WET VS DRY Trimming

[namydnac]

I've been trimming wet, but a few harvests ago I did some dry due to time constraints and they smelled better overall. My last wet trim dried to fast and had minimal smell after cure.

Next time I'll be cutting fan leaves, hanging the whole plant and dry trimming the next batch. Dry trimming does take me much longer so I hope its worth it!

 

[THC123]

eah, I think you ARE supposed to knock off the leaves before putting it into jars, but it won't make much difference, except in terms of looks. I like a little leaf in my smoke, I think it makes smoking a tiny bit less harsh. Might be my imagination

I also did a side by side (simon's method) with trimmed and untrimmed herb at 62-64% RH and also in the jars the untrimmed herb was much tastier smoother and fragrant.

I must say it took the untrimmed ones longer to get to that point but the difference in texture, taste, smell and effect was very noticable, much more sticky icky and smelly, taste was more pronounced and above all much smoother and full on the cheeks and tongue. However when you open a jar you get a more green smell but once the leaves are removed after 2-6 months curing the smell was much more intense. You retain the initial loud aromas better this way, but it takes patience.

I must mention that i removed all leaves prior to vaping or smoking.

Also when they reach the wow point (after 2-6 months, depending on strain) I trim all the weed and vacuum seal it in mylar bags. When opening the jars a few times after being closed for months the quality takes a dive real quick(due to oxidation?). This can be avoided with vacuum sealing to keep them at the wow point.

 

[Stickybred420]

ilove this topic cause it seems theres no definitive answer other thean what works for you in your environment/circumstances. that being said, chalk one up for dry trim.


I like it because its less work initially during the harvest. but mainly because I think the slower the better. also I find the detail trimming is a lot easier after all the leaves are dry/shriveled. that way if you want, you can smoke a j of some tasty sugar trim or even do a little baby rosin smash haha. but as for quality I do feel my flowers are better to smoke when dry trimmed. but I basically turn all my bud into rosin and I find for that purpose it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. my buddy smashes his bud once its dry (wet trimmed) no cure at all. presses it all and it comes out as some fire fucking rosin. so its really hard to say cause I probly let my flower chill in a jar for a month or so and the result is honestly no different after pressing. its really weird. maybe im completely missing something?

 

[xet]

Splitting hairs.

Your curing technique should govern your trimming technique.

Wet trim is easier to control where the trimmings land and I find trimming is exponentially quicker. Overly dry trim loses trichs but it is easier to manipulate the end product to perfection.

 

[Jellyfish]

My cannabis has a large distinction in quality between flower and leaf. Leaf, even amazingly frosty leaf, tastes like leaf and is harsher.

YMMV

I think you said a few pages back that you wet trim. So I'm assuming you are curing the flowers and the trim separately. Maybe that is why your cured leaf tastes harsh.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

I think you said a few pages back that you wet trim. So I'm assuming you are curing the flowers and the trim separately. Maybe that is why your cured leaf tastes harsh.

My reference comes from the missed leaf during initial trimming. You are correct about improperly dried wet trimmings.

 

[MrBungle]

My method is simple...Lop branches off the main stem. Take each branch and cut off any leaf that I can see the stem exposed through the bud.. after that I hang dry branches for a 3-6 days depending on humidity.... Then close trim when the flowers are dry.... Cut flowers off branches, and toss into an open jar for a day or 2... Put a lid on the jar.... Allow jars to breath as needed

 

[TheMushroomMan]

Lol I guess I'll throw in my 2 cents for what it's worth.

I recently started growing again after taking several years off, and so far nothing I've grown has dried and cured into anything half as good as the bud I was growing 6 years ago. It's kinda frustrating. Everything smells amazing until I chop it.

Same growing medium, ferts, strains from the seed collection as before. I'm in a much drier climate now, though, and have had to adjust to that.

When I grew in a cooler, humid climate, I wet trimmed and then hung the buds in a closet for 7 days or so before paper bags and then jars. There was always a grassy smell at first but that dissipated quickly and the buds needed minimal curing to taste really, really good.

Wet trimming in this dry climate gives me that grassy smell, and it doesn't go away. It is a challenge to slow the drying process, and it just isn't working for me.

I'm chopping a plant in the next couple of days (and another the week after that) so I will try the dry trim method and report back to you all.

 

[Jellyfish]

I hope it works for you, it really works for me. Takes the risk out of curing altogether.

Cut your plants off at the base and hang them upside down for...? Three days, a week? Depends on your drying environment. Avoid extremes in humidity and temperature.

When you can mostly just knock the dried leaves off as opposed to cutting them, then it's dry enough. Straight into jars and then follow curing directions in Post #1 of this thread. Good luck!

 

[nickynuggss]

Trimming is a lot like surfing in this respect: There's a good time and a bad time. I used to tell when the waves were coming and the timing was right by the sound of the waves and the smell. Now you can just jump on a couple of websites called "Surfline" or "Magicseaweed' and get dead-on specific forcasts for swells anywhere you wanna surf around the world more than two weeks in advance. Wild!


