GRASS! ...now that we can grow it, how do you mow it?

[IamN2pot]

Since I just finished 'mowing' 4 plants of my own, it dawned on me to start a discussion on harvesting, what we do with our flowers after we grow them.
PLEASE, keep it light and informitive. To quote an old saying, "there's more than one way to skin a cat".
And since there are many ways to mow and manicure the flowers we grow, we'll each have a personal favorite way of finishing and curing. I must admit that I still get a giggle out of reading a noobs post about how there recently harvested and hung flowers now smell like a fresh cut lawn. How do ya think it got the slang name "grass"?
Now you know!!!

My manicuring depends on what the end product will be. If I'm planning on helping others with gifted flowers, then it gets hand/sissor and/or machine trimmed. I do like the way my spin trimmer does the job for a lot of trimming. I could do it all in the machine, but I still do the top colas by hand. (old habbits are hard to break) I also trim while fresh cut. I've tried dry manicuring and it just wasn't for me. Probably because I'm left handed. Perhaps someone here has a dry mowing technic to share? I'm all ears...

If I'm mowing my flowers for oil and the tube, it is just a hand trimming of everything that I can see a petiole on the leaf. If it is an extreemly trichome laden leaf, I'll just trim the tips off, without the trichomes, and dry it.
How long do you cure your flowers? I love the differant smells of the harvest as it dries and cures. It goes from that smell of sweet live flowers to the smell of fresh cut grass. Then the grass smell dissapates and it's original live flower aromas return as it cures in your jar, bag or.....
Open for discussion and your ideas and prefferances!

For anyone looking at one of these spin trimmers to mow their buds with, I highly recomend it. And if you like making hash, you'll LOVE what comes out of the clippings.
Here are my top colas hanging after hand trimming and the buds I'll be machine mowing.






...and the machines finished, dried flowers.

 

[Moshmen]

Wet trim I use scissors old school - dry trim i it’s a bbq silicone brush and my hands - I was a avid wet trimmer till I tried the brush hand thing and oh so much faster and I get a little bit of sift in the bottom of the trim bin - I only grow for family so bag appeal is not a concern

 

[Pipecarver]

Wet trim I use scissors old school - dry trim i it’s a bbq silicone brush and my hands - I was a avid wet trimmer till I tried the brush hand thing and oh so much faster and I get a little bit of sift in the bottom of the trim bin - I only grow for family so bag appeal is not a concern

Ya, I don't need bag appeal either, I wet trim & hang whole plants when I can. After its dry I rip everything off the branches in one swoop with thumb and hand. It takes me about 5 min per plant to strip everything off, what falls on the floor stays on the floor to get swept up and tossed. I've never kept the crumbs, with so much good pot bagged I just toss sticks, stems & leaf into our recycling bin

 

[OLDCRO]

No bag appeal for me either wet trim by hand into the Cannatrol im done.

 

[Pipecarver]

No bag appeal for me either wet trim by hand into the Cannatrol im done.View attachment 15776

Very nice...out of my league but very nice.

 

[Rootsruler]

I cut the entire plant down and hang upside down in my tent for a couple of days. After a couple of days I remove all water and secondary leaves and monitor for the next few days. Once the branches are starting to get close to snap I remove the branches from the main stem and hang on a line for a couple of days. By this time they should be dry enough to jar but if not I will remove flowers from the branches and spread out on a dry net. Once they're lightly crispy on the outside but still somewhat squishy I will transfer them to a jar and burp accordingly to develop cure.

The harvest I just had is now around 3 weeks old. The flowers are just now beginning to show their terpene profiles along with an increase in potency.

 

[Rootsruler]

I dry trim. Wet trim is too messy for me. I hand trim everything up to 5 lbs. After that it needs to go through a bowl trimmer or some other form of machine trimming.

I like to leave the sugar leaves on the flower when I trim but if I'm trimming for retail then I'll remove them and save the trim for butter.

 

[IamN2pot]

Thanks guys! Loads of good info for the other half of the grow.

Wet trim I use scissors old school - dry trim i it’s a bbq silicone brush and my hands - I was a avid wet trimmer till I tried the brush hand thing and oh so much faster and I get a little bit of sift in the bottom of the trim bin - I only grow for family so bag appeal is not a concern

I never tried the silicone brush thing. I've read it worked, but those comments on the big river are a dime a dozen. Good to hear from a real world source!!! They're cheap enough. I'm thinking it's worth a try. Can you give me more details? Do you brush them before bucking, while they're on the branch or do you brush them individually in your hand??? Pictures???

