Ganjaluvrs Drying & Curing Broken Down into Understandable English

Vikingo

Member
Great Thread! Most informative!

Just harvested my first ever plant, and yet another still to go tomorrow! Both are hanging now, in an ideal 21 dgrees celsius and humidity at 58%. Should be good to put into jars in about 7 days!

Thank you!!
 

Fatty McDoobs

Well-Known Member
Awesome! Mine only took 72 hrs before the outside were crispy. The box had dried hair any tiny dried leavesat the bottom and stems bent over like a snap but hardly any noise. I think I put them in in the nick of time cause thebuds felt a lil prickally and hard not moist on the outside at all and not squishy but I could tell they weren't dried out completely. Wet weight was 155.6 grams not including popcorn for trim and a couple lil nuggs for smoke to test it out. Dried wet just now........34.4 grams so that's almost dead on with 1/4 weight from the wet weight. Bu they went in at 1am so after lunch tomorrow ill be burping them babies!



Thanks!! +rep!!
 

GivinCare

Member
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.
 

HapaHaole

Well-Known Member
ok good...i needed that "do i keep them in total darkness" question answered. i am harvesting tonight and its my first, kinda nervous and even a bit..depressed?!...anyone else feel that way for preparing to kill their sweet little virgins? lol the smell makes me feel better tho! thanks Ganj ..rep you +
I know, right? I always feel bad just culling out weaklings...
 
Why do you state this when Jorge Cervantes in his Growing DVD that you can watch on youtube.com says the snap is what you want?

  • Once the outer side of the buds are dry.. and the stems BEND but doesn't BREAK into two pieces.. this is the optimal time to start the "curing process".​




 

supchaka

Well-Known Member
Why do you state this when Jorge Cervantes in his Growing DVD that you can watch on youtube.com says the snap is what you want?

  • Once the outer side of the buds are dry.. and the stems BEND but doesn't BREAK into two pieces.. this is the optimal time to start the "curing process".​


Cuz he's not Jorge and has his own opinions?
 

xtract44

Member
I'm glad you cleared this up, the "Snap" Jorge is talking about i am convinced now that he is talking about PURELY the sound, not the fact that it actually snaps in half physically. This was one of my biggest confusions when I first started. I went through 2 chops and let them dry untill the stems snap.. yeah,, that sucked... it had almost no smell at all..but tasted okay.. only untill after the first 2 times did i start to better understand what folks were talking about regarding the "Snap". I am still working on my method to try and get that Double bag funk. What I have noticed however is that when i would let my stalks dry, the tiny popcorn nug's that got left smelled MUCH stronger and were much sweeter..the only difference I can think of is the slowing of the dry time due to the rest of the water in the main stalk and the temperature.. which runs around 65-70F degrees ( closer to 65F ) as opposed to 72-73F at which i normally cure at.
 

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
Some of my picky friends are not happy with bud that is 65% RH. They let it dry to 55% for max potency and the stems will snap and break. The buds feel hard between your fingers. For whatever reason the dryer bud is more potent.
 

Gioganja

Well-Known Member
What exactly is the brown paper bag for? I've never used it in my curing process, but many growers I know do.
 

mensabarbie

Active Member
I am using the paper bags for the first time and asked the same question. I am still waiting for the answer but my education tells me that this is a semi-permeable membrane made of fibers that seems like a kind of intermediary between air-drying in a room and curing in a non-permeable container (turkey bags, jars etc). I think the paper pulp sucks some moisture out. However, closing the bags keeps moisture in to a degree. it's a logical stage in the progression if slow-drying is the objective. I'm talking out of school tho.
What exactly is the brown paper bag for? I've never used it in my curing process, but many growers I know do.
 

nixact

Member
LOL I just read this entire thread and it was hilarious. All this hub bub about RH temp paper bags plastic buckets mason jars. Sooooo overkill.

Here's how you do it:

Chop them down and put them all at one time in the microwave for 2 minutes per Oz. bamb your done.

No, seriously though. Hilarious.
 

mantiszn

Well-Known Member
trollarious...

LOL I just read this entire thread and it was hilarious. All this hub bub about RH temp paper bags plastic buckets mason jars. Sooooo overkill.

Here's how you do it:

Chop them down and put them all at one time in the microwave for 2 minutes per Oz. bamb your done.

No, seriously though. Hilarious.
 

Indoor Sun King

Well-Known Member
LOL I just read this entire thread and it was hilarious. All this hub bub about RH temp paper bags plastic buckets mason jars. Sooooo overkill.

Here's how you do it:

Chop them down and put them all at one time in the microwave for 2 minutes per Oz. bamb your done.

No, seriously though. Hilarious.
Here’s a tip for you, same thing applies with a steak, why bother to marinate, then season it before slowly BBQ over charcoals and hickory wood chips with spicy BBQ sauce, when you can just slap the meat onto a plate, toss it into the microwave and nuke it for 4-5 minutes, done like diner. ….bon appetite!
 

smellzlikeskunkyum

Well-Known Member
i think a good point to remember is this. You can mess up good bud if you dont do things at least somewhat right.

Badly grown bud, or bad genes, will give you buds that never seem to cure properly in the sense that they just dont ever smell and taste that great. Cure them all you want it will still taste like grass or something. Especially when you pick early.

In my years of growing... ive leaned towards letting the stems get to where they snap more so than dont before i jar. But the slower and more evenly you can get the moisture level to drop is the key to success usually. The density of the bud plays a big part too sometimes. Also sometimes the thicker the coast of resin is, it seems to take longer to cure. Just my two cents.

I used to see so much bud in this area with sugar leaves that have mildew or mold on them. I think its easier to have happen than people think sometimes.
 
My suggestion for large harvests is a rubbermade tote w/ a trash bag across the top of tote then snap the lid on. The trash bag creates a nice seal once you snap the lid down. My buddy has been doing this for years and has awsome smoke hope this helps, plus the humidor for cigars is a great way to store for long term on smaller harvests.
 
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