I borrowed this from a previous post that OM had answered for someone else. OM=Oldmac. Oldmac is a resident guru of the ganja and knows his shit and if you ever want to argue about something he is even better at that lol (j/k OM )

When talking about anything that deals with growing of mmj there are two variables that always need to be remembered; 1) the strain that is being grown and 2) the method used to grow. What might be good for one person's grow might not be ideal for another.

With that said, the most important part of harvest/dry/cure starts a week or so before harvest. The need to flush out the nutrients in the grow media and the nutrients stored in the plant, especially nitrogen. A serious flush with proper PHed water with a little cal/mag OR moleasses (mole-asses contain calcium and magnesium). Then a day or two before harvest let the grow media dry out, forcing the plant to use up any stored water/nutrient that may remain.

Harvest day chop them down. I have found it easier to do a quick trim of all large leaves and some of the bud leaves while the plant is fresh. Hang to dry, we all usually hang them upside down, it's the easiest. Drying them bud up is actually better but I haven't figured out how to do that (actually I have but it's an un-needed extra step). When dry enough for branches to almost snap start your final trim, cut off buds and place in a glass jar. Open the jars at least once a day (burp them) untill they reach correct dryness, then seal and store. The time it takes to do all this is very dependent on the relative humidity of your drying area. Very humid areas may need heat or ac to keep humidity down and not prolong the drying process too much.

That's it in general terms, but even that varies a bit for some grow methods, such as media-less growers.

OM