Harvesting Advice for First timer :)

Thank you so much @PointNemo, @Nobody01, and @Jef79. I appreciate you all taking the time to give me some great advice. I'm part of a few other forums and you 3 by far helped me the most. I feel much more confident going into harvest in the next week or 2 after reading all 3 of your responses. I'm going to write these down and follow them thoroughly. I ordered another grow tent to have more control of the environment. It should be here prior to cutting her down. I'm going to follow the slow and steady advice and If you think of any other items I may need please let me know. Thanks again!! :)

First off, that looks amazing! If you’re planning on harvesting in a few days, I would cut the nutrients from here and give plain water only. Personally I don’t do dark periods or ice methods (although I understand the theory perfectly), but the thing is, you should totally try it out if it feels good to you. You could also use it on one plant and experiment! Let us know :) PN

Drying -- look up ed rosenthal's writeup on it. Slow and low... that is the tempo... and beastie boys, obviously. If you can control environmental factors, cool and moderate humidity is best. Less than 60% helps prevent nasties from growing. Belieave ~68F is what he recommends, but as long as it's taking more than a few days to dry, it's a good speed -- too slow is a problem to due to microbial growth. i tend to be in need, so i shoot for ~5-7 days before stems snap and I jar them -- something you shouldn't do due to anaerobic activity when sealed. If you do use them, open them back up after the buds have reached equillibrium again (doesn't take long at first) -- they will be moist on outside again. Repeat process until they stop getting moist. Each time it takes longer form them to even out the moisture that remains. Once it stops moistening (sweating), then you'll be good to go. At that time, i use the boveda packs and make sure to air them out for O2 every day or 2. don't fill til brim during drying process. Leave 1/4 space open. After fully dry, you can fill'er up. Taste can sometimes be present within 14 days.. but i've had some that take 30 days before it tastes good. Regardless of taste, they are the most potent the moment they are fully dry. Once the plant dies, it only has one way to go.

Oh as far as act of cutting... i try to cut things down in categories.. I have my good nugs, then below that if any popcorn exists, i cut that separately into a second pile. I turn that into hash with the frostier trim (freeze immediately after trimming for better bubble hash yields). I don't take my time with that stuff, lol.. a quick clenched fist down whatever remains of the branch i cut above. I do remove any large leaves, but i don't get picky with it. You don't want a bunch of non-frosty leaves in the bubble bin or you'll end up with green hash sooner than later. The good nugs i trim up well while wet. I've left leaves on before, and it likely protected the buds better through the driyng process, but it's a PITA to pick it all off, and if you miss it makes a bowl or joint taste like poop, plus it looks trashy when you leave them on. It's much easier when it doesn't crumble and when touching it doesn't cause large portions of trichomes to fall off from minor agitation when drier. It'll take about 1hour per ounce, i bet... and a bit slower to start. REally depends on how clean you cut it. Wear gloves. Wear a trash bag smock or equivalent over your cotton threaded clothing... bud is sticky. if your gloved hands touch your shirt or tug at it to get more comfortable, it likely is now loaded with little cotton threads and then you touch your buds, and now your buds have cotton threads stuck in it, lol... Put a sliced up back over your table. Have a couple buckets for trim and trash. Have a bowl of rubbing alcholol available... clean off fingers or gloves if you need to scratch or get thirsty etc... clean off tools.. it'll be needed. A roll of paper towels... A knife is good for cleaning off the scissors, but alcohol wil be needed at end. I like to keep the better scissor hash an dpick out the green trash. Tasts so good! So, be mindful. Be anal. Be clean. Be organized. Watch where you put your stick hands, because you'll have some funky tasting buds, otherwise.

Don't read into hocus pocus. You want to harvest before the lights turn on because of the biological processes that start to take place in light. same reason you want your buds drying in the dark. you don't want it photosynthesizing - and it is still alive after you cut it off the plant. What i do, so i don't have ot wake up at 520AM, i turn my timer off after the lights go out. So, it gets a few extra hours of darkness which won't hurt anything on the last day. It also ensure it stays dark until i come to cut it down. Don't stress it out. Ice water is stupid. Fire is even dumber. I wouldn't deprive it of water to shave off a some drying time, as that will only make your buds more likely to be harsher without a slow and proper dry and cure. You can't rush things and ther's no magic that'll significantly change your yield in the last few days or even the last week. Don't reduce light. If your trichomes are evaporating, get a better light, lol. In that case, do raise it, but know that's not because it is "Best" but because your lights are burning it off and can't be that close to provide the proper amount of light -- assuming that distance was the proper amount. A tell-tale sign of this problem is when lower buds ripen and finish before top colas -- the top ones are often throwing new pistils and foxtailing plus trichomes evaporating at a hgiher rate - so they look unripened and immature trichomes compared to just below in canopy.

Hello.. Hope you are well.. 1st of all-well done.. They look great!!.. Ok u get alot pf ppl doin dif things.. Personally i try to drop my humidity as low as possible on last 2-3days(use caravan dehumidifier blocks/satchels.. This pulls as much moisture from room n plants will try tp produce more resin/oils.. I dont do lights off 4 24hrs..i chop her methodically.. Stsrting from tops i cut branches so to allow me to hang them easy(cut bellow a branch and she will leave stem on nxt cutto hang).. Once all is hanged i then start removing all fan leaves.. Any leaf that has a stem but no trichs on goes into rubbish.. After removing fan leaves i then wet trim all branches and leave trimming in box to dry(u can make extracts if u like).. Simply rehang ur branchrs wen all trimmed up.. Ideally u want to hang them in a room not above 20°c with low humidity and complete darkness if possible for anythin from 5-15days(depending on ur environment and strain).. Once ur branches stems snap instead of bending she is dry and them needs curing.. To do this u put ur mostly dryed weed into an airtight container.. Make sure u go bk n check it every day for a wk n turn it all over n to get any stale air out of box.. If ur weed feels wet then leave lid of for bit n check, dont forget or it will dry up to much or if its still to wet u can actually give it mould by not storing correctly.. - drying and curing is very important to get weed how it shud b flavour/taste wise.. Stay safe n gud luck.. 👍🍀