Harvest & Curing If you use a Bowl trimmer!

My last run, I had 3 plants that totaled a final, trimmed and cured, harvest of 44+ oz. Pretty big plants if you saw any part of that grow. Anyway, good run. Right at the end of the run our unscrupulous landlords put us in a position where we HAD to relocate. This was during the Holidays too.

I borrowed a bowl trimmer from a friend. It was a smaller one at 13". Even that made quick work of the job. Actually was a life saver to be honest. We found a new place fairly quickly surprisingly and I was totally freaking out on how I was going to trim everything.
 
Here is how I do my harvest. If it is normal RH outdoors I cut the large branches and hang them individually, if dry outside I hang the whole plant. Then after 2, 3, or 4 days I cut all of the leaves with stems off and put the colas on long stems in brown bags to "sweat" for a day or two. When the moisure meter reads 11% -12% I cut the buds off the stems onto the trimming machine. Load about 3 - 4 ounces put the lid on turn the handle a few times in one direction then a few in the other done. I have one shim on the serrated blade your MMV.

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I just picked up a bowl trimmer. A buddy said he used one and it ate his buds up pretty bad and knocked a lot of trichs off. Do you experience this or did he do it wrong maybe? Thers is a metal wire thing with 4 metal wires on it. Then a straight blade and a serrated blade. Which one or ones do i use to dry trim and how do you test with a moisture meter? I just got one of those also. I just got a wood moisture meter. Do i test ths buds or stems or both? I read some say to test the buds and others say to test the stems. Help please
 
Straight blade is for wet trimming and the serrated is for dry trimming. There are shims to adjust the blade height on mine and I use one on the serrated blade. I dry trim when the buds are ready to go in for the cure. 11% on the meter. Yes you will knock off some trichomes more than if you hand trim. You don't loose them you just need to add a dry ice hash process to harvest the tricks from the bowl trim. I got a 46 oz. yield from my last harvest of 6 plants. If I tried to trim that by hand I would get a repetitive motion injury in my wrist. I love my trimmer. I don't get any complaints about the quality of my flower!

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Straight blade is for wet trimming and the serrated is for dry trimming. There are shims to adjust the blade height on mine and I use one on the serrated blade. I dry trim when the buds are ready to go in for the cure. 11% on the meter. Yes you will knock off some trichomes more than if you hand trim. You don't loose them you just need to add a dry ice hash process to harvest the tricks from the bowl trim. I got a 46 oz. yield from my last harvest of 6 plants. If I tried to trim that by hand I would get a repetitive motion injury in my wrist. I love my trimmer. I don't get any complaints about the quality of my flower!

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Thanks. I feel you man. I got 5 autos i just chopped and 7 more im chopping when these are dry. I hate trimming so i picked a bowl trimmer to try. I may try a trim bag down the road as well to compare. I have struggled in my 3 years of growing weed. I learned a lot of hard lessons along the way. I lost a lot of weed due to errors. My worst nightmare has been drying and curing. So now i got my environment dialed in the best i can get it. Aiming for two weeks at 60 degrees F and 60 rh controlled by ac infinity cloudline t6 fan jn 4x4 tent. Levoit humidifier and portable air conditioner. Small clip on fan for air circulation and the ac moves air as well. Then when i sweat buds in paped bags like grove bags suggest for a day after thw two week dry. Then into grove bags when 11 to 12 percent moisture with a wiod moisture meter. They left details out about sweating. Do i buck buds off to sweat or do i sweat smaller branches like it looks like in your pic? Grove bags on youtube also say check the stems and not the buds for moisture content. What part of stem should i be checking for ths moisture percentage? I have messed up so much dang weed by over drying or curing too early and getting moldy buds. Im sick of hay tasting weed or harsh weed that burns my throat or just weed that isnt very enjoyable. How long should it take in the cure or dry before that harsh throat burn that gives yiu a sore throat? That shit is the worst and im tryjng to figure how long it takes to get a smooth good tasting smoke? Im sick of buying dispensary weed on top of growing. There shit sucks half the time also. Last time i went i got 5 8ths out of 8 that sucked and messed my throat up. So i feel better that its not just me that fucks shit up. Im trying to nail this next grow or my wifes not happy with me if i fuck it up again. She is losing faith in me and i havent come this far to have to give it up after all the time and money i invested. I got the growing part down great. The dry and cure haunts me. :face:
 
I harvest the plant and hang large branches or the whole plant in the lung room at 65°F - 70°F with the RH as close to 55% as I can get it. I have a fan on a carbon filter running gently in the darkened room. They can hang for 4 or 5 days. The tips of the leaves are dry enough to be prickly. Then I cut off all of the leaves with stems off and cut the long branches into ~1 foot long pieces and put them in brown paper bags for one or two days. Then I test them in two different ways. Stick the wood meter in a thick bud just piercing the stem 11% -12% moisture is what you are looking for. I also take some random buds and put them in a mason jar and a hygrometer. You are looking for 62% RH on the meter after a few hours. When the bud is this dry I cut the nugs off the stems and trim them with my bowl trimmer. They go into Grove bags with a hygrometer. 24 hours later if the hygrometer reads 58% to 67% I take the hygrometers out and heat seal the bags. - done in 2 weeks.

Make sure to clean your wood meter with ISO every time. Sticky resin can skew the reading.
 
Would a automatic or hand bowl trimmer be best to trim the buds and not mess up the trichomes to much? I'm near harvest 3 plants and have been seeing people use those trim bowls jus wanted to know which is best
 
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