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rest of the article
Trimming methods 101 -
One of two trimming methods will be used, depending which drying process you will use, will determine what trimming process will be used.
Method 1 "Wet Fresh Trim" - This trimming method will give you absolutely beautifully trimmed buds. Trimming, while the leaves are still springy and full of life(up to 24 hours after the cut), is very productive, and finished buds are very clean when done right. First, take a nice cola of 1 foot or so in length. Go through the entire cola and break off all of the fan leaves with no visible trichomes. I take pretty much every leaf with a visible leaf stalk and little to no visible trichomes. Discard the fan leaves. Now, working from the bottom of the branch to the top use a pair of fine tipped scissors, and cut off the leaves with visible trichomes into a box. These leaves will be kept for hash or edibles. Depending on your drying method, either cut the buds off the stalk(if you are paper bag drying), or trim the cola as best as you can if you are defoliating fan hang drying. If you are doing a full wet trim, then continue on, and finish trimming the buds removing virtually all leaf, and leaving only beautiful flower behind.
Extending the wet trim duration - treat 'em like flowers!
If you have ever solo trimmed a huge plant, you will know that it is impossible to wet trim a monster by yourself in a single day. You can get so much more trimmed in a day when its first cut fresh. Day 2 the trimming goes okay, but what you can do in a day drops, and by day 3 after the cut, it turns into a trimmers nightmare, until its nearly dry. This is something I messed around with last year, and wow does it work!! When I first chopped the plant I cut the branches into manageable sized stalks (4 foot branches) I took a bunch of 5 gallon pail and filled them with 4" of water. Thinner branches, I tied together with some plastic coated wire in bunches of 6-8 branches. Put the branches in the water and they will stay fresh cut perfect for at least an additional 24 hours. After 72 hours they are a bit wilting, but the difference is amazing.
Now the negative with this technique...it will vary your drying time by quite a bit, especially if you are pushing into 3 days after chopping.
Method 2 "Dry Trimming" -
Arggghhhh the dry trim. If you have ever tried to dry trim a monster plant, you know why I am so unhappy with this method! You have to have large containers that you can shut airtight, or your stash will dry out on you, before the task is done. I find dry trimming the most tedious method of trimming. The process is simple. Let your bud dry out (either fan leaves removed or intact depending on which method you are using), until there is just enough moisture left in them when you take a bigger bud and bend the stalk it barely breaks instead of bends.
Try out dry trimming, and let me know what you think.
Method 3 "Machinery : Welcome to the age of industry"
The Wet trimmer - I did a lot of research on various power and manual trimmers, and the selection and effectiveness from what I saw on these machines is nearly as vast as their differences in cost. Some wet trimmers can be bought for as low as $100 (manual bowl trimmers, or do it yourself blade trimmers similar to trim pro), but reviews are very mixed on these products, and they sure do seem to damage a lot of trichomes, or don't get a very close trim! Upward in price from there, there is many different options in various wet trimmers, all the way up to machines that cost $20,000 and even more for the large complicated commercial machines.
The Dry Trimmer - Again, I did quite a lot of research on these machines, and from what I have seen the dry trimmers do a better job, and are gentler on trichomes than wet trimming machines. There seems to be a more varied selection of wet trimmers available than dry trimmers. Dry trimmers can be fairly valuable units, ranging from about $400 to $2000 for larger commercial units. A certain environment is needed for dry trimmers to work properly. If you try to run these machines in 60-70% relative humidity, the outer leaves that you want the machine to break off won't crisp up enough, and the machine will not work properly.
I actually received a Toms Tumble Trimmer 1900 series trimmer to try out this fall. From the reviews I have watched, I am very excited to see this machine in action!! Toms Tumble Trimmer 1900 can trim about 80-85% of the leaf, which is a HUGE saving in time versus normal trimming, and it can do a large amount of product in a short time. The TTT 1900 should be able to 80-85% trim 2-3 pounds of dry bud in less than 10 minutes. Very impressive indeed!! After the autumn harvest happens this season, I will update this section.
