Machine vs Hand Trimmed Weed Flowers: Which Is Best?

 Automatic trimmers drastically improve the harvesting process, getting your product to the public faster, for less. However, hand-trimming purists prefer their method for its supposed superior quality.

Readying buds for retail during harvest is exciting. It’s the culmination of months of painstaking work — a time when growers can finally reap what they’ve sown.

But harvest season is also when the chore of plant trimming begins, and most growers fall into one of two camps: you’re either a hand-trimming purist or a machine-trimming innovator.

Each method has advantages and disadvantages, but there’s a clear winner.

Let’s grind through the trimming process and learn the differences between each style to determine the advantages — and disadvantages — of each.

What are the advantages of hand-trimming plants?

Though it necessitates a steady hand and a meticulous eye, hand trimming is widely regarded as best practice. Why?

Skilled hand trimmers can identify and highlight a strain’s best features, and since each plant strain is unique, manual trimming can deliver specialized results. Like other handmade or customized products, hand-trimmed flower also has an artisanal appeal, and strains can be hand-trimmed to highlight the fullness of buds and trichomes.

The prevailing philosophy says that only hand-trimming can achieve this feat of bud individuality. Popular opinion also claims that individually handled buds are easily examined for contamination, seeds, pests, and unwanted elements. But is that true? Not exactly.

The art of producing aesthetically and commercially pleasing hand-trimmed buds is tedious, back-breaking, and time-consuming. The work takes a physical toll on your trimming team since the method forces them to hunch over their workstations for hours on end.

With all those hours of hard work, skilled plant bud trimmers should be generously compensated. As such, the labor costs associated with employing a team of plant trimmers adds up for cultivators. These costs can prove to be astronomical and prohibitive to the success of the operation.

Then there’s the managerial aspect; successfully hiring, managing, and organizing a team of plant trimmers takes time and resources, often distracting the grower from other elements of the cultivation process.

Hand-trimming plant yields a decent product, but it’s only a good fit for small growers (but even small grow operations can benefit from harvest automation).

Commercial cultivators deal in vast quantities of product. Investing in automatic bud-trimming equipment that increases productivity for these expansive enterprises is an intelligent and cost-effective maneuver.

Why Do Some Growers Still Rely on Hand Trimming?

It will surprise nobody that the use of an automated bud trimming machine is a faster and more efficient way to trim plant — and yet, some growers actively continue to display a preference toward hand trimming. Why?

Trimming is a critical aspect of growing plant, and it is important to get it right. Many old-school growers believe that manual trimming produces a superior final product. Experienced manual trimmers meticulously trim the bud to leave as many trichomes as possible intact while eliminating the sugar leaves, branches, and debris that has built up over the course of the growing process.

plant flower texture
Hand-trimmed plant buds, many boutique growers believe, are aesthetically stunning and create the smoothest smoking experience (we agree). In short, some growers choose manual trimming as a result of the belief that hand-trimmed buds are the best buds.

Hand-trimmed buds may even be a key part of these growers’ marketing strategies — and some modern consumers love the thought of artisanally-produced plant.

Other growers simply keep on hiring a team of manual trimmers and buying more trim bins and when the time comes because it is what they have always done. Their current harvesting techniques work, and they see no reason to make any changes.

The fact that automated bud trimmers are a significant investment also has to be considered. A grower may be fully aware that they can expect a return on their investment very quickly, and yet be unwilling to make the choice to switch to automated bud trimmers.

Finally, hobbyist home growers who may only be producing small quantities will likely think that automated bud trimming machines are geared only toward commercial growers, and that automated trimmers are “above their pay grade”, so to speak.

What are the advantages of machine-trimming plant?

Automated Trimming Machines Offer Consistent Results
As you are building and expanding your brand, your customers will crave a product they’re familiar with — they’ll want buds that consistently have the same quality. While expert hand trimmers can trim plant with precision, growers who hire a team of manual trimmers will inevitably find that they cannot all offer the same consistent results.

Automated Trimming Machines Are Supremely Efficient
Hand-trimming is among the most labor-intensive parts of the plant harvesting process. Your average hand trimmer can trim around one pound of bud each day — working hard during their entire shift. That, of course, is merely an estimate. Human beings aren’t machines, after all. Your hand trimmers will be able to process more plants on some days than on others, and you’ll have an entire team that will include slower workers.

professional trimmer equipment
A quality automated bud trimming machine can, in contrast, trim around 15 pounds of dry bud (and 30 pounds of wet bud) per hour. More advanced commercial automated trimming machines can even process upward of 15 pounds of dry bud an hour. Automated bud trimming is not an entirely automated process, as the trimming machine does require human oversight. That is, however, a task a single (properly trained) person can take on.

