the
only definitive is to "somehow" drown them and trust me I know this is a bit of a bitch because everyone here is all about DON'T OVERWATER EM but it's over they are done have a friggin pool party, call the bikini babes, chill the beer, fire up a phatty and OVER WATER THEM BITCHES!!!!!
Here is what I do I have big drain pans that my pots sit in when I water it runs into buckets< I simply plug the drain holes and flood the drain pans bout 5~6 inches deep then I water the plants by dipping water from the drain pans and pouring it thru the pots 4 times a day (overwatering at its classic best) I wait till they are done to do this, not 5 days before I think they might be done
I leave the light on th first day let em get all excited and try to wick all that water off (and they will as long as they have light) then on day 2, I turn the lights off and leave em in the dark for 5 days then I turn the lights on and wait till they wake up and start to get excited then whoosh I start the harvest and go all reaper on em LOL
But here is the thing every garden is different so each of you has to do what works best for you there is no right or wrong way to drown a done/dying plant, the only potential hazzard is mold so try to keep the humidity low and check on em often (peace of mind is a terrible thing to waste)
this harvesting ditty first appeared in the calling all noob growers thread around post #401 (I think) it was a 4 part ditty, what I put here was just the last part and after I posted it folks started experimentin, the results are in the thread of all that we did. It was Rasta that figured out the extended dark part speedin things up. most of us are still tweakin our methods (or madness depending on your point of view) not like we have a harvest every week but that would be nice too
bottom line is several of us have done it, it has worked everytime, only one grower had mold (so far), I can honestly say that I tend to do things without hesitation that would terrify the bejesus out of some (ok maybe most) cause I'm not afraid to and cause I don't fear the loss if it happens, I learn and move on. I realize that a lot of you have chewed all your fingernails off gettin to your first harvest and don't wanna screw anthing up, so maybe only do it to one plant if you have doubts. but folks this is how we learn and how we find ways to get better buds and trust me I'm all about better buds
. Read it all, sounds great. Im definitely doing this for my round 2! I plan on waiting till 2 days before they are done to start the whole process, then drowning my smart pots by putting them into large buckers filled with water and top feeding them also while in these buckets to completely saturate them and start the drowning. Then i will run 2 more days of normal lights (12/12) and conti ue topping them off each day until they quit wicking any up, then ill kill the lights and do 3 days darkness while still drowning and topping off. Then harvest using green lights, no more lights on. 
