What are cannabis sugar leaves and how to use them?Have you ever trimmed your cannabis buds with scissors and wondered more about the sparkling, sticky leaf (‘sugar leaf’) tips protruding through the main blooms? Why are they there and what can be done with them are frequent questions. We answer all your questions and discuss ways to make high-THC cannabis concentrates from your sugar leaves. What are cannabis sugar leaves?

Cannabis sugar leaves are the small leaves found in and around the cannabis buds. The name ‘sugar leaves’ refers to the white, frosty appearance caused by an abundance of cannabis trichomes. The cannabis sugar leaves often look like they have been lightly dusted with fine white sugar.

Often fully coated (front and back) with resin, many growers use the trimmed sugar leaves to make cannabis oil, shatter, canna-butter or other types of cannabis concentrate.

Cannabis sugar leaves are present as part of the plants photosynthesis system. Because they are located within the structure of the bloom, sugar leaves are in the heart of the plants trichome/THC production zone and tend to be coated in a thick velvety resin coating.

Whether you grow from feminised cannabis seeds or autoflower seeds your plants will produce fan leaves as well as cannabis sugar leaves. The fan leaves are the large leaves produced at regular intervals on the main stem and branches.

These may have a light/medium trichome density on their surface and especially the fan-leaf edges – where trichome crusting can occur. But fan leaves rarely display quite the same trichome density as the smaller cannabis sugar leaves. Unlike sugar leaves, fan leaves are often easy to fully remove.

Within the buds/blooms you will notice smaller leaves, ‘sugar leaves’ which tend to form during the latter half of bloom. Sometimes all that is visible may be the tip of the sugar leaf. These sugar leaves are connected to the main stem often with the bulk of their foliage hidden inside the bloom structure.

Cannabis sugar leaves are usually green but can fade as bloom approaches. When growing blue/purple coloured cannabis seed varieties the sugar leaves can add exotic autumnal hues to your buds.

For many growers, cannabis sugar leaves are too valuable to waste. Their overall potency may not be quite as high as the buds, and the taste may be a little harsher. But the resinous trichome coating means that surprisingly high yields of hash and other cannabis concentrates are available to growers prepared to harvest & use them. Here are a few possibilities.

How to make cannabis oil from sugar leaves:

Dry the sugar leaves, along with any other plant trimmings (including frosty-edged fan leaves). Then soak the sugar leaves in a solvent. This could be ethanol, IPA, coconut oil, hemp oil etc. Filter the mixture to remove solids. If using a volatile solvent like ethanol, evaporate it safely outdoors away from flames. The oil may need to be ‘activated’ by heating, to convert non-psychoactive THCA into psychoactive THC. A process known as cannabis decarboxylation, this is an important stage to consider for anyone making cannabis extracts of any type. Unless the necessary amount of heat is used, the extract will not achieve maximum potency.

Make shatter using hair straighteners:

Take your high-quality sugar leaf trim and put it in a wrap of greaseproof paper. Put the paper packet in hot hair straighteners and apply pressure. The oils within the sugar leaves melt and are deposited as a sticky coating on the greaseproof paper.

This oil can be scraped up with a small metal tool and used for dabs. This technique is very easy and suitable for those that don’t want a complicated solution to recycle their sugar leaf trim. Note that many cannabis companies also offer specialist high-temperature presses designed specifically for this job.

Make ice/water hash from cannabis sugar leaves:

Collect and freeze your harvest trimmings. Some growers dry their trim first. The trim is then mixed with icy water, often with a simple mixer to ensure a thorough action that mechanically separates the trichomes from the leaf material.

The water/trim mix is then poured through specially designed ‘hash bags’ each with a different diameter mesh. The small trichome-rich solids collect in the hash bags, where it is scraped out and dried. This process does take some time. But for the connoisseur, the rich unmistakable hash flavours simply can’t be beaten!

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How to make hash with ice and water

Cannabis Tinctures:

Some growers stew their sugar leaf trimmings at a warm temperature in vegetable oil, coco oil etc. This is filtered to make tinctures for topical use on e.g. skin etc.

Cannabutter:

Other growers mix their sugar leaf trimmings in a pan of butter & hot water. The cannabinoids (e.g. THC, CBD and others) dissolve in the oily butter. The pan is left to cool, eventually the butter hardens and separates and is collected. The canna butter can be used in baking or any other type of cookery.

