Finally, those big, gorgeous, and sticky buds are in your hands. But what got you there? Your hard work. But strategic decisions were considered; you probably made successive takes based on strain harvest time and staggered planting dates. If you planned on two runs, you picked a short, weak strain, and if you think you will slop over into the fall weather, you try to find a mold-resistant strain – they exist (ask Humboldt Seed Company; they are pretty good).
You must prep your drying space early, with no last-minute arrangements, especially when the unexpected is always waiting for you; take this actual but pretty weird example.
Two of our drying rooms are, by chance, up off the ground (old indoors that we are using for drying now), and there is plenty of stoop space under there for animals to den. With animals comes fleas—yeah. I went into the room and was sweeping up last year’s garbage, and what should I feel but some creepy crawlies? And when I lifted my shirt and then my pant leg, I was crawling with fleas—dozens—oh, and ewe.
Well, those are two rooms down until we kill the fleas, but no damage to the soon-to-be hanging pot. I had my guys spray a citric acid-based product in the rooms and under the rooms. We would follow with hot pepper spray, but only under the rooms, to make it less comfortable for the denning critters. It is always prep, my Padawan, so you also know that the sprayer broke. Two rooms down. We’ll fix it. Well, we have some other rooms ready to go.
Let’s take a closer look at the buds; do you see brown hairs at the top of the buds and down the side? Have the little budlets started to swell? You better wear rubber gloves, or your fingers will stick together (furiously consulting bud porn). Instead, get serious, so I’ll share. When the time comes, and I have it on a calendar, I am eagerly looking for what I think are the tell-tales; first, are you within a few days of the expected harvest date? did you plan on getting purple/ did you? Are those little brown hairs pre-dominating on the top of the bud and sprinkled down the sides? is the bud firm? no castle-ing. Better to take slightly early for the terpenes than to wait till the bud is in over-bloom. Even if you really want to.
This is just the beginning of the long haul of harvest season; next up is removing the old stumps, then till and fertilizing each bed, watering well, and then planting your new babies. You know, really busy. This season, I grew my starts up till they were large, planning the second run around that; this way, they will populate a sea of green for me as quickly as possible. When I have that sea of green, I can start my dep pull and get those buds going again – short-season strains, planting-sized plants, and utilizing Korean Natural Farming fermentation processes to enrich the soil (I was a little suspicious about this; I’m in now); all of these will help me achieve an earlier harvest.
Harvest in hand, now give your buds the traditional ten-day cure—nice and moderate. And how do you know they are ready? Again, try the traditional earmarks. When you compress a bud between your fingers, it’ll be firm with a little give and slightly dry to the touch but never crinkly—nothing is falling off.
Oh, and often, the strains have a different feel from each other.
I just took my largest bed, jam-packed with Jelly Donuts, but I am old now and just can’t work as hard as before – pacing it was a no-go for me; I just pushed til I collapsed. Kinda stupid. But you should keep that in mind; I ended up, basically, a wreck, but you don’t have to.
And this is what I really want to discuss. Think stress. It is the stress that you want to avoid; in the field, it is pretty straightforward – pre-plan so you aren’t running around like a crazy person, pace yourself (it is bound to be a long day, eh?), drink plenty of water and take short rest breaks. But more importantly, how do you keep the stress from affecting you? Know you are in a fast-paced industry. I have seen plenty of people suck down a gummy or smoke a joint, and it works, but you, as a farmer, need more perspective. None of this is a mystery: eat well, sleep well, pay attention to breathing, and practice mindfulness. It is easy to say, but most people don’t do these things. These kind of Jedi mind tricks will get you through a trying harvest in one piece.
Anyway, remember, that was only the first bed.
Oh wait, wait, another thing
What does dry look like? So rule of thumb kind of thing, snap or bend? If the stem snaps, you are leaning too dry; if it bends, it’s too moist, and it ain’t going in storage. Now squeeze a nice bud with your bare fingers. Is it firm and feels like it has a body (maybe that’s that percentage of water (is that 3%?), or is it soft and squishy? The more of that, the more you continue the cure. Did I miss anything? Probably. Knowing your own almost personal ways relating to the plant is part of what craft cannabis may be about. – Steve
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Steve Dodge owns Homegrown Farms and partners at Humboldt Growers Network. Besides The Cannabis Show, he is on substack (https://nevergiveup.substack.com/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/home_grown). Well, almost on. Been in the biz since 1978. His farm comes equipped with Gizmo, the black cat and Leda, the really big Rottweiler.
Feature photo credit: Steve Dodge
Cannabis and our Elders – it is OK Now