Tools of the trade-
Dehumidifier - Those with humid drying spaces will find a dehumidifier very valuable. The smaller the space the easier it will be for the dehumidifier to decrease the moisture in the air. In the worst humidity I find it useful to run the dehumidifier in front of an oscillating fan to spread the dry air coming out of the Dehumidifer.
Humidifier - Those in hot, arid climates will find use in humidifiers, but to be honest unless you have a whack of weed to dry, drying in double walled paper bags, will slow the drying process enough to give a decent drying process.
Air conditioner - You will only need one if these if you live in a hot, humid climate. If your drying space is over 70F (21C), some of the more volatile terpenes will start to disappear. If you get 80F (26C) drying speed will increase resulting in a harsh toke, and terpenes will really start to get lost. If your drying space is hitting temps of 90F (32C) or higher, and you will lose lots of your fantastic smells and taste. High temperatures I believe, is the largest key factor involved in getting a diminished scent and taste.
Electric Heater - Man, I hope you don't ever need one of these in your drying space!! Personally, I don't see a big deal with low temperatures, as long as the temps aren't getting to freezing point, and turning your half wet buds into budcicles!! I would rather a slow drying process than a fast one for sure!! If you are in a rush to get some dry weed and conditions are cold, consider adding a heater, but be careful! Heaters can often start fires, and you should be cautious using one. I use one, but not for increasing the room temperature, instead I use it so I don't freeze my ass off while trimming the last plants of the season!!
Evaporative Cooler - This seems to be the ultimate solution for those is super low humidity arid areas. These units will increase RH% while simultaneously decreasing temperature. Very useful indeed for those in hot and dry climates. They don't seem very expensive either in the $150 range for one that does 500 square feet.
Oscillating Fan - This is a necessity in the drying process, especially in humid climates. One of the tall stand up models with multiple settings is ideal. Always use a fan on rotating(oscillating) mode, as you don't really want it to constantly blow in one section of hanging plants of bags of buds, instead its better to move the air every 10-15 seconds or so.
Thermometer/Hygrometer - These are key in both the drying and curing process. Feel free to buy a bunch of small, cheap hygrometers. Some will be inaccurate, which is totally fine. If you have a bunch of extra money to burn, then feel free to spend $20 or more per hygrometer for one that can be calibrated, but for me I am content with the small cheap $1.50 units imported from china. They are generally close enough to accurate, and using the test below, the variance is easily kept track of.
When you get a bunch of jar hygrometers, the first thing to do is set them all up side by side. If you bought more than two or 3 there will almost certainly be a difference in the RH% readings. Now, do this test below to find out which ones (if any) are totally accurate. The units that are not accurate, take a small sticker and write the variance on it, and stick it to the side of the hygrometer so you know what the real humidity is(for instance the hygrometer might read 4% higher than 75% when you do the salt test below, which you then know the unit reads 4% higher than it should, so in the jar you would want it to read 66% instead of 62%).
Calibrating Hygrometers : The salt test
When salt and water are in a saturated solution at equilibrium, the resulting humidity is 75%. This gives an excellent reference point to calibrate hygrometers.
Components needed:
Ziploc bag or airtight sealable container
Pop or Beer Bottle Cap (or other small container)
Small amount of salt (regular table salt)
Water
Hygrometer(s)
Salt Test Procedure :
1 - Place the salt in the bottle cap (or other small container).
2 - Dampen the salt with water. Do not put so much in that the salt gets "sloppy". You want a well dampened pile of salt in the bottle cap, not a soupy pile.
3 - Place both the hygrometer and the bottle cap full of damp salt in the ziploc bag and seal it well. It is important not to let air in or out for this test to work properly.
4 - Keep it like this for 8 hours.
5 - After 8 hours in the damp salt environment, the actual humidity inside the bag will be 75%. Compare it to your hygrometer, your hygrometer should also read 75%.
6 - If your hygrometer is not showing 75%RH, you will then know exactly how far off your hygrometer is. If it is not accurate, note the amount and direction that it actually reads and be sure to add or subtract that amount when reading the hygrometer. If the hygrometer has a control to adjust it, you can set the hygrometer to 75% directly after the test.
