Croptober is here, and it’s time to get your ducks in a row to make sure you don’t screw up a summer’s worth of effort

Yes, it’s effortless to ruin great pot after you chop it down and it’s almost always a direct result of a lack of preparation. As soon as you put the weed outside in the spring, you should be bouncing around ideas of what you’re going to do once it’s chopped. Start early enough and you should have everything ready by October.

Here is a list of things you’re going to want to make sure you’ve got your hands on, in addition to a solid drying space you should have already figured out. 

Sharpie

If you’re going to grow something for this many months, you should make sure to label it appropriately with a Sharpie. Whether that’s the plant drying on the line until you can hear a healthy snap just below the nugs, or the jars they’ll end up in, make sure to keep track of everything, so you can properly appreciate your effort. Imagine if one thing came out a bunch better than the rest, you won’t even know until you’re fully done curing, but you didn’t label it properly, so you can’t get more next year. Heartbreak. 

Blue Painter’s Tape

The painter’s tape also plays off the labeling. It’s very versatile. You can make little ribbons to hang off the plant stalk while it’s drying. You also can use it to label the jars if you want to be able to read it from the side and not just the lid. You can use it to make a trap, too, so you’ll be alerted if anyone opened your beloved weed cubby to snipe any nugs. Save the extra to label pots next year. 

Storage

When it comes time to put all that weed you grew this summer away, you’re going to want to go with mason jars or something cannabis-specific designed for the task at hand. The closer you are to sea level, the better off your weed will be in mason jars. They work awesome a lot of the time, but the further away from the coasts or higher in elevation you get, you’ll want to look at some other options. Many industry hitters are switching over to Grove Bags. (Full disclosure: I did a Traploc collab with Grove Bags, it was a play on their Terploc technology that got a nod from the Dow Awards a couple of years back.) Grove Bags regulate the humidity levels in the bag producing a perfect cure. You’ll notice a distinct difference in the quality of the nugs compared to humidity control systems that have you throw something in the bag. 

Springless Garden Scissors 

Whenever I see someone trimming their weed with scissors that have a spring, my hand hurts. Trimming pot is not a fast process. One company noted just last week they were looking for folks that could do a pound in four hours. Imagine if you grew a pound how long it would take you to trim it all with your hand cramping up every half hour? Exactly. My trimming scissor power rankings are basically an eternal conflict between Fiskars and Chikamasas, similar to Coke and Pepsi. Both are great options to help you get the job done, one is from Japan. 

99% Isopropyl alcohol

If things went well this summer, all this stuff should be pretty sticky by now. Fear not, the pandemic has ended, and there are varying qualities of ISO available at pharmacies and grocery stores. You can find the 91% ISO in Safeway, but the 99% is still fewer and further between, so head to Amazon if you want the good stuff. Honestly though, if it’s just for basic scissors and finger cleanup, you won’t need to splurge, but it will work a pinch better than the less pure ISOs. 



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