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Wet Trim or Dry Trim Marijuana – How to Trim Cannabis

Wet Trim or Dry Trim Marijuana – How to Trim Cannabis

 

how to trim marijuanaHow to Trim Cannabis – wet or dry trim

Trimming marijuana can be done by hand or by machine. Learn how to dry trim or wet trim cannabis after you have harvested it. Most cannabis trimming is done by hand if the buds are premium quality, but machine trimming machines have made a great deal of progress the past ten years. Cannabis trimming, also known as manicuring, can be done “wet” when the plant is freshly picked, or “dry” after it has been hung to dry in a dark climate controlled room.  The fresh picked trim is often called “wet trim” while after you hang the plant for several days before trimming it is called “dry trim”. In this webpage, we have a few videos on the subject of cannabis trimming and also explain the tradeoffs between we trimming and dry trimming. 

What is the best way to trim marijuana?

We are going to take a deep dive in the two main methods of trimming cannabis after harvest, wet trim and dry trim.  We will update this for machine trim, and also a hybrid trim where you partially dry the buds before trimming, or manicuring them. In our easy to understand and comprehensive artice, we explain what wet trimming and dry trimming are and how they can help your next marijuana harvest.  Enjoy.

Related Article:Cannabis Seeds Online

Related Article:How much to open a cannabis dispensary or grow.

 

Why Should You Trim Cannabis in the First Place?

This is a question asked on many occasions as to what is the need for trimming the cannabis weed. The answer to this is that the buds look a lot better when they are trimmed and the foliage removed. Possibly, the more important reason is leaving the leaves on the crop can lead to undesirable emissions from the crop when you smoke it. You want to consume only the bud portion and the leaves have no place there – except for extraction.

The third and equally critical point why trimming is necessary is to protect the concentration levels of THC, the substance that provides the basic potency to cannabis. It all boils down, literally, to THC, the substance that gives you all the benefits you are looking for in the cannabis.

What is Marijuana Trimming?

If you are not sure how to trim cannabis, you have the option of watching the relevant videos on YouTube. Some videos demonstrate how to trim cannabis. These steps can be briefly explained here.

The best process followed by cannabis growers is to keep trimming away the larger leaves even from the standing crop. This means you don’t have to wait till you harvest to remove the larger leaves, which in any case start withering.

On harvest day, you cut the plant from the stem and cut them to smaller branches. The trimming is done after that. This is when you decide if you wish to go the wet trim process or the dry trim process.

You will need a few essential tools for trimming. A pair of pruning shears is needed. The shears can get sticky when used for cutting through the foliage. You should keep cleaning them often. Choose the shears that can be cleaned easily.

You will then need a pair of scissors to trim the buds to the shape you want to give to it. Because of the nature of this activity, it is referred to as manicuring as well. The cleaning material is usually alcohol. You will need pieces of cotton or clean cloth to wipe the tools immediately after use. You will also need some good latex gloves. If you use your bare hands, you will have to wash it using the alcohol before cleaning with soap or a sanitizer.

Use a tray to support on the lap so that the trimming process is comfortably handled. You will need glass jars with air-tight lids to store the buds after trimming and before use.

In the end, your personal convenience should take precedence over every other consideration. You can use cannabis yourself and know which one gives the best effect.

 

Wet Trimming marijuana – The Key Factors to Note

wet trim or dry trim marijuanaWet trimming of cannabis is cutting out the leaves to give the buds a nice appearance and shape. The leaves of the cannabis plant will still be wet and that is one reason why this is being called the wet trimming process. What are the positive and negative factors in wet trimming?

What are the Positives?

  • The wet trimming process takes care of the mold issue, which many growers face if they are located in a place with high humidity.
  • By removing the wet parts like the leaves and other foliage, you will let the buds dry faster.
  • If you have used up a large area in your place to grow the weed, you may be cramped for space. Wet trimming helps with removing the excess leaves on the plants and storage becomes easier.
  • The wet trimming process is also observed to result in better integration of THC with the buds. THC is the real element you would want to take benefit of while smoking marijuana.
  • It has been found that there is no great skill needed to do wet trimming and even amateur growers can handle it.

