A perfect cure every time

[GreenSanta]

I read all of this thread and there's lots of good info in here.
I have used cvaults for 2 years now, which is only two grows(outdoor). I only have 5 of them do I still have a lot I cure in jars too.
I like to start all my curing in the jars until I'm past the chance of mold. Then I full up the cvaults with my best stuff because I seem to get a better and slower cure in them. That's said, the jars still work just as good.
For long term storage though it's hard to beat a cvault or a tight jar with a boveda pack fastened to the lid. The buds stay at the perfect moisture for as long as I've stored. The longest only about 8 months.

I don't do anything special with the cure. Just do it by feel like always. It takes my herbs about 5 or 6 days to get to the cure stage. Usually when the stem will crack but not snap in two. As long as you keep an eye on them and burb them at least once a day for a week or so, and continue to watch then for a few weeks they'll be fine. The first few days is pretty crucial. If they went in too most they will mold. If you smell ammonia smell they too moist. Pour them out and let them dry a bit longer.
And it's so important not too let them dry beyond the point of being able to cure them correctly. Once they're too dry it's over.

do it by feel!! that's how I do it, I think for most grower they do their whole crop all at once and it can be more stressful but I have always ever grown perpetual where I harvest a plant here and a plant there, I feel over the years I have really gotten the hang of it. If I have to go to work and it's almost ready, I might bag them into 2 paper bags, then a plastic bag, the extra paper absorbs more moisture. Sometimes Ill de-stem all the flowers, but give em another 12 hours off of the stems before bagging or jarring. The main thing is keep a few buds with a little more of a branch on them, once it has been in the jar for 24 hours, try to snap it, if it does, keep trying every now and again. I have had weed that looked so dry only to find a week later it was stored with too much moisture. Different time of the year where humidity is different and everything changes. You have to go by feel, don't be scared, and dont be in a hurry to bag it. That said Im not greedy if I over dry a plant it does not cost me a lot of money and it really doesnt happen that often anymore. You want the weed to feel soft but the stems MUST snap.

 

[littlegiant]

This is an update on my new C-Vault containers I bought. I let my bud dry a bit longer and followed the directions to the tee.
Amazing ! No green hay smell, just perfectly cured bud.

 

[hydra-glide]

And Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow/

 

[Rollverine]

Experience- It didnt work for me and I feel that is to wet to go into jars I tried a few times not just once. Same problem as obijohn.. Terrible dark discoloration, loss of smell, and little bag appeal. I kinda think the rh in my house is to high for this and they NEVER dry. When I open my jars and 65-70% rh goes in there, they just get wetter. I like to get them nice and dry hanging the whole plant, trim, and then cure. The texture (moisture content) and smell go right where I want it during the cure. It also seems to take less time. Anyone having a large harvest would need a rack of rh meters and I just dont see that being practical. BTW thanks guys for opening this thread hopefully simond can now help some people understand this process better. For me and my drying this is where the cure starts and I quote from Simon "60-65% RH - the stems snap, the product feels a bit sticky, and it is curing." Leave them dry until the stem cracks when you bend it. I think the post is a little confusing as it first says start curing before the stem snaps and it is still pliable but then its followed up by curing starts when product is at 60-65% and STEM SNAPS.

Hopefully I didnt offend anyone from this post. Just trying to learn. Also I hope mature people can overlook previous debates and give good solid information with out the ridiculing.

Im sorry guys im crazy new , but what is RH? Room humidity?

 

[ktmac20]

relative humidity...

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

relative humidity, you want weed to end up around 62% moisture content, if the humidity is high, it takes a long time

 

[Highpotummyes]

I found this useful
https://www.theweedblog.com/the-art-of-curing-your-medical-marijuana/

So basically im trying to keep a small amount of aerobic bacteria alive to eat chlorophyll then by curing the act of suffocating kills off the bacteria eating my weed while keeping a bit of moisture for a nice burn. Ammonia smell and brown shwag came from me curing too early killing the aerobes i needed while proliferating nasty anaerobes.
To summarize: aerobes smooth the smoke while anaerobes make nasty mold. Too fast of a dry kills aerobes with too little moisture. So brown bags breathe enough for aerobes to eat just enough while taking moisture away from anaerobes. Correct me if I'm wrong I'm still figuring this out

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

you seem to have grasped the theory

 

[ganjammin707]

Growing, this is the one thing I have yet to master to perfection, so i really appreciate the post, I am going to put this to work next harvest!!

 

[thejonbears420]

Im sorry guys im crazy new , but what is RH? Room humidity?

