whats the best way to dry

H

Honest Bruce

Active Member
i have had some fantastic crops, Nothern lights, Big bud, and Snow white. But i always seem to stuff them up in the drying process and the smoke whilst high in thc is very harsh to smoke. Water curing works of course but its not the same. And when my crop is dry it looks a lot darker than stuff i buy. So my question is what is the best way to dry my crop, how long should it take, and at what stage should i put it in jars.
 
Roseman

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
Bruce, there are many important determining factors to consider when you first harvest.
Did you flush the plants with pure water before you harvested? You should.
when I harvest, I hang my branches upside down first, for 4 to 6 days, to air dry. I leave the smallest leaves on, to see when they are crispy dry. The buds will feel dry but are still very moist.
Then I put them in wide mouth Quart jars, in a cool dark place, and cure them for 4 weeks, opening the jars for 5 minutes, once a day.
 
H

Honest Bruce

Active Member
does it need to be dark when they dry?
and i usually flush them with just water for i to two weeks before harvesting
 
U

UserFriendly

New Member
Honest Bruce said:
i have had some fantastic crops, Nothern lights, Big bud, and Snow white. But i always seem to stuff them up in the drying process and the smoke whilst high in thc is very harsh to smoke. Water curing works of course but its not the same. And when my crop is dry it looks a lot darker than stuff i buy. So my question is what is the best way to dry my crop, how long should it take, and at what stage should i put it in jars.
Click to expand...
S...L...O...W...L...Y............in the dark. and it should be coldish too (high 60's - low 70's). 50 - 60% RH. at least 2 weeks to jars
 
U

user192021

Well-Known Member
Find a clean room/closet where you can maintain conditions of 70 degrees F and 50% rH, have a fan in the room circulating air but not blowing directly on the buds - hang buds on clothes hangers to dry until smokeable, then put in jars for 2 weeks - "burp" or open the jars for a few minutes daily for the first 2-3 days until you're sure the buds are sufficiently dry so as not to mold. Keep the room dark - NO light leaks!

Also - you can use brown paper bags to get that last bit of moisture out of the buds before you cure them, but watch those buds very closely - I check on them every hour or so. The brown paper bags really suck those buds dry quickly.
 
Roseman

Roseman

Elite Rolling Society
Harvesting and Curing
Many hydro growers drain the tank and fill it with plain water, two days before harvest. Called Flushing. (I quit doing that, I just could not taste any difference.) Soil growers also FLUSH before harvesting.
I cut the longest branches, put them on a tin-foiled covered tray, and go to my kitchen table. I try to catch any fallen trichomes on the tin foil.
I have three boxes, one for the big FAN leaves. (for oil)
one box for the TRIM leaves, the leaves with trichomes on them, that I manicured off the buds, FOR HASH. I've manicured much more since I learned how to make HASH. I want some naked STEM at the end of the buds to fasten my tape to, so I can hang it in the drying box.
AND One Box for the smaller popcorn buds. (small buds with no stems)

I manicure them, and cut the leaves off. I manicure closely. IF you leave those leaves on, by the time the buds are dry, the leaves are crispy and harsh to smoke.
I string masking tape across the top of the box, making rows about 3 or 4 inches a part. I wrap a piece of masking tape, about 4 inches long, around the tip end of the stem, and hang it from the masking tape, in rows, not letting the buds touch each other. VERY IMPORTANT.

I separate the bigger buds from the smaller ones IN DIFFERENT BOXES.
I put the boxes in a dark room, NO DIRECT LIGHT, and blow a gentle oscillating fan across the top, but not on them.
The big buds take 7 days, the smaller ones 5 days. Popcron buds take 3 or 4 days. Some take 5 days.
If you dry them too much, you can add back moisture. If you do not dry them enough, you get rotten buds and mold.
Dry them til the end of the stem will SNAP when you break it, but not crispy dry.
Again, the big buds take 7 days to dry, under a small fan,the smaller ones 5 days.
Keep them in the dark with little light to see and inspect.
I never smoke them then, NEVER.
VERY IMPORTANTLY I then CURE them 30 days in wide mouth jars, opening the jar for ten seconds EVERYDAY , for 30 days.
Every day, I sniff them, smell them, for any funky moldy smell. If they do not smell right, then dry them outside the jar another day or two.
I've lost one jar, out of hundreds, the 30th day, it went bad, to Bud MOLD.