What are the cons Involved with wet trim?

  1. Handling a wet plant can be cumbersome for many. You should preferably wear protective gloves or keep cleaning your hands with alcohol. The tools you use may also need to be cleaned.
  2. If you have grown just a plant or two, it may not matter. If you have a large crop, the time needed for wet trimming could be pretty long and could tire you out.

Dry Trimming Cannabis – The Pros and Cons

The other option for trimming the weeds after they are grown is to hang them to dry and then carry out the trimming. Here again, you can list the gains and constraints.

What’s Good about this Method?

· Depending on the climate, the drying process leads to longer holding of terpene in the crop. That can be beneficial when the weed is used for smoking or other purposes.

· As opposed to the wet trimming work, the process of handling the dry crop is more convenient.

What are the Difficulties?

  • As pointed out under wet trimming, space is a big constraint in the drying process. Unless you have a sufficiently large area for this work, leaving the plant to dry for over two weeks could be an issue.
  • Though it easy to handle the trimming of the dry weeds, it poses a risk due to its brittle nature. You need to make sure that the THC carrying parts don’t wither and fall off.

You must understand that there some good and bad sides to both these processes and the dry trim or wet trim debate will carry on. As mentioned above, you could also try the third option.

The Hybrid Trimming Option for Cannabis Harvests

The hybrid trimming process is a two-stage process. Here, you just remove the large fan leaves while wet. The smaller sugar leaves are left to stay while being dried. This way, you may avoid the space issue as well as the handling of the sticky plant. The hybrid trimming is done 48 hours after putting the weed to dry with the sugar leaves on.

There are pros and cons to this process as well. Here they are:

  1. When there is a large volume of weed to be worked upon, the hybrid trimming process splits the work and won’t tire you out fast.
  2. The containment of THC within the buds becomes easier with the sugar leaves holding on to it and offer protection to the buds as well.

There is no downside to this process except that you wait a little longer to take a swig at the weed. The outward appearance may not be as perfect as the other two options, but the purpose gets served.

 

The Machine Trimming Process

Just like any other farming activity, the trimming of cannabis has an automated option too. There are machines that can handle trimming activity. The common opinion among the cannabis growers is the machine does not do a great job. Most importantly, cannabis grows unevenly and the machines are designed to handle uniformly sized plants. The machine may become an expensive investment for the business as well.

How To Trim Cannabis Plants for Harvest

It is not as if trimming is some kind of a professional job. You can handle it with ease. As you do it two or three times, you could turn into an expert. There are a few things you could still keep into consideration.

The use of scissors for trimming has to be carefully done. Try and use the tips while trimming. It comes out better that way. You can watch videos that offer a demonstration of how it is done.

The aim should be at preserving those portions of the plant that contain the trichomes and eliminate those areas that are of no use. The red pistil is one item that you should remove in the first place.

The buds are usually stored in transparent glass jars, also called mason jars.

Many people enjoy inhaling the pot even as they are busy trimming. Try it yourself. You may want to have some kind of entertainment going with music or a good TV show going on in the background. This ensures you don’t get tired easily.

Conclusion on how to trim your marijuana

The use of cannabis, now permitted legally, has opened up a new line of activity. It has many personal benefits for the user. Cannabis and the products extracted from it are expected to provide a therapeutic cure for conditions like body aches and other discomforts.

If you learn the ways to handle the weed, you can get the best out of cannabis. If your company wants to go from home grow to licensed cannabis grow, call us.

Thomas Howard has been in business for years and can help yours navigate towards more profitable waters.  Thomas Howard was on the ball and got things done. Easy to work with, communicates very well, and I would recommend him anytime.

Our cannabis business attorneys are also business owners.  We can help you structure your business or help protect it from overly burdensome regulations.

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