Relative humidity

 

[Indacouch]

Before going into cure OGK

After curing for a bit over a month now

Never really see before and afters I do all mine by feel in food grade bags just because of the amount I have to cure .....but I love when the aromas and the appearance of our hard work starts to become evident .....cup of coffee and bottom nug are my breakfast

Same batch in pics above only difference is cure time OG kush

 

[tripleD]

I cut. I trim. I hang. I wait 3-5 days (depending on plant type, size, and time of year). I put in paper bag for 1 day. I jar with my hygrometer. I burp 3-4 times a day until I get a constant reading of around 60%RH & then I put in a Boveda 62 pack.... I'm smoking bud right now that I cured right before Xmas of last year & it still smells & tastes great! GL

 

[ktmac20]

I wait until mine gets down to 55%

 

[tripleD]

View attachment 3840530 View attachment 3840533

I wait until mine gets down to 55%

I get a lil nervous if I let it drop below 60%. I had a bad experience last year so now I shoot for 60%.
Nice Bud... Is it a Blue Mystic??

 

[ktmac20]

What was your bad experience? I start mine at 65-70%. If actually at 70% or above I will take em out of the jars and let em air for 24 hrs which usually drops em at 2 %.

So far this process has worked for me.with no bad experiences

The strain is "The Black"

Cheers

 

[tripleD]

What was your bad experience? I start mine at 65-70%. If actually at 70% or above I will take em out of the jars and let em air for 24 hrs which usually drops em at 2 %.

So far this process has worked for me.with no bad experiences

The strain is "The Black"

Cheers

I had my bud at 61% and decided to leave it out a little longer & it dropped to about 52% I think (I'd have to go back & read my post that I sent to Dr Who to remember exactly) & I cldnt get it back up even after leaving Bov62 pack in the jar. It smoked, but it wasn't that enjoyable...

 

[ktmac20]

Oh yah, right! If you dry it to 55% or less before you jar you have lost your value for a cure!

I prefer to error on the +% side and, as I wrote above if the rh is 70%+ I just let em air for 24hrs...better to err on the high side than the low side of RH.

Cheers

 

[hydra-glide]

have tried storing for several months but no great smell!!!

From what I read, the way to gain that OG heft and smell is to let the buds ripen longer. The trich coloration takes place over a long period. Probably helps to remove the "done" branches first and let the under-done branches grow bigger, and they will pretty fast.
I'm searching mine daily for ripe branches. I'm flushing my plants with pH'd tap water, Humboldt SnowUltra, and Budswel. No nutes. No silica after 4-weeks of flowering. Trying to cleanse the nutes out of the plants while stoking the bud trichs with enhancers.
What I've found out about myself is that yes, I do have "hands of god", and have become a regular 2-season know-it-all.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

I tried some of the "enhancers" most of them are sugar water with PK boost...I can make that in my kitchen, if I thought there was any use in it. UV light will get you better trich production than that stuff. And how is a plant supposed to produce anything when you wash everything it needs to grow out of the medium?

 

[hydra-glide]

And how is a plant supposed to produce anything when you wash everything it needs to grow out of the medium?

Good point. My situation is that I didn't give this group the required 14-hrs. of sun and they started flowering early. I upcanned them to (7) gal. felt-pots and began giving them bloom nutes, so there went the root-ability. Because the roots stayed wide spread and shallow, the nutes that shipped with FoxFarms, are still locked into the medium. By making sure that the pH is 6.5 - 6.8 I'm sure that the medium is buffering the liquids down to 6.1 - 6.2, because I've been capturing the run-off. HEY! I'm not using the Ph test solution any more. I use the Home Depot's Ph meter $12. and it never fails. You need to wait one-full minute for the correct reading to adjust, "but you'll never use test solution (or hear surf music) again. - Jimi Hendrix
I'll snap a pic of them roasting against their lathe fence, half-surrounded by a mountain range of Landscape Waste containers, their faces towards the sun. Baking crazy and sucking up the SnowStormUltra (it's not sugar water!! it says so on the label, and are those people up in Humboldt going to lie to a USN Vet? Hale no!) and Budswel Bat-poop refined. Motor-scooter!! Smoooothe hitting is what I'm expecting. "This bud has about 10-14 days to go. I see white hairs", is what farmer would say.
Listen up! If this were a parachute, I'd jump out of a plane with it. Keep the tip clean. It works, Pretty soon, you'll be testing the pH of everything you see.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Soil-Master-pH-Meter-1230/204373751
•••••••••••••••••••••••
"Smooth hitting is what your not going to be receiving, because you want to flush-out all of the SnowUltra and Budswel from the plants now, not add more!", said HydroJoe. "When we flush our plants, usually (10) days because that's what seems to work best through the years. I'm sold on Heavy 16 / Finish (soluble potash 0-0-1) and feed them (3) times before flushing them the remaining days with just pH'd chlorine/filtered water." http://www.heavy16.com/
[20ml./gal h2o for coco and 15ml for soil/mix] Note: the bottle directions read much different amounts. Forgetabout the bottle directions. We're on HydroJoe directions.

So my next (3) flush-watering's will be with pH'd water [of 6.8] with 15ml of Heavy 16 - Finish. That's my creed now Heavy-16 and I'm sticking to it.
I couldn't shoot the pics in the direct sun...too much glare reflecting off the trichs!
Note: Hydro Guy said to mix all additives thoroughly before adding the next additive. This is how the additives bond to the molecules in the water. Likewise, adding silica to pH's water first before other nutes right? Well, everything needs it's own separate mixing time. Get a stick!