Trimming is often either one of growers’ favorite or least favorite tasks. All the hard work that went into growing those beautiful flowers has come to an end, and trimming is the final push needed to create the products they desire.

Growers have several considerations when preparing themselves and their teams for the upcoming post-harvest event. For new growers or hired trimmers who don’t have a lot of experience, here are a few tips that can help ensure a successful trimming process.

1. Prepare pre-harvest. Before harvesting the crop and hauling it to the drying shed, some farmers save a little work down the line by doing some level of defoliation or removal of large fan leaves from the hemp plants. This not only improves airflow to the flowers in the final days before harvest, but also means less to dry, and fewer leaves to remove during trimming. In addition, rounding up and prepping the trim crew before harvest is very important and often overlooked. It’s never fun to be completely overwhelmed with too much work to do and not enough help or a sloppy operation.

Growers should consider where their flowers are headed. Are they headed to an extraction market, where minimally trimmed biomass is accepted, or to a smokable or premium extraction market, where an extensive and detailed trim job is required? The end customer can help growers determine which method, or combination thereof, they want to undertake.

3. Consider hand-trimmed vs. machine-trimmed. When dealing with thousands of plants, the thought of hand trimming seems ridiculous. Many farmers have invested in mechanical trimming units to not only trim their copious amounts of flower, but also save in labor expenses associated with a trimming team. Other farmers enjoy providing seasonal employment and choose not to use machines at all. Some growers combine the two, utilizing mechanical trimming machines to do the bulk of the work and then finishing with hand trimming before heading to premium markets that require a more detailed job. When it comes to mechanical trimmers, proper preparation of raw material and following specific requirements set by manufacturers is essential.

4. Consider wet-trimmed vs. dry-trimmed. A long-standing debate has surrounded whether wet- or dry-trimmed flower is better. While both methods have their pros and cons, when evaluating a large hemp flower harvest, growers typically choose dry trimming, especially when they’ve chosen to trim flower by hand. Farmers with smaller grows may choose to trim while wet. Wet trimming is easier for novice trimmers because the plant material is stiffer, as it is full of water. Eliminating the additional plant material may also reduce drying times. Some mechanical trimmers have been designed to handle wet flower material, but when a farmer has thousands of plants in the field, wet trimming is unlikely, as much of the crop will dry out while waiting to be trimmed. Hemp is typically hanging in the shed, and trimming begins when the majority of the crop is dried.

5. Set up a workstation. It is important for a trimming operation to be clean, organized and well-lit. For new farmers, this process can be overwhelming with lots of plants everywhere. Setting up a workstation that incorporates a smooth workflow can cut back on the confusion. The workflow should include where to bring the plants in, where to set them for bucking (removing the flowers from the stalks) and trimming, where the buds will accumulate, what to do with the stalk by-product, and finally, where the flower will be packaged and stored. Keep the floors swept and tidy, and of course, keep pets away from those finished flowers. (Many farmers’ pets have free run of the farms.) There is nothing like beautiful buds and trimming equipment filled with pet hair!

When it comes to hand trimming a harvest, having the right equipment is essential. Many styles of scissors and snips are available. Growers should make sure that whatever they choose is sharp and fits their hands well. Farmers also need to be sure to keep their equipment clean. Some use rubbing alcohol or vegetable oil to help clean their gear. Ergonomic tables, comfortable chairs, plenty of light and good music help keep positive vibes during the heavy workload. Most growers also choose to wear gloves to prevent residue buildup. Additionally, some trimmers enjoy working over a tray, enabling them to work right on their laps with the flexibility to sit, stand or move location at any time.

7. Prioritize bucking, sorting and packaging. Bucking can be done by hand or by machine. Hemp farmers have been creative in developing bucking methods. Some farmers have utilized a simple saw horse design, where holes are drilled into a piece of lumber and hemp stalks are pulled through the hole catching into a tote. Others have fabricated machines that grab the stalk between a set of tires, ripping the flowers via a steel plate. Both methods work for biomass markets but can be considered cruder. When quality counts, some farmers have purchased bucking machines or relied on the trusted method of removing flowers from the stalk with trimming scissors. Once again, growers must know their markets. When the goal is to sell into biomass markets, cruder methodology can be used for bucking flower, but when striving for a premium market, more gentle handling is required. Like trimming, bucking can be accomplished either while wet or dry depending on how growers are trimming the flower. After trimming, sorting the flowers by size can help with customer satisfaction. And, of course, proper packaging, curing and storage will assist growers in successfully marketing their premium hemp flower.

Luke Zigovits is the owner and farm manager at Higher Level Organics, an organic and Sun+Earth certified farm. With a 20-year history of cultivating and breeding cannabis, Zigovits has worked with landrace, heritage, and low-THC hemp cultivars.

