Variation on the "when can I sample?" question....But a smart one this time...

Obviously, you can't smoke the buds till they're done...duh!!!!....BUT when do the leaves have enough THC where it makes more sense to make butter out of them than it does to just throw them away?

Obviously, i'm just looking for peoples opinions, preferably based on personal experience or some sort of science they can reference the source. I switched the lights march 22nd...There's some slight frosty action going on...Can I start savings leaves to process in another week or so? What does the community think?

I wouldn't touch them at all until they are ready.

The last couple of weeks matter so much, I wouldn't consider cutting early, it's just a complete waste. Even within the "harvest window" letting the buds go to the riper end makes a huge difference. Not just in taste, but potency as well.

Please just go buy some pot lol

If your talking about leafs you defoliate, there's not much to save umtill the last few weeks.
If you can't see the sugary thrichomes on the surface, there's not much there.

Even if there is trichomes, and they're immature, they won't have much of any potency yet.

This is when larf saves the day!
It's not the best but a sight better than robbing a 3 week old plant.

I don't even save the sugars when I harvest. The trim and popcorn go into the oil bucket, stems and leaves go in the compost.

The fan leaves even de-carboxylated, and simmered in oil or hashed would most likely have such faint thc percentage that the dilution from the other ingredients would require you to ingest enough to not make what little high you get worth it.
But, they do have vitamins available by simply ingesting them.
Often I hear- “Make a healthy smoothie” out of it.

My dad makes bubble hash out of my leaves.

*But yeah, you're not going anything from those leaves.

Hashishh said:

I don't even save the sugars when I harvest. The trim and popcorn go into the oil bucket, stems and leaves go in the compost.

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I don’t know about your trim, but mine consists of sugar leaves?

bk78 said:

I don’t know about your trim, but mine consists of sugar leaves?

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I chop all the ones that stick out and have small amounts of trichs. All the frosty ones closer to the buds get trimmed over the oil bucket. I'm on a small scale so it's not worth processing stuff with little to no trichome coverage.

Generally I'll strip all the stuff that gets tossed and the wife does the final trim. I don't have the patience, or the eyesight lol.

Edit - I meant the fan leaves not sugar jeez I gotta smoke another one and get my head straight, my bad.

Rurumo said:

The last couple of weeks matter so much, I wouldn't consider cutting early, it's just a complete waste. Even within the "harvest window" letting the buds go to the riper end makes a huge difference. Not just in taste, but potency as well.

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Woah I'm just talking about Leaves....LoL when you prune the Leaves...can you make THC BUTTER...thats all

Star Dog said:

I wouldn't touch them at all until they are ready.

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Juat talking about Leaves....When I prune for air cirulation...not buds or anything crazy like that....

Star Dog said:

This is when larf saves the day!
It's not the best but a sight better than robbing a 3 week old plant.

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I feel like I didn't properly type....I'm not talking about chopping anything down for the purpose of using it to get high...that would be stupid....I'm simply curious as to when it would make sense to save what I defoliate instead of throwing it away...just a simple question......Everybody so quick so wanna clown somebody that most people don't read the question....

If your talking about fan leaves don't bother.

hydroScript.js said:

Everybody so quick so wanna clown somebody that most people don't read the question....

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This is definitely true. I thought the same thing.

xtsho said:

If your talking about fan leaves don't bother.

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Thank You....

bk78 said:

I don’t know about your trim, but mine consists of sugar leaves?

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Hey, I hear Temperatures over 80 degrees degrades terps and thc, especially as the plant proceeds through its flowering stage....yet, the recommended temperature for LEDs is 80-85 degrees. At what point should I start being concerned about preserving those things and monitor my temperature more? Like, wait till the smell becomes strong? maybe just an indicator week 5 for indica's week 7 for sativa's or during the entire flowering period I should keep temperatures below 80? Just curious, I'd love to have a productive conversation....especially from people with experience....

hydroScript.js said:

I feel like I didn't properly type....I'm not talking about chopping anything down for the purpose of using it to get high...that would be stupid....I'm simply curious as to when it would make sense to save what I defoliate instead of throwing it away...just a simple question......Everybody so quick so wanna clown somebody that most people don't read the question....

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I wasn't trying to clown you as you put it, anything you take off isn't worth keeping, you mentioned resin on leafs so I naturally think that they're going to be taken from a bud.

@OP Why not save all your fans in a bucket, dry them out and try doing an ISO wash with them? I'd be curious to see what you'd get out of say a QP of fan leaves.