Knowing how to trim cannabis plants properly is a big part of maintaining any cannabis garden. If you want to have the strongest and most fruitful yield at the end of your growth cycle. In this guide, we’re going to cover everything you need to know about bud trimming, including what it is, why it’s essential, what trimmers to use, and what trimming methods are available. At the end of this section, we’ll also provide recommendations for our favorite cannabis trimming products.
What is Cannabis Trimming?
Cannabis trimming is precisely what it sounds like – pruning your plants. In other words, you’re eliminating imperfections and manicuring your plants. While it can be difficult for novice cannabis growers to understand why this is important, experienced growers agree that cannabis trimming is a necessary step in any grow operation.
Why Bud Trimming is Important
Cannabis trimming is essential for three reasons:
- Appearance: If you’re growing cannabis and you have any intent to sell what you end up with, appearance is going to make a big difference in the profit that you turn. Moder cannabis consumers want to see well-manicured and uniform buds. If you skip trimming your product, you run the risk of potential buyers turning down your supply because it won’t look like “good” weed.
- Smoothness: The leaves that grow around the edges of a bud play a significant role in determining how harsh your marijuana will be when smoked. Trimming off those excess leaves makes the smoke it produces smoother, in turn making it a much more attractive product overall.
- Concentration: In the world of cannabis, THC concentration has quickly become the name of the game. The leaves that you trim off of your buds have a much lower level of THC in them than the actual bud does. This means that a well-trimmed flower will equate to a higher THC concentration/bud ratio.
What to Do With Your Trimmings
Your trimmings don’t have to go to waste. They’re useful for several alternatives, such as tinctures, hash, edibles, and teas. When you take this into account, you might realize that there’s a lot to gain from saving these cannabis trimmings, whether you’re cultivating for personal use or financial gain.
Types of Cannabis Trimmers
When trimming cannabis, there are two main tools that you need: shears and scissors. These tools should always be kept clean, in good condition, and above all, sharp. Dull shears or scissors could damage your buds, and even have the capability of ruining a large amount of your product if the dulling is too severe.
The first tool that you need in cannabis trimming is large pruning shears. Shears are great for getting through thick stalks and branches on your cannabis plants.
You’ll also need a good pair of sharp trimming scissors. When shopping around for them be sure to pay attention to the size and sharpness of the blade. You’ll use the scissors to get into the harder-to-reach areas on your plants, such as the buds and leaves.
Hand-Operated vs. Electric Bud Trimmers
Many bud growers grow to resent the process of cannabis trimming because it can be tedious and time-consuming (and many simply outsource it out if they’re operation is large enough). As a result, it can be tempting to opt for an electric bud trimmer to speed up the process. Hand-trimming is a process that takes more time and effort but has its pros and cons as well.
While electric bud trimmers do take less time than their automatic counterparts, they can be expensive. Consequently, your average cannabis growing hobbyist may not have this type of machinery in their budget.
They’re also widely known for over-trimming buds since they aren’t able to account for fluffiness, stoutness, or length – which could result in the loss of a good amount of product.
Hand-trimming is heralded as the best way to go about cannabis trimming. Since the human eye can account for bud size and other factors, you can assess each bud on a case-by-case basis. This means that your risk of over trimming is drastically reduced, and you can perfect each bud to look its very best.
Hand trimming also has its fair share of downfalls. It costs more in labor to pay someone to do this, it’s time-consuming, monotonous to some, and it can be challenging to organize depending on the volume of cannabis trimming you have to do. If you’re only pruning your stash, this doesn’t present as much of a problem, but large-scale growers have to take it into consideration.
Wet vs. Dry Bud Trimming
The two main types of bud trimming are wet trimming and dry trimming. There is no “right” or “best” way to trim your buds, but there are a few situations where one or the other will be necessary.
Wet Cannabis Trimming
Wet cannabis trimming is performed before your buds are hung to dry. It’s called wet trimming because it’s done while your buds are still wet from being cared for during your growth process. Wet trimming is best utilized in the following situations:
- You are concerned that your buds may be prone to mold
- You only have a small place to dry a large number of buds
- You want your buds to dry quickly
- The humidity in your drying area exceeds 60% RH
Dry Cannabis Trimming
When you trim your buds after they have already been hung and dried, it’s called dry cannabis trimming. You should consider dry trimming your cannabis plants if the following scenarios occur:
- Your goal is to have denser buds.
- The color of your buds is of little importance to you. (Buds are likely to lose their purple or green color when trimmed dry)
- The humidity in your drying area is below 45% RH, and you’re not concerned about mold issues
- You want to encourage slower-drying buds. (This is important if you want to avoid “hay” smell, as the number one cause of this is the buds being dried too quickly)
How to Wet Trim Bud
Before you even begin trimming your bud, you’ll need to set up a comfortable place to do it. Although it may seem like the process will be quick and easy, you might find that this takes much longer than you originally had expected. Because of this, it’s a good idea to choose a day where you’re mostly free of other responsibilities.
