🪓 Harvesting & Yield

When to harvest

• First harvest: typically 8–12 months after planting, depending on climate, spacing and vigour. Plants should be well developed with 12+ leaves.
• After that: harvest every 2–3 months — usually 3–5 cycles a year in warm climates.
• Which leaves: only the outer ring of mature leaves per plant, normally 2–4 leaves at a time, and never more than a third of the foliage. Always leave the central 12–15 younger leaves to keep the plant photosynthesising.
• Leaf readiness signs: thick, heavy and turgid; 40–50 cm or longer; green throughout (no yellowing or tip die-back); outermost position in the rosette; snaps cleanly when bent with a crisp, gel-rich interior.
• Best time of day: morning, after dew dries and before peak heat. Fresh-cut, cool leaf is what processors want.
• Avoid: harvesting water-stressed plants (thin gel), immediately after heavy rain (diluted, contaminated leaf) or in peak heat (rapid degradation).

How to cut

1. Sharp, clean knife — a straight harvesting knife or secateurs wiped with disinfectant between fields (and ideally between plants in diseased patches).
2. Cut close to the stem, angling the blade so the whole leaf base comes away without leaving a stub. Stubs rot and invite crown disease.
3. Support the leaf while cutting so it does not tear or fall — bruised leaves leak latex and lose gel quality.
4. Set leaves flat in shallow crates or on clean tarpaulins, tips outward. Do not bunch, throw, or stack deep — pressure bruises gel.
5. Keep cut surfaces clean: no soil contact, no washing unless your buyer asks (washing adds water and microbes; many buyers prefer dry cut leaves).

Harvest process at a glance

Expected yields

Yields vary with spacing, water, climate and clone. Typical figures for well-managed commercial fields:

Yield progression by year

• Per plant: roughly 2–4 leaves per cycle; mature leaves often 500 g–1 kg each.
• Higher-density plantings give more tonnes early; wider plantings give bigger, easier-processed leaves.
• Rainfed marginal fields may yield half these figures — economics must be checked at realistic local yields (see Economics).

Post-harvest handling

• Shade immediately: moved out of sun within minutes; heat cooks gel in the leaf.
• Ventilated crates, single or double layers — never sealed bags or deep heaps.
• Cool transport where possible; a morning harvest delivered by early afternoon is the target.
• Do not wash, cut or peel at the farm unless the buyer's protocol says so — every added step adds contamination risk and water weight loss.
• Grading: buyers typically want undamaged, unspotted, mature leaves free of pesticide residues; sort at cutting time, not at the buyer's gate.

Crop life & replanting

• A stand is productive for about 3–5 years; plants can live far longer, but leaf weight and gel quality fall as clumps crowd and age.
• Rejuvenation: periodically lifting excess suckers and re-earthing plants extends stand life.
• Replanting: when yields or quality drop below plan, lift the stand, rotate or rest the field, and replant with fresh certified suckers — often reusing your best plants' suckers after inspection.
• Record-keeping: log kilograms harvested per block and per cycle; yield maps tell you exactly when a block has passed its prime.