On the surface, harvesting an indoor cannabis crop is a seemingly simple act that boils down to clipping flower and sending it to the drying room. Indoor harvesting is complex and critical to a successful final product, however, and it demands both scientific expertise and craft. Expert cannabis cultivators say that: * Preparing your crop for harvest starts with a written plan developed before the seeds or clones are planted. * Several days before harvest, cultivation staff begin trimming fan leaves, making HVAC adjustments, flushing nutrients and preparing the plants in other ways. * Analyzing trichomes and using scientific instruments to measure plant-moisture levels and other readings can help pinpoint the right time to harvest. * Some growers wait until the day of harvest to determine which plants will be used for extraction and which will be trimmed, packaged and sold as flower; other cultivators make the determination well in advance. * " Fresh freezing " cannabis immediately after harvest is increasingly common, as it provides businesses with an expanded stable of products to offer customers. The cultivation staff at a 4Front Ventures facility in Massachusetts monitor lighting, temperature and other factors that help cannabis plants grow. Photo by Marvin Sandoval 24 August 2023 | MJBizMagazine