The Fresh-Frozen Harvest Guide
This guide is the product of 3 years of collaborative efforts with @theotherone_extracts.
Pre-Harvest Info:
Phyto-constituents (within the glandular trichome) undergo pigment transformation regularly, specifically clouding and ambering of the trichome head, not just after harvest but during growth stages as well. Concerning glandular trichome head maturity, there are three reasonably distinct subgroups that a harvest usually falls under.
Subgroup 1. Once the plants begin to near peak potency, which is approximately two weeks from an on-time harvest date, very few if any trichome heads will have ambered, but many will have filled out almost to completion. This has been described as an ‘unripened’ trichome head, defined by not having fully formed an abscission layer between the trichome head and the disk cells beneath. Harvesting at this time frame preserves the adolescent, youthful, fresh aroma of the plant, and for extracts will assure that the color will be closer to light blonde transparency (unless in the presence of unassociated contaminants). This process is similar to the picking of small rosebuds for drying or extraction of ‘rose otto’ and other young oils. The method is a blatant waste in yield potential but could offer potentially distinct benefits, synergistically or not, as research has not yet proven otherwise.
Subgroup 2. The ‘on-time’ harvest is indicated by the full ‘pearling’ of the trichome head, with relatively few amber trichome heads (unless a purple variety: on which the trichome heads on pigmented pistils will tend to pigment somewhere between pink-purple). As components within the trichome head interact with one another, they facilitate changes which develop the aromatic and effective profile of the secondary metabolic constituents. For most growers, this is the ideal stage of harvest. This stage is best defined by the abscission layer, which forms above the disk cells but below the stipe cells of the trichome head.
Subgroup 3. Finally, there is the late harvest, where plants are left to ‘ripen’ or finish slightly past their prime. Many growers utilize this strategy in hopes of obtaining a higher overall yield, but the little research done thus far indicates that only THC concentration increases in plant senescence, where most other secondary metabolites seem to begin a decline in senescence. At this stage, some trichome cuticular membranes may ‘rupture,’ degradation of trichome heads has begun, and oxidation of components within will have commenced. This is the first layer of an aged and artifact containing cannabis cultivar. A typical example of this concept would be an overly ripe fruit, bursting at the seams with juiciness.
Harvest Info:
Depending on the size of the cultivation facility, growers usually either ‘strip’ the buds off of the stem, or use pruning scissors to snip the buds off. There are downsides to both methods.
‘Strip’ Method: This fresh-frozen harvest method is exponentially faster than using scissors, but does more damage to the buds, especially when the plant is stripped with the whole hand instead of the thumb and forefinger.
1. Chop the plant in sections. Make sure to not chop too much at one time, or the buds will go soft where the trichome membrane has the potential to partially rupture and rapidly begin to lose their volatile metabolites, which are crucial to the extraction process.
2. Thoroughly remove all of the fan leaves that do not have a substantial amount of trichomes on them. Sometimes the leaf has trichomes near the base of the leaf but not on the tips, in this case, one can remove the tips and leave the base of the leaf intact with the stem.
3. Identify the bottom of the stem, where the bud attaches, and place the thumb and forefinger (By using only the thumb and forefinger one can do the job while rupturing as minimal trichome membranes as possible) of one hand on either side of the stem, squeezing tightly, while using the other hand to hold the base of the stem. (By directing the process from the bottom toward the top of the stem, one avoids the destruction of trichomes and plant material. If plant material is crushed too hard, it can ‘bleed’ out pigments like chlorophyll and anthocyanins.)
4. Direct the stem downward, into the turkey bag, bucket, or vac seal bag and slide the pinched thumb and forefinger up the stem from the bottom towards the highest part of the cola, buds should fall away. (By directing the stem downward, one can control the direction of the buds, which tend to fly off erratically if not directed downward.)
5. Make sure each bud is not larger than the diameter of an Oreo, or else it could be subject to fungal pathogens. At the top of more massive colas, scissors may need to be used to break apart the dense matter into smaller sized pieces.
6. It is crucial that no more than a few hours should go by between the time the plant is chopped and the time the buds are frozen, as terpenoids are the most volatile compounds on the cannabis flower, therefore those compounds should be taken into the most significant consideration when attempting to preserve the aromaticity of cannabis. There are many kinds of terpenoids, but a majority of them are readily oxidized by exposure to oxygen in the air, with the formation of oxidation products which contribute scents and tastes and pigments uncharacteristic to the cultivar.
7. Make sure the bag is sealed, but if vacuum sealing not too tight because when trichome heads freeze, they expand, and if they are vac sealed before they are frozen then they will be agitated and possibly rupture inside too tight a space.
8. Label the bag with the weight in a permanent marker. No duct tape, duct tape freezes, loses its adhesive quality, and falls off, leaving bags unlabeled.
‘Snip’ Method: This method can be slow, depending on how good the user is with scissors, but it preserves the trichome heads and the body of the plant much better than the strip method.
1. Chop the plant in sections. Make sure to not chop too much at one time, or the buds will go soft and rapidly begin to lose their volatile metabolites, which are crucial to the extraction process.
2. Thoroughly remove all of the fan leaves that do not have a substantial amount of trichomes on them. In the case that the leaf has trichomes at the bottom of the leaf near the stem but not on the tips, one can remove the tips and leave the base of the leaf intact with the stem. (Those who are very good with scissors can skip this step if it does not slow their process down.)
3. Beginning from the bottom of the stem, snip each bud off the plant, being sure only to touch the stem. Make sure each bud is not larger than the diameter of an Oreo, or else it could be subject to fungal pathogens.
4. It is crucial that no more than a few hours should go by between the time the plant is chopped and the time the buds are frozen, as terpenoids are the most volatile compounds on the cannabis flower, therefore those compounds should be taken into the most significant consideration when attempting to preserve the aromaticity of cannabis. There are many kinds of terpenoids, but a majority of them are readily oxidized by exposure to oxygen in the air, with the formation of oxidation products which contribute scents and tastes and pigments uncharacteristic to the cultivar.
5. Make sure the bag is sealed, but if vacuum sealing not too tight because when trichome heads freeze, they expand, and if they are vac sealed before they are frozen then they will be agitated and possibly rupture inside too tight a space.
6. Label the bag with the weight in a permanent marker. No duct tape, duct tape freezes, loses its adhesive quality, and falls off, leaving bags unlabeled.
Transport
One simple rule, once the material is frozen, make sure it stays frozen. Because constituents within the trichome head expand when frozen, the trichome will ‘rupture’ and rapidly degrade as a result. While the material is frozen, the rupturing of the trichome head poses no threat to the composition of the chemicals within, as they are frozen and therefore mostly preserved (if bags are not sealed properly there can be potential for degradation. If the material unfreezes, the ruptured trichome heads will ooze resinoid compounds like cannabinoids, terpenoids, and phenolic compounds, and those constituents will interact with plant pigments and other primary compounds, inevitably contaminating the resin. After thawing to a certain point, terpenoids will begin to quickly volatize which also distorts the overall aromatic integrity of the cultivar.