Cannabis tea:

Sometimes known as ‘bhang’. Cannabis sugar leaves are boiled in water into which (importantly) some milk – or similar – has been added. The milk, or strictly speaking the fat within it, dissolves the cannabinoids allowing the drink to offer a psychoactive high.

Carbon Dioxide extraction:

Professional growers will collect the cannabis sugar leaves along with all other plant trimmings and remove the cannabis oil from them using carbon dioxide. This is a sophisticated technique only available to those with the funds for professional cryogenic (extreme cold) extraction techniques.

Butane Honey Oil extraction:

Many home growers will be familiar with the process of making BHO (Butane Honey Oil). This (potentially dangerous/explosive) technique involves flooding a tube (packed with cannabis) with liquid Butane (or Propane).

This highly explosive solvent drips out of the bottom of the tube, rich in dissolved THC and other cannabinoids/terpenes. The solvent then evaporates leaving behind the oils, waxes and terpenes which it extracted from the cannabis buds/leaves/sugar leaves. However, use of flammable/explosive materials really is potentially hazardous and can’t be recommended to non-professionals. Numerous amateurs have experienced burns, fires and worse when things have gone wrong. Especially with indoor BHO extractions.

Using fan leaves to detect plant problems
Sugar leaves are often largely hidden amongst the blooms and therefore any colour changes or hints of nutrient deficiencies can be difficult to spot. That’s why many growers prefer to use fan leaf health as an indicator of general plant health.

Fan leaves often fade naturally towards the end of bloom, sometimes exhibiting red, blue, purple or yellow colourations. But any sudden changes away from a healthy fan-leaf appearance can be a warning sign that nutritional (or disease) issues need to be addressed.

Related:
Understanding and using cannabis leaves
Are sugar leaves good to smoke?
Some growers will leave the most generously trichome-coated sugar leaves on their buds. Admittedly they won’t taste quite as sweet and flavoursome as the buds. But the trichome-laden sugar leaves may seem just too good to waste.

The main reason for NOT trimming and saving the sugar leaves for subsequent cannabis concentrate production is the hassle involved. However, it should be stressed that relatively little effort can yield potent rewards for the grower prepared to devote just a small amount of effort into recycling waste sugar leaves and other plant waste.

Many growers trim the buds as neatly as they can, fully removing/collecting as much of the sugar leaf material as possible. This allows the grower to avoid the perhaps slightly-harsher smoke from the sugar leaves and allows the collection of high-quality trim for making cannabis tinctures, cannabis creams, cannabis edibles etc.

It should be stressed that the process of producing hash, cannabis edibles etc from the harvest trimmings is often one of the most rewarding processes which needn’t be too time consuming nor too difficult.

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Best ways to dry and cure cannabis
Other ways to use cannabis sugar leaves
Once a grower has sampled the delights of cannabis concentrates made from sugar leaves, few go back to binning them or leaving them in the buds. The theory is that the bud taste improves with sugar leaf removal, with a slightly sweeter and more appealing smoke/vape. In addition, the products that can be made from cannabis sugar leaves can be genuine high-quality concentrates that you won’t want to miss out on.

Cannabis edibles, for example, are a great experience for cannabis users of all types. But the heavier users that routinely struggle with a high cannabis tolerance level when vaping often find that the best satisfaction comes from a fully-loaded cannabis edible.

How to collect sugar leaves from cannabis buds
Melonade-Runtz-sugar-leaves-on-a-cannabis-plant

Many experienced growers prefer to ‘wet trim’ their sugar leaves after harvest. This means removing the fan leaves and branches and hanging the plant upside down on a drying line.

In this position it is easy to fully trim each and every bloom with scissors (specialist trimming scissors are particularly recommended). This results in tightly trimmed, pro-looking, blooms and buds. It also produces generous amounts of sugar leaf trim.

One advantage of ‘wet trimming’ (before the plant has dried) is that it is easier to trim the plant without inadvertently ‘shaking’ off lots of dried trichomes from adjacent buds.

One of the main criticisms of dry trimming is that the delicate dry trichomes are simply too easy to lose when the dry blooms are handled roughly. However, the main disadvantage of wet trimming is that your hands/gloves will feel a lot stickier and the process can feel messy.

Some growers prefer to make ‘live resin’ extractions from the fresh frozen sugar leaves & trim. This has a reputation for capturing all the flavours present when the plants was in full bloom.

Others prefer to dry the sugar leaves & prunings (they can be stored long-term in the freezer in wet or dry form) prior to extraction. The choice is yours – and some top quality cannabis concentrates can be yours for the taking.