 

[IamN2pot]

No bag appeal for me either wet trim by hand into the Cannatrol im done.View attachment 15776

SWEET!, I guess??? Is that a dehydrator? More details, please.
We have a multi purpose air fryer that does dehydrating. I've done apple slices in it , the wife makes kale chips in it and I've wondered about doing weed in one, but 120* is just to warm and that's as low as mine goes.
My last "mow" was the first time I've had a humidifier and was able to keep the closet at 60%rh for all the buds pictured. I put the machine mowed buds into one of those 4 tier hanging baskets with the tops on hangers. The house is set at 78*, so a bit warm, but it still took 5 days rather than 3 to get to the thin stem snap stage and into my burp bucket.

 

[OLDCRO]

SWEET!, I guess??? Is that a dehydrator? More details, please.
We have a multi purpose air fryer that does dehydrating. I've done apple slices in it , the wife makes kale chips in it and I've wondered about doing weed in one, but 120* is just to warm and that's as low as mine goes.
My last "mow" was the first time I've had a humidifier and was able to keep the closet at 60%rh for all the buds pictured. I put the machine mowed buds into one of those 4 tier hanging baskets with the tops on hangers. The house is set at 78*, so a bit warm, but it still took 5 days rather than 3 to get to the thin stem snap stage and into my burp bucket.

No its not a dehydrater it will dry the bud and cure the bud and you can leave it in long term for storage will keep humidity at 61 percent. 4 day dry and 4 day cure or set what you want

 

[Moshmen]

Thanks guys! Loads of good info for the other half of the grow.

I never tried the silicone brush thing. I've read it worked, but those comments on the big river are a dime a dozen. Good to hear from a real world source!!! They're cheap enough. I'm thinking it's worth a try. Can you give me more details? Do you brush them before bucking, while they're on the branch or do you brush them individually in your hand??? Pictures???

Let me see what o can find for vid but basically remove all fan and sucker leaves and hang when the sugar leaves are dry enuff they crumble right off then like pipe I strip a whole branch at a time unlike him I try to catch every thrice I can to make hash I’ll find some pics

 

[Moshmen]

Don’t use a dehydrator you will be disappointed with results in my opinion - nice rig ya got there @OLDCRO !

 

[Moshmen]

She try couldn’t really find any vids - gonna be stripping some last years outdoor for hash I’ll get ya vid in day or two - might b something on utube

 

[Rootsruler]

No its not a dehydrater it will dry the bud and cure the bud and you can leave it in long term for storage will keep humidity at 61 percent. 4 day dry and 4 day cure or set what you want

Wouldn't a 4 day dry and 4 day cure dry them to quickly?

 

[Moshmen]

This is a ad for a brush I just use a bbq brush - silicone

You have go there it’s age restricted sorry I don’t know how they get around that ! Lol

 

[Moshmen]

Wouldn't a 4 day dry and 4 day cure dry them to quickly?

I did not read the post just scanned I thought he was freeze drying ? It’s not

 

[Moshmen]

Wouldn't a 4 day dry and 4 day cure dry them to quickly?

None of the retail stuff you’ve worked on been dried fast? U know the deal / personal preference- if you r making oil I don’t think it matters , someday I’d like to try freeze dried to make hash , I like it to be as dry as possible

 

[OLDCRO]

Wouldn't a 4 day dry and 4 day cure dry them to quickly?

No works well noticed big difference in taste and very smooth no more harsh smoke.

 

[Rootsruler]

None of the retail stuff you’ve worked on been dried fast? U know the deal / personal preference- if you r making oil I don’t think it matters , someday I’d like to try freeze dried to make hash , I like it to be as dry as possible

No. The growers won't allow their work to be fast tracked like that. I saw a grower resign because the owners wanted him to shortcut the dry/cure portion of the process. Growers that can produce consistently high yields are not easy to find.

One of the places I worked at had a sea container that was temp and humidity controlled. They did it the old school way and hung full plants much like I do. In fact the process I use is the process they used. Another had a room outfitted from a company that deals in herb drying on a large scale for beer companies and the like. Their dry room probably cost 10x what the sea container cost. The time difference between the two was maybe a week. I didn't notice a quality difference between them.

@OLDCRO - What is the capacity of your dry chamber?

 

[OLDCRO]

No. The growers won't allow their work to be fast tracked like that. I saw a grower resign because the owners wanted him to shortcut the dry/cure portion of the process. Growers that can produce consistently high yields are not easy to find.

One of the places I worked at had a sea container that was temp and humidity controlled. They did it the old school way and hung full plants much like I do. In fact the process I use is the process they used. Another had a room outfitted from a company that deals in herb drying on a large scale for beer companies and the like. Their dry room probably cost 10x what the sea container cost. The time difference between the two was maybe a week. I didn't notice a quality difference between them.

@OLDCRO - What is the capacity of your dry chamber?

