Come Harvest Time Outdoors

[Bulldog11]

I need a little advice from some pros. How do you guys keep up with the demand of a large harvest? I farm 100% by my self, and growing the plants is not as much work as harvesting the plants can be. So I tend to produce more than I can easily harvest.

How do others overcome this? Hire a trim crew? I bought a trimpal, and that makes a huge difference. I am afraid of a trim crew, seems like a huge security breech. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I dread the 18 hour days, for a month.

 

[Prime C]

Why not just put it in bins or totes after its dried then when you have time get to it you can. :) @Bulldog11

 

[Seamaiden]

@Blaze

I do that *if* I have to make room for another crop.

 

[maya42]

Hiring people is the way to go. Friends , family and other people referred is the way to go. I always try to stagger my crop so not too much comes out at once.

 

[FooDoo]

I'm the same way. One man show and much easier to grow hundreds of pounds than it is to trim it lol

I spent $4,400 on a dry trimmer just so I don't have to keep hand trimming non stop year long. I didn't want to spend that cash on a trimmer, but I felt it was extremely necessary.

I just breakdown my entire harvest into totes. Then move the totes to drying lines. Once the meds on the lines are dry I throw contractor garbage bags over them to seal em up a bit. Then I just Chuck all the buds off the steams into a tote and then run them thru the trimmer into home depot buckets.

 

[Blaze]

You need a crew, absolutely. Even trim machines still need someone to run them. Preferably a small, but hard working crew. Once the harvest is down and dried it can be stored until you are ready to trim in. Harvesting, drying and curing is much more time sensitive than trimming.

Staggering it like maya recommended is also an excellent idea. Doing 3 or 4 harvests 7-10 days apart is a lot more practical than trying to bring it in all at once.

 

[Quagmire]

Wow, I personally cannot imagine having this problem to the point I'd complain about it.. that said, careful who you trust. Greed can be a terrible thing and everybody who knows just how big things have gotten for you are a huge security risk and gives them that "get out of jail free" card.. be amazed who will spill the beans to get out of minor charges so just be careful friend.. not that there are not trust worthy peeps around, don't get me wrong on that.. just saying, careful who ya trust.
that trim machine would be worth it's weight in gold huh? hehe

 

[Dunge]

My thought: Don't trim.

I strip fan leaves during the week or two it takes to dry.

The small leaves attached to the flower are part of the bud as much as the stem.

Over trimmed (high graded) buds are ruined for me.

Changing the culture in Alaska one bud at a time.

 

[Danky Mcnugs]

If I had a sizable outdoor I would no doubt have a badass trim pro or twister whatever. I don't trust anyone around my stuff so I wouldn't have a problem watching buds tumble out of a trimmer for a few hours, then hand trim them if they need it.

 

[below frigid]

Bull Dog, like you I was a one man show for many years. Then as the grow got larger I had to have some help at harvest time, just for the trimming at first. Last year I had a few of the trimmers come over and help me harvest and hang as well. This year my trim crew is flaking on me plus it kills me to hand over 20k for trimming. Buying a Twister with the NEW DRY TRIM TUMBLER OPTION for this harvest. I have been told good things about it. Figure with buying the machine and paying help for harvest and running through the machine after dry. I can save 40% or more on this year and next year since the machine is paid for I will be saving 80% or more. Don't get me wrong I am still out there doing most of the work. You have to have a couple of friends you can trust to help you out. $150-$200 a day per person in the scheme of things is worth it. Figure $600 a day max for 3 guys at 4-6 days. Winter up until harvest time I still do it all myself.

 

[maya42]

If I had a sizable outdoor I would no doubt have a badass trim pro or twister whatever. I don't trust anyone around my stuff so I wouldn't have a problem watching buds tumble out of a trimmer for a few hours, then hand trim them if they need it.

I don't think you understand the volume. One of my plants takes on average of 2 hours to harvest with 3 people cutting and 1 hanging. A few hours of sitting g at a trim machine is a gross understatement. People go CRAZY cutting buds off the stick. I gave away a pound of un trimmed stuff from last year about a week ago because people were sick of trimming And no one would do it. This happens for 4-6 weeks nonstop, which is another good reason to stagger as it gives the helpers a break. This is a dream/nightmare job.

 

[Bulldog11]

Thank you everybody for the responses. Let me recap some of the ideas that seem to apply best to me.

A) Get a dry trimmer, check.
B) Dry buds and place in rubbermaid bins, check, I have many many bins.
C) Stagger harvest. Great idea, however I didn't plan well for that........
D) Hire a trim crew, family, friends ext for 150-200$ an 8 hour day
E) Only have crew for harvesting, not trimming. Use bins to delay trimming.


Not sure if I caught all of the idea's or not. I already employ all the above except the trim crews. My wife helps on maybe 2-5%, and I hope to recruit my cousin who lives in the area and smokes.

Like Maya42 said, it's a huge undertaking to harvest just one plant. People are underestimating the amount of work harvest time requires.

I did just build a large dry room with a/c, dehumidifier, humidifier, heater ext. That will help a lot. Outfitted with a flat screen mounted on the wall and speakers for music. If you have to trim, why not trim in style?

 

[Bulldog11]

Since I have the dry room, could I technically just set the temp at 60 and humidity at 55-60 and just leave the product without binning it? Like a large humidor?

 

[Seamaiden]

Yes! If I had that much control over my basement that's exactly what it would be--a gigantic humidor. There's really *no* reason why you can't do that, especially if light is well blocked.

 

[Blaze]

Since I have the dry room, could I technically just set the temp at 60 and humidity at 55-60 and just leave the product without binning it? Like a large humidor?

Do you really want that much hanging for that long of a time though? Pretty risky in my opinion. Once it is dried and cured we stash ours ASAP, never wise to have your entire crop sitting in one place for longer than it has to, the risk of rip off or bust is too great.

 

[Blaze]

Which reminds me of something else that often gets overlooked:

How to safely store your crop. Takes a lot of space to store untrimmed buds with a sizable harvest, and it must be stored somewhere that stays cool and dark.

 

[caregiverken]

Dryed and cured on the stem.
Is the best method!

 

[below frigid]

Usally I use doubled up contractor grade trash bags. If smell is an issue I saw some very large Turkey bags somewhere? Looked like they would hold atleast 5 units of trimmed each. Going to get a bunch of the larger sized totes and line them with a contractor grade trash bag and throw in a 60 gram pack of Boveda 62 in each one when they are dry enough. I just fold the bag over. I don't tie it off because I take mine down when they are not quite dry. That way I can open them quick and easy until they get down to around 62%. I use those caliber humidity gauges. Getting a T4 with the dry tumbler this season. Have not seen any photo's of anything trimmed with the dry tumbler yet but they are talking it up. Talked to a dealer and he said a couple of local dispensaries switched over to it and are loving it. For what it's worth. I will p[ost some pic's come November.

 

[happy b]

Dammit.why do i live in the uk.a trimming job a few weeks of the year would be ideal for me.and id accept payment in weed.obviously.
so.....whos paying for my plane ticket?

 

[Seamaiden]

Which reminds me of something else that often gets overlooked:

How to safely store your crop. Takes a lot of space to store untrimmed buds with a sizable harvest, and it must be stored somewhere that stays cool and dark.

Yes, but binning works well for that, as long as the space it's stored in is temp and humidity stable. In my experience with such things.