Drying and Curing HELP!!

Drying and Curing is an important step in the big picture... you should dry the buds completely, as dry as being able to snap a stem in 1 bend, but handle them carefully. Do not refrigerate your sealed jars, just put them on a dark shelf. Once very dry, you place the buds into your airtight jar. Keep the jar sealed as long as possible but check it every other day at least. open and breathe for about 30 min. reseal and wait for the next check day. If you observe moisture on the inside of the jar, open it immediately and with a dry paper towel, wipe the moisture off the inside.You'll prolly do this for about 4 weeks, AT A MINIMUM. As time passes, the flavor will come out. The jar process converts plant chlorophyl into surgars that sweeten the flavor. I wouldn't recommend putting any foreign objects into your curing jar, as they will prolly be overly moist and mold up on ya. Oh by the way g'luck and be patient in this stage of your harvest.

PS. This portion of the harvesting process is not complicated, just time consuming. What with all that nice bud curing and smelling so nice as time goes on, most times the bud dont make it to the end .

N

Nimbliez said:

Do not refrigerate your sealed jars, just put them on a dark shelf. N

Click to expand...

Why shouldn't you refrigerate the jars?

I think it encourages mold if you place them in the fridge when there's any moisture in 'em at all.

nimbliez has the right approach. Depending upon where you live/how humid it is, etc. it may take 4 weeks as he says..and it may take less. also depends on the strain. I've dried different strains at the same time in the same conditions and some strains just hang onto that water longer before drying.

I never use a fan...but I also live in the Western US and it's damn dry here.
3-4 days hang....into the jars...burp..burp..burp. Take it out of the jar if it still seems wet and let air hit it for 15 minutes each day until it's the dryness you desire.

good luck all

bt dt.

i let it dry for a week 5 days atleast

beenthere donethat said:

I think it encourages mold if you place them in the fridge when there's any moisture in 'em at all.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't read the entire post. I thought nimbliez meant don't put the jars in the fridge once drying and curing has been completed. My bad!!

I can testify on the huge difference between dry but uncured bud vs dry and cured bud. We dried our bud for about 5 days and took a sample smoke and the shit was nasty and gave us a mild high. Last night, we smoked some of the same buds but cured 4 and half weeks and the smoke was very smoothe and the high was intense and lasted about 2 hours. Dry and cure and you won't be sorry about waiting the extra weeks. Trust me.

thanks guys... lots of great words of encouragement and advice ... lets hope for the best...buds that is, well and everything else too...hehe...happyBlazz'n

cool... exactly the thread i needed to read, as i'm doing the same myself... and yeah like bt dt... my buds were quite dry (stem snappingly dry) after only 3 days... maybe its cuz they were fluffier buds cuz of the floro lighting... but yeah, now their in jars, and burp a couple times a day, blowing in the jars to make sure all the air circulates out...

best of luck, hope yours smokes great!!!

are you using a herb dryer too?? or are you natural air drying the OG way?? do your nugs taste good after being in the jars??

not really an herb dryer, but i hung them in this compartment at the top of my computer desk... ( close the doors usually and open them a fwe times daily to exchange the air)





and they've only been in jars for a few days this week... i'll let you know in a month.. haha!

good luck buddy

GreenThumb420 said:

are you using a herb dryer too?? or are you natural air drying the OG way?? do your nugs taste good after being in the jars??

Click to expand...

the reason your smoke was harsh was cuase they were dried to fast you want slow dry them by hanging them upside and let dry for a week or untill the oustsie is dry to the touch then go trough the jar process or w/e your method is personaly i air seal it and store it a bag overnoght and they good and evenly moist and then you will get a much smoother smoke bud dryers are good if you u want your buds dry fast and usaly the buds dried this way are for selling and not personal smoke but if you want smooth smoke slow age drying is ur best bet like they say it mellows with age!

hearmenow said:

I can testify on the huge difference between dry but uncured bud vs dry and cured bud. We dried our bud for about 5 days and took a sample smoke and the shit was nasty and gave us a mild high. Last night, we smoked some of the same buds but cured 4 and half weeks and the smoke was very smoothe and the high was intense and lasted about 2 hours. Dry and cure and you won't be sorry about waiting the extra weeks. Trust me.

