Harvester

Apparatus for stripping cannabis flower from a stem, branch, or stalk of a cannabis plant, comprising:

• a cutting assembly including at least two movable plates that cooperate to form an opening through which the stem, branch, or stalk is pulled, wherein edges of the opening engage the stem, branch, or stalk to strip the cannabis flower from the stem, branch or stalk as it is pulled through the opening, wherein movement of the two movable plates in respective mutually opposed first directions increases a size of the opening, and wherein movement of the two movable plates in respective second directions opposite the first directions decreases the size of the opening until edges of the opening engage the stem, branch or stalk as it is pulled through the opening;
• a stalk pulling assembly that includes a stalk-gripping mechanism configured to pinch the stalk, stem, or branch and pull it past the cutting assembly, said stalk-gripping mechanism including at least one of a pair drive belts, a pair of pinch rollers having complementary V-shaped circumferential surfaces, and a gripping mechanism including a pair of jaws that is movable along a linear track and reciprocally driven by a linear actuator or crank mechanism.