Welcome! This free quick guide will be going over how to grow for resin to eventually process the plants into a ''solventless'' or in other words water-Solvent extract/concentrate/hash.
This guide is intended for beginners and intermediate growers and hash makers, it is not intended for those who are at an expert level already, although it is always good to refresh the knowledge. This guide is NOT intended for those who are seeking commercial success but rather it is geared towards how to make the absolute most of your time and the absolute most of your plants, in terms of the quality of the resin collected.
The style in which this guide will be written is non-scientific, it is also quick and to the point without a lot of extra topics that may be helpful but detract from the aim of this guide, questions like ''The history of resin production'' ''The science behind aging'' ''The difference between growing for resin and growing for (cured) flowers and issues like The cannabinoids that are being transformed and much more will not be covered in this guide. With that being said, Let's start!
I will also assume that you know the basics of growing flowers already, so I will not go deeply into that, for that, I advise the reader to take a step back and refer to a guide of that nature, a lot of the ''why'' questions are out fo the scope for this guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The WorldWIdeCannection Official Classification map
Hydro, Soil, and other substrates
Genetics and the role of selecting DNA
Mistakes to avoid
Tips
Lighting and understanding the goal of the grow
Harvesting for Resin Production
Methods of harvesting
Mistakes to avoid
Specialty methods
Storage for resin
Mistakes to avoid
Final words
1. The WWC Classification Map
A nice appetizer to start this guide with, this will give you a general understanding of the classification and types of products most suitable for production.
2. Hydro, Soil, and other substrates
This guide is mainly aimed at bringing the consumer of the end product the best possible experience, to do this the discussion can be simplified. The only reason to grow with Hydro is if you are unable to transport and build your soil. Building a soil refers to mixing the right ingredients together that make up your soil in order to create something in which your plants will thrive, since this is a beginners guide, Living soil applications that include insects, auxiliary plants, and organic growing are out of the scope of this guide, nevertheless, in my personal experience, I find that the results are identical within a margin of error.
Why is hydro not suitable for the best resin production?
The main reason why, is: to come to the true expression of the DNA of the plant that you choose to grow, i.e. the cut you chose or the seed you have planted, soil is needed, it also creates a more robust cellulose structure which is extremely important for hash making. The terpenes inside of the cannabis plant resin heads are only going to have their full taste in soil for 99% of the growers. Growing in hydro will undoubtedly give you a more ''frosty'' looking plant although again, this is not true for all growers.
This ''frost'' looking plant however is not what we are looking for, we are looking for the best expression of the resin, and for this I highly recommend you grow in soil.
If I got a hydro setup does this mean I can not make hash that is tasty?
No, of course, your hash can still come out very tasty, the main problem however again is that it is much much harder to actually make a good hash from a hydro plant, especially when processing ''live hash rosin'' the material will almost always have a ''green taste'' This for 50% is due to growing in hydro, again this is Easy to avoid, by growing for resin in Soil.
Okay, but how should I build my soil
To keep it sweet and simple I recommend the following mix: 50% vermiculite and 50% Peat for the best results when growing for resin.
3.1 Genetics and the role of selecting DNA
Now we come to the heart of the process, the selection of Genetics, as everybody knows (or not) this website is owned by Mr. Capulator, he is a master in this field and I HIGHLY recommend his genetics for the making of hash to begin with. With that being said, let's move on to what is important when selecting the genetics for hash:
A good strain for flowers may not be a good strain for hash
A lot of people have the misconception that THC% or how ''frosty'' a strain looks will translate into the production of hash, this couldn't be farther from the truth. There is no easy way of saying this but the only way to grow for resin is in essence doing a (mini) pheno hunt, 85% of the cuts on the market are NOT for making resin, and trusting people selling cuts on that is a hard thing to do. I recommend to plant two packs of 10/12 regular seeds and numbering them and washing them all separately and closely monitoring which yields the most.
From personal experience, when I for example had my Tropicana Cookies grow, we planted 2 packs of seeds, out of the 14 plants we had the yield ranged from 1-10% that is such a big difference that this step is NOT to be skipped !
Once you found the plant that gives the best yield, I recommend taking the next best plant and even the one at 3rd place as well if possible, the reason why is that it may be that the second plant has such a superior flavour that it is worth keeping, so keep that in mind!
Okay so no cuts, but what about the strain itself?
That is up to you! Many strains wash quiet well but the terpene profile is a personal thing, some of my favorites:
It will be a hunt just keep in mind that a cut is in 85% of the cases not suitable for our goal!MAC
Tangie
Tropicana Cookies
Tropsanto
WILSON Zero!
SFV
Ice Cream Cake
3.2 Some tips:
4. LightingA good strain for flowers may not be a good strain for hash when curing but is always a good strain for a live rosin.