I can not emphasis the importance and difference if you properly MANICURE, Dry AND Cure them.
CURING MAKES A BIG MAJOR DIFFERENCE.
DO I HAVE TO Cure 30 days?
Definitely, I do know for sure, I tried smoking buds cured for a only a week, for two weeks, three weeks and 4 weeks. You should try it too, and you will find what I found. Buds cured 4 weeks not only taste better, they burn better and get you higher too. It has something to do with some scientific complicated SUGAR PROCESSING. or the sugars change . I am 100% sure, you will agree, if you test it like I did. CURE FOR 30 DAYS!

DRYING? They say dry them til the stem will snap. Well, I get stems the thickness of fishing line and I get stems the thickness of a pencil, even bigger. That tells me that you can not DRY them ALL the same amount of time. So I sort mine, fatter stems from skinny stems. The skinny ones, I DRY for 5 or 6 days. The fat ones, I DRY for 7 to 8 days. IF YOU OVER DRY, YOU CAN REMOISTEN THEM. IF YOU DO NOT DRY THEM ENOUGH, THEY WILL ROT ! I dry mine in the open air, moving air, moved with an oscillating fan. A gentle breeze, in temps of what central air or central heat gives me, which is around 75 to 78 degrees and humidity of 30% to 40%.
AND YOU MUST DRY AND CURE THEM IN DARKNESS. LIGHT IS THE ENEMY WHEN DRYING AND CURING. I do DRY mine in a room with the shades pulled down, it is not very dARK, but it is not any direct LIGHT, just some leaking light. I read up on Drying and Curing in 4 books I bought, and the above is what they say.

Save the trim leaves for HASH, you'll be so glad you did.


When I put my buds in Jars, I put them in the jar one bud at a time, feeling it, to see if it is VERY dry, overly dry, or NOT dry enough.

I also save several large pieces of the STEM, for later. When I check a jar, if I find a vERY dry bud, a bud too crispy and dry, I ad a short piece of fresh moist stem to the jar, for a half day, to re-moistion it.


Daily inspecting the jars, opening and smelling them, is of the upmost importantance.






Those pics are a mixture of my 2007 and 2008 crop. The 2007 crop, I did not trim close. I trimmed, but not close. I'd leave a half inch, to keep the scissors from getting glued together adn I was just lazy and in a hurry. I always got a lot of very dry, too dry, bud leaves, that smoked harsh. More times than not, I threw them away or gave them away.

And then I got a KIEF Box with a screen, and I started trimming much closer. The 2008 pics, I trimmed close and everytime I opend a new jar, I went and trimmed them again, to make MORE hash.

Now I reccomend trimming as much as possible and making hash, I never leave any leaf to go into the jar now. I pluck off what I can not trim off.






Buds without STEMS, I just spread out in a box, NOT LETTING THEM PILE UP OR TOUCH EACH OTHER. I stir them everyday.
Proper Harvest and DRYING and Curing are as IMPORTANT as GROWING.
Attached Thumbnails





Popcorn buds:




We DRY pot, so we can CURE it.
We CURE pot, to make it taste sweeter, smell sweeter, to avoid bud-mold, to make it more Smokable, to get the chemical and clorophyll taste out, and to increase the potency. A GOOD cure takes 4 weeks, and some conisours (mispelled) cure it up to 6 to 8 weeks.

