From seed to shelf, piece by piece.

Station 01 · Cultivation

Climate & air

1/3 Assembly

The flower room comes together: rolling benches and plants, a ceiling-hung dehumidifier, a wall-mounted air circulator and a PCO air sanitising unit on the back wall.

2/3 Start-up

The circulator breaks up dead air above the canopy and the dehumidifier pulls relative humidity below 60%. Inside the PCO unit, UV light activates a catalyst that turns moisture in the air into low levels of hydrogen peroxide, which spreads through the room and treats both air and surfaces.

Dense, humid rooms

PCO, up to 46 m² per unit

Trim, packing, extraction

BPI, for dry, low-airflow rooms

Large greenhouses

PCO, up to 232 m² per unit

3/3 Result

Fewer spores in the air means less mould on the flowers in late flower and a better chance of passing microbial tests. The harvest reaches processing clean.

Station 02 · Post-harvest

Bucker

1/3 Assembly

Stainless cabinet on casters, two urethane-covered rollers, the die plate with feed holes in five sizes and the gear motor with speed control. Then the chute, the output conveyor and the totes.

2/3 Start-up

The operator feeds a branch into the hole that fits the stem. The rollers grip it and pull it down. The buds can't follow through the hole, so they snap off and slide down the chute onto the conveyor, while the bare stem drops into the tote below.

Input

whole branches

Mode

wet or dry, variable speed

Output

buds on the belt, stems in the tote

3/3 Result

A few seconds per branch and the buds are off the stem, ready for the trimmer. Run faster for wet material and slower for dry, to keep trichome loss down.

Station 03 · Post-harvest

Trimmer

1/3 Assembly

Frame on casters, the cutting reel with its fixed knife, the perforated stainless tumbler above it, then the infeed, the outlet chute, the drive and the vacuum line to the trim collector.

2/3 Start-up

The tumbler turns slowly and sits at a slight angle, so buds tumble and travel along it. The vacuum pulls leaves through the slots, where the helical reel shears them against the fixed knife. Spin it too fast and the buds stick to the wall instead of tumbling.

Separates

large and small leaves

Grades

medical and professional

Result

consistent and repeatable

3/3 Result

Buds leave the far end tight, with trichomes intact. The airflow carries the trim into the collector bag. It still holds resin, so it goes to the ice water extractor, while the buds go on to the sorter.

Station 04 · Grading

Sorter

1/3 Assembly

Frame, three collection totes, the tilted drum with two screen sections, the infeed and the drive.

2/3 Start-up

The drum turns and the buds roll down its length. The first screen has small openings and only small buds drop through, medium buds fall through the second, and large ones ride to the end and leave by the chute. Screens can be changed to suit each variety.

Sorts by

bud diameter

Grades

3 (example sizes)

Varieties

all

3/3 Result

Consistent batches and a premium grade: large buds for jars, medium for packs, small for pre-rolls or extraction.

Station 05 · Extraction

Ice water extractor

1/3 Assembly

A raised stand and the stainless wash vessel, the bucket with bubble bags nested inside (coarsest on top, finest at the bottom), then water, ice and material, the lid with the agitator, and the drain valve and hose.

2/3 Start-up

Ice water between 0 and 4 °C makes trichomes brittle. The agitator stirs the material in short cycles and knocks the resin heads off without solvents. Then the water settles and the valve opens, and gravity drains it through the bags.

Bags

220 → 25 µm

Water

0–4 °C

Solvents

none

3/3 Result

Each bag holds back resin heads of its own size, and the 120–73 µm grades are usually the cleanest. Terpenes stay intact. The wet resin goes straight to the freeze dryer.

Station 06 · Drying

Freeze dryer

1/3 Assembly

Cabinet, chamber and cooled shelves, product trays, door, condenser, vacuum gauge and pump. The display shows the shelf temperature programme.

2/3 Start-up

Freezing comes first: the shelves drop to −40 °C and the water in the product turns to ice. Then the pump takes the chamber below 1 mbar and the ice sublimates. It turns straight into vapour without ever becoming liquid, and freezes again on the condenser.

Freezing

−40 °C

Primary drying

−10 °C · 0.2 mbar

Secondary drying

+25 °C

3/3 Result

The product comes out dry without ever being heated, with terpenes and cannabinoids preserved. The ice on the condenser is the water that was in the harvest. Pharmaceutical-grade drying for flowers and resin.