This is my 1st post... Just thought I'd share how I dry/cure. I am very happy with my results.
Step 1. When I see milky trich's with some (5 to maybe 10% amber) I flush by hitting with a preferred flushing solution (about 1/2 to 3/4 strength of what's on the directions). Then nothing but water there on out.
Step 2. When I get about 30% amber trich's, I put in a dark room with an intake and exhaust fan about 65 F / 40ish humidity if possible. (purpose of this can be 2 fold. 1 - to panic the plants into producing more of its natural defense which is crystals. 2 - to sap any remaining nutes from the plant back into the roots and growing medium.)
Step 3. Trim all fan leaves while the plant is still in the medium (this doesn't matter, it's just easier for me to get as close to the stalk as I can if I get them before chopping or hanging)
Step 4. Chop plants about 6-8 inches below the 1st set of nodes and hang in the dark room with same conditions as I mentioned in Step 2. Let them hang until the remaining leaves are brittle and the branches snap a bit when you bend them. (usually about 6-10 days depends on the density of flowers) and personally, I take everything but he colas, which Ieave hanging for a day or 2 longer.
Step 5. Cut the flowers from the branch leaving some extra stem for handling if possible. Then I cut as many of the bigger leaves of as possible. (however, I make sure the are some sugar leaves left for final manicuring).
Step 6. Put flowers in mason jars (loosely, DO NOT pack in) then burp for the next week minimum. How I burp is:
1st 2 days, every 6 hours roughly or about 4 times a day, I open the jar, rotate flowers to make sure there's none stuck together (which can mold or deflate smell even in the best conditions) I leave the jar open for about an hour in days 1-2
Days 3-5: do the same thing but only 2-3 times a day and I only leave them open for about 20-30 min.
Days 6-10: On day 6, if they feel close to where I want them as far as dryness, I take a medium sized sample nug out to roll 1 and bowl 1. Do not use a grinder cuz you want to really be able to see what the texture of the middle is like (and i take a medium sized nug so i can gauge where the bigger nugs and popcorns are at) This is when common sense kicks in. If they're at a good consistency I proceed to step 7. If They are not where I want them, I proceed for a few more days burping 1-2 times a day for 15-30 minutes and gently rotate the bottom to the top. When the desired dryness is achieved I proceed to the 7th and final step.
Step 7. I do the final manicuring by Trimming the sugar leaves (which really releases the STINKY STINKY) and put them back in the jars and burp for about 10-15 minutes once about once a day for as long as you want. Keeping in mind that maximum potency is about 6 months into the cure, but I'm not sitting well enough to wait that long... I keep some choice nugs curing for as long as possible, while I do what I do with the rest.
I realize this is the simple, easy to understand thread, so maybe I shouldn't have posted this "in-depth" way here. But the way I see it, I spend anywhere from 3-4 months from start to finish caring for my girls, I'm not going to take shortcuts in the end. I've tried several methods from drying racks to bags and although there are way easier shorter ways of doing this that you can still achieve nice result.... These are the best results I've ever achieved. And I've actually tried 5 different methods with the same crop to compare (hoping I could find a quicker/easier way that was comparable) and I've found that IMHO its well worth the wait and effort.