if it was supposed to turn like super red or something.

i guess a picture would help. the pistils should turn brown/red and instead of looking spikey they will curl towards the end of flowering.

but there's nothing like looking at the trichomes to know if the plant is ready. use a magnifying glass or your camera in macro mode and look at the trichomes. there are three distinct phases: crystal clear, milky and amber. if the glands look milky and very few are turning amber then i would say she's ready.

even if the pistils say one thing and the trichomes other, i would go with the trichomes.

Those little, frosty leaves IN THE FLOWERS, you leave those . . . maybe trim them if they're not completely covered with trichs. I mean trim, as in cut off any unfrosty part of the leaf.

All good info. Thanks guys.

Ok. New question. I only have basically one more week to grow before I leave town for two months. I'd say they are on the verge of being ready but not quite. Cutting down early just affects potency right? They've been flowering for 5 weeks and when I am forced to cut them down it will be 6. The buds can't be too bad can they?

If it's an early strain you might get away with it. But if your trichs are mostly clear you may have wasted your time...

Assuming the strain is quite strong, I'm pretty sure you'll be fine grabbin' them a week or three early . . . meaning it'll get ya good and high and taste decent. If it's dominant sativa, then you may have a problem?
As long as you see lots of glands on them upper leaves, it's better than lots of folks are gonna smoke today.