A GOOD HANGING, DRYING AND CURING PROCESS

[303 DUB]

Im getting close to cutting down and would like to know a good process for cutting down, hanging, drying and curing? thanks for any input in advance!

 

[stutter]

there is a lot of different methods of drying and curing and in the end its goig to come down to your local climate as humidity and temperature are going to affect your dry and cure greatly.

i have a method which works well for me which i have been fine tuning over the yrs and i will share it but it is by no means the only way to go about it.

firstly i trim all the sugar leaves away from the buds as best i can while the plant is still living and still in the pot. i leave any larger fan leaves and any large sugar leaves that i think will be easily removed later once the bud is dry .I leave the fan leaves and larger sugar leaves on because they will help to slow down the drying process and a slower dry seems to result in much more flavour and smell in the dried product.

Once i have removed the sugar leaves and left all the fans i cut the stem at the base near the pot and hang the whole thing upside down in my tent with just the exhaust fan running to circulate some fresh air into the tent.

it usually takes 2-3 weeks to dry my plants like this depending on the weather. i usually just give the buds a little squeeze to feel how dry they are normally they feel a little crunchy on the outside when they are ready for the next stage. some people bend there stems to know when the plant is dry, when the stems snap clean instead of bending they are dry.

once im happy that my buds are dry enough i strip all the individual buds away from the stems. if your buds are dry it shouldnt be an issue to simply pluck them off between your thumb and forefinger but if they are still a little wet they may not want to break off and you will either have to give it a little longer to dry or just use scissors. once all the buds are seperated i clean them up and get any sugar leaves off that i missed and just make them look nice then they go straight into jars.

i open my jars every day for a week and check my buds if they have evened out and become a little moist again in the jars i will remove them and put them in a brown paper bag over night to dry a little more. i also do a burn test (AKA smoke a joint of the bud) and see if it burns clean and smooth in the joint without going out. if it burns ok the moisture is normally ok and after a week im usually fine to just burp my jars once a week from then on in or if im actively smoking the buds i dont worry about it because the jars are getting opened all the time anyway.

be patient after about 2-3mths in the jar is when the cure really comes into its own. you will see the buds have lost a lot fo there colour and get a very goldish brown shade to them as they lose all there chlorophyll and the bud will start to really show its true colours. i have recently had 2 different pheno's of the same strain that looked and smelled almost exactly the same after the dry but after 3 mths in jars they are now completley different. one has gone almost like lemon candy while the other is now almost a pure diesel/fuel smell. its quite remarkable actually.

i hope this helps and im sure you will hear tons of other great methods and it will be a matter of figuring out what works for you. my climate here is very humid and warm and what works for me may not work for you if your in a dry/arid climate. but its all about trial and error. im still looking for ways to improve my dry and cure because its a very important step in growing if not the most important so i will be watching this thread to see if i can snag a few pointers from others as well

 

[shawnskush]

the slower the dry the better the bud is the basic rule of thumb!

 

[303 DUB]

the slower the dry? meaning leave it hanging longer?

 

[303 DUB]

thanks for your input stutter

 

[FiveAM]

the slower the dry? meaning leave it hanging longer?

depending on your conditions. this Could be terrible..

he means.

you have to watch your temp, humidity, and light levels when drying the bud. and when these are all correct, you slowly dry the bud out for a nice even cure and great bud.

there's lots of guides on this, i would suggest taking a peak at some.

don't cut this corner, it's quite possibly the most important step in the process.

 

[303 DUB]

where could i start looking for specific information on temp rh and light levels?

 

[303 DUB]

i found it. thanks a lot

 

[Jalisco Kid]

I dry mine on patio door screens that can be stacked 6 high on 8' ceiling,fold up for easy storage. Each screen holds 2 -3lb. Drying and curing is an art modified for each room. I believe in slow and easy. I take 10 days to dry my herb. I normally then lock them up in jars for 3 weeks then deliver to my patients. I personally like a 5 week cure, some to 8. But I am not proud I would burn one with you if you just pulled it out of the microwave.JK

 

[surrealife]

if it buns, it works right:)
fresh weed is so underated

 

[Natural]

anything under 3 weeks is called testers..lol ;)

 

[surrealife]

curing is important, second only to growing,
but, smoking, that is my favorite

 

[rick ratlin]

TK was nice enough to put this up, and now thats the only way I'll do it. Cure Your Medicine by DJ Short