WET OR DRY TRIM
WHICH IS BETTER?
By Victoria Raine
A frequently asked question is Which is Better – Wet Trim or Dry Trim? Wet or dry trim can be judged on various things Questions to consider are How you plan to use the flowers, your grow’s yield size, and of course, your personal preference. The only difference between the two techniques is when you trim your flower. To assist you in making the right decision for your plants here are the techniques/advantages and disadvantages of both
ADVANTAGES OF WET TRIMS
When marijuana buds are freshly harvested, the fan leaves and sugar leaves stick out making it much easier to remove them. Easier trimming means the time it takes to trim is greatly reduced. . Wet trims provide fast-paced harvesting, which is why they are highly demanded. Wet trimming takes up less space they are much smaller and can be dried on a drying rack. The buds puff out when they dry, making it appear large in size which means that wet trimmed buds look more appealing. Wet trims also remove a lot of water content from the plants, making the drying process faster than usual.
DISADVANTAGES OF WET TRIMS
The biggest disadvantage is lower quality buds. Wet trimming reduces the quality of the product. The sugar and fan leaves protect the buds while they dry creating an ideal moisture level. When you keep those leaves intact it allows those buds to dry at the correct speed. When they are removed before drying, the buds dry up more quickly than they should and negatively impact quality. Shorter drying time means retention of chlorophyll. More chlorophyll adds a harsh flavor to marijuana, making it less smooth for smoking. Trimming immediately after harvest, before the buds begin to dry, means you have to process your entire harvest at once. There will be more terpene loss due to wet trimming. You lose terpenes because, while drying an already trimmed flower, there will be a shortage of sugar leaves to preserve the terpenes. And a lot of flavor and aroma are lost while quick drying. Wet trim is faster but does not produce a good quality flower. Its messier than the dry trimming technique. The wet material sticks to the scissors and builds up during wet trim resulting in jamming the scissors or rusting them. Cleaning and taking care of the scissors is a regular requirement using the wet trimming technique.
ADVANTAGES OF USING DRY TRIMS
When you dry trim you do not cut any leaves off after harvest. Instead, you let the marijuana flowers dry at their optimum conditions at their own rate. The best part of dry trimming is that it provides a high rate of trichome preservation. The drying process is delayed and slowed down while using this technique, which preserves the potency and the terpenes making the consumption smoother and more pleasant smoke. When Buds dry at their own speed and at the correct humidity the chlorophyll has time to fade away the more chlorophyll they lose, the better the bud smells and smokes. With dry trim there is no need to trim them immediately. You can keep storing them as is, until you are ready to trim them. This technique is much cleaner than wet trim. As it is easy to trim off sticky and harden trichomes, the pieces of equipment you use do not get dirty and require little or no care for their maintenance.
DISADVANTAGES OF USING DRY TRIMS
When the leaves dry, they curl up and adhere to the bud. This makes it harder to remove them.The sugar leaves can be almost impossible to find and cut off. Because it’s is more difficult, its much slower and you will need more man hours to get through the same amount. The disadvantages of dry trimming include damaging the trichomes. This happens because your flower has dried out, which hardens trichomes making it sensitive, delicate, and easily breakable. So, dry trimming requires lots of attention and caution. This process also requires a lot of space to hang your plants to dry out. Drying space tends to be an issue for growers growing in limited areas, which makes it difficult to hang their large plants. When marijuana is drying, there is a chance of mold. It usually forms between the stalk and the bud, so drying it after removing the stalk means a considerably lower risk of mold.
Dry trim
If the quality of the bud is more important than anything elseIf you are not able to get through all the trimming in one day
Wet trim
if you want to get it done as quick as possible to save on labor costs.If you have limited drying space
WHICH IS BEST FOR COMMERCIAL HARVESTING?
Commercial farmers harvest very frequently, generally wet trim is most popular among commercial growers. Wet trimming allows you to trim the plant faster, and dries the plant faster. This means you can deliver your plant to the market quicker than usual. However, there will be terpene loss at some level due to wet trimming.This makes the flower have less bag appeal, which leads to less demand and consequently a cheap sale. Dry trimming your harvest, the flower’s quality is much better. Many growers would prefer to dry trim, because they want better smelling and better tasting buds, but they can’t justify the huge increase in labor costs. If you have a large operation the solution is an automatic trimming machine. In the past, these could only handle wet flower, but now there are plenty of automatic dry trimmers Earlier, commercial growers did not prefer dry trimming as it had a reputation for damaging the trichomes. The concept behind having damaged trichomes was that since the dried flower is easily breakable, the tumbling takes off more trichomes. However many trimming machines are optimized to dry trim, which means they won’t damage your trichomes. Contact Grow Maid now to schedule an appointment with our expert trimmers on staff to assist with your harvest, trim and cure or use one of our packages where we do all the work for you.