Almost there !! 3 weeks left ?

[Steve705]

Buy several good pairs of scissors. Do it now. When you start take one or two stems at a time and trim 'em good. Clip as much leaf as possible. If you're up for more clip a few more stems.

Take your time. Expect to spent an hour or two a night for a few nights.

Drying. Optimal is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, 60% relative humidity and about 12 days until the stems snap when bent. This can be difficult to create and maintain unless you have the required tools.

If not find the coolest spot you can hang the colas. Near a garage floor works as it's cooler than hanging from the rafters. Once the stems snap went bent it's time to jar.

Clip buds from stem and place into a jar with a lid about 3/4 full. Do not pack jars.

Keep in a cool dark place and open daily for a few minutes and allow to breath. Twice a day is good.

After a week or so the bud flavor, as the water is slowly removed, will improve. After 3-4 weeks it will remain stable for several months and you won't need to open the jars daily, just when you need some or just to smell it. Trust me, it's a delicacy.

Of course you will try it after harvest (nasty, too green), after drying (harsh) a day or two in the jar (getting better) and of course after it's ready.

Best bet once all is said and done is to roll one up. Taste and high can be assessed.

ProTip: Wear a bandaid on fingers touching siccors. New one's each trimming sessions.

FYI, it's all worth it.

Thanks man. Appreciate the advice. Gonna be a lot of work. Hopefully it will turn out. I bought a pair of non stick fiskars pruners. They work awesome

 

[Steve705]

When you google about how to dry/cure, keep in mind that you're reading things that typically don't mention it was summer or winter, or it's a dry or humid climate. My first harvest, I read "hang to dry for 7-10 days, until the stems snap when you bend them." That doesn't work in my dry/desert climate. Within two days the outside of the buds become crunchy dry -- while the stems and centers of the buds are wet. (If I described what I do, it would be a disaster for someone in Miami this time of year. They'd have mold.). You want to get the moisture down in a controlled way, evenly. But, somewhat quickly. (If your climate was humid, and it dries to slowly, you can have mold. If you have humidity, hanging in a closet is good. If you don't, using paper bags can moderate the exchange of moisture.).

Anyway, unless something you read gives enough specifics that it works in your climate, you'll want to apply you own judgement as you dry, be prepared to do something different.

I think I’m in the complete opposite of you AZ. I’m battling to keep the RH Down. I’m in Canada and the nights are cold with high RH. I use a garage heater to keep em warm. Temp doesn’t go below 20C. Mine are in a room I built in my garage. My garage is far from air tight. Basically whatever the RH and temps are outside are inside my room. I’m an hvac tech so I have made a fresh air intake coming directly from outside into the room. I close off the intake at night. I just exhaust back outside. I’ve got fans moving at the bottom and top of the room. During the day the RH is 45-50. During the night it can get up to 60-70. I usually run a dehumidifier from 10pm to 11am the next day and that keeps it down in the 45-50 range all the time. The temps can get a little high sometimes ( 28-29C) but I don’t think it’s much to worry about.

 

[Madbud]

Could you elaborate? I will take any tips into consideration.

You have some nice colas there, don’t wait and risk them all on your first dry/cure. Chop one or two branches to test your drying area/technique, it won’t hurt your plants or potency. As you can see, everyone has their method but not necessarily your conditions. I strip the fan leaves, hang them in darkness at roughly 70° and 60%rh with a fan blowing away from them and wait about a week til the stem feels right snapping, then jar curing.

 

[ukfella]

Never. From what I read, and the videos Ive watched it’s pretty tedious.

mate , until the trim , tedious is just a good use of loads of vowels in scrabble!!!! lpl
Please please please be patient with the drying. so many amazing first grows can be marred by drying way too fast. Read up on "Low and slow drying"
Below 19°c
in the dark
ideally untrimmed or cut anywhere.
air exchange but not directly blowing on them.
let them slowly use up all the remaining chlorophyll hidden away in the green bits , aim for about 10 days and snappable dry. This way you wont destroy the beautiful, fragile terpenes that you spent so long encouraging. Then jarring for about a week to ensure the last bits of moisture are gone and not mistakingly " curing" to try to bring the taste back from destroyed terps..
This method also means you dont have to starve your plant when it most needs nutes in some crazy belief it will wash the nutes out !!. ( flushing is bro science and about saving nutes on huge commercial grows !!) sorry if that sounds preaching , it isnt meant too but would hate to see such a beautiful 1st grow not be all it deserves to be. great job. I smoked so many "alfalfa/hay" harvest in my first few years and never understood why.
great work mate. good luck

 

[Steve705]

Does anyone use the 62% RH boveda humidity packs while jarring them ? I have been hearing mixed reviews on using them to cure

 

[Steve705]

mate , until the trim , tedious is just a good use of loads of vowels in scrabble!!!! lpl
Please please please be patient with the drying. so many amazing first grows can be marred by drying way too fast. Read up on "Low and slow drying"
Below 19°c
in the dark
ideally untrimmed or cut anywhere.
air exchange but not directly blowing on them.
let them slowly use up all the remaining chlorophyll hidden away in the green bits , aim for about 10 days and snappable dry. This way you wont destroy the beautiful, fragile terpenes that you spent so long encouraging. Then jarring for about a week to ensure the last bits of moisture are gone and not mistakingly " curing" to try to bring the taste back from destroyed terps..
This method also means you dont have to starve your plant when it most needs nutes in some crazy belief it will wash the nutes out !!. ( flushing is bro science and about saving nutes on huge commercial grows !!) sorry if that sounds preaching , it isnt meant too but would hate to see such a beautiful 1st grow not be all it deserves to be. great job. I smoked so many "alfalfa/hay" harvest in my first few years and never understood why.
great work mate. good luck

Thanks for the info. I’m in no rush. I’ll be a patient as needed haha.

 

[az2000]

Does anyone use the 62% RH boveda humidity packs while jarring them ? I have been hearing mixed reviews on using them to cure

I have them, but I don't use them. I use the Caliber IV humidity meter, and can see it through the glass. If it's too high, open the jar to burp, or leave it open a few minutes (or, pour the buds out to air dry a little). If too low, I exhale into the jar to add humidity.

The only thing I use my boveda packs for is to calibrate my Caliber IV meters. I put the meters in a canning jar with a boveda pack. (Put tape or something on each meter so you can identify which is which.).

I have about 20 packs in a 2qt canning jar. Just stored, unused. I recharge them by putting a moist sponge in a plastic sandwich (not sealed, but protects the bags from touching the wet sponge). I just let them absorb as much as they can in that sealed climate.