We are right in the middle of harvesting our medicinal cannabis crop which is eating up a considerable amount of our time. Today however we are going to be talking about the five things we cannot live without when harvesting medicinal cannabis. Welcome to The Hippie Geeks! If you enjoy this video, be sure to subscribe and leave a comment below!
When you are growing your own medicinal cannabis, harvest can be hectic in the best of times. When you are battling pests and your life is entirely too busy with other projects as well, it can feel completely overwhelming. However, having the right tools can make things a lot easier. These are the five items that we feel that we cannot live without this time of year. If you want to check any of them out there will be Amazon Affiliate links in the video description, and if you happen to buy them using our link it will really help out the channel!
First up is a decent microscope. You should have one thru the entire grow so that you can check for pests, but as harvest is getting closer you need to be able to see the trichomes’ color to decide when to harvest. We have three different ones that we like to use, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The one that we use the most often is an illuminated jeweler’s loupe that has two lenses, one is 30x magnification and the other is 60x. 60x is the minimum that you want to use when checking for pests, and it is great for checking color on the trichomes. It is super handy, but the magnification just isn’t that great. Next up is our 60x-120x pocket microscope. It can zoom in considerably further, which is great when you are looking for things like russet mites. The downside however is at that magnification it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what you are trying to look at on the plant as the smallest amount of movement will completely change the area you are looking at. That can be mitigated however by taking a sample and setting it on a solid surface, and placing the microscope on top of that. It will give you an incredibly sharp image and as long as it is stabilized you will be thrilled with the visible detail. Finally we have one of the 60x microscopes that clips on your cell phone, and magnifies the image that the camera sees. My cell phone isn’t anything amazing, just a $100 pay as you go Android device, but once you zoom the camera in all the way you wind up with a very usable image. It is not very sharp, but there is enough detail to tell what you are looking at and best of all you are able to take photos and video so that you can share them with other folks. We feel that it is a must have for that reason alone, but it is also just convenient and easy to use.
Next up are these amazing bonsai pruners for the actual act of trimming your medicinal cannabis. Some folks like to use scissors, or some other kind of heavier duty pruning snips, but these are absolutely the best option we have found for trimming. They have just enough spring that they can open themselves back up even with a bit of resin on them, but not so much that it will tire your hands out when trimming for the number of hours it takes to harvest an entire crop. The sharp point allows you to get in small spaces and clean up sugar leaf without having to worry about chopping off buds that you didn’t intend to. Just look at how easily I am able to trim up this bud, getting it ready to go into a jar for the curing process.
Once you have your medicine trimmed up, you need to be able to tell how much you have which leads us into the next item, a decent digital scale. You want it to be able to measure down to 0.01 ounces, and of course to be affordable. We have been using this scale for the last two years, and it has held up like a champ. The two halves of the protective shell can be used as containers to measure, but I prefer to use the thin half along with a plastic bowl on top as that will allow me to measure out the two ounces it typically takes to fill up a quart jar. Decent doesn’t have to mean expensive, and I highly recommend this one.
Speaking of jars brings us to the next item. These are 62% humidipacks made by Boveda. Once our cannabis is finished curing and we are getting ready to store it long term, we place two of these small packs in with each jar. What these do is help to stabilize the humidity inside of the jar to keep your medicine from drying out. We have had good luck with them working anywhere from six months to a year, depending on how often you have to open the jar that you have them in. They can even re-hydrate medicine that has been allowed to dry out, simply place a couple of them into an airtight container and in a couple of days and it will bring any cannabis back from a crunchy, dry state to something you can be happy with. We really cannot speak highly enough about these things, they are amazing.
Talking about humidity brings us to the last item, a decent thermometer hygrometer combo. You want something small enough to fit into a jar, but you also don’t want to buy the cheapest one you can find. This is one of the items where spending a little more money, $25 versus $8, really does make a difference. You need to be able to check humidity throughout the curing process, and spending a small amount of money now will save you a lot of heartache in the long run. Leaving your medicine sealed up with too high of humidity will lead to mold, while sealing it up dry can lead to harshness and premature degradation. We have not had a single issue using this meter, and can recommend it whole heartedly.
This list is by no means exhaustive, these are just a few of the items that we feel make a hectic process go a little smoother for us. For those folks that are also growing medicinal cannabis, what items do you find that help you out the most? We are always looking for ways to improve our process and make our lives easier, and would love to hear about your ideas!
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