Harvesting Plants – Outlaw Technology

"Harvest" refers to a single strain being harvested. If four different strains are being harvested on the same day, there will be four separate "Harvests."

Pre-Harvest checklist

Please ensure the following articles have all been read and followed:

Starting the Harvest

From the OG Tablet

The harvest starts by tapping the Harvest button on the main menu. Make sure that the correct license key is selected (if applicable). The license key will affect which locations and strains are available. The system will not allow a plant to be harvested under the wrong license.

From the Outlink Web Console

Harvest batches can be setup from the Outlink Web Console and automatically pulled down to the OG Harvest System. This makes it easy to pre-emptively set up harvest batches for an upcoming harvest.

From the Outlink Web Console navigate to the Harvest Summaries page and click on the "Create New" button.


At the first prompt, select the License Number from the dropdown list and click "Submit"	Fill out all data in the second prompt and click "Save Changes"	The newly created harvest will show up in the "View All" list on the OG Tablet (Note: the "Sync Data" button on the tablet may need to be tapped first)

In addition to showing up on the OG Harvest System, the new harvests will also show up on the Harvest Summaries page with a status of "New" and a total item count of "0". These harvests can be edited just like any harvest if the name or drying room needs to be changed. "Archiving" a new harvest (while it still has 0 plants) from the Outlink Web Console will effectively delete it from both the web console and the harvest system.

Setting the harvest data

The above screen lets you set the harvest data. After you move on from this page you cannot return to it. You can, however, change these values from the Outlink Console. If an alteration needs to occur (e.g., deciding to use Drying Room 2 instead of Drying Room 1) this can be done from the Outlink Console, not this page.

Harvest Name - Tapping this box opens an onscreen keyboard allowing the desired harvest batch name to be entered. This value can be changed from the Outlink Console later if needed.
Harvest Date - This value will default to today's date, but can be changed if needed. Just make sure to keep the yyyy-mm-dd format.
Strain Name - Tapping this box will display a popup list of all active strains for the selected license. This is used for validation purposes. When harvesting a plant, the system will only allow plants of this strain to be harvested.
Drying Room - Tapping this box will display a popup list of all active locations for the selected license. This can be changed from the Outlink Console later if needed.
The "Refresh" icon next to the title will pre-populate all fields with the last used values. This is useful when harvesting multiple batches of the same strain, where only the Harvest Name changes.

Tap the Next button to move on when all values have been set.

Harvest Plants

This screen is where you will spend most of your time with the OG Harvest System.

Weighing Unit

All weight captured by the OG Harvest System is measured in Grams. The software supports most unit conversions automatically. If the scale is displaying 1lb then 453.59g will display in the software. Despite this automatic unit conversion, it is recommended to set the scale to measure in grams so that no conversion is needed.

Let's break it down:

The top portion of the box (which currently displays "Scan Plant Tag") will change to display the suffix of the Plant ID once scanned. It also contains the mode toggle switch (right) to change between Single and Multi mode. Read more in this article: Single vs. Multi mode harvests.
The left half of the box contains the weight displays. The upper portion is a live display of the weight your scale is currently measuring. This should match exactly to the displayed value on your scale. Below that is the "Set" weight.
The toggle switch in the weight capture capture box allows for two types of weight capture: "individual" and "cumulative". See this section for more info.
The right half of the box displays the harvest data set from the previous screen, with the addition of the Offline mode selector (more on this later).
Underneath Offline mode is the selector to turn on Auto Capture. When this mode is enable the as many as three button presses per plant are eliminated. See this section for more info.
Under the box, the View List button changes pages to display a list of plants that have been harvested.
Tapping the Record Weight button is the final step in harvesting a plant, associating the "Set" weight with the scanned tag.

