What would you do?

Am a week away from starting a cure.
Nowhere in my house can be found the ideal curing temp of 50-65 degrees.

- The closet in my grow room maintains about 70 degrees.
- I have a beverage chiller(like a small fridge) that at its warmest setting hovers at 53 degrees.

Would you cure in the closet at 5 degrees over the recommended range or would you cure in the chiller which is near the lower end of the range?

I’d go the chiller

I'd cut my plant into big pieces so it'll hold plenty of water and go with the warmer environment to avoid mold issues but that's just me..

The chiller is too cold for curing. If those are your options, I would hang whole plants in the closet to dry. What is the humidity it the closet?

hang the whole plant than as it will extend the dry time.

Air circulation should be taken into consideration also.
I would keep it in your cupboard with a fan on and if u notice it drying too quick begin the cure process sooner.

Drying in anything enclosed such as a chiller will encourage mold.

You might consider hanging them to dry in the closet with air circulation watch them closely and when the outsides are crispy, hopefully not to soon cut the buds off the stems and put them in a larges brown paper bag. Check and stir once a day. Leave them in there till they are about dry enough to smoke maybe a week are two then trim them up and jar them.

Merlin1147 said:

You might consider hanging them to dry in the closet with air circulation watch them closely and when the outsides are crispy, hopefully not to soon cut the buds off the stems and put them in a larges brown paper bag. Check and stir once a day. Leave them in there till they are about dry enough to smoke maybe a week are two then trim them up and jar them.

Click to expand...

THIS IS THE SIMPLEST BEST WAY TO DRY!

I do my final trim fresh off the plant breaking all the big colas up to individual buds as I go then put them in doubled paper bags and dry slow in my cool basement. I like it when it's around 50F so you could do the same in your bar fridge.

I'll dump them out once a day into a clean tray to gently break up the clumps and let them air dry for a half hour or so then back into the bags, After a week every 2nd day is usually enough and it takes up to 3 or 4 weeks before they are dried enough to put into jars for burping another month. They are still moist enough to clump up in the jars so I use my old 1 and 2L plastic tobacco cans for that. Nice smooth sides so the pot just slides right out in a big mass for loosening up. Once dried close to smoking grade they don't clump up any more and can go into mason jars for long term storage.

The slow drying is the most important part of a great cure. That's when all the starches and chlorophyll are broken down and the buds are kept evenly moist. Any that gets completely dry will not break down even if re-moistened like what happens when you hang dry. The outside leaves and bud surface dries faster than the inner moisture can replace it. If the sugar leaves are left on for a final trimming them the bud underneath should still cure well if jarred right away and slowly dried in jars over a few weeks of burping.

I never chop the whole plant when cropping but take the big, ripe colas first and allow the smaller ones lower down to ripen for a while before taking more. I only take as much at a time that I can finish trimming in a couple hours for two reasons.

The leaves soften and and go limp after a couple hours which makes it harder to trim and with my arthritis my hands get sore really fast and can start going into spasms and I have to quit for the day. Think charley horses in your hands. Hurts like hell and I have to use the other hand to bend the offending digit back into place.

A good dose of my CBD cocobudder an hour or so before trimming seems to help prevent it's onset tho.

My initial dry will be in the closet for sure!
Its too warm for a good cure though...I believe.

I plugged in my chiller to test it and its a no-go too. The temp keeps dipping below 50.

I know that good wine chillers have a temp range of 65 - 40 or something like that but those run about $500.
Am going to try and find a used one....

This is my best grow yet as I have done everything by the book. I would be feeling pretty low if I cant get a good cure with this batch.

Normal fridge temps are 36F so your fridge is probably working like it's supposed to.

Another method for fridges I read about at 420mag was to place the trimmed buds in a mason jar about half full and cover the top with few layers of cheesecloth. Lay it on its side and rotate/shake daily to keep them loose and it takes weeks to dry them down that way. just use a rubber band or the metal ring to hold the cloth on.

Maybe try one jar and see how it goes and do the rest the best you can.

Still gonna have smoke at the end no matter what you do.