Start & Stop trim method - trim through cure process

chillok

Well-Known Member
Harvesting and trimming can be very time consuming. I had no idea until I found myself sitting for hours which seemed like days. I have trouble staying on task for that long so I came up with a trim method that's worked well for my schedule. It's dry trimming with a twist.. you're curing because buds are in jars, but you can start and stop trimming as needed. Here's the process:

  • Chop plants, remove big fan leaves and what sugar leaves you can to open up space between branches. We're going for a 5-7 day dry. Temps and humidity come in to play, but in general, a halved or whole plant will take 5-7 days to dry. Use documented best methods to determine when buds are dry enough to jar:


  • Cut buds off stems. You want to break up colas, but you may leave buds in their biggest form. I find that most strains have a typical bud structure. Cut from a main stem, typical bud structure has two small buds under one main bud. It's okay to leave this structure together. I fill half gallon jars about 75% with untrimmed buds. Quart jars work fine. You're curing now so you need to burp untrimmed bud jars. The sugar leaves are great indicators of moisture level. Upon first opening a jar, leaves will be soft and bendable. After burping, they'll feel more dry and less bendable. Once buds roll around without sticking, you can close the jar. It's curing with sugar leaves on, nothing more. So again, use best methods for curing:



  • Trim, take a break, and trim some more! Using one untrimmed bud jar and one empty jar, I plate a couple buds at a time. I leave lids on top of jars to maintain humidity while trimming. I typically get a quart of finished buds from each half gallon jar. I sit for a couple hours at a time and seal up jars if I need to stop. I like to break the two smaller buds off to expose the curled up sugar leaves under each main bud. It's easy to remove the fan leaves under the main bud, simply push it down and away from the bud then snip:



After two weeks or so, I add Boveda paks:

While Boveda is not a requirement, they make cannabis curing and storage so much easier. Pictured is an 8 gram Boveda in a quart jar. I also use 4 gram Boveda in half quart stash jars.


Okay that's it. Hope I covered enough, and hope it makes sense! Many of you enjoy trimming. Not me, it drives me crazy. Using this method I'm able to trim over the course of a couple weeks. When done trimming, I have bud that's nearly done curing. I haven't noticed any impact on flavor or quality. Trimmed and untrimmed buds cure at an equal rate. Finish trimming at your pace and keep your sanity!
 

GroErr

Well-Known Member
Looks similar to the process I've been using for a few months except I leave most of mine at the rough trim stage. During the cure a lot of the lose stuff comes off anyhow when I turn the buds.

The method works well in that you can cure while you trim and don't have to sit for hours. For the most part I leave them at the first rough trim. Most of mine ends up sifted anyhow so the extra trimming for me is a waste of time. The semi-trimmed buds get me as high as the manicured buds and a hell of a lot less work. Manicuring to me is for those selling, for personal it makes little sense.

I recently wanted to see the total yield for reference and manicured the lot just to post them at the trim level everyone expects to see. Otherwise they stay at the rough trim level and if I go to post a bud pic I'll manicure that bud only :)
 

chillok

Well-Known Member
Same here GroErr. Mine's personal and gets ground for vaping so I'm manicuring less and less. Mainly just getting to the fan leaves stuck between bud clusters, and I'll snip tips of sugar leaves. Glad to hear something similar works for you.
 

chillok

Well-Known Member
For someone who posts six paragraphs and 10 photos just to say he takes breaks between trimming, I find it hard to understand how you can't find the energy to trim in one session. ;-)
I enjoy growing, and I'm a writer so blabbering on comes natural! I dunno though, trimming is one of those things. I'm ADHD, I struggle to stay on task with certain things. Trimming is definitely one of them.
 
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