Gear up for the autumn harvest

Our plants are enjoying the last summer rays and the air carries the scent of a ripening harvest. Harvest time is approaching and all the effort can finally start to pay off. To get the most from your harvest, you'll need the right tools. We bring you proven products and tips to help you harvest like professionals.

Scissors

Quality garden scissors with a fine tip should be part of every grower's basic kit. You'll use them not only at harvest, but also for pruning and shaping plants or cloning. We want to emphasize that paper or manicure scissors are not a suitable substitute in this case if you want to avoid ending up with carpal tunnel syndrome. For heavy work (thick stems, large leaves) large garden shears with a spring are suitable, where you can choose a variant with straight blades or curved blades. Fine finishing and trimming are best handled with pruning scissors or Mini Clippers.

Protective equipment

Resin from some plants can cause a mild allergic reaction on direct contact with the skin, similar to nettle burn. When harvesting and handling plants, protect your hands with disposable nitrile or vinyl gloves. Long clothing covering the forearms is also suitable and if the season was generous and you face a real jungle, you might also use a protective suit. Finally, our secret tip: resin can stick to any surface and the easiest way to remove it from tools, hands or clothing is with clean ethyl alcohol.

Harvesting and trimming

Most growers do not use whole plants and during harvest must separate the useful parts (flowers) from those used differently or discarded (stems, leaves). During trimming (cleaning) the goal is to remove all excess leaves from the final product, which increases quality and helps prevent mold during drying. You can trim the flowers before drying (wet trim) or after drying (dry trim). In both cases you're looking at several to dozens of hours of work with scissors and if you want to save your back, it's worth investing in a trimming tray, which also catches valuable resin falling from the flowers during harvest. For larger growers and those who prefer convenience there are mechanical trimmers and trimbags that will do a significant portion of the work for you.

Drying

Properly dried herbs retain potency, aroma and beneficial properties even during long-term storage, without the risk of mold or spoilage. The best place for drying herbs or mushrooms is a well-ventilated dark room at around 20 °C with air humidity of approximately 40–50%. Watch out for dust or other contaminants that could spoil the final product. Practical are drying nets that ensure the material dries evenly. If you process your harvest at home and are bothered by an unpleasant smell that may disturb others, dry the harvest in a grow tent and ventilate it with a fan equipped with a carbon odor filter.

Storage

Under the right conditions it will take approximately two weeks to a month for the flowers to dry sufficiently and be ready for storage. If you want your herbs to retain their aroma, we recommend storing them in a dark, cool place in jars with airtight lids, which you open regularly (at least once a week) for a few minutes to ventilate excess moisture. This helps prevent mold and degradation of the dried material. To preserve quality it's important that the plant material does not become completely dry. To maintain appropriate humidity use Integra Boost or Boveda packs.

And one more thing: How to extract resin

Some growers are constantly looking for ways to further multiply the pleasure brought by the aroma of herbs. For those who want a pure terpene profile, resin extraction is available, producing high-quality concentrates such as rosin and others. There are various extraction methods, such as mechanical sieving or using solvents (DME and others), but the cleanest product is obtained by water separation. This involves soaking resin-rich dried material in cold water, where the resin glands called trichomes separate from the plant material and are then captured in a series of screens with microscopic holes. To get started you only need water extraction bags like Urban Bubble Bags and a few buckets. If you want to save yourself mixing work and get the maximum yield from the material, we recommend equipping yourself with a pollen separation washer.

Are you sad the growing season is coming to an end and would prefer to grow year-round? Try indoor cultivation of plants under artificial lighting. Learn how on our Higarden blog!