How to Tell if My Autoflower is Ready for Harvest

The end method will let the growers’ laborious work get its much-needed validation, and there is only one task left to do, and that is to collect the marijuana plants. Similar to all the growing stages of the plants, the harvest process is furthermore crucial and needs careful attention and knowledge. As an amateur grower, you must hold a lot of questions in your mind, and one of these could be: how to tell if my autoflower is ready for harvest?

Indeed, there are also other factors to consider, such as what to do before and after the harvest, how to harvest, the best time to harvest, and what to do with the buds once they are harvested. Not knowing the essentials might damage your plants in the last part, which could lead to frustration and regret. Once you get a better understanding of how to harvest your marijuana plants, in no time, you can have yields ready at your disposal.

Marijuana plants have the TCH and CBD chemicals inside the trichomes. Trichomes are like snowy white hairs that embrace the marijuana buds, and their main concern is protecting the buds from any harmful elements like UV radiation. Once the cycle of the plants’ life ends, the trichome grows abundantly well. When this happens, it is now the best time to harvest the marijuana plants. Once you let the plant grow for a while longer, it may affect the quantity and quality of the trichomes.

Flushing

Before setting the harvest day and time, you can start flushing the marijuana plants. Flushing means feeding the plant with purified or clean water only. Discontinue giving it any organic nutrients. Once the nutrients stop, some leaves may turn yellow, and that’s normal. Continue flushing for the suggested two-week time. Through this, the flower will get rid of any nutrients and chemicals found in the leaves, stems, and other parts of the plants. These chemicals can decay the taste of the weed when smoked, so it is better to flush them for a more reliable quality yield.

How to tell if my autoflower is ready for harvest – The signs

Now, your question – how to tell if my autoflower is ready for harvest, will be answered with the following signs. Though some marijuana strains differ from each other, it is best to know more about the kind of strain you are growing. It is fairly easy to research them. Now, these are the general tricks you can use to see if the harvest is soon to be done. These possible signs are what growers look for when contemplating whether it’s high time for harvest or not yet. Mistakes on the harvest time will cost greatly on the grower, so you must be careful not to harvest earlier or later.

The first step is to look at the plant parts, which is the most evident in the physical stature of the plant. Take a look at the leaves. Ready to harvest plants usually have leaves turning yellow, and once they do, you can now start flushing the plants for two weeks. However, when you notice the larger leaves going down and falling off, then it is time to cut the plants down. It is crucial to never overnourished your marijuana plants, or the leaves won’t change to yellow quickly the moment they are ready for harvesting. This is an example of the most obvious signs to answer your question: how to tell if my autoflower is ready for harvest?

The next step to do is to check the trichomes’ colors, features, and numbers. The abundant number of trichomes is a sure sign of knowing when it’s time to harvest. You would want to make the most out of its number since trichome is where the chemical content CBD and TCH are located. Once you get the most out of this, the great potency of the marijuana plant is a sure thing. Take notice also of the features and shades of the trichomes. You might need a magnifying glass or a clear capturing camera to know once almost fifty percent of the trichomes are ready. You will be able to know that they are ready once they turn to an amber shade.

For the traditional photoperiod strains, the pistil may be suitable in knowing if the plant is ready to harvest since most of them usually curl down, and from white hairs, they turn into a brown shade. However, this doesn’t work well with autoflower plants since, most of the time, they need more time to develop even when the pistils are all mature and ready. But still, it’s worth checking in order to have an idea that harvest might be anytime soon.

There is another trick in the drawer to answer your question: how to tell if my autoflower is ready for harvest? Once you observe that the topsoil stays damp and moist even if your last water was two days ago, then it is time to harvest the plant. The damp topsoil means the roots won’t take any nutrients anymore since the life cycle is done. Once they start having less water, the leaves around the buds may curl and get dry. 

The last tip is to check the grower’s manual of your chosen autoflower seeds. There are usually thorough instructions and information that come with the pack of seeds. Knowing the time frame of your autoflower strains will help you determine the time best possible for it to harvest. Although the time is approximately set and could change anytime, it is still helpful to know about it so it would be easier to set everything in place.

These are just signs to check whenever the plant has reached maturity. Since there is no definite scheduled time, constant observation is needed. There are even growers who choose to harvest early, and some wait for a few days or weeks, whatever best suits their preferences.

Early harvest or late harvest

Now you have a certain idea to answer your question, how to tell if my autoflower is ready for harvest? The next thing is to decide whether you would want an early harvest or a late one. There are different advantages and disadvantages of the two.

Avoid getting too excited that you would want to harvest your autoflower plants earlier since all seems to be looking great. That’s not a good idea. You could be losing crucial bud-generation time, and the THC level will be very low, so your plant is generally impotent and might be a little too low for your preference. Each life stage is important, so let them take their time and don’t dare cut it off. Avoid getting yourself into thinking that early harvest might be a good idea to take a little test of the autoflower plants. Instead, patiently wait until the plant is ready.

Harvesting later is also not a good idea. Since when you keep trying to put it off, hoping it will bud and grow more, then there won’t be hope for the plants. Once it fully matures and is still not harvested, the autoflowers will die. Expert growers also claim that overripe buds taste poor. This will give you more disadvantages rather than advantages.

Conclusion

Now that you have the answer to your question, how to tell if my autoflower is ready for harvest, it is now easier to get a clearer view of what to do, what to expect, and when to harvest. Though it might be very confusing at first figuring out when the right time to harvest may be, there are still guides, researchers, and experts you can rely on to know which harvest time suits best for your chosen strain. There is no specific formula for the question of when to harvest, but there are tips to guide the way. It is better to know the autoflower strain better since marijuana strains have a peculiarity and different precautions. In the marijuana growing industry, some things are blurry, while most are clear. There is still so much to know and learn to cultivate autoflowers better. With all the experts cultivating and trying to discover ways, the autoflower strains have brighter futures ahead.

A beginner’s grower guide is your way of knowing the basics first before setting yourself in the process. Some experts will help you get through your first cultivation and harvest process, but the prevailing idea will always rest in your preference. It is fundamental to get a lot of experience in planting autoflower plants, for that is when you learn the best. The next time you ask yourself the question, “how to tell if my autoflower is ready for harvest?” you will already know the answer even before the question ends.