On 2006-09-21, Jack Schmidling > wrote:

> That seems strange because we go to a great deal of trouble to handle
> them gently so as not to lose lupulins. Perhaps they do not fall off as
> easily when fresh? They sure do when dry.

Having handled them fresh, I can confirm this. The untangling of the
vines coming off the trucks is a physically violent process. The vines
must be forcefully pulled apart, usually by more than one person.
Since the vines were usually no more than 10-15 mins off the trellis,
they've had no chance to dry and the buds (flowers) do not readily
come off. The vine is more likely to lose smalls leaves and leaf
stems than buds during this process.

nb