Essential Tools for Harvesting Your Cannabis

How to Trim Cannabis
We find it easiest to trim off at least some of the larger, prominent fan leaves while they're still fairly wet. Removing bulky leaves helps promote drying. Additionally, as the leaves dry they will curl around themselves and the buds, which makes it more difficult to slip the trimming snips in there. On the other hand, after the cannabis has dried, the leftover leaves can become so brittle and loose that they are easy to flick off with the end of your snips or even a toothpick.
When it comes to trimming, perfection is not the goal. Not in our opinion at least! We grow for personal use, family, and friends. We don't need perfectly manicured buds, nor do we have the patience for it. Plus, there are trichomes and THC on some of the leaves! Therefore, we hardly bother with trying to remove the "sugar leaves" - the smallest ones coming out from the center of the buds. Yet we do trim away the larger, non-sugary leaves that are attached to the main stem around the buds.
Marijuana Harvest Tools and Accessories
THERMO-HYGROMETER-If you want one tool that has the potential to save your garden, this is your answer. Every grower needs a thermometer and humidity gauge in their garden to monitor levels. Cultivating cannabis successfully requires you to have a basic understanding of the temperature range your growing space reaches during both during light and dark hours. This same rule applies for humidity levels. Simple readers can be found on Amazon for less than $10 and will suffice for any basic garden.If you're looking for a premium upgrade to your basic thermometer, check out this Element HT Wireless Humidity and Temperature Data Logger. It has full monitoring capability (temperature, humidity, and C02) that can not only transmit readings in real time to any internet-connected device, but can be programmed with temperature and humidity thresholds to alert you when atmospheric conditions change. Element HT products can also be chained together into larger systems to monitor multiple areas of the same garden or multiple rooms in a grow. It's a powerful tool that any serious grower should consider adding to their system.
Disposable Gloves - Unless you like having sticky hands, have plenty of disposable gloves on hand for your trimmers and for anyone handling the plants.
Tarps - Have clean tarps to lay the cut plants on while you trim and ready the branches for drying. Yes you could lay plants on a clean sheet or blanket, but leaves and trimmings tend to stick to fabric, so a tarp just works better.
pH Meter-A pH meter may be the most underrated tool that every grower absolutely must own to ensure the success of their garden. Growers often mistakenly think that a pH meter is only important for those who choose to cultivate with hydroponics. In reality, anyone who cultivates, whether by soil or hydroponics, should have at least some type of pH reader on hand.
Heavy Duty Garden Shears - How heavy duty will depend on the size of your plants, but many outdoor gardens grow monsters that will require substantial torque to cut them down.
Trimming Scissors - A good pair (or better yet several pairs) of spring-loaded, ergonomic trimming scissors are a must for any harvest. Straight tip or curved is a matter of personal preference. I tend to lean towards curved tipped trimming scissors as I like the extra control they give when manicuring delicate sugar leaves and buds.
90 Plus Proof Alcohol - High proof rubbing alcohol of 90% or more (find it at your local drugstore) will help clean scissors, hands, and anything else covered in sticky resin.
Hanging Drying Racks - If you are short on space to dry your crop, consider these handy hanging drying racks. They're lightweight, velcro onto any hanging rod, and provide for lots of air flow. For a small amount of real estate, they hold a LOT of drying cannabis. When not in use, they fold up for compact storage.
Portable Fans - Portable fans will keep the air moving and help your newly harvested cannabis dry.
Humidifier or Dehumidifier - You may or may not need to adjust the humidity in your drying room. If you live in an extremely dry climate, a humidifier can help things from drying too quickly. Conversely, if you live in a humid climate, a dehumidifier may be necessary to help the drying process. Ideally, you are aiming for 50-60% percent humidity in the drying room.
How to Dry Your Cannabis
After they are cut down, cannabis plants are traditionally hung upside down to dry. As the cannabis dries, the THC converts from a non-psychoactive state to one that is psychoactive. However, you don't want to rush the drying process! THC also slightly degrades with drying, and buds that are dried too quickly will experience a more significant decomposition of THC than those that are allowed to dry more slowly.
An ideal time to dry cannabis is around 5-7 days. However, the time it takes to reach the ideal dryness (explained below) will vary depending on your climate and drying location. Also, the condition of your plant will play a role, such as how fat the buds are, how many fan leaves are still attached, and so on.