I’ve researched a bunch of stuff on harvesting and curing marijuana buds, but not as much about manicuring. Is the goal to get rid of as many leaves as you can? It seems like such a waste to remove all the sugar leaves with stalked glands.
Manicuring isn’t really that difficult to do. Ideally, you remove material that isn’t quite as potent while leaving the resin-covered sections of the marijuana plants. Fan leaves and secondary leaves need to be excised first. This process will expose flowers and the tiny leaves that surround them. You’ll also be able to notice some single-fingered leaves coming out of the bud.
If the inner parts of the single-fingered leaves are covered in glands, then just do away with the outer section of the leaf. If they’re not covered in glands, spread the bud by carefully bending it, and then snip off the leaf.
A few basic tips regarding the manicuring process:
• Glands fall off of a manicured bud at a slower rate if the bud is still wet. Even so, some people consider manicuring to be easier with dry marijuana plants. This is because dry outer leaves can be plucked quickly with your bare fingers instead of having to use scissors.
• Using a 100-line-per-inch mesh silk or stainless steel screen to manicure allows the glands to separate from other material. The glands slip through the mesh and the ancillary vegetation stays above. The glands themselves are referred to as kief, which is the raw ingredient for hashish. Because of their high concentration of THC, the smoking material is much more potent in these glands.
• Everyone has their own pair of scissors that they like to use when manicuring, but you might not find yours at first. Give different models a try until you feel comfortable. Scissors that are unwieldy for you can produce muscle fatigue.
Robert