This is where the magic happens!
This wonderful unique plant you've been growing transforms before our eyes into ... buds, and lot's of them!
While you'll likely hear growers at this stage bemoan 'trim jail,' it's not all that bad, and easy to get started!
Why Do We Trim Cannabis Plants? / Do I need to Trim ?
While it is true that cannabinoids like THC are found throughout your cannabis plant, they are most significant in the flower and surrounding "sugar leaves". How significant? The THC level in flower is approximately 20x (2000%) higher in the flower vs the leafs. Another magnitude higher than the stalks/stems (10,000 - 20,000% higher).
So you don't need to trim..,but depending on your planned use for the plant (most likely smoking) you'll want to. Otherwise you'd need to smoke 20 times the amount to get the same effect, and that would be mostly plant matter, and cause undue damage to your lungs.
In fact some tenured home cultivators and commercial operations may leave some plants in tact for extractions (where it doesn't matter if there is excess plant) or keep their trimmings for infusions & edibles (where a great amount can be concentrated down).
What can do you with trimmings from your pot plant ?
Oh it's a wonderful world! Trimmings from your pot plant can make cannabis butters, oils, and basically be infused into any "fatty" substance. Folks commonly use butter and coconut oil to make cookies, brownies, etc. Alcohol is well known for its ability to take on infusions, and cannabis is no exception, resulting in a "tincture" of THC.
Trimming your buds Before or After Drying ?
Well you can see from my. photo at top that I'm a wet trimmer through and through, and I am strongly biased towards it. That might just be because it's how I learned. We grew outdoors in remote places and would just camp out until the trimming was done, and bring the moist buds home to dry and cure.
Beyond my bias, it is generally accepted that wet trimming is easier and faster as the leaves are prominent and perky still, making it easy to quickly nip the stems down, and then trim the sugar leaves. It's said, though I'd conceded less generally accepted that it also yields fluffier buds, since we've removed excess weight of leaves that would otherwise compress the flowers during hanging.
So why dry trim? Dry trimming has an important benefit too! Because the leaves contain a high amount of moisture, they act as a barrier for the flowers, slowing the drying process which allows for critical chemical changes to occur.
- Chlorophyl will oxidate and break down (chlorophyl is associated with "harsh" buds)
- THC conversion continues as long as the cells retain enough moisture to keep cell walls in tact.
So these effects of dry trimming are generally accepted to produce a bud with better tastes and smells than wet dried. It can also have slightly higher THC levels, though I have not seen any conclusive studies on actual impact there.
The Trimmer Store has a great article that compares the differences between wet and dry trimming
Trimming Techniques
Trimming your marijuana is like doing a jig-saw puzzle. There is no definitively correct way to do it, but there are several methods and tricks that make it easier.
Wet Hand Trim
Using trimmers of choice (most choose the little spring loaded "fiskars") and:
- Remove each branch from the main plant. Do the same for any forks on that branch. Easiest to have a bunch of straight stalks with a line of flowers.
- From the "underside" and starting at the base of each branch, snip the largest "fan" leaves where they meet the branch.
- Go back to the base and repeat with the smaller leaves that aren't quite "sugar" leaves (those super crystalized leaves buried right inside the flowers), and removing any ones that exposing their full shape and stem
- Once more pass, this time any direction, snipping just the ends of the sugar leaves that are a bit long for their flowers.
Although a couple passes doesn't sound "fast and easy," keep in mind:
- these are fresh leaves sticking out from the plant, so ease pass is quick
- and they'll dry and pull into the flower, so doesn't need to be perfect.
Sensi Seeds expands on this method and trade-offs
Wet Mechanical Trim and "Trimming Bowls"
Because wet plants are still perky, they are also suitable for forms of mechanical trimming.
Commercial facilities will use something like above, while Vivosun and other vendors sell "bud bowls" for home use.
In either case the idea is that extremely sharp blades spin by while the wet flowers are gently rolled over them. Only the protruding leaves fall through the openings to be sliced off leaving the flower in tact.
Dry Hand Trim
This follows essentially the same process to hand wet trimming with these exceptions:
- Because all the leaves have wilted together, there are fewer, slower passes.
- Because the dry plant is brittle, extra care is taken not to disturb trichomes
- Dry leaves break off much easier, and Experiences trimmers can "shave" the dry leaves on with a quickly sliding motion, without closing scissors fully
Dry Trimming - Assisted
Those who prefer dry trimming are not without tricks and hacks! The two most popular shortcuts are:
- Trim bags (expensive)
- Trim brushes (cheap)
The trim bags use mesh screen and a vigorous shaking to break the dry leaves off. It also knocks off lots of trichomes though. Some bags collect this for use in a dedicated section with extremely fine mesh.
The trim brushes take that experienced idea of "shaving' and makes it available to anyone. A very stiff silicone the bristles essentially break off the leaves, but it can cut trimming time by 5x or more.