Leaves on some of mine were saying "almost ready" and on others "not quite there yet." So I started checking about two weeks ago. I was also worried because while I did get my Blood Meal application down in April, I never did follow up with my late May 10-10-10 application. I don't think the missed it.
First one I pulled looked good, but not big enough. Weather forecast was for dry, hot and sunny, so I left them.
Second one was pulled last weekend, and it also looked good and was larger than the first. Forecast was calling for hot and sunny through mid-day Thursday, then we were in for heavy rains through Friday.
Thursday morning I went out early before it got too hot and pulled them all regardless of what the leaves said. Most were a size I was very happy with, some were much larger, and just a few were smaller than I would have liked. Only one out of 108 had started to split and had a worm boring into one of the cloves, the rest looked perfect.
I was in the shed hanging the last few bundles when the thunder started and the downpours moved in. We didn't get as much rain as they said we would, but I've been doing this long enough to know better safe than sorry at this stage.
The last few years I've had great results with trimming leaves down to about 3" and trimming roots to about 1" before hanging to dry and cure. They take up less room, make less of a mess, dry faster than untrimmed, but not too fast, and get great airflow without all the long, floppy leaves in the way.
I hope everyone who has not yet pulled theirs has a great harvest!