When it comes to trimming, the best time for me is "Dry Time". When I first started out with a couple of plants I'd trim wet right off the stalk while my plants were still growing in the dirt and the flowers were perfect. Now, many years later I'm commercial and have to trim hundreds of plants, up to 3000 total and switched to dry trimming. Used to hire out for hand trimmers. I kept all the good ones to manage my farm and operate my new trimming machines. We stopped hand-trimming a while ago.


But all the bladed trimming machines on the market OVER trim the Buds and slow down production with all their breakdowns and maintance time required right in the middle of a big harvest. There's only one auto-trimmer that I trust now. I'm running 5 of them for 3 years straight now and they never breakdown, and dry trim my Buds to perfection –all natural looking just like hand-trim! Check them out if you're looking for my great dry trimming results: "Tom's Tumble Trimmer"

 

[al70]

i just grow 35 plants at a time in my 8x4 tent, in 6.5 litre pots, i get 1 oz per plant, that gets me my kilo per grow, 2 per year, i trim to the butt n place the buds in pizza box's 1 week, maybe, 10 days before jarring, jar for as long as it takes, maybe 1 month before i can let it go, i have high humidity so jarring has to be observed, i think it depends on where you are in this world how quick you can get it on the road, learning curve my friend, goodluck

 

[al70]

i just grow 35 plants at a time in my 8x4 tent, in 6.5 litre pots, i get 1 oz per plant, that gets me my kilo per grow, 2 per year, i trim to the butt n place the buds in pizza box's 1 week, maybe, 10 days before jarring, jar for as long as it takes, maybe 1 month before i can let it go, i have high humidity so jarring has to be observed, i think it depends on where you are in this world how quick you can get it on the road, learning curve my friend, goodluck

by the way, i learned everything i know from this place

 

[-TheShortTexan-]

From what I understand dry trimming (drying with fan leaves attached and trimming after dry) dries slower and is better for environments that are high heat/low humidity. Here in texas, the heat is what you have to think about from the time you put the seed in the ground to the time you put the bud in the jar. So dry trimming is our best option. Has anyone wrapped buds in black trash bags to conserve humidity in a VERY dry environment? Thoughts?

 

[-TheShortTexan-]

That is ALL coming from the mindset that you want to dry rather slowly, because in the south they dry WAYYYY to fast if you just hang em in a closet or garage

 

[Gr33nSanta]

From what I understand dry trimming (drying with fan leaves attached and trimming after dry) dries slower and is better for environments that are high heat/low humidity. Here in texas, the heat is what you have to think about from the time you put the seed in the ground to the time you put the bud in the jar. So dry trimming is our best option. Has anyone wrapped buds in black trash bags to conserve humidity in a VERY dry environment? Thoughts?

For some reason I prefer to place the flowers in grocery paper bag and then in a plastic bag. I do not like the idea to have the buds right up against plastic because of it electrostatic charge it collects a lot of dust and will also rob you of trichomes.

Also when the flowers are still slightly too moist for the first sweat in a jar but you have to do now due to life schedule, the paper/plastic bag combo works great, the paper in the plastic bag helps draw moisture from inside the bud out.

In fact, I almost always do my first sweat in grocery paper bag or more recently 2 beer flats 1 upside down with parchment paper (beer flats are gross and full of aluminum dust) beer flats fit nicely in garbage bag.

Sorry for being so wordy, hope it makes any sense!

 

[Noonin NorCal]

Do it right, pluck the fan leaves off that are full of chlorophyll. hang branches and trim your shit after its dry.

 

[insomniac_AU]

Yall are too funny. my boys who grow all say the sme thing yet my wet trimmed buds are always the best smelling out of the whole crew. i realy find it hard to believe doing it either way makes a huge difference as long as youre doing it the correct way.

Because I grow small at home I trim wet. I can't afford to have any more plant material than necessary around in case I get busted. For the same reason I keep the minimum number of clones and plants. The less you have the better chance of proving personal use here. Which is what it is I never sell.

I never have that hay smell, my buds always smell amazing usually through the bag as well. My feeling is the drying conditions have far more of an effect on the end product than trimming does.

In saying that I probably would trim dry if I was in a safer location. My sugar leaf that goes in the garbage now I could make extracts from.

My cannabis has a large distinction in quality between flower and leaf. Leaf, even amazingly frosty leaf, tastes like leaf and is harsher.

YMMV

I'm like that. Can't stand any leaf ruining the taste of my flowers.

 

[clearheaded]

One thing I havent seen mention is when triming dry you do loose alot of trichs esp off the sugar leaves. but as long as do it over a screen or over something that can be put into the bubblebag or in with the solvent extract.

Also Have not read anyone talking about the happy medium. allow leaves to get dry and bud still spongy then do a "semi dry trim". only real advantage is trichs arent dry on the bud so dont fall off as easy, but still take advantage of the slower drying/ not releasing all that phytol/grass smell (or enzymes that perhaps play a role in breaking down some of the flavanoids or terps) when trimming live plants as the sugar leaves are crispy and break off like normal dry trimming.

 

[Defacto]

No poster on this page has read page one.

 

[Putembk]

No poster on this page has read page one.

I read the first page....Dry trimmer here.....

Two days in total darkness before harvest and all in green light after...My buds never see light until they are gone from my house...Drying time depends on R/H