Regular cleaning and maintenance of hemp extraction equipment is key to ensure optimal performance and yield. Here are four things to consider when developing cleaning and maintenance protocols.

Familiarize yourself with each component and how they work together. This knowledge will help you identify unique parts within each component that become dirty or worn during use and will need to be periodically cleaned or replaced. Understanding the system will also aid in troubleshooting any problems that arise.

2. Determine what cleaning/maintenance is needed and when. To keep an extraction system running properly and avoid downtime, determine what cleaning and maintenance needs to be performed and how often. The extractor user manual includes much of this information, including timing recommendations. However, differences in run parameters can impact wear and tear, so closely monitor the equipment and set a schedule based on specific needs.

Regular cleaning is critical. Don’t cut corners—perform all cleaning procedures to meet or exceed manufacturer recommendations. Common cleaning procedures include performing extraction runs without hemp, rinsing separator vessels and connecting lines with ethanol, and checking downstream lines/filters for carryover of hemp extract. Proper cleaning will minimize the occurrence of many common problems including clogged lines/valves, poor separation and low yield. If you use one extractor to run multiple strains, thoroughly clean in between extraction runs to reduce cross-contamination.

Scheduled maintenance is also very important. Maintenance of a CO₂ gas compressor pump, for example, should include checking and recording the oil level and running oil pressure weekly. Noise level or vibration changes while running also should be noted, as this could indicate a potential problem. Inspect the pump monthly for loose connections and leaks, and check the belt tension. Changed the oil filter every six months, and replace the diaphragm every 18 months. This will ensure the compressor pump operates reliably.

3. Set a schedule and keep a maintenance log. Create a maintenance calendar for each extraction system you’re running so you know when routine maintenance should be performed. Ensure each extractor has its own logbook, and document all maintenance activities for easy reference.

4. Keep extra parts/consumables on hand. Anticipate and be prepared for maintenance needs for any parts that may become worn or break over time (valves, belts, o-rings) or consumables (filters, oil, coolant). It is advantageous to keep a supply of these materials in house. This allows for quick repairs and minimizes extractor downtime. Keep an inventory log of spare parts and replenish them as needed.

Dr. Rachel Loeber is chief science officer at Minnesota-based LeafLine Labs.

Hemp has had a wild ride in South Dakota. Lawmakers debated it fiercely over the past two years, and its legalization was right within reach in 2019 when the state legislature passed a hemp bill, only to see it vetoed by Gov. Kristi Noem.

But conflict over the crop in the state has finally reached its end. South Dakota—once just one of three U.S. states that had outlawed hemp despite its federal legalization under the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill)—legalized its cultivation and production March 27.

While South Dakota is relatively late to adopt hemp legislation, lawmakers are hoping the paced program rollout will allow the state to avoid challenges seen in other states.

“I’m pretty sure there won’t be a lot of acres [licensed] this year, but it really allows our processes to be put in place,” says State Rep. Lee Qualm (R), who sponsored the bill. 

 

South Dakota has a history of prohibiting hemp and its derivatives, even after the 2018 Farm Bill’s passage. In 2019, state lawmakers classified Epidiolex, a drug containing cannabidiol (CBD) that was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat epilepsy, as a Schedule IV controlled substance. (The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has since descheduled Epidiolex federally; prior to that, it was listed under Schedule V, a step below South Dakota’s classification of the drug.)

In July that same year, the state charged a man with drug trafficking after he was pulled over while in transit to a Minnesota hemp processor to deliver 300 pounds of cannabis that tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), “although available court documents don’t state the THC content found in the field test,” the Argus Leader reported. The state’s attorney general has also been outspoken in reiterating hemp’s illegality as recently as March 2019. 

So far, only tribes have had the opportunity to grow in the state—and they’ve taken it. As of early June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had approved hemp plans for five tribes in South Dakota for this growing season: Cheyenne River Sioux, Flandreau Santee Sioux, Oglala Sioux, Rosebud Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux (which overlaps into North Dakota).

Alex White Plume, the former president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, told AP that hemp could bring money to his home, which he calls “the poorest community in the poorest county in the United States.”

The Slow Arrival to a Legal Market

When Noem vetoed the bill in 2019, state lawmakers went back to the drawing board. Qualm chaired a committee to study hemp and devise a new bill, and he spent that summer traveling and talking to experts from states with successful programs to learn about their strengths and challenges.

By early 2020, Noem had a change of heart. She still had reservations over concerns of public safety, law enforcement and funding but agreed to pass a law legalizing hemp so the state legislature could “focus on other priorities.”

Noem said she would only pass the law, however, if it met some key requirements, including a plan for enforcement and a reliable budget.

