Can I Harvest the Top Half of My Plant?

If you were able to implement the right steps of cultivation to make sure that you achieve a healthy hearty vegetative growth and robust flowering, the next thing to happen is the harvest season – just when your plants get mature. But the question now is, how do you know the right time to harvest your plant? You may even have the question – can I harvest the top half of my plant?

There are several ways to grow your plant. Whether you are an expert or a neophyte, you can successfully grow your plant if you take some time to familiarize the steps. Growing your plant may have given you some pressure and could have asked you to exert some hard work, and so it is understood that you will long to see the fruits of your labor. And naturally, you would wish to see satisfying results.

There is no excellent science behind the study of identifying when your plant becomes ready for harvest. In many cases, growers will have to monitor their plants and check them themselves. Nonetheless, there is a common guideline that can assist you so you will have an idea when to start monitoring your plant for some indications that it is ready for harvest.

Harvesting at the Right Time

It is essential to know that timing is very important when we talk about harvesting your plant. If you notice that the pistils are extremely white, or the trichomes are very clear, it means that the plant is still weak and lacks the ideal THC potency. However, if the pistils are left to become extremely dark, or the trichomes become amber, it could mean that the plant is extremely strong and exhibit undesirable fragrance and taste.

Grinding on the best technique and schedule for your plant may require some experimental approach. Know the overall timetable of your plant and monitor the bud itself. Ultimately, you will learn when it would be best to harvest your plant.

The best approach to determine whether your plant is set for harvesting is to check the maturation rate of the trichomes. You will know trichomes as the gummy resin glands that wrap the buds and the leaves. Trichomes will normally go through three different stages during their development. First, it appears clear, which means that it is still not mature, and its THC content is still not enough to provide you a high. Next, it appears cloudy, which means that it is at its peak with completely mature THC. Then, it appears amber, which means that it is past its peak, and the level of THC is cheapening.

Answering the Question – Can I Harvest the Top Half of My Plant?

Learning how and when to schedule the harvest of your plant can offer you buds with ultimate potency, which are pleasant and flavorful to smoke. A perfect harvest will guarantee your plant achieves its maximum potential. Once you learn the basic guidelines of harvesting, you will also know the possibility of doing a split harvest.

If you are too excited to experience the perfect harvest and you want to begin earlier, it is possible to harvest the top half of your plant. Begin with the buds that blossom on the top half. These sections mature first. Harvesting the buds on the top half will not affect the remaining part of the plant. This means that you get to enjoy an earlier harvest while waiting to rest to mature completely.

You will notice that the buds on the lower sections have a few various color configurations. This is mainly because they mature quite slower than those in the top half.

How to Harvest the Top Half of your Plant?

You might want to get an answer to this question, “Can I harvest the top half of my plant?” Yes, you can harvest the mature buds on the top section and liberate the leaves and branches to permit the better infiltration of light to the lower part of the plant. The lower buds shall continue to flourish and ripen and are expected to be ready for harvest after a week or two.

Nevertheless, there should be extra caution and sensibility when doing your harvest. You cannot easily toss off the top half portion of the plant jointly because that can develop some grievous stress to your plant and may injure it into capitulation, through which all fruit cultivation comes to an end as the plant desperately tries to regrow or restore its wasted limbs.

Ideally, you should only take one top cola in a day to make sure that you will not devastate your plant. Consider eliminating first the top side branches, retaining the central terminal shoot, since taking out the terminal shoot will transmit indications to deliver the plant growth hormones, which will promote more branching and not fruiting, and this may baffle the plant and interrupt the flowering.

This undertaking can be intricate and not advised, although it is doable. The significance of your yield shall be very distinct as the growth in yield on the lower-part branches shall not be that impressive, particularly with a LED panel.

Why Do You Get Unequal Maturation of Buds?

One common reason you are not acquiring the same maturation on your buds is that because the LED lamp is not blowing out a sufficient quantity of light to go through the lower branches. Energy, or light quantity, occurs in the way of photons and many LED is not capable enough to secure this kind of intensity for a light.

The reality is, except that your plant is relatively small, the top buds and colas will normally achieve faster maturity than the remaining part of the plant. When grown indoors, space is normally bounded. Nevertheless, if, for any reason, you are not strained with a space or a quantity of plant, harvesting the top half of your plant can mean a lot of difference.

When rearing indoors, under common circumstances, there is more quantity of light at the top part of the canopy compared to the bottom. This makes the top portion of the plant to achieve faster maturity, dense up, and bear more beautiful buds. By taking out the top half of the plant, you will permit more light to penetrate the lower branches, allowing the lower bud spots to completely develop and become mature.

Benefits of Harvesting the Top Half of the Plant

Harvesting the top half of the plant will introduce the plant for more quantity of light to stretch down to the lower portions. The plant has an unblemished root system which now carries half the produce.

Now, the reason why some growers are too eager to harvest the top half of their plant is not just because they are simply excited to dry and cure the yield. It is because there are several benefits to performing this harvest schedule.

First, it saves the buds from the attack of parasites. You may already know that buds are susceptible to mildew and mold, particularly when the humidity is not regulated to the preferred levels, and there is no sufficient ventilation. Once the parasites start to attack, it would be beneficial to immediately schedule the harvest to inhibit the damage from extending to other buds. The issue with these parasites is that they crush and consume the colas very thoroughly. Harvesting the top half of the plant can protect the impervious colas, and you can save the potential yield.

Also, harvesting the buds early could mean more potency in terms of THC. If you want to enjoy your buds with higher levels of THC, it would be best to harvest them earlier or harvest the buds in the top half of the plant.

Conclusion

It is necessary to know that every grower has a unique opinion about when to ideally harvest the plant. Some would want to wait for the whole plant to be fully mature. But in your case, you may be questioning now, “Can I harvest the top half of my plant?”

It is both fun and a nice idea to regularly monitor the trichomes. It would be a good habit to check at various bud sites since the top colas may get mature faster than those located in the bottom part. If you can find the time and notice immature buds on the lower section, it would be ideal for splitting the schedule of harvest into two. Breaking down the schedule of the harvest will allow the bottom section of the plant to continue to flourish after the top half portions were harvested, which contributes to increasing the overall yield and quality of the bud.

See to it that you do not have any other plans when you harvest your plant. The moment the top half of your plant is harvested, you will surely be tempted to begin smoking it. Do not indulge. Although some buds are ready to be smoked, they may not burn well. It is important that you dry and also cure them first.