Automated trimming is, compared to manual trimming, what a warp drive is to a Diesel engine. The take-home message is that investing in a high-quality commercial automated trimmer will save any professional grower time — and a lot of it. That brings us to the next part, because the cliché that time is money is one of the truest truisms ever spoken.

Automated Trimming Machines Save Money
Even the smallest high-quality automated trimmers are able to trim enough bud to replace 12 hand trimmers. Top-of-the-range commercial automated bud trimming machines are, in turn, able to process much more than that.

Most growers have to pay their hand trimmers at least $15 per hour, while head trimmers often make at least $10 per hour more than that. One automated trimming machine can be operated by one person with no problems at all — and today’s top-quality automated trimming machines are going to last. You will not have to replace them every year, or even every five years.

Do the math. Once you get over the fact that an automated trimming machine is a big-ticket upgrade, it’ll become painfully obvious that you’d have saved a lot of money, and increased your profits very quickly, if you had made the switch to automated trimming ages ago. In many cases, that return on investment can be seen even within the very first harvest.

Automated Trimming Machines Protect Your Business
Some people who have already analyzed the benefits of automated trimming machines when compared to a team of hand trimmers have pointed out that hand trimmers can pose a serious security risk to your business. These day laborers work for you during harvest time, and have no job security or loyalty to your company.

The competition is steep in the plant field today, and it stands to reason that some of your hand trimmers could be working for the competition, trying to gain insights into the secrets behind your own success in order to replicate it and poach your customers.

That may be a valid concern for large-scale growers who have gained a reputation for being the best. Even small growers face other types of security risks, however. Manual trimmers who immediately recognize the excellent quality of your product may be tempted to stash some buds away for their own use. The more bud trimmers you have on your harvesting team, the more sharply this unfortunately widespread practice can cut into your bottom line.

It is undoubtedly much easier to find a small team of employees you can trust to operate your automated trimming machines. Thanks to the fact that it takes fewer people to oversee automated trimmers, which in turn trim plant in shorter periods of time, theft prevention will become simpler than it has ever been.

What are the disadvantages of machine trimming?

As we touched on before, the earliest automatic bud trimmers were questionable.

Plant purists believed that the machine’s processes resulted in lost flower, damaged trichomes, and a uniform product lacking the character and quality of hand-trimmed bud. In addition, some detractors think machine trimmers change the flavor profile and overall potency of a plant harvest.

But, as previously stated, technology advancements have transformed this once-maligned machinery into an indispensable tool with minimal impact on the product’s characteristics. These days, automatic bud trimmers compete with even the greatest human hand trimmers while also offering a superb return on investment.

Bud Trimmers [Recommend]

ECO Farm 16/19 Inch Manual Leaf Bowl Trimmer Machine

ECO Farm 18inch Table Automatic Leaf Trimmer Machine

ECO Farm Electric Trimming Scissor,Handheld Bud trimmer with Variable Speed Control

Dry Trimming vs Wet Trimming: What’s Best?

Once you have made the choice to switch to automated bud trimming machines, you’ll have to decide whether to opt for dry trimming or wet trimming. Modern bud trimming machines can do both. While automated bud trimming machines can trim an amazing amount of buds within just a short period of time, however, they are all faster and more efficient at wet trimming.

Dry trimming is known to lead to higher-quality buds that are also easy on the eye. This method is most suitable for smaller growers who value quality over quantity — and who work with a customer base that shares that same vision.

Wet trimming is faster, and although this machine trimming method is somewhat less precise, wet trimming does reduce the risk that individual buds will be damaged as they are trimmed. The wet trimming method is most appropriate for large-scale commercial plant growers who are attempting to maximize their outputs. In addition, wet trimming slightly reduces the odds of mold growth during the drying process.

Conclusion

Most cultivators interested in scaling their operations and maintaining quality and efficiency opt for machine trimming. But in the end, the decision is entirely personal. It depends on your unique situation.

Still, it’s hard to deny the quality, consistency, speed, and productivity that comes with the latest generation of automatic plant trimmers.