You guys obviously don't have wives with sensitive noses. I actually ran dozens of smoke/vape/edible smell tests through her before going into work at my last job. She saved my ass more times then I can count. For instance, most people don't think about the fact that edibles, especially homemade, will make you stink like weed. And if you belch, you will belch a mean weed cloud that you yourself will be immune to; you will not smell or be aware of it, just like any other form of consuming cannabis the user is almost always unaware of the degree to which they reek. Thank her and god that she figured that out before a coworker ever did.
And more to the point of both of your curiosities', she could sense -smell- whether I touched the stem of a branch once or mangled the poor girl removing 10 baby moth caterpillars.
So forgive me, I misspoke, when I said "get near," I just meant touched a stem (in flower) and perhaps my forearm barely grazed a branch while doing so, and then I cleaned myself up and she could still smell it. And I'm grateful she informed me, she has never been wrong before. I have doublechecked her findings in the past with other close friends and they confirmed; they had to get close, but yes they could smell it.
If none of you have ever had to go to these lengths, be grateful that your life is setup in the way it is. I don't have the luxury to throw caution to the wind. Cannabis is medicine for me at the end of the day, and I'm not going to stop medicating, so I thought why keep buying from dispensaries and instead grow myself. I knew any contact with cannabis plants could linger, and even a 3 foot white widow, touching barely just once, can make you reek for hours. Don't believe it, that's fine. You do you, I'll take care of myself.
Anyone in the world can do what I do for a living, but they pay me better than about 99% of everyone else doing it.
Coveralls, armor sleeves with Tyvek suit over everything with rubber gloves it is. Then I'll do about 2 dozen wife-tests on the weekends till I know it's working and I don't smell. If not, hell with it, I'll give away my seed collection and just keep making dispenseries RAF.