Take out your bud trimming tools because harvest season is here! The Trimmer Store’s Eric Singleton shares a few useful tips for making the most of your home grow. Want to learn more? Be sure to check out Singleton’s workshop, Evolution of Cannabis Harvesting: Learn to Reduce Stress and Costs Through Proficiency & Automation, at the 6th CannaGrow Expo in Denver on October 28th and 29th!
What are your top three tips for first time home growers?
First, be prepared. You have to have a system in place and a plan of execution weeks before your harvest. Second, assemble a good team. It doesn’t have to be a big team, but everyone needs to know their role and be ready to work. Third, appropriate expectations. You’re not going to be an expert the first time or even the second time, but with proper coaching from Trimmer Store experts you can find the system that works best for your needs and capabilities.
What tools does an at-home grower need for trimming under 10 plants?
To do that amount of bud-trimming, an at-home grower would need to possess the following: three good pairs of scissors (one pruner and two trimmers), large plastic tarp for the trim area, small wet or dry trimming machine, eye protection, mask, earplugs, nitrile gloves, spray bottle of denatured alcohol, spray bottle of water, spray bottle of hemp oil, stainless steel perforated baking sheets and racks for transport and storage, a good work ethic, and some music.
Would you recommend using a machine?
A home grower would benefit from incorporating the small wet or dry trimming machine because it cuts down on time spent harvesting. It also saves money and the headache of staffing and managing an unnecessarily large trim crew. Even if the home-grower already has a good crew, implementing the machine will only speed them up–automation saves time and money, two things we could all use a little more of. The right machinery can also be very helpful to home-growers, and even small to large scale producers, to mitigate injury and ease the burden of redundant manual labor.
If a home grower wants to take their trimming game to the next level, what would you suggest?
Not to be a salesman, but you have to seek professional coaching first. The Trimmer Store can help you find the right machinery and operating procedures that help you maximize your goals and help you avoid all the mistakes we’ve made and seen others make in the past. We also have seven years of tips and tricks we’ve learned from helping companies harvest and develop systems that generate hundreds of pounds of cannabis a month.
How can the right tool increase a grower/patient’s quality of life?
There is a lot to learn about implementing automation in our new growing industry. There are a lot of options that can really help the process. There are shucking machines to strip the flower from the stalk, there are bulk quantity trimmers that cut down on the money and time spent on trimming, and there are sifting and curing machines to ease the post-harvest processing. The options to automate are endless and can help improve a grower’s quality of life. The Trimmer Store has numerous stories of customers with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, amputations, or people working through other types of illnesses and injuries, who experience life changing relief from implementing the appropriate tools. These are patients that need their cannabis to improve quality of life and also treat their conditions and simply can’t spend money on harvest trimming crews, or spend days doing hard manual labor. The biggest tool one can utilize is seeking guidance from professionals with years of knowledge (which at this point is a very limited pool) and having an open mind to do things differently than your personal expectations. There is so much to learn and a lot of misinformation to sift through. That is why our company stands as an honest, experienced, data driven guide to the world of harvesting, trimming and processing.
The Trimmer Store’s Eric Singleton; Photo credit: Dan Curtis
