Wet weight is the mass of harvested plant material straight after the chop, while it still holds most of its water. Fresh cannabis flower is around 75-80% water, so wet weight says more about water than about the finished crop.
In practice
Growers weigh wet for two reasons: - Tracking the dry: weigh a marked branch or a set of buds at chop and again every day or two. When it has lost about 70-75% of its fresh weight, it's usually close to jar-ready. Confirm with the stem snap and an equilibrated jar reading. - Rough yield estimates: a common rule of thumb puts dry bud at about 20-25% of trimmed wet bud weight, lower for airy material and higher for very dense buds. Whole-plant wet weight, with stems and fan leaves, is a much poorer guide.
Always say which wet weight you mean: whole plant, branches, or trimmed buds. Comparisons between grows only make sense with the same basis.
Units and formula
Expected dry ≈ trimmed wet × 0.20-0.25. Water lost (%) = (wet - dry) / wet × 100.
Don't confuse with
- Dry weight: the weight after drying and trimming.
- Dry-weight basis: a lab reporting convention for cannabinoid percentages.
- Yield: usually means final dry trimmed weight.