2.2 pounds wet 4 pounds storage

 

[Rootsruler]

2.2 pounds wet 4 pounds storage

It's a branded Cannatrol or is it a wine fridge? How large is the machine? Rough dimensions?

If it works as well as you say and is a converted wine fridge maybe I can get one of the employees at the Dirt Cheap to conveniently find me one that fell off the truck!!

 

[IamN2pot]

It's a branded Cannatrol or is it a wine fridge? How large is the machine? Rough dimensions?

Cannatrol Cool Cure – Cannatrol

www.cannatrols.com

 

[Rootsruler]

This is a ad for a brush I just use a bbq brush - silicone

You have go there it’s age restricted sorry I don’t know how they get around that ! Lol

I just think it's silly to use a brush like that. The bowl trimmer is doing essentially the same thing. I guess if you only have an ounce or two the brush makes sense but the bowl trimmer is much faster and does essentially the same thing.

 

[Dirtbag]

I was hoping this thread was about lawncare...

I hang whole branches to dry after removing large leaves. Dry 24 hrs at 75f and 35%RH to get some moisture out, then about 10-12 days at 60f/60%RH until the stems crack.

Then I remove all the buds from the stems and bag it up to do the final sweat for a couple days, then trim it, or not. Goes into vac seal bags at that point.

 

[smoke]

Used hand crank bowl trimmer for the last 2 years, this last crop i bought one of those knock off electric trimmer on amazon for 300$. Basically a Trim Pro trimmer at 20% the cost.

Then onto drying net until the buds are at about 68% moisture using those cheap hygrometers (about 7 days) then into a big cvault burping until the hygrometers read a steady 62% then just burping occasionally during "the cure at 62"

 

[tobh]

I was hoping this thread was about lawncare...

I hang whole branches to dry after removing large leaves. Dry 24 hrs at 75f and 35%RH to get some moisture out, then about 10-12 days at 60f/60%RH until the stems crack.

Then I remove all the buds from the stems and bag it up to do the final sweat for a couple days, then trim it, or not. Goes into vac seal bags at that point.

Laugh react because I was so waiting for you to say something about lawn care lol

I do similar to DB. It's a foolproof method for good, maybe even great, smoke

 

[SSgrower]

No works well noticed big difference in taste and very smooth no more harsh smoke.

Roots & Oldcrow, I'll have a 2nd. Anyway these new dry/cure/store machines are new tech I've seen video's and canna shows praise them very costly but great results, they are legit but expensive. SSgrower I wet trim and hang

 

[Garbage_bear]

I hang whole plants minus fan leaves. I aim for 60*f 60%humidity for
About ten to fourteen days. Dry trim is very important to me for extracts. Better trim when dry. I hand trim everything to conserve trichombs. It’s always way better than dispensary commercial bud

 

[steamroller]

I'll be chopping soon.
I remove branches from main stem and then remove all fan/water leaves leaving sugar leaves and decent stem.
I start 68f-70f to get in a safe zone from mold. Thick buds can have issues even after chop so out of a real why screw it up now I take no chances.
After first 3 days I will go to 60f/50rh.
All int the dark with good circulation, but no strong fans blowing on cut.
I then when I feel good cut sugar leaves, stems and place in paper bags. Maybe I close the tops maybe not.
At this point I introduce little RH meters to each bag placed on top of buds.
Once under 65%RH I move to jars with a meter in each.
65% means burp, between 64-55 carry on and enjoy, under 55 I add a water based vegetable [ fuck paying for humidity and the boveda 62% packs ] like a carrot for a day.
Without meters you are shooting in the dark. The whole burp every X is BS if you have no measurement.
The meters are cheap [less than buying new batteries for them]....

Amazon.com

 

[smoke]

I'll be chopping soon.
I remove branches from main stem and then remove all fan/water leaves leaving sugar leaves and decent stem.
I start 68f-70f to get in a safe zone from mold. Thick buds can have issues even after chop so out of a real why screw it up now I take no chances.
After first 3 days I will go to 60f/50rh.
All int the dark with good circulation, but no strong fans blowing on cut.
I then when I feel good cut sugar leaves, stems and place in paper bags. Maybe I close the tops maybe not.
At this point I introduce little RH meters to each bag placed on top of buds.
Once under 65%RH I move to jars with a meter in each.
65% means burp, between 64-55 carry on and enjoy, under 55 I add a water based vegetable [ fuck paying for humidity and the boveda 62% packs ] like a carrot for a day.
Without meters you are shooting in the dark. The whole burp every X is BS if you have no measurement.
The meters are cheap [less than buying new batteries for them]....

Amazon.com

I use the same hygrometers and calibrate them using salt in bottle cap moistened with water, should be 75%.

Yea i agree without them your guessing. Some say they can feel the difference. I can't.