Bucking is taking the buds off the stems. Done by hand with fingers or snips, or by machines with sized holes that strip buds from pulled-through branches, it separates the flower from the woody stem so it can be trimmed, dried on racks, or jarred.
In practice
When to buck depends on the trim and dry approach:
- Wet bucking: after chop, before rack-drying wet-trimmed buds. Saves drying space but speeds the dry; slow the room to compensate.
- Dry bucking: after hang-drying, once small stems snap. Usual with dry trimming.
Good practice:
- buck gently and cool, since dry trichome heads shatter with rough handling;
- leave a small stem stub on large buds if you'll jar untrimmed and trim later;
- keep sizes sorted: big buds, smalls and larf dry and cure at different rates.
Stems stripped out at bucking still hold water. Leaving larger colas on a short stem during the dry slows it and helps evenness.
Don't confuse with
An airtight container, usually wide-mouth glass, used to cure and store dried cannabis; ideally filled about three-quarters and kept dark and cool.Trimming sugar leaves from buds immediately after harvest, while the plant is still fresh, before drying.A dark, ventilated space where freshly harvested cannabis is dried under controlled temperature, humidity and gentle airflow, usually for 7-14 days.Trimming sugar leaves after buds have dried, leaving the leaves on during the dry to slow it and protect the bud.Trichome heads are the bulbous resin-filled tops of capitate glandular trichomes, where cannabis makes and stores nearly all its cannabinoids and terpenes; they are the raw material of hash.The dense, elongated cluster of flowers that forms at the end of a stem or branch; the main cola tops the leader.A small leaf growing from within the flower cluster, often coated in trichomes, which is trimmed off and commonly kept for processing.Defoliation is removing fan leaves from a plant to open the canopy to light and air; GenetixBay's house view is to tuck leaves rather than strip them.Drying harvested cannabis by hanging branches upside down in a dark, controlled room so buds dry slowly with even airflow around them.Holding dried cannabis in sealed containers so its moisture declines slowly and evenly over weeks, improving smoothness and aroma.
