# Wet weight

> The weight of cannabis freshly cut, before drying; buds typically lose about 70-80% of it, so dry weight is roughly a quarter of wet.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/wet-weight.html
- Also written: fresh weight, wet weight at harvest, green weight, fresh mass, wet yield
- Glossary category: Harvest, drying and curing · Evidence: Grower practice
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

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](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/stem-snap-test.md) 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](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/fan-leaf.md), 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](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cannabinoid.md) percentages.
- **Yield**: usually means final dry trimmed weight.

## Related terms

[Dry weight](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/dry-weight.md), [Moisture content](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/moisture-content.md), [Drying room](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/drying-room.md), [Yield](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/yield.md)

## Read more

- [Drying cannabis: the 60/60 method and water activity](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/harvest-cure/drying.md)