The idea behind curing was learned from tobacco growers. Curing is a biological process of allowing the SUGARS and STARCHES to change into something MORE pleasant to the taste and smell. Normally the SUGARS and STARCHES taste HARSH and not so pleasant. To grow, Plants need SUGARS that convert into starches from Fertilizers and sunlight. Curing also removes alot of clorophyll or the clorophyll taste that is sort of a grassy leafy medicine chemical taste and leaves a sweet tastey pleasant taste.
Also, we cure pot to avoid MOLD that can come within 30 days AFTER Drying.

We cure pot in jars, in darkness, in a cool place. After being placed in the jar, we store them in a dark cool place, then we re-open the jar once a day, smell it, inspect it, let it breathe for a few seconds and then re-seal it. IF we smell an unpleasant "nose pinching" smell, or see white growth, we need to immedialtey remove it from
the jar and DRY it some more for a few more days.

When you first harvest the buds, save some moist large stems in the refrigarator, in a baggie. If you dry it too much, you can add a small piece of stem back, to remoisten it some.

I have CURED pot one week in jars, and tasted it, and then Cured it 4 weeks and tasted it. If you will try the same experiment, or ask any experienced grower, you'll learn (taste) the difference. It is much more potent, and much sweeter tasting, and smells much better too.
 
Brick Top

Brick Top

New Member
One reason for harsh smoke, as has been mentioned, can be inadequate flushing or no flushing at all.
　
After that … follow the info below and everything will be peaches and cream.


Marijuana

Manicuring, Drying, And Curing Marijuana



Right after all the plants have been harvested, it is time to manicure them. Manicuring is simply cutting off the leaves that were growing from the buds. Cut off all the leaves surrounding the bud, so that just the bud remains.

Work over a glass table or some kind of smooth flat surface. This will make it easy to collect all the material that has been cut away from the buds. It is lower in THC than the buds, but rather than throw it away, you can use it to make hash oil.

When manicuring the buds, use a pair of scissors with small blades (to reach hard to get leaves) that is comfortable on your hands. If you have a small crop, you can handle the plants with you bare hands. With a large crop, wear powder free latex gloves.

The latex gloves will collect trichome resin in a similar manner to the way live marijuana plants are rubbed to make hashish. The latex gloves have to be powder free or the powder will get mixed into the resin.

Do not touch anything other than the plants once you have put the gloves on. If you have to do something, remove the gloves you are wearing and put them in a plastic bag, prior to doing whatever it is that has to be done.

When finished, put on a pair of new gloves. Material on the first pair can be collected later. When you are finished manicuring all the plants, remove the gloves and place them in a plastic bag (to catch resin that drops off).

Put the plastic bag with the gloves in a freezer for 2-3 hours. The trichome resin can easily be peeled from the frozen latex gloves and consumed the same way you would use hashish.

If absolutely necessary, you can wait to manicure the buds. However, the job will take more time if you wait. Manicuring right after the plants are harvested will also speed the drying process.

Instead smoking marijuana directly after it is harvested and manicured, it is best to dry and cure it. Some new growers might be in such a rush to try the marijuana that they don't want to dry the crop, or they might be tempted to put buds in a microwave oven to dry them out.


Drying Marijuana After Harvest

You probably don't want to smoke marijuana that is harsh and bad tasting. If you do not take time to dry the bud, you will not get the best possible smell and taste your crop is capable of producing.

Proper drying and curing will also ensure maximum potency of the marijuana you have grown. Marijuana is not potent just after harvest. Some of the THC is in a non-psychoactive acidic form. Drying marijuana the right way will convert the non-psychoactive acidic compounds into psychoactive THC.

The area where the drying is done should be dark. Light and high temperatures (higher than about 80 degrees) will cause THC to break down into less desirable chemicals, this will lower the potency of the finished product.

A good way to dry the crop is to hang the buds upside-down by the stem, from some string or wire. The drying marijuana must have some circulation blowing over it at all times. A gentle breeze that circulates over all the plants is necessary.

A fan or two will circulate air within the drying room. Fans will aid in drying the plants evenly, and reducing the chances of mold. If mold starts and is allowed to grow, it might ruin all of your crop. Mold looks like white fuzz and has an odor that is unpleasant.