“I think we can all agree that we do not want to stress our already thin law enforcement resources. I also think we’re all in agreement that we don’t want to negatively impact our drug-fighting efforts across the state, and given that so many of our families are being ripped apart by substance abuse, I know none of us wants to take a step backwards as we address those issues,” Noem said during her State of the State address in January.

The new law holds several provisions that allow the state to keep a tight grip on enforcement. Anyone who transports hemp through the state, for example, automatically consents to a search without warrant so police can decipher whether the product is hemp or marijuana. “This seems rather suspect,” wrote Griffen Thorne, an attorney at Harris Bricken, on the law firm’s blog.

The law also bans smokable and inhalable hemp. In addition, anyone involved in producing hemp must be able to provide proof of licensure at all times.

“The key to this whole thing is paperwork,” Qualm says. 

While hemp has finally cleared legislative hurdles, the state’s work is far from over. As of late June, South Dakota had not yet submitted its plan to the USDA, so Qualm doesn’t anticipate much hemp coming out of the state this year. The unpredictable spread of COVID-19 is threatening to slow that timeline even further.

Qualm says he has, however, already heard interest from fiber, seed and CBD oil processors about establishing operations in the state. 

“I almost think it’s an advantage,” Qualm says about South Dakota’s relatively late arrival to hemp production. “We can learn from what other states did, and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. And I really think it’s an advantage getting some processors in place first.”

Theresa Bennett is associate editor of Hemp Grower.

Meet the Experts

JANNA BECKERMAN, Ph.D.

Professor, Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University

Janna Beckerman is an extension plant pathologist at Purdue University with a concentration in specialty crops (any crop in Indiana besides corn, beans or wheat). Her team has been growing hemp since 2014 and has partnered with several Indiana farmers for research through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the state’s hemp program. Beckerman and her team’s research in hemp has been published by the American Phytopathological Society as well as Elsevier’s Crop Protection.

RAYMOND CLOYD, Ph.D.

Professor/Extension Specialist, Kansas State University Department of Entomology

Raymond Cloyd’s expertise is based on decades of experience in the horticulture and agriculture industries and centers on pest management in greenhouses, nurseries, landscapes, turfgrass, conservatories, interiorscapes, Christmas trees, fruits and vegetables. His major clientele includes homeowners, master gardeners, and professional and commercial operators.

SHELBY ELLISON, Ph.D.

Assistant Faculty Associate – Industrial Hemp & Carrot, University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Horticulture

Shelby Ellison’s work in hemp started in 2019 as she discovered a need for more training on the crop at universities. Ellison requested permission to teach a hemp science course and acquired a grower’s license last year to learn how to grow hemp herself. She has since collaborated with multiple researchers at UW-Madison on multiple small plots of hemp in Arlington, Chippewa County and Buffalo County to focus on hemp for cannabinoids, grain and fiber. She offers tips for both novice and advanced hemp farmers.

MASON WALKER

Co-Owner, CEO, East Fork Cultivars

East Fork Cultivars is a 12-acre outdoor craft hemp and adult-use cannabis operation nestled in Southern Oregon. East Fork Cultivars, which now has 13 farming employees, has been in operation for more than five years. Its USDA Organic and Sun+Earth-certified hemp products are grown, dried, cured and later processed and sold for products like CBD beverages, Rogue Ales, Gaia Herbs and more. It also produces its own hemp seed line. Walker provides pointers for CBD-rich hemp flower farmers.

1. Watch out for young plant diseases.

Beckerman says when hemp is young and soil conditions are wet, plants are susceptible to common pseudofungal and fungal diseases such as Pythium, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium. These are diseases that commonly attack a plant’s roots. “When soil temperatures are cooler, we expect to see more damping off,” meaning increased disease presence, she says.

© Janna Beckerman, Ph.D.

2. Enact strict sanitation protocols.

Sanitation is key to preventing disease from spreading, especially for those cultivating in a greenhouse. Beckerman suggests making sure surfaces are cleaned daily, benches are disinfected on a regular basis and growers use appropriate commercial disinfectant. She adds that if growers are using those products, they end up protecting against bacteria and viruses that affect people as well. She strongly recommends removing infected plants, which “can easily produce hundreds of thousands to several millions of Botrytis spores,” she says.

3. Don’t work with wet plants.

“Any sort of working with plants when they’re wet is a risk. Generally, when you’re scouting, you want it to be dry,” she says, adding that when plants are wet, “it’s an easy way to spread not only bacterial diseases but easily injure the plants and allow entry of other pathogens.”

While uncontrollable for outdoor growers, rain and hail can also pose significant bacterial issues, Beckerman says. Moisture from rain can increase the prevalence of disease, and hail can injure plants when it strikes, allowing the bacteria to make its way into the plants.