To use this screen:

Start by setting a plant on the scale.
As you wait for the weight to stabilize, scan the plant tag. Depending on how you harvest you will have received either a wired RFID scanner or a wireless barcode scanner.
- When a tag is scanned, it is validated against the database. There are many possible error messages that can result from this validation. A few of them include: Inconsistent strain, Wrong license number set, Plant has already been harvested/destroyed.
- This validation should only take 1 or 2 seconds depending on your internet speed.
Once the plant has been validated and the live weight display has stabilized, tap the Tap to set area to lock in the current weight reading.
Use the Record Weight button to save this data.

Weight capture mode

The OG harvest system supports two modes of weight capture: "Individual" and "Cumulative". In "Individual" mode, one weight is taken for each plant, this is the typical use. "Cumulative" mode allows multiple weights to accumulate into one weight for one plant. To use this, tap the toggle switch in the weight section, the switch will display "cumulative". To add a weight measurement to the total weight, tap the Accumulate button.

"Cumulative" mode is mostly used in outdoor grows where the plants get so large they don't fit on the scale in one piece. These plants must be cut into multiple sections which each need to be weighted individually, but need to be assigned to the same plant id.

Offline mode

Validating tag data against the database requires an active internet connection. In cases where there is no internet connection you can continue unencumbered by enabling offline mode. This will turn off tag validation and automatic data upload. The data can then be uploaded once an internet connection is established.

Auto Capture

When enabled, this feature can speed up the harvest process as well as reduce build up of resin on the screen by eliminating the need to touch the screen to harvest a plant.

Plant weight is automatically locked in once it has stabilized (the equivalent of tapping the "Tap to set" area). Once both a weight and tag have been captured the plant info will be recorded automatically (the equivalent of tapping Record Weight), and the screen will refresh, ready to harvest the next plant (the equivalent of tapping Add weight). This all happens in a split second and is accompanied by the entire screen flashing green for a second for visual confirmation.

Auto weight capture will only resume once the weight has fallen below 10 grams. This is to ensure that the last plant was taken off the scale so the system won't use the same weight twice in a row. Tag validation is fully functional and the order of data capture (tag scanned before weight vs. weight before tag scan) does not matter.

Manual Tag Entry

In the unlikely event that the scanner fails to capture the tag id (due to distorted barcode or failed RFID chip), the tag id can be entered manually. Tap the top portion of the box (where "Scan Plant Tag" is displayed in the above picture). A popup window will open and the tag suffix can be entered. We recommend entering at least the last six characters of the tag. Note that in over 50,000 tags processed by Outlaw Technology, this has only been necessary one time.

Manual Weight Entry

If communication to the scale fails for any reason (e.g., the USB cable is accidentally damaged), the plant weight can be typed in while waiting for the problem to fixed (e.g., getting a replacement cable). Tap on the "Live" weight display and a popup window will open where the weight (in grams) can be entered.

After recording the weight

You will be presented with two options:

Add Plant will take you back to the previous screen where you can harvest the next plant.
View List will bring you to a list of all plants that have been harvested in this harvest batch.

View List

This list shows information on plants that have been harvested as part of this harvest batch. The harvest name is displayed at the very top and the current count helps in determining when a particular strain has been completed. From here, you can return to the harvest screen with the Add Item button or you can finalize this harvest with the Submit button. Note that the Submit button DOES NOT upload any data to the state compliance vendor. It only uploads to the Outlink Console for review/approval before being submitted to the state.

Data Redundancy and Monitoring

All harvest data captured in this process is stored locally on the touchscreen device. With a reliable internet connection, the data is also uploaded to the Outlink Console in real time. This feature serves two purposes:

Data Redundancy - The last thing any one wants is 300 plants worth of data to get lost because the touchscreen fell off the harvest table and broke. With this auto upload feature your data, is safe on the Outlaw servers.
Data Monitoring - Because data is uploaded in real-time, a manager can log into the Outlink Console and view current harvest progress. They can see, in real-time, how many plants have been harvested and estimate an end time. Please see the article on Harvest Progress monitoring.