Im sure a quik search could have provided you with the answers you are looking for, but incase it didnt ill give you a quik rundown. Generaly the plants are harvested whenver the grower feels fit, then roughly trimmed on the sucker fan leaves and any other large leaves in the way. Then hung in a cool dark place until the stems are able to be bent and almost snap, youll be able to tell when its dry enough and not to try, then finally trimmed to your likeing leaveing more leaves on the budsites for weight if you so choose to make a profit out of it, or trimming nice and close to the sweet smelling sensi if its for personal use. Note, this is only a quik comedic overview if you will, im sure you can use the search button to find a nice thread with great explinations and pictures.
You need to ask rastaman.....Unless it comes from him or his tribe of followers you wont be getting the correct answer.
^^ Feeling a little elitist, are we? There's lots of ways to dry it. Most common is to trim down to bud, or very close, then pin to strings inside a cardboard box, letting the buds dry in this box for a week or so untill the stems give a nice snap when you break them. Some people (hippies) hang the entire plant by the roots in a closet and wait a month for it to dry, however this just invite mold and insects. I leave some of the leaves very close to bud that have trichs on them on the bud while it drys, then cut them off and make hash while smoking the bud. Any way you do it remember, the best environment to dry is dark and well ventilated, and make sure you check for mold. After a good dry the buds taste even better if you seal them airtight in jars, opening them once a day. This is called curing.
what are you on about... it's pretty basic information that anyone from here can give you. Why is rastaman so special???
Is there any problem leaving all the leaves on while hanging the plant upside? Most of the fan leaves (save 3) have fallen off, but i have the remaining leaves still on.
depends on what u like man, i like to leave the smaller leafs close to the buds on so when i break it up ,it will smoke well in joints and also for a lil filler.it seems to make it last me longer i guess- dont leave the big fan leafs on tho, they are useless unless you plan to make hash-either way dry your leafs in a paper grocery bag, seperate from the buds
Get off Rasta's nuts. I've been here just as long as him. Rasta is a very good guy, but this is just basic information. When the hairs on your buds are amber colored (use a hand held 80x-100x microscope) cut off the branches, trim off the fan leaves, and hang upside down in a cool, dark, ventalated area. In my experiance it takes about a week or so for the stems to be bendable/snappable. When they are just a LITTLE bit wet, put them into glass jars and seal them. Open them up once a day for 30 minutes to an hour, be sure to check the buds for mold. Do this for about a week and you'll be done. The jar part is called 'curing'. -AFD
Would it make any difference in drying time to take the buds off the plant after its been hang dried for about 4 days, and put the buds into a brown grocery bag for couple of days before they go into jars for curing???
Brown grocery bags are another way to dry, but not as effective especially for a large harvest. You can put it in the brown paper bag, roll down the top, and put the bag in a cool dry place. Stir gently once a day. To help it dry I have done this and put in an uncooked boil-n-bag of rice (buy the store brand, no need to pay extra for this purpose). The rice helps absorb moisture. This is what I do with all my leaves and shake to dry it for hash making. I still prefer to hang buds for drying.