Harvest & Postharvest
Harvest timing, handling, drying, curing, moisture and water activity, storage, quality, and postharvest science.
Published lessons
These pages are organized here by subject. The permanent THC-ENC IDs remain stable behind the scenes even when a clearer display title is used.
Harvest Maturity as a Multi-Signal Decision
Define harvest maturity by product objective, developmental evidence, representative sampling, environmental risk, and downstream quality rather than one visual cue.
Whole-Plant Versus Branch Harvest
Compare whole-plant and sectional harvest through handling, drying geometry, spatial maturity, labor, contamination, and traceability.
Harvest Sanitation and Batch Segregation
Protect identity and hygiene from cutting through transport, loading, trim, drying, sampling, and waste disposition.
Wet Trimming Versus Dry Trimming
Compare trimming timing through leaf removal, surface exposure, drying rate, handling damage, microbial risk, chemistry, and labor.
Drying as Heat and Mass Transfer
Explain drying through energy transfer, internal moisture movement, surface evaporation, air transport, and changing material resistance.
Moisture Content and Water Activity
Separate the amount of water in material from the thermodynamic availability of water for reactions and microbial growth.
Equilibrium Moisture and Moisture Sorption
Explain equilibrium moisture, sorption isotherms, hysteresis, temperature, and moisture redistribution.
Air Temperature, RH, and Product Temperature During Drying
Relate air and product temperatures, RH, dew point, evaporation, and transition conditions during drying.
Airflow, Loading Density, and Drying Uniformity
Map how rack spacing, flower density, obstructions, fan paths, and recirculation create drying distributions.
Drying Curves and Rate-of-Change Interpretation
Use mass, moisture, aW, temperature, and time-series data to distinguish drying phases, stalls, overshoot, and spatial variation.
Terpene Retention and Volatile Loss
Explain volatile retention through biosynthetic starting profile, vapor pressure, temperature, airflow, tissue damage, time, and packaging.
Cannabinoid Stability During Postharvest
Separate acidic-cannabinoid retention, decarboxylation, oxidation, sampling, moisture basis, and total mass.
Curing: Definition, Measurement, and Limits
Define curing operationally and distinguish it from drying, storage, moisture equilibration, fermentation, and unmeasured quality claims.
Container Curing and Moisture Redistribution
Control container loading, headspace, moisture migration, mixing, sampling, condensation, and release during conditioning.
Mold and Microbial Risk During Drying and Curing
Assess microbial risk through starting load, wetness duration, aW, temperature, sanitation, tissue damage, sampling, and organism/toxin testing.
Packaging Materials and Barrier Properties
Evaluate packaging through water-vapor, oxygen, light, volatile, seal, sorption, compatibility, and physical-protection properties.
Oxygen, Light, and Temperature in Storage
Explain storage change through reaction kinetics, oxygen and light exposure, temperature, moisture, sample form, and package performance.
Water-Activity Measurement and Instrument Control
Collect defensible aW data through representative samples, temperature equilibration, calibration/verification, cleanliness, and uncertainty.
Product Sampling, Batch Uniformity, and COA Limits
Build representative postharvest samples and interpret certificates of analysis within sampling and analytical uncertainty.
Postharvest Deviation and Release Review
Control postharvest deviations through containment, impact assessment, investigation, sampling, CAPA, and authorized release or disposition.