Different methods of drying in different adverse climates.
Hot and dry - This is likely the hardest climate to dry in to get really high quality smell and flavour. Heat and light destroy terpenes quicker than anything else, and dry relative humidity speed dries the bud too quickly, which can often result in a harsh toke.
- Slow down the process by doing a full plant hanging with fan leaves intact.
- Slow down the drying process by leaving buds on thicker branches and dry in paper bags.
- Get an Evaporative Cooler. It seems to be the ultimate solution for folks with hot and dry climatic challenges to overcome.
Cool and Damp - Circulation is key to success here. Several methods of drying can be used in humid, cool climate, but know that every drying method that slows down the process, comes with a greater risk of mold forming. For this reason the trimmed wet hanging technique is most recommended, or defoliated hanging technique. Constant monitoring of the buds is essential. Using a Dehumidifier is also recommended, it will take some of the moisture out of the air and also add some warm dry air. Running an Oscillating Fan to blow the drier stream of air coming out of the top of the Dehumidifer across the buds will aid in the process of drying.
- Use the wet trim method to speed the drying process.
- Speed the drying process with the combined use of a fan and dehumidifier.
"Trimmed wet wall of buds from a single Frisian Dew plant"
PIC
Jar Curing - The time has come. Your buds are dry enough to put into jars! I feel buds are ready to put into jars when I grab a larger sized bud and try to bend the main stalk over and instead of it folding over it barely breaks instead. I find after 12 hours in the jars this will be around 65% relative humidity. What just happened? The buds felt dry when they went in the jar, and now they feel spongy? The consistent environment of the jar has drawn the moisture out of the inner stalks and dispersed it evenly through the contents of the jar. This will accomplish two things. It will draw moisture out of the biggest buds with thick stalks, and it will also rehydrate the small buds with thin stalks that may have been slightly over dried, while waiting for the larger buds to dry out enough for the stems to snap instead of fold. If the Hygrometer reads 70%RH or higher, after 12 hours of being in the jar, then remove the buds from the jar, and spread them out in a paper bag or box, and dry for 6 hours, then repeat the process.
If you are reading at 68%RH or lower after 12 hours, then you are ready for the rest of the curing procedure. Open your jars for one hour each day, and then close your jars back up for another 12 hours...repeat this procedure until your jars read 62%RH after 12 hours with the lid closed tight.
Speed Curing : For those short on time
There i was....my weed was dry but not quite dry enough, reading 68% and I was destined to go fishing for a week, in just a couple of days...arghh. I needed this weed to dry out, but i didnt want to sacrifice too much quality, so I devised a special instrument for this purpose. I took a PC fan and wired it up to an appropriate AC adapter. After wiring the fan, I plugged it into the safety approved power pack(internal breaker) and it worked perfectly, I also checked multiple times to make sure the AC adapter stayed cool.
I then determine the direction of the air flow, and used a hot glue gun to position the fan to a metal jar lid so the air will be drawn from the room into the jar creating a forced air environment with nowhere to go. Running this fan in a jar for an hour I was able to drop the RH by a substantial amount, and was able to get the job done much quicker, than letting the air dry out with the lid off.
"Forced Air" (not to be confused with the Air Force!)
PIC
Conclusion - As with nearly all facets of growing, what is ideal for one grower, will not be ideal for the next grower in a different climate. Try a few different methods of drying, and find out what you like the best. If your bud is drying in less than 6 days, consider using one of the methods to slow down the process, or if your buds are taking longer than 2 weeks, consider one of the methods to hasten the drying process. As always, attempt to get your drying room climate as close to the ideal temperature and relative humidity as possible. Do the best you can, to preserve the fantastic terpenes, you worked so hard to get from fine growing skills!! Make sure you try various methods and see what You like best! Personal preference of drying and curing methods, coupled with the conditions you deal with, are key to an incredible harvest full of super stinky bud with exceptional flavour.
"Not for a free weed country or continent, but for a free weed world, unite and grow, for a better, kinder planet." 912GreenSkell
Hmmmmm...........