You will have to keep the temperature and humidity within a certain range for optimal results. Conditions should remain constantly somewhere within the following ranges, temperature should be between 65-75 degrees F, relative humidity should be between 45%-55%.

At temperatures lower than 65 degrees, drying time will be lengthened. At temperatures higher than 75 degrees, the heat will cause the outer portion of the bud to dry quicker than the inner part, and the taste will suffer.

At humidity levels lower than 45%, the marijuana will dry too fast and the taste will suffer. At humidity levels higher than 55%, the marijuana will take a long time to dry, and it will be prone to mold.

Keep a hygrometer and a thermometer in the drying area, close to the plants. A hygrometer will allow you to keep an eye on the relative humidity level in the room and a thermometer will display the temperature. Some hygrometers
have built in thermometers so you can measure the temperature and humidity together.

Depending on the time of year and your location, a heater or an air conditioner may be necessary to adjust the temperature. To control humidity, a dehumidifier can lower humidity and a humidifier can be used to raise humidity. There are warm mist humidifiers and cool mist humidifiers.

A warm mist humidifier will raise the temperature while a cool mist humidifier will not affect the temperature. There are also humidifiers that allow you to switch between warm or cool mist. If you are going to purchase a humidifier for this purpose, take your climate into consideration and buy an appropriate humidifier.

Warm mist models will actually heat the water and release warm humidity. Cool mist water isn't cooled, it just means that water is not heated. In most cases a cool mist will work best. To be safe you can get a humidifier that lets you switch between warm and cool mist.


Curing Marijuana

It will take at least a week or two to dry the crop with temperatures between 65-75 degrees F and relative humidity between 45%-55%. You will know when the marijuana is dry if the stems snap or break (rather than fold) when they are bent. Try smoking a small bud (1/2 gram or less) in a joint to be sure it is dry enough.

At this time, small buds will be dry enough to smoke. But larger buds should be cured (slow dried) to ensure that the marijuana is as potent and tasty as possible. If necessary, you can set aside buds that are less than 1/2 gram for smoking, while larger buds cure.

The cure lasts a week or two. The aim of what you are doing is evenly finishing the slow dry process, so that mold will not grow when the buds are stored long term. Also, by the end of the cure, any remaining inactive THC will be converted to active THC (that increases potency).

To cure the crop, you will need one or more containers made out of glass or plastic. Some people say plastic can impart a taste to the marijuana. Personally, plastic containers that some types of roll your own tobacco are sold in, have no negative effect on the taste.

Containers that have a rubber seal work best, but any type of container with a tight fitting lid will do. One quart canning jars do a very good job if you are curing a few pounds or less. They have a rubber seal and hold 2 or more ounces of marijuana per one quart jar.

When curing quantities in excess of a few pounds, large (over 40 quarts) plastic storage boxes
are recommended. They are not air tight, but will do the job when smaller air tight containers are not practical.

Gently place your marijuana in the containers (cut buds to size if the are too big to fit in the container) and put the top on. Store the containers in a dark area where the temperature is between 50-65 degrees and the humidity is between 40%-60%.

You will have to open the containers for a few minutes to allow moisture to escape by fanning with your hand. If any moisture builds up on the inside of the cap on your container, wipe it off. Do this preferably 2-6 times daily, at regular 4-12 hour intervals.

You should also re-arrange the buds by giving them a quarter-turn once a day. This will ensure that different parts of the buds are exposed to the air in the container. Keep up this routine for 7-10 days. When properly dried, marijuana will burn evenly when smoked in a joint (if stems are removed).

The taste will be as good as it can be, and the THC will have reached a point where it is ready to be ingested or stored. You can keep any marijuana that will be consumed within a few months (1 year maximum) in the same containers used for curing, without having to keep opening them to release moisture.

