The Beans-to-Greens Grow Guide: Step 6

The Funky Beans Method: Let’s get those greens

Go ahead and give yourself a high-five. The care and attention you’ve given your plants up to this point has rendered glorious, green adults practically weighted down with dense cannabis cones. 

Check out that frosty blanket of trichomes on each bud and the conspicuous pistils sprouting like hairs. That aroma, though? Punchy, pungent, and specific to the strain or strains you selected from our premium stash.

You’re proud of your work and by golly, we’re proud too. So let’s make sure that you’re able to get the absolute maximum yield from your crop. 

First, back it up to Step 5 from this series, in which we discuss the lengthy flowering period of your cannabis plants’ life cycle. We took you through trimming, bracing, feeding, and the all-important flushing process. Since it’s so important to your harvest, let’s review the why’s and how’s of flushing. 

In the final three weeks prior to harvest, gradually wean off nutritive feeding, especially the level of Nitrogen, and allow more dry back periods. This means letting the soil dry out longer than usual before watering. Use pure water, without any enriching agents such as coconut water, aloe, etc. 

This method of flushing lets your plants know the end is nearing and they need to put their final energy reserves into their buds. Adequately-flushed plants will produce bud without the chemical taste and aroma associated with fertilizers.

After three weeks of flushing, keep a close eye on your crop for harvesting cues. We’ll discuss go-time for cutting, our preferred drying conditions, and more in this post.

Stuff You’ll Need:

1. Magnifying glass or jeweler’s loop – Not an absolute necessity but this tool will help you examine your buds as they near harvest-time. And, to be honest, we think a magnified view of those trichomes is pretty cool.
2. Thermometer and humidistat
3. String for hanging stalks

When is it Go-Time for Harvesting?

Maybe we’re just fanatics (fair enough, we totally are), but we think cannabis  buds are a thing of beauty. Here, we need to give a quick shoutout to the geneticists and breeders out there who can yield seeds for these impressive, strain-specific greens.

And while you’re marveling, it’s also a good time to look for signs of harvestability. Yellowing leaves means the plant is pumping the rest of its energy into its buds as it dies. Sounds bleak…but actually it’s one of the first indications you’re nearing the end of the grow.

At this time, you can start to trim some of the larger fan leaves away from the cones so that it’s easier to get the good stuff later. 

Get excited when you see trichomes transitioning from white to an opaque amber. Once
pistils have darkened and the whole crop is pretty similar in appearance, you’re ready for harvest. 

The Full-Stalk Chop

If there’s a single point to drive home when it comes to harvesting, it’s the idea that your objective will be to preserve your yield at its peak. It’s like an ice bath to stop your plants at the exact point in their life cycle when the buds you’ve nurtured for weeks are at their highest potency. 

And so, the steps of our method are in the interest of capping your product at the right time and in the right way to get the most from your greens. 

You’ll start by removing the whole plant at its base. That’s right- the whole thing. The residual moisture in the stalk and branches will continue being delivered to the buds, helping slow the drying process and retain quality. 

Keep the sugar leaves intact. “Sugar leaves,” are proximal to the cones which have a healthy dusting of trichomes. They can be trimmed after everything has been dried and saved for use as food and drink additives, as well as extraction. 

Just Say ‘NO’ to Overdrying

As simple as drying may seem, there actually is a wrong way to do it. The drying period should extend over at least two weeks to render a top-quality product.  

When it has been dried too quickly, flower loses its integrity and density, while becoming brittle and crumbly. It amounts to a huge loss in terpenes and, therefore, flavor and smell. Usable, yes, but it’s not your bud at its absolute best. Believe us, it’ll be worth the extra wait to get this step right. 

Here are the best conditions for controlled drying:

• Temperature and humidity – Follow the 60/60 rule: 60°F and 60% humidity for a two-week duration. A lower temperature helps retain the integrity of the terpene profile and cannabinoid content. It also helps curb dehydration so it remains controlled. And, lower humidity (but not arid) encourages the buds to continue pulling moisture from the stems and branches gradually. 
• Airflow – Make sure that there is still airflow, but keep it minimal to avoid drying out the bud too quickly.

Curing and Burping Your Bud

Your patience is commendable. Once your bud has been slowly and sufficiently dried, it’ll be time to trim off the buds to bag up the goodies. 

Pack the cones into an airtight container where it can remain for the curing process. Place it in a dark place where the buds can age, 10-14 days (if you can wait that long!) Curing helps get the very last of the moisture out of the product so that it maintains a shelf life. 

In order to ensure that your flower cures, and doesn’t rot, it will need to be “burped.” While bud emits Co2 and moisture as it ages, burping releases these elements from the sealed vessel. Simply open the vessel and dump the contents onto a flat surface for about an hour each day.

You’re in the Canna-Club  

THCa products have taken on so many forms in modern applications: isolates, tinctures, gummies, and more. But there is something to be said for the star ingredient in its most natural state. 

You’ve entered a community of people that are genuinely passionate about the cannabis plant and the culture that has reared it. Recognizing cannabis’s beneficial qualities has made way for a masterfully scientific approach to R&D. And when a network of cannabis breeders, geneticists, and botanists intersects with a high-caliber seed-sourcing specialist, it’s the seed buyers and growers that win. 

Our respect for the cannabis community is rooted in culture. Passion, pride, and knowledgeable networking has gotten us all to this point: an online selection of expertly-sourced seeds with tried and tested growing guidance. 

You’ve looped back to taking part in the craft that yields the product you love. It takes care, dedication, and perseverance to get to this point – efforts that make your bud hit all the better. 

Make the most of your Funky Beans experience when you enroll in the Funky Growers rewards program. You get 250 CannaCredits on the spot, just for signing up. You’ll bank up CannaCredits with every purchase, Secret Stash seedscription order, Autoship order, social share, and more, making it hella easy to save money on future purchases. Plus, you’ll get an invite to the private Funky Beans Facebook group, where you can join the chatter on grow tips and enjoy exclusive access to sales and new releases. 

Ensure you’re growing with the highest quality seeds that are sourced from the industry’s top breeders. Need help navigating our selections? Take our quick-hit Which Bean is Best quiz to narrow down your search and filter your preferences in our online store. 

We’re all on this home-growing journey together. Hit us up for any support you need!