The area that you perform your trimming should have lots of space, be free of all clutter, and be clean. Also, keep in mind that small leaves will likely litter the area where you’re doing the trimming, so avoiding carpeted areas can make clean up time much easier for you. If you’re not able to avert carpeted areas, you can also lay down a tarp or an old sheet to catch any trimmings.
When trimming wet buds, you can expect a high level of odor. In other words, be prepared for your trimming area to reek of marijuana. If you want to minimize the level of smell in your area, you can run an exhaust fan and a carbon filter. This won’t diminish the scent completely, but it’ll make it much less offensive and more tolerable.
Turn on the TV, an audiobook, or try throwing on some music on in the background to help get in the zone so that you can power through it, and you’ll be surprised how fast time can fly. Here are the steps for wet trimming buds:
Tools Needed For Trimming:
- Big pruning shears
- Small, sharp scissors
- Disposable rubber gloves
- Three trays (or cookie sheets)
- Glass mason jars or other airtight containers
Step One: Set up Your Trimming Station
First, lay out your trays or cookie sheets. The first tray will hold your untrimmed buds, the second will contain the trimmed buds, and the third will hold your leaves and other trimmings. Try to keep these areas as isolated as you can, but don’t worry too much if you have some overspill, as this is expected.
Step Two: Prepare Your Hands
When handling cannabis plants, you always want to remain as sterile as possible. Give your hands a good wash and put on your disposable rubber gloves.
If you choose not to use rubber gloves, be prepared for your hands to get sticky. As you complete your cannabis trimming, the sticky resin will adhere to your hands and fingertips. Rubbing alcohol can come in handy to remove this from your hands.
Step Three: Cut off a Branch
Your heavy-duty shears to only cut off as much as you want to work with at a time to keep things as manageable as possible. If you’re a beginner, avoid cutting down all the branches at once. This will allow you to get a feel for what size branches you can deal with and prevents you from biting off more than you can chew.
Make sure that you don’t remove any buds from the branches you have cut off. Doing it this way ensures that your buds don’t get dried out, giving you an extra two days or so to come back and pick up where you left off.
Step Four: Remove Any Large Leaves
At this point, remove any broad fan leaves from the branch. You can easily pull these off with your fingers, but you can also use your small scissors as well. These leaves don’t have any THC value, so stack them in a pile as you go. You’ll dispose of these later.
Step Five: Trim Off Sugar Leaves
You’ll notice now that there are small leaves that stick out from the buds on your cannabis branch. These leaves have been dubbed “sugar leaves.” There’s no need to eradicate these, but you do need to trim off the ends of each one if they stick out. Use your small scissors to complete this step.
These sugar leaves can have a good amount of trichomes on them, making them ideal for hash, salves, and edibles. Put these in a separate pile from the fan leaves to save for new projects.
If, at any point during this process, your buds begin to dry out, store them in a jar or other airtight container to protect them. Then, you can come back later and finish the trimming process without potentially ruining a portion of your harvest.
Step Six: Set your Buds to Dry
Now that you’ve completed the hard stuff, you can set your buds to dry. You can either remove all the stems and lay them to dry on a drying rack or hang them up by their stems to dry.
Here are some guidelines for cannabis drying environments to follow:
- Days one to three: 65 degrees at 55% humidity
- Days four to six: 70 degrees at 50% humidity
- Days seven to ten: 73-75 degrees at 45% humidity (you’ll know when your buds are done drying when their stems break off evenly and make a nice snapping sound)
Step Seven: Cure your Buds
The final step of the wet cannabis trimming is to cure your harvest. The best containers to do this in will be airtight, such as glass mason jars. Simply place your manicured and dried buds into the jar or other airtight container and follow your curing process.
How to Dry Trim Bud
Trimming dry bud involves much of the same processes as trimming wet bud, but there are a few minor variations. You will choose and clean your area the same way, as well as use the same tray setup. Here are the steps for dry cannabis trimming:
Tools Needed For Trimming:
- Big pruning shears
- Small, sharp scissors
- Disposable rubber gloves
- Three trays (or cookie sheets)
- Mason jars or other airtight containers
Step One: Cut Branches
Use heavy-duty shears to remove all the branches from your cannabis plant. There’s no need to work with one at a time, as they’ll all go through the drying process before you start trimming. Make sure to cut the branches off to the root of the plant for the best results. You can also reduce the branches down a bit to make them lighter, effectively making them easier to dry. We’ll discuss this more in later steps.
