How to Trim Weed: Jointly's Guide to Trimming Cannabis

If you are getting into growing cannabis at home, you need to know how to trim weed. Beyond making those wild-looking branches of matured buds look more appealing, there are some important reasons to trim your weed. Primarily, trimming creates a smoother product to consume. However, proper cannabis trimming also boosts potency and prevents mold. Trimming cannabis is more than just snipping away at your buds. Many growers dread trimming as it can be exhausting. However, expert growers understand that trimming weed is a vital part of producing high quality cannabis. In this article, we will discuss how to trim weed and go over some ways to make weed trimming fun and easy! Let's learn how to trim weed.

How to Trim Weed: Choosing Wet Trim or Dry Trim

You can either trim wet or trim dry. Most novice growers looking to learn how to trim weed don’t know the difference between wet trimming and dry trimming.

With wet trimming, you trim your buds immediately after harvesting them, as in before you dry and cure the buds. On the other hand, dry trimming means drying the buds first, curing your weed, and then trimming. So, should you do a dry trim or a wet trim? To determine the appropriate approach, consider these elements:

Choose dry trimming if:

• You are drying your flower in low-humidity conditions
• Mold isn’t a concern
• You want denser buds
• Space isn’t an issue
• You want a slow drying process to prevent odors

Choose wet trimming if:

• Humidity is high
• Mold-growth is a concern
• You want sturdy buds
• Space is an issue
• You want the buds to dry quickly
• You want highly potent buds

How to Trim Marijuana Plants: The Process

Once you’ve determined which process to employ, it’s now time to begin. But before you start snipping away, you need to set yourself up for success. And that includes getting the right tools for trimming. Here’s what you need:

• Small pruning shears
• Big pruning shears or sharp scissors

• Three trimming trays to separate the trims
• Disposable gloves
• A comfortable chair
• Cleaning tools
• Stash jar
• Rubbing alcohol to clean resin from your hands and work area

Once you have everything in place, follow these guidelines to start trimming.

Wash your hands and wear gloves

Wash and dry your hands properly. Wear gloves to protect your hands from the resin from the sticky buds and to avoid contaminating your flower.

Cut the plant and remove the branches

Always begin from the upper part of the plant when removing branches for trimming. The top part will likely mature first due to your grow lights or sun exposure. If you want to remove a branch, hold it at the bottom and cut it off before transferring them to your tray.

Remove the fan leaves

Fan leaves are the large bright, green leaves. If you remove fan leaves while growing your cannabis during the flowering stage, more light will reach your buds. Whatever fan leaves remain on the plant should be removed. If you are doing a wet trim, you can often just pluck the fan leaves off by hand. If you are doing a dry trim, you will want to use scissors.

Remove buds from branches

Separate the flowers (sometimes called “bucking” the buds) from the stem with scissors. Make sure to keep the buds, leaves, branches and stems all separate.

Trim sugar leaves

Sugar leaves are the small leaves that go deep inside the buds. How you trim the leaves is up to you. However, don't dig in to remove the sugar leaves, as this may damage buds. Just take the leaves off the best way you can while avoiding damage. After trimming, set the buds on the tray until you complete the process.

Dry and cure

If you trimmed wet, it is time to dry your cannabis and then cure it. For an in-depth discussion of curing cannabis, check out our article How to Cure Weed. If you trimmed dry, your flower is ready to be used. Now that you know how to trim marijuana plants, let’s discuss what you should do with all your leftover stems, leaves, and trim.

What to Do with Leftover Leaves and Stems

You might be wondering what to do with leftover leaves and stems after trimming your weed harvest. Of course, you can just throw your trim in the trash. Or you can put your trim to use. For example, cannabinoids remain in the leaves. Although sugar leaves are not the best to smoke, you can preserve them to make cannabutter. Similarly, you can use the stems to make weed tea from stems.

How to Trim Weed and Have Fun Doing It

With these tips on how to trim weed, you can successfully trim your buds to improve look and taste. But trimming can be tiresome when you have a lot of cannabis to process. To make the experience more fun, try recruiting some friends to help you out. Whether you trimming alone or with friends, turn on some great music to make trimming your weed far more enjoyable. It’s also a perfect opportunity to sit and enjoy the effects of your favorite edible. For more information about growing cannabis, check out our article How to Grow Weed.

Use the Jointly App to Get More Out of Cannabis

Have you started your cannabis wellness journey? Jointly is a new cannabis wellness app that helps you discover purposeful cannabis consumption so you can achieve your wellness goals with cannabis and CBD. On the Jointly app, you can find new cannabis products, rate products based on how well they helped you achieve your goals, and track and optimize 15 factors that can impact your cannabis experience. These 15 factors include your dose, the environment in which you consume cannabis, who you are with when you ingest, how hydrated you are, the quality of your diet, how much sleep you got last night, and more. Download the Jointly app on the App Store or the Google Play Store to get started on your cannabis wellness journey.