Trimming and harvest day: wet trim, dry trim and tools

Both methods work. Choose based on your room’s humidity and your time.

Wet or dry

Tips

• When branches are dry, snip buds off into a sealed tub so the rest don’t over-dry while you work.
• Use two pairs of sharp scissors, and clean one while you use the other.
• Wear gloves. Where it’s lawful, you can save clean, uncontaminated sugar leaf. Keep any moldy or suspect material out of all processing.
• Big fan leaves have little resin, so compost them.

A mold note

Keep tools clean, handle buds gently and make sure the flower is fully dry before storing it. A study of cannabis pathogens found that mechanical trimming increased Penicillium on buds, with wounds or spread of internal fungi proposed as possible explanations.

Outdoor harvests

Outdoor flower can be contaminated by insects, droppings or decay. A water rinse isn’t a validated decontamination step, and it can spread contamination or keep buds wet longer. Don’t count on washing to salvage moldy or fecally contaminated flower; keep suspect material out of use.