drying methods

has anybody got any good ways of drying and whatdo u say about the 24 hrs darkness before harvest and no water 24 hrs either before cropping?

Good ways of drying isn't really a technique. Its all up to you to study your environment and do what you need to do to make close to perfect drying conditions. Which means low/no light/heat, Movement of air around them but not blowing air on them, and most importantly the correct RH. The RH basically dictates how you dry. If you have central air or are running window ac in the area your RH will be low. This will dry your buds too fast and lock in bad taste. If your RH is too high you run a risk of mold and buds wont dry until they are unsmokably molded. You want the air around the buds to have the desired moisture within your crop. This is around 65 RH. With a drying area with this RH just hanging your buds is good. Usually takes about a week to dry. If its too low and you cant correct it, using paper bags is a good way to lock in some moisture. Its not good to lay the buds down tho because they will dry like that with a flat spot. So improvise a hanging rack to fit into the bag and throw a hygrometer in there to follow the RH fluctuations and open and close accordingly. If your RH is too high then you need to find a way to get some moisture out so you don't ruin your hard work. If you dry correctly and jar at the right time (stems snap or about to snap which take experience) then curing will be less of an ordeal. On the 24 hrs dark I like to do it just to make sure the plant recovered from the light damage. Some strains react with an increase in THC when darkness is prolonged to 72 hours but I've tried comparisons on a few strains and it was inconclusive imo. Supposedly its white strains that see the most benefit. No water is what I always do. Just so after I cut I don't have a soggy mess to clean out of the pot. With a 24 hr dark period watering before it wouldn't matter anyways since plants stop transpiring in the dark. No water leaves through the leaves so in turn water isn't being brought up the roots.

I just did mine ..

42 hrs dark time (was going for 48 .. but 42 fit my scredue better)

last watering was 2 days before the dark time .. so normaly I would have been watering them fist day of the dark time ..

they wont use up any .. but it will still evaporate if any left ..

will also make the drying prosess a bit shorter as the plant is a bit dry to start with ..




after 5 days in a 99% dark room wiht normal room temps and RH (24C/40%) and a nice air flow from a tower fan bloweing fresh air in (the 1% light)

the steams begin to crack when bending .. so cut the buds of and put em on a netting hanger for a day more in the room ..

then on jars



will keep em in my dark room/spare bed room and open them for 20 min twise a day firs week .. then just once day for a week or so more .. then begin to smoke em .. more then I allready do

The other guys have good ideas about the technical details. Here's my take on the concept of drying and curing bud.

We dry bud to smoke it, we cure bud to store it. If no one ever kept product for more than a few weeks we could likely
get by with no curing. When I harvest I spread the newly cut nugs on paper towels spread over a 16 x 25 x 1-inch
furnace filter from WalMart ($0.8. After 3-4 days on the filters the bud is mostly dry with smaller nugs dry and larger ones
still moist. When product is mostly dry and leaves the filters I figure the drying process is over and the next step is curing.
I put all the mostly dry bud in a sealable glass jar and put in the 'fridge for 24 hours. What this does is allows the remaining
moisture in the large buds to spread evenly throughout all the nugs in the jar. After 24 hours in the 'fridge check to see if the
consistency and dryness is where you want it. If it is still not dry enough leave the product in the jar but open the top and leave the
jar open for 12-24 hours at room temp. Repeat if necessary until your product is uniformly the way you want it.

If you skip the curing stage a couple of things can/will happen that are not good. If you don't cure you can't have uniformity. Small
buds will dry out and get crispy before the larger nugs dry completely. So you have either a crispy critter or you have pockets of
moisture hidden in the larger buds. That's a recipe for mold. Moldy reef is not usable. I have tossed a QB of product due to mold.
Never again. POT WILL MOLD EVEN IF STORED COLD if there is moisture remaining. Curing allows us to keep just enough wetness i
n the bud to keep it from being crispy.

So either smoke it or cure it.
BigSteve.

weedworlds said:

has anybody got any good ways of drying and whatdo u say about the 24 hrs darkness before harvest and no water 24 hrs either before cropping?

Click to expand...

Proper way of drying is you want your humidity at around 45-55% and a temperature range of 65-75%. The first method have no scientific backup. For me Personally I place my pre harvested plants in the dark for 3 days it appears that it generates a little more crystal but cant prove it scientifically. And plus at least I save on electricity and that stress that late in the harvest wont mess up my crop. Well you shouldnt water anyway 24 hours prior to harvest because there is a chance that more water will be stored in the plant therefore taking a little longer to dry. Also you pot will be soggy harder to remove the dirt once you do the karate chop.