Professional Marijuana Grower July-August 2019 Issue

by Dustin Fraser The Steps to a Successful CANNABIS HARVEST For the past several months you’ve been diligently tend- ing to your crop and paying close attention to every last detail. The high-performance outdoor cannabis garden is now full of enormous plants with lush growth. The time to reap the fruits, or flowers, of your labor has finally arrived. You may feel like you have reached the finish line. Not so fast. There is more work to be done. The buds need to be harvested, trimmed, dried, and cured. Though this last portion of the job seems small when com- pared to the rest of the season, if it is not done properly the quality of the buds can be drastically diminished. Working hard all season only to end up with a mediocre product can be avoided if the same detail to attention that was given throughout the season is also given to the harvest. Harvesting at the right time and drying/ curing the buds to perfection will help your product stand above the competition and give you the respect a worthy grower deserves. A valuable practice to follow is flushing the growing medium for up to two weeks before the desired harvest date. Flushing entails feeding with only water and stop- ping the application of nutrients until harvest. Doing so allows the plant to absorb any remaining nutrients in the soil and to metabolize them so there are limited traces left in the harvested bud. This will ensure that the finished product is less harsh and has a natural flavor and aroma. As the soil nutrient levels decline the plant will begin to consume its own sugars and starches as a source of ener- gy, which also results in a markedly better product. At the same time you start the flushing process you should also remove any remaining large fan leaves that will not be part of the final harvest. Doing so will make sure any remaining nutrients and plant energy will be directed to the actively growing flower buds, leading to an increase 36 • Professional Marijuana Grower July/August 2019

Professional Marijuana Grower July-August 2019 Issue | Page 36