If the marijuana is to be stored for more than a few months, you can use a vacuum sealer (designed for storing food) to seal the marijuana in an airtight environment. If stored in a dark area that is between 40-55 degrees F, the marijuana in vacuum sealed plastic will remain potent for up to 5 years.

Dry marijuana can be stored in a frost-free freezer, but some of the THC on the outer part of the buds may be damaged when frozen. A refrigerator is in the right temperature range but they tend to be humid (unless you can control the humidity).

If stored in an area of high humidity for months or years, even vacuum sealed marijuana can eventually become as humid as the surrounding air. This will necessitate drying it again before smoking. But, unless mold develops, humidity itself will not degrade the THC or make the marijuana any less potent.

Light will degrade some of the THC, so dark containers can be used for storage. If you place the marijuana in a see through container, it will have to be located in a dark area that is not exposed to light or high temperatures.

Always make sure to properly dry your marijuana prior to storage, if you grow your own or if the stuff you have is very moist. And remember that to preserve marijuana potency at a maximum level, keep any exposure to air, heat, and light at a minimum.
 
potsmokinsumbitch

potsmokinsumbitch

Member
The length of curing just depends on how the bud smokes after drying. Some bud only needs a 1 weeks cure and is dankity dank. Some weed smokes great without any curing at all. But yes the longer the cure the more potent and tasty the smoke. But some people dont have a month to wait for a good cure.
 
potsmokinsumbitch

potsmokinsumbitch

Member
Roseman said:
LIGHT is not good for curing, it destroys THC, I have been told.
Click to expand...
Actually the reason for darkness is to stop photosynthesis and it makes for a better taste, as far as light degrading thc Ive heard that but have seen no scientific data to back it up. Maybe sunlight would degrade it but I cant see ambient light doing anything. I guess the only true way to know is after harvesting a plant dry and cure different buds with different methods and see which taste and smokes the best. But I usually dry in the dark just in case heeeeeee.
 
C

CaliBud420

Member
So my big question is when they say flush for 2 weeks before harvest does that mean u flush with triple the amount of water like if u had nutrient lock or should i simply stop giving nutes the last 2 weeks and just give them water
 
mrdrywall

mrdrywall

Active Member
potsmokinsumbitch said:
The length of curing just depends on how the bud smokes after drying. Some bud only needs a 1 weeks cure and is dankity dank. Some weed smokes great without any curing at all. But yes the longer the cure the more potent and tasty the smoke. But some people dont have a month to wait for a good cure.
Click to expand...
no doubt not havin a month to cure,this shit goes as fast as i can harvest, id like to try it if i ever catch up with my customers. i dry for like 5 days put in a jar for a day then out for a half day then its gone
 
supaleeb

supaleeb

Active Member
CaliBud420 said:
So my big question is when they say flush for 2 weeks before harvest does that mean u flush with triple the amount of water like if u had nutrient lock or should i simply stop giving nutes the last 2 weeks and just give them water
Click to expand...
Flush with 2 gallons of plain water per gallon of soil each time you would water for the last 1-2 weeks before harvest.
 
krazifox

krazifox

Member
i have a friend coming over from far away in about 4 days who really wants to try my plants. as of a couple days ago; both plant have all the hairs orange and ready to hang dry. they are both only about 2 feet in height (small grow room, they ended up a little smaller then i wanted but it is my first grow and they look/smell incredible). this last tues night i dug them up (with as many roots as i could get) and hung them upside down and wrapped a news paper around each one. (the bottom of the paper is open ((to allow air flow)), kind of made the news papers into a funnel-like thing around them ((the top being a little tighter at the roots and then opening up at the top of the plant))) and pointed a small fan facing up at them. right now they are in a closet with two dark green blankets over the closet door so no light gets in and im about to put a box fan blowing air out of the closet (or in the closet if that would be better). I want to have them done by the time my friend comes, (this sunday) which gives the plants about 4 full days of being hung. ill probably only take one plant to smoke for us and cure the other one. any hints/tips to make them taste/smell/smoke/etc better before my friend comes?
 
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