Click to expand...

Bearsbuds says, My first crop I ever grew, I dried way tooo fast in an upstairs bedroom closet. My second crop has come out do much prettier and healthy. I used all natural nutrients; Bat shit, seagull shit, worm casings, liquified seaweed, Super Thrive and fish fertilizer pellets. I make a big pot of tea at about 1/2 the reccomended proportions and water at least twice a week with this solution. This crop is Northern Lights Indica and I have trained my plants to be bushy, with short internodal spacing. They have just gone onto 12-12 about a week and a half ago; The buds are really starting to look glorious. My question is how do I discern the optimum time to harvest?

check the trichs with a mini microscope (you can pick them up at radio shack for ten bucks in the states)

and, depending on the high you want...

a more cerebrial "up" high - all cloudy trichs with some amber trichs (they go from clear, to cloudy, to amber)

for a more couch lock high - mostly amber trichs

that'd help you get the most potency =]

bearsbuds said:

Bearsbuds says, My first crop I ever grew, I dried way tooo fast in an upstairs bedroom closet. My second crop has come out do much prettier and healthy. I used all natural nutrients; Bat shit, seagull shit, worm casings, liquified seaweed, Super Thrive and fish fertilizer pellets. I make a big pot of tea at about 1/2 the reccomended proportions and water at least twice a week with this solution. This crop is Northern Lights Indica and I have trained my plants to be bushy, with short internodal spacing. They have just gone onto 12-12 about a week and a half ago; The buds are really starting to look glorious. My question is how do I discern the optimum time to harvest?

Click to expand...

pick your buds when you like just as long as thay have about 50% red hairs earlier buds give a good head high wile later picked buds give more of stoney sleepy high due to the cbd,s.so its prettymuch up to you how you want your high to be try pulling a small bud and quickdry it too see how the high is until you like it the way you want but dont use a microwave or anything just air dry or dehumidifyer
personaly i wait till about 60% hairs are red let the soil dry out then chop the plant and it gives a good mixture of the high along with good tatse and smell providing you cured properly.

t0k3s said:

pick your buds when you like just as long as thay have about 50% red hairs earlier buds give a good head high wile later picked buds give more of stoney sleepy high due to the cbd,s.so its prettymuch up to you how you want your high to be try pulling a small bud and quickdry it too see how the high is until you like it the way you want but dont use a microwave or anything just air dry or dehumidifyer
personaly i wait till about 60% hairs are red let the soil dry out then chop the plant and it gives a good mixture of the high along with good tatse and smell providing you cured properly.

Click to expand...

actually, the hairs can be misleading, depending on the strain... thats why checking the trichromes is a more accurate way of telling when whatever strain you have is done...+

thats true, my g-13 has a flowering period of 6-7 weeks but by checking the trichomes... i had to wait 8 1/2 weeks to get to the potency i wanted.... it may take a little longer but the rewards are soo worth it... be patient and the ladies will treat you right.... i switched to cardboard box drying instead of the plastic herb dryers... it makes a world of a difference... since the cardboard can breath through its material, the buds dry at their own rate, retaining the smell & flavor... just takes 2-3 days longer, so just wait.. u've waited 12+ weeks, 2-3 days is nothing... goodLuck to All.. n HappyBlaz'n..

GreenThumb420 said:

thats true, my g-13 has a flowering period of 6-7 weeks but by checking the trichomes... i had to wait 8 1/2 weeks to get to the potency i wanted.... it may take a little longer but the rewards are soo worth it... be patient and the ladies will treat you right.... i switched to cardboard box drying instead of the plastic herb dryers... it makes a world of a difference... since the cardboard can breath through its material, the buds dry at their own rate, retaining the smell & flavor... just takes 2-3 days longer, so just wait.. u've waited 12+ weeks, 2-3 days is nothing... goodLuck to All.. n HappyBlaz'n..

Click to expand...

yea well i didnt think he would know what to look for so i told him to go by the hairs.

Great information here for us first timers...