If you don't want any seeds, just good dope, you should pick the males before they shed their pollen as the female will use some of her resin to make the seeds.
After another three to five weeks, after the males are gone, the females will begin to wither and die (from loneliness?), this is the time to pick. In some nefarious Middle Eastern countries, farmers reportedly put their beehives next to fields of marijuana. The little devils collect the grass pollen for their honey, which is supposed to contain a fair dosage of THC.
The honey is then enjoyed by conventional methods or made into ambrosia. If you want seeds - let the males shed his pollen then pick him. Let the female go another month and pick her.
To cure the plants, they must be dried. On large crops, this is accomplished by constructing a drying box or drying room. You must have a heat source (such as an electric heater) which will make the box/room each 130 degrees.
The box/room must be ventilated to carry off the water-vapor-laden air and replace it with fresh. A good box can be constructed from an orange crate with fiberglass insulated walls, vents in the tops, and screen shelves to hold the leaves. There must be a baffle between the leaves and the heat source.
A quick cure for smaller amounts is to: cut the plant at the soil level and wrap it in a cloth so as not to loose any leaves. Take out any seeds by hand and store.
Place all the leaves on a cookie sheet or aluminium foil and put them in the middle shelf of the oven, which is set on broil. In a few seconds, the leaves will smoke and curl up, stir them around and give another ten seconds before you take them out.