Remember, you are ''concentrating'' so don't pick a strain that is too heavy earthy, it will result in something that may taste bitter and green.
Dense Strains do not wash well, do pick strains that are NOT too dense, but we will get into this in a bit.
Fruity strains almost always do well.
Gassy strains are more suitable for live resin than for cured resin, keep that in mind when selecting.
When choosing your ideal strain, do research about it when it comes to hash, discussing each and every strain is beyond this guide.
When choosing something like growing for both resin and flowers choose something with a quick finish so something that does not flower for too long
When growing for color, so i.e. for ''friends'' that want that light color, again choose a strain that has a quick fast and ''explosive'' cycle
To keep this section short and sweet because it doesn't differ too much from flowers except for a few key points.
The more PPFD the better,
Because we are not growing for the looks of the flowers, a little burn here and there is not bad with strains that can take it, if that means better resin for the plant overall, of course without affecting the health of the plant. It is very important though that when doing this and really giving the plant the maximum lighting that you keep in mind that you need to use a really strong strain that can perhaps withstand 30+degrees Celcius weather if it was grown outside.
Controlled lighting isn't too important, but distribution is.
The light distribution is really important, I recommend a lot of reflective material.
UV Lighting
The plant will create a natural ''sunscreen'' when there is a lot of UV lighting, this ''sunscreen'' is resin heads that we are after, it is a nice addition for a resin grow and I definitely recommend it!
5.1 Harvesting for Resin
Live
Live harvesting is probably the hardest to do, you need to get the plant frozen within a couple of hours, otherwise, the plant will start to sense that it died and start to give off the ''green'' smell, a trick I like to use is to use a Blast Chiller, this is a pretty unknown practice but one of the only ways to ensure you capture the flavor without introducing the ''green'' taste.
I recommend having a crew ready if not using a blast chiller with a freezer nearby and cutting it down and freeizing it as soon as possible.
The 60/60 method
A well-known method, use this for a normal style of processing
Curing for a long time on the flower
A method that I personally adore but it is not for everyone, in a cold room, keep the flowers for up to half a year, to make a hash that is similar to that of a producing country like Morocco. This is a method for the real hash head as it gives the hash a very ''hashy'' flavor. This one is especially useful for dry sifting.
5.2 Mistakes to avoid
This is a beginner's guide, I could get into a lot but to keep it sweet and simple I am not going to. This to not discourage anyone from making your own hash! But I wanted to add this section for a couple of key points.
Do not change your drying process
A lot of people I'm seeing are doing the ''quick dry' method, which is a higher temp and lower humidity, this is an expert technique and can produce a better result however it can also result in a hay taste, I would avoid it for the time being.
Do not cut off all the leafs
Do not cut off all the leaves to make it easier for you, it is important to keep more leaves on than you think, part of this is due to again, without going into too much science, the ''green taste''
5.3 Specialty methods
As mentioned earlier, the drying of the harvest at a low temp for a very long time is something that is done in many producing countries for dry sifting. This gives a unique flavor but it does require special attention:
Watch incects, mold and anyting that can destroy your crop very attentively
Keep it in a room with airflow but not too much airflow, you want a super slow process
This is best done on strains closer to landraces, with the newest strains I advice against this method
it will convert a lot of compounds espeialy when made, pressed and then again left to age, this can result in a high that is way different than the flower, keep this in mind.
6. Storage for resin
So you've sifted your material, you have washed it and you are ready to store. ( Methods will be discussed in another guide, as this guide is aimed to get beginners started with the growing process and there is a lot of material available on this as opposed to actually growing for resin)
6.1 Mistakes to avoid
Not pressing
This is a mistake I see all too often, for this let me refer to this quick sketch
The issue is that people often forget the cellulose layer outside of the head. What makes a fullmelt a fullmelt? And a rosin a rosin. It is all in the removal of the outside layer. When you have a 6 star hash, the cellulose layer is still on, but when you press that into a bag small enough at high pressure (the temprature is not important, this is an opinion as long as it does not destroy terpenes) only the resin and terpenes will come out, resulting in a true full melt.
With that being said, it is not needed at all to go through this step, if you choose to press with a lage micron bag for your rosin, it is more decarboxilation with the temprature than making it more pure, as oppose to a small micron bag, this is kind of technical and something for another day but these are the basics.
So, always press, to protect the resin and keep outside factors like hairs and dust out, even if you have packed it up nicely, always press the hash, a mistake I see on the market is loose trichomes in a jar, this is never a good idea IMO.
Storing in a fridge or freezer
Know what you want, this is a great method for preserving but not for curing, some stuff I cure, some stuff I put in the freezer to keep it the way it is, but understand the process.
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