Step Two: Remove Fan Leaves
Along the stem of the cannabis plant that you’re working with, you will see large fan leaves throughout. These leaves are large enough to remove with your hands; simply pull them off and put them into a pile. Remember that these leaves don’t have enough THC content to be used in recipes, so be sure to dispose of them once you’re done removing them.
Step Three: Hang Plants to Dry
This step will give you about a ten-day break in the trimming process. Hang your branches to dry in a well-ventilated and sterile area. You’ll know when it’s time to move to the next step when your stems snap easily and sound crisp. Here are some guidelines for the environment you should keep in the room you’re doing your drying in:
- Days one to three: 65 degrees at 55% humidity
- Days four to seven: 70 degrees at 50% humidity
- Days eight to ten: 75 degrees at 45% humidity
Step Four: Trim Your Buds
Using your small scissors, trim the small leaves from the edges of the bud. Make sure you do this over the tray or cookie sheet that you have set aside to catch your trimmings. This will not only compile them for use in recipes, but it’ll also make cleaning up a breeze. Continue trimming until your buds reach the desired look.
Step Five: Cure
Once you’ve trimmed your buds to your liking, seal them up in an airtight container and follow your desired curing process.
How to Choose the Right Trimmers
Choosing the right trimmers may take a bit of trial and error. You can always go with tried-and-true brands, such as Fiskars, and look in your local lawn and garden store for other recommended brands. We have done most of the heavy lifting for you in the next section on the best trimmers on the market today.
A Quick Review of 8 Popular Bud Trimmers
Choosing the best bud trimmers can be a daunting task for even the most experienced cannabis cultivator. Here’s a list of some of our favorite cannabis trimming brands:
Cannabis Trimming and Pruning Shears by Greenthumbpro
Hand-trimming fans will love these trimming and pruning shears by Greenthumbpro. The handles of this device are built for comfort and grip, making your cannabis trimming job easier than ever. The blade is also sharp and precise, which is ideal for getting into those hard-to-reach areas. The spring-loaded design takes the stress off your hands as well. No matter how big or small your harvest is, these can get the job done
- Price: $16.97
If you’re running a hydroponic grow operation, you know how different the buds can be to trim. You need a much more precise and sharp cutting tool to get the job done right. These micro-snips get the job done well and quickly. All this and priced under $10 – you can’t beat it!
- Price: $9.45
Looking for a precise pruner that is easy on your hands and speeds up your trimming process? Then look no further. The Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruner checks off all your boxes. This well-known, respected brand has done it again! You can trim anything from an ounce, a pound, or more with these pruners.
- Price: $11.24
iPower GLTRIMBOWL16M 16-Inch Leaf Bowl Trimmer
The iPower Leaf Bowl Trimmer is great for beginners and experts alike. This product is specially designed to make trimming buds a job that anyone can do. If your average yield is about an ounce, this is the perfect product for you. Since it’s an electric trimmer, it doesn’t always get all of the trimming done for you, but it does most of the work, which will save you hours of work.
- Price: $129.98
This professional-grade bowl trimmer comes equipped with adjustable blades, a metal gearbox, and silicone fingers. It’s hand turned, which minimizes stress on your buds and decreases the change that harsh edges will maul them. This product works best on wet trimmed buds since it can pulverize buds that have already been dried.
- Price: $189.99
Trimbag Premium Dry Trimming Kit
This genius starter kit’s perfect for processors that are new to the cannabis industry. It supplies you with everything you need to trim dry cannabis buds, as it includes 1 Trimbag Dry Trimmer, 1 pack of Common Culture Ratchet Hangers, Common Culture Trimming Scissors, a box of Turkey Bags (10 Bags), and a “Legalize Tomatoes” sticker.
- Price: $289.97
Trimming cannabis can be an exciting process, as you get to see the fruit of all of your hard labor. However, it can quickly turn into a frustrating and monotonous process if you don’t have a good plan for how you’ll go about it. Always take a minute to make sure you have all of the necessary tools, supplies, and music (or some other form of audible entertainment) needed to make it a breeze.
Don’t let the price tag of this product scare you away; it’s well worth the money. The Trimatek leaf and bud trimmer is a cheaper alternative to high-end trimmers such as Trim pro, and it gives similar results, as well. It also features a mesh bag for catching buds, so it even works for industrial grows.
- Price: $699.89
The Risentek electric trimmer performs well for both wet and dry trimming, making it versatile enough to work for almost anyone. The sixteen-inch trimmer is sharp and precise, and the machine itself features a shoot gate, which simplifies the emptying process. The Risentek can trim an entire 5-gallon bucket of buds in just under thirty minutes – think of all the time you could save!
- Price: $649.99