There's alot of bad info out there on drying and curing weed. In fact, no other aspect of growing is so contested. Which is odd because it's really not all that hard. I know we've touched on how we dry, but I don't know if we ever layed out the whole system. If I run out of time I may do this in stages:
What is drying? What is curing?:
You'll get a bunch of answers to this. I can only layout my understanding. I define dry as evenly dry throughout the entire bud. That's it.
Curing is what happen when that evenly dried bud is properly stored for a length of time. I have found very little difference between a properly dried bud 1 week old, and the same bud 3 weeks old. However, buds stored for a couple months takes on some new properties. I find it smoother to smoke. The color also gets a little browner/yellower. That's it.
Very few commercial indoor growers perform a true "cure". To do so would entail way too much product on hand. Furthermore, few collectives can afford to have the cash flow behind 2 months. It's bad enough that it takes several months to grow the shit. 3 more months of curing would just asdd insult to injury. Properly dried buds are WAY good enough for 99% of the smokers out there. We'll focus on the drying aspect.
The Drying Shack:
We have a dring shack. It's a 3x7 Rubbermaid tool shed. Inside we have a dehumidifier and a filtered exhaust. There is no temp control. I adjust the RH depending on temp. At 80f I like 50% RH, at 70F I like 40%, and at 60F I like 30%. It is very important to dry in a semi controlled environment. If you can't build a dedicated shed, dry in the grow room. The atmosphere is perfect. A tent or large cardboard box inside the grow room will do fine. It's just to keep the light off the drying buds. A small exhaust fan in the box/tent keeps the atmosphere inside the tent the same as outside. Wires pulled across the tent/box/shed allow coat hangers to be hung.
The Trim:
We trim when the buds are fresh. I like to leave the buds on the branch when I trim. This protects the buds from excess handling. The intial trim is the last trim for us. We call this "trimming for sale". The buds are trimmed as good as we can reasonably get the first time around. While there will be a final quality check before distribution, every effort is made to get the buds perfect the first time around. I like to work with branches from 10" to 20" long.
Initial Drying:
We do not put buds into drying shack as we trim. We hang them on the "holding wire" until the end of the trimming day, and place the entire day's worth of trimming inside the room at once. This ensure the same time period of drying for each branch. The date and time are noted.
We dry for 60-72 hrs. When the buds feel crispy on the outside, they're ready for the next step. If you wait until the stems snap (as many people say), the buds will be WAY too dry. This step really requires some experience. While there is some leeway, removing from the shack at the right time will ensure success. The buds should feel too dry on the outside, but when ripped apart they should feel too wet on the inside. Another way to test is to see if the smallest buds (the tiny ones too small to sell) can be knocked off the stem by hand.
Final Drying:
I'll get this on my next post
