Whether you just finished harvesting your first plants crop or you’re a stone-cold plants pro — it’s clear that trimming plants is one of the most time-consuming and tedious aspects of plants cultivation.
Suppose you’re searching for a convenient, fast, and affordable way to trim plants without getting your hands sticky. In that case, it’s time to look at the best bud trimming machines available to plants cultivators.
Unlike trimming scissors, bud trimming machines allow cultivators to process ounces (or pounds) of dry or wet plants in a fraction of the time.
Whether you’re a professional plants cultivator or a home grower — read along for in-depth reviews on the best bud trimming machines for the 2022 growing season.
Why Bother Trimming the Buds?
If you ask people from the plants community, they are probably in unison saying that it is necessary to trim the buds. It does not matter how you do it. The important thing is that they are trimmed.
Enhanced THC: Your buds have sugar leaves. The latter are low in THC and can negatively affect the overall quality of the plants. With trimmed buds, there will be better THC gram-on-gram, improving the quality of the plants.
Smoother Experience: When your plant has leaves, it will be harsher when it is smoked. This can make you feel uncomfortable as it will irritate the throat. According to High Times, leaves contain chlorophyll. When they are not removed, it can be harsh.
Improved Appearance: Aesthetics is another reason why you need to trim the buds. If you look at photos of plants online, they seem perfect, too good to be true. You can achieve the same look if you use a bud trimmer. This is going to make plants more attractive!
ECO Farm 18inch Table Automatic Leaf Trimmer Machine
Features:
This ECO Farm bud trimmer is an excellent device for trimming and shaping flowers, buds and spices.
Powerful trimmer-This powerful trimmer is equipped with a maintenance-free motor and sharp stainless steel (3) blades.
Catch the ball bag-automatically output after completion; equipped with a clean and environmentally friendly handle bag; no garbage will be left
Efficient and precious-pruning excess leaves and stems quickly, efficiently and preciously. Easy to fold design, easy to transport or store
Adjustable speed-high-speed blades and fans pruning rotate, fluffy and finally eject the trimmed plants.
Features:
The Ez Trimmer removes unwanted leaves from your flower and is the only solution that can deliver trim quality which surpasses manual methods. The key to the Ez Trimmer’s superiority is that it allows the user to adjust multiple variables in the way you trim in order to adjust for wet and dry product, as well as different strains, sizes, and growing methods. The EZ Trim Machine comes with both a dry trimming grate as well as a wet trimming grate, giving you the ultimate control of how to process your flower. The Ez Trimmer is not only quiet and lightweight, but also features the following unique adjustable controls: Flower Movement through Airflow and Suction.
Features:
The Trimpro Original trimmer is one of the best wet trimmers on the market to help you automate your harvesting and achieve maximum efficiency. With Trimpro Original, you can achieve a fast, efficient harvest while producing top quality blooms. This machine gently and quickly removes excess fan leaves, sugar leaves and twigs from plants. With this upright single branch machine, you can quickly trim up to 1/2 pound per hour. It should not be used for dry pruning as it is optimized for wet blooms.
Manual Vs. Automated Bud Trimming
For decades, seasonal workers arrived in droves each fall for the laborious job of manual trimming the nation’s plants crop in preparation for sale. This vital process is incredibly time-consuming and difficult to repeat with a largely different group of workers available each season. While the best-trained hand trimmers can effectively bring the most out of a high-quality plants flower in terms of shelf appeal, automated bud trimming has gained considerable ground over the years.
In an eight-hour shift, manual trimmers will typically produce one to three pounds of retail-ready plants. Your new crew members can likely move through one pound per day while you’re most experienced hands produce upwards of three pounds per day.
Consistency in output between individual trimmers and seasonal groups can vary significantly, leading to a different experience for customers each time they purchase something from your brand.
The old hand-crank bud trimming machines earned a reputation for being very rough on plants buds, so many craft legacy growers hesitated to modernize their operations. However, over the last decade advances in equipment have made it possible to closely mimic the act of hand-trimming while maintaining the natural curves and integrity of a plant bud. These machines work hard, processing up to 16 pounds of plants in one hour and making them lightyears ahead of any human hand in terms of operational speed. But for some craft or boutique plants brands, the best of both worlds is attainable. Many cultivators run a hybrid-trimming operation where the vast majority of product is trimmed by machine while the standout buds from a particularly potent or desirable strain are given a hand-finish to be sold in 1/8th quantities for the highest price possible.
Select the Right Type of Bud Trimmer for You
There are several types of trimmers to consider. As you check out your options, think about how you’ll personally approach these aspects of post-processing:
Do you hang your plants for drying on harvest day?
If so, you’re shopping for a dry trimmer — one that trims gently to preserve your delicate and dried trichomes. You know that drying before you trim increases the quality of your final product, but you might not know that manufacturers design machines for your exact needs.
Or do you buck your buds right when the plants come down?
When you’re harvesting en masse, it may make sense to get the trimming done immediately and dry the flowers after you trim. This is popular with large-scale growers and those who demand efficiency over boutique quality.
What’s your harvest volume?
Of course, you want to buy a trimmer that matches your production capacity. But make sure to anticipate your growth when you make your purchase — you don’t want to outgrow your new machine right away. It’s better to buy one that’s a little too big, yet not way oversized.
Otherwise, you can opt for a right-sized machine that complements your future plans. Some trimmers can be run in tandem so you can buy another later for maximum efficiency.
Conclusion
Once you experience the ultra-fast trimming capabilities of any of the above-reviewed bud trimming machines — you’ll never reach for your trimming scissors come harvest time.
As you trim pounds of wet or dry plants within an hour, you’ll realize that time is money. Additionally, your hands and fingers will thank you as they get to rest while your new bud trimming machine spins away.
We understand, however, that the tradition of trimming with scissors is alive and well. If you’re set on getting the most precise yet tedious trim possible — you can always reach for a pair of trustworthy snips.
Once you buy one of our recommended plants trimming machines, it’s time to jump over to our guide on Trimming plants to learn a series of helpful tips to prepare for a budworthy 2022 growing season.