How Do You Pick the Best Bud Trimmer for Wet or Dry Trimming?

With so many bud trimmers available, it can be tough to choose the right one. This article will help you find the best cannabis trimmer by starting with a few key decisions, beginning with the type of buds you'll be trimming.

We'll cover three main points when choosing a bud trimmer for your grow: wet versus dry trimming, the amount of capacity you need, and the type of end product you want.

1. First, decide whether you will trim wet or dry

When harvested, your bud will be wet. Dry bud refers to weed that has been dried and cured immediately after harvesting.

Both wet and dry trimming have pros and cons, but the trend over the last few years has been to trim dry. In fact, the only reason to trim wet is if you are harvesting massive quantities and don't have the space to cure them all. Personally, I like the approach of having a dry trimmer and a hybrid (for wet trimming) so that you can spread out your workload, trimming some now and some later. If you are still not sure which method is best for you, read all about Wet vs. Dry Trimming here.

Will you only be trimming Dry? See Dry Trimmer collection.

Will you only be trimming Wet? See the Hybrid Trimmer collection.

When should you get a hybrid bud trimmer?

First, Hybrid trimmers do a good job on dry product, but they are not ideal; there is still a scenario where they make sense.

Will you be trimming both? If you will be doing a lot of both wet and dry trimming, we suggest getting a hybrid for wet trimming and a dry trimmer for dry trimming. On the other hand, if you can only afford one trimmer or your quantity of dry trimming is minimal, then you will do well with just a hybrid. If you do choose to get a hybrid trimmer for both wet and dry trimming, then you should at least get it with a variable speed so that you can slow the trimming down to be gentler on the dry.

You can add variable speed to the Centurion Hybrids, while variable speed is standard on the Triminator Hybrid. 

1. Word of Caution: Many of our customers buy a wet/dry trimmer (Hybrid), thinking they're getting two benefits for the price of one trimmer. First of all, dry trimmers are much cheaper than hybrid and secondly, they're actually more gentle on dry bud than hybrid trimmers. One reason for this is that dry trimmers don't require a vacuum, which can be a bit harsh on the trichomes of dry bud. When we explain this to our customers, they usually change their minds and go for a dry trimmer or a smaller one of each.

2. How Much Capacity Do You Need?

Here are a few things to keep in mind about capacity. It might seem a bit complicated, but from what we’ve seen, it’s the smartest way to spend your money wisely and still get the best trimming equipment for your operation.

1. It should be obvious that the size of your bud trimmer will depend on a) the size of your harvests and b) the available time of your workforce.
2. Not so obvious - you will need a very different size labor force if you're trimming wet. Since wet trimming increases the risk of mold, general degradation, and that foul, recently-mowed lawn in a plastic bag smell. You've got to trim fast before these undesirable effects set in, and for that, you will need all hands on deck and either a mix of smaller hybrid trimmers or 1 high-capacity trimmer. We highly recommend having more than 1 trimmer if you're wet trimming; if your only trimmer goes down, you could ruin your entire harvest as wet bud waits for trimming.
3. Even less obvious - you could select a machine (or multiple smaller machines) based on your current work capacity requirements, or you could adjust your manpower/hours available for the task based on the capacity of the trimmer you already own. Of course, if you have a dedicated post-harvest team, then it's a different conversation.
4. Also, consider a mix of machines, especially where you have different qualities of bud and you want to treat them differently. A farmer might send his cabbages in an open bed truck to the market, but not his strawberries - these would go in a refrigerated truck. Your bud deserves at least the same level of treatment; C-Grade bud or hemp or even just Pre-Roll material will more likely be trimmed in a high-capacity Centurion Pro Dry Match Trimmer Model 5, while top shelf (A-Grade) material will do better in a Greenbroz M1 Auto Dry Timmer, which is gentler on your trichomes and terps generally. The higher capacity Cadillac of gentle - the Mobius M108S Trimmer is the best choice when you need super high quality and high capacity.

Since your choice of wet vs dry bud trimming will be the driving force behind the capacity you need, we will consider them separately.

Dry Trim Capacity

A useful calculation: Divide the total weight of your expected dry harvest by the number of hours that you have to dedicate to the trimming process. Let's say you have 150 lbs to trim and you need to get it done in 5 days, and you have 5 people who can each contribute 2 hours per day for 5 days. Hours available: 5 x 5 x 2 = 50hrs. Dividing 150lbs by 50 hrs, you get 3 lbs/hr. In this case, you could almost get away with just 1 Triminator Mini Dry, which can do 2-5 lbs per hour, but to allow for downtime and cleaning, we would definitely recommend 2 of these, which will also give you a backup in case 1 of them leaves you in the lurch.

If we take the quantity (150lbs) and again use 5 people, but now we want to complete the job in 2 full 8-hour days then things look very different. Since you essentially need 1 operator per trimmer, you will need more machines. Alternatively, you can get 1 high-capacity machine and only place 2 people on the job, and still, you will have time for frequent cleaning to ensure that the trimmer runs smoothly.

Keep in mind that while you could have 5 people at say 8 hours each available, it's not going to help you if you only have 1 machine and need to complete the job in 1 day

Got a small harvest of 10 lbs, but you also have a bunch of guys sitting around doing nothing, then you can easily get away with a handheld trimmer like this one for $499, which will double the speed/capacity of each operator but still allow for the precision and care you require in hand trimming. 

Check out this chart to help decide what size is right for you.

Do you need help determining the best trimmer or mix of trimmers based on your specific parameters? We're more than happy to help, so give us a call or email.

3. What is your intended use for the trimmed bud?

If you're after premium / top-shelf bud where appearance matters, you'll want to go for a trimmer that's very gentle on your bud, both in terms of trim accuracy (tight trim but not too tight) and preservation of trichomes and terpenes.

For this, we recommend Greenbroz or Mobius.

On the other hand, if you're producing material for pre-roll, shake & trim, or you're trimming a lot of larfy bud, then you will do well with just about any Centurion Pro Trimmer or Triminator Trimmer.

For more on this subject, check out Different Grades of Bud and Their Uses.