High all, Last night was mt first harvest. It was AWESOME! I still have a good bit to go and had a quetion on leaf trimming. I took a majority of leaf of my buds, but there are still some small ones (so many of them mixed into the bud) that I just cant get to. My quetions is: Should your final proudct have SOME leaf (Very small ones) left in it? Also Will my buds get "More Frosty" as it dries? Thanks for your help.
st the very small leaves are fine, some people get rid of them but to me its just a tedious task, its all a matter of preferance... btw the leaves do contain some thc so just keep them... as far as frostiness im not sure
the closer you trim the leaf to the bud the smoother your smoke will be. As long as the leaves are trimmed off close to the bud you'll be fine. The buds will not become more frosty as they dry. All THC is produced during the flowering stage. Though through the drying process the potency of the bud will increase. You should always save your leaf trimmings. Run them over a very fine silk screen or through a ice bucket with a silk screen to extract all of the remaining goodness left on the leaves.
Nice, sounds good. thanks guys. I did save all my trimmings to try and mash some hash. Got some silk screen on order as we speak.
I cut most of the small leaves off, while keeping some. It is just too much work sometimes haha. As ninja said the more leaves you cut off the smother the smoke will be. as far as the frostiness goes. I found that my buds look frostier after they are dried and cured. To me the crystals pop more when it is properly dried and cured. happy growing
I can see you point about the crtstals showing better when its dried. Mine has been drying now for 3 days and I se the srystals showing much better then at the time of harvest. Thanks for the info!
without a doubt before, if not you surely will add hours onto your trimming time due to the leaves being all curled up tight.
And I believe if you do not trim before drying, your bud will have a harsher/bitter taste due to the chlorophyll left in the leaves... This chlorophyll can seep into your buds, making it harsher and more bitter. Someone may want to verify this...
There are ppl who would argue that trimming after drying is best but i dont remember off the top of my head why.The leaf trimming is of personal pref. for sure,i trim using lil soft touch Fiskars which makes trimming as easy as it gets w/o that electric trimmer.I trim every leaf on every bud at each leafs stem where it comes off the main stem and if its too tight i trim as much as possible,then i trim the whole bud all over so it looks nice and then its all bud.If i were growing for any other reason than for myself i def. wouldnt trim like i do.
I think when people say its better to trim after you dry the reason why is it takes longer to dry and the longer it takes to dry the better. This is what i have heard
Chlorophyll doesn't seep through the plant, however, what you dry your bud with will impart a taste on it... just like the good ol' curring with orange peels trick... So if your leaves have a nasty smell/taste, then they might effect the taste of your bud... But I've smoked bud that was bearly trimmed at all... grower claimed it was more "natural"(BULLshit).... But, even though it hadn't been trimmed well, the bud was still fine and smoked well with out any real taste difference. P.S. That was a rookie grower(2nd or 3rd grow) and a hardcore vegan
Update: I have had my bud hanging for 5 full days. With the leaves pretty much trimmed off They seem dry enough (the buds are airy not tight). Few questions: 1) Safe to start my cure after 5 days of drying? (Hanging in a closet, Fan blowing air under the door, temp about 79-81) 2) Will my buds soften up durring the cure? (some bud I buy is REAL DANK and still a bit soft-it smokes well) 3) They dont smell much like real MJ yet, will that happen durring the cure? Thanks all!
If you've done the stem test and it's crispy but doesn't snap... then you're good to cure. Bud's typically get a bit harder when they cure. Smells/flavors are brought out durring the cure. I would type more, but this cannabutter is making me lazy as fuck.
Nope, I meant exactly what I said.... If he's looking for bud with a "fresher"/softer quality... Crispy is the way to go.... I'm not sure why so many people think that only snaping means it's time to cure.... There's more than one way/style to dry pot you know P.S. There's also a difference between bending, crispy and snaping
I don't know who started that stem break thingy but I've never agreed with it. If the stem is so dry that it breaks then the bud is over dry. IMHO The best way to tell is by feel. Pick your biggest bud (because if the biggest bud is ready then the smaller ones are diffinently ready) and squeeze it gently. Those small leaves that you got tired of trimming and just left should be brittle but not so crispy they crumble and fall off. While the inner bud should feel like a damp sponge. That's when it goes in a jar for curing. I have done ziplocks and tupperware and I can't explain why but a thick glass mason jar makes a over dryed bud come back to life and perfectly dryed bud shine with crystals. Takes some time but it's worth it.
I agree with all this,but remember those temps are too high for an optimum dry,80+F. drying will dry out the superficial parts and the most inner could mold depending on how big they are.When drying in that high temp just cut the buds a lil smaller so they dry more evenly and mold wont be an issue at all.