If you’re a cannabis grower you will understand that you always in every grow will have many cannabis trimmings, from trimmed leaves, stems, branches and used roots. You don’t need though these things in the trash. There are many cool uses for marijuana trimmings. In this post I will give weed growers some really cool ideas on how you can re-use anything that comes from your cannabis plants. Even your vape leavings!
Remember, if your trimming has any bugs on them then you will want to make sure they are destroyed and not re-used in anyway in your garden.
Use your cannabis trimmings as mulch
Everyone that grows marijuana will have cannabis trimmings. Once you have taken your trimmings from the plant take them and put them in a cool dry location. Once the trimmings have dried take them and cut them up with your scissors into small pieces. You can use all the stems, and leaves for this no need to leave anything out.
Next take all the chopped up dry weed trimmings and put them around the plants in the pots or outdoors. Create a layer about 1 inch to 1 ½ inches thick around your cannabis plants. This will be your new mulch for your cannabis.
Benefits of a Cannabis Soil Mulch around your plants
All those trimmings that you took from your plant that are no longer needed are full of the same nutrients that the same plant you took them from will need to keep on growing. Once you dry them and add them around the plant, they will start to break down right away into the top of the soil. They will break down into the very same nutrients that were used to grow the trimmings.
The new cannabis mulch will also serve as a cool spot for beneficial microbes to live under. These microscopic little guys will help break down the trimmings and feed your plants. They also help the roots find and use the nutrients that are breaking down on top of your plants.
Make a high nitrogen Fertilizer with cannabis trimmings
Put your marijuana trimmings in water and make an awesome nitrogen rich fertilizer for your plants. That all the trimmings you have, no need to dry them and put them in a large buck with no holes. Next poor chorine water to fill the bucket completely full. Now for the easy part. Just let the bucket with the water and all your cannabis trimmings sit for a couple of weeks. What will happen is all the bacteria in the water and bucket will start to break down the old trimmings in the water and the nitrogen rich trimmings will start to release their nitrogen into the water over the next couple of weeks. After the two weeks are up take the bucket and strain out the water, it will be a green color and kind of smelly. This is ok, just don’t get any on your buds. (Especially if you will be using them for baking or oil) You have now created a organic high nitrogen rich cannabis fertilizer for your plants. Water it into the plants well and watch them take off with new growth!
Use the trimmings in Smoothies, Salads, or Teas
Cannabis leaves are extremely healthy for your diet and you can use them in many cool ways for food. You will want to remove the stems if you are using them in salads unless you like crunchy salads. You can add them in just like lettuce only cannabis leavers are much healthier than lettuce. For smoothies just take all your leaves and stems and add them to the blender. We find it best to add in some fruit to help if it tastes a little bitter. Cannabis is a very healthy plant to eat and this is a cool way to use your cannabis trimmings!
Add the Dried Trimmings to the Worm Bin
If you’re looking for a fast way to compost weed trimmings looking into a worm bin and a worm farm is a fast way to get your old trimming back into your pots to feed your new crop of weed. Worms will eat the trimming then just like humans will poop them back out, the best part the worm poop smells fresh and earthy. Worm castings are called gardeners gold and are full of nutrients and beneficial bacteria. The worms will break down the cannabis trimmings quickly and then they can be used right away to promote strong and healthy plant growth.
Make sure to Dispose of your Cannabis trim responsibly
If you’re growing commercially, it will be hard to get rid of all your vegetative cannabis waste. If you can try to compost as much as you can without putting it in the land fill. If you are home grower look into creating a hot compost pile with all your vegetative cannabis trimmings. You can easily create a pile of your cannabis clipping and in a few months of hot composting you will have a ton of awesome compost for your marijuana garden.
Using your flower cannabis trimmings
Cannabis flower trimming (also called “sugar leaves”) contain all the different cannabinoid that are in your cannabis flowering buds. The only real difference is that they are just in smaller amounts. You can use them to help fill your extra-large joints, make some awesome psychoactive butter, oil and use them in cooking.
Our Cannabutter Recipe
- Use a Decarboxylator to remove the cannabinoids from your sugar cannabis leaves
- Add your butter, water and the decarboxylated sugar leaves to a pan and simmer all of this on low heat for 4 to 5 hours. You can stir occasionally to mix everything up.
- Let Everything cool off for an hour or so.
- Drain the mixer into a large bowl using a strainer and cheese cloth.
- Squee out the excess butter using a spatula.
Once you have removed as much Cannabutter as you can then put the butter into your fridge and let it cool till it is harder. Put your new cannabis butter into the fridge in an air tight contain. Use this for cooking when a recipe calls for butter you can use your Cannabutter as a replacement.