4. Beware of hemp viruses.

While white mold (Sclerotinia) and grey mold (Botrytis) should be top-of-mind, growers using clonally propagated plants also need to become familiar with the viruses that are being reported with hemp production, such as Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and curly top virus, Beckerman says.

To spot a virus, Beckerman says to look out for any sort of leaf deformation, ring spots, discoloration and browning/wilting.

5. Assemble your scouting tool kit.

When scouting for disease (or pests), it’s important to bring along either a pen/notebook or digital device for documenting, a knife to cut into stems when necessary, a trowel to dig up whole plants to collect samples, brown paper bags for culled plants (Beckerman suggests against plastic because it can encourage mold), and a cellphone or digital camera for photos.

Beckerman says there’s no one right way to store your scouting data; just make sure it can be easily accessible for years to come to understand what’s happened on the farm over time. She encourages always documenting issues with imagery and recording an issue description with the time and location. Beckerman also suggests keeping notes handy with history of the land, including what was planted there previously and how the land was treated (for example, tilled or treated with herbicide.).

© Janna Beckerman, Ph.D.

RAYMOND CLOYD, Ph.D.

6. Employ an aggressive scouting program.

Cloyd suggests scouting two to three times per week as part of a plant protection or integrated pest management (IPM) program. “There are very few, if any, insecticides or miticides labeled for hemp,” he says. “You are basically in the same boat as [THC-rich] cannabis growers. Therefore, it is better to be out aggressively scouting your crops, and if you find any pests, physically remove them from plants.”

© Janna Beckerman, Ph.D.

7. Use a forceful water spray.

One way to remove a pest infestation is to spray the affected plants with water, Cloyd says. “Fill up a 100-gallon sprayer of water, and just go through the crop and forcefully remove or dislodge the insect or mite pests. Do it in the morning so you do not run the risk of any disease problems” due to excess moisture accumulating in the evening when cooler temperatures occur, he says. Cloyd notes that no protective clothing is needed with this method, and water alone will likely have only minimal impact to the chemical composition of cannabinoid-rich hemp plants.

8. Use the ‘beat’ method.

When looking for insect and mite pests, one of the most effective methods is fairly simple: Position a clipboard with a white or black piece of paper underneath the plant canopy and shake a random sampling of leaves or branches over the clipboard, and look for any insect and mites that land on the paper, Cloyd says.

9. Yellow sticky cards can be helpful, but use caution.

Yellow sticky cards are useful for understanding what insect and mite pests are present in a greenhouse; however, Cloyd notes that the use of yellow sticky cards outdoors may be difficult. The cards, he says, will “pick up the adult moths that are larvae (caterpillars) so that will give you a heads-up … that you may see caterpillars soon, and that will help intensify your scouting efforts. But if you put these sticky cards outdoors, you’re going to catch good and bad bugs that can fly.” Yellow sticky cards also won’t capture mites because they do not have wings. Therefore, visual inspections and the beat method are best used in tandem for outdoor grows.

SHELBY ELLISON, Ph.D.

10. Know your chokepoints, and consider your labor early.

“The way that hemp is grown right now for CBD production is very, very labor-intensive,” Ellison says. “It’s moderately intensive to plant, but that [process] is pretty quick.” It’s also intensive to weed, she adds, especially once it reaches a certain height that makes it difficult for a tractor or other mechanical method to do the job, often forcing growers to do it by hand. However, the “ultimate chokepoint is harvest,” Ellison says. “Many grows struggle to find enough of a labor crew to help with harvest … because you’ll have this two-week time frame when you’ll have to get all the plants out of the field.”

MASON WALKER

11. Lean on your certification adviser.

Farmers with certifications such as Sun+Earth or USDA Organic can tap into those certifying bodies for more agriculture tips, Walker says. “They understand organic farming really well, so you get a lot of value from the certifier to understand your options for soil health inputs, fertilizers and pest control because there are a lot of options out there that are not the … approaches that Big Ag relies on.”

12. Delegate your data collection, and cross-train your team.

A CBD-rich farm can produce lots of useful data. To keep those data points centralized and accurate, it’s important to delegate that information gathering to certain team members. At East Fork, one person is in charge of all data regarding their farming methods, another person is in charge of recording their plant trialing data, and another is solely responsible for gathering and evaluating records for compliance with their various certifying and regulatory bodies. On the other hand, he says, it’s important that others in the operation know how the process works in case an employee is unable to perform their duties. “One thing we’re pretty high on as a work culture is cross-training and transparent information sharing,” he says.

Cassie Neiden is the conference programming director for Cannabis Conference, produced by Cannabis Business Times, Cannabis Dispensary and Hemp Grower, and editor of Cannabis Dispensary.