Any advantage of letting plant dry up in medium upright until correct dryness before going into cure?

[Habosabin]

I couldnt really find this on search. Is there any advantage to chopping and hanging upside down versus a more gradual death by stopping feeding and letting it dry up until the right moisture content to go into cure.

 

[biggerbud420]

i was told when i was just a wee lil lad by an old stoner from the 70's that the you should hang them upside down with the roots attached
i have yet to try it tho

 

[Harpua88]

I couldnt really find this on search. Is there any advantage to chopping and hanging upside down versus a more gradual death by stopping feeding and letting it dry up until the right moisture content to go into cure.

It's a good question, there are a variety of ways to harvest.......at once, as a process.......leave all the leaves on......I've cut plants whole at the base and put them in water for a few days, like you would put flowers in a vase.....and yeah I remember the whole "hang 'em upside down with the roots intact" thing long ago, whether you spray the roots with a little water for a few days, or not.

I think there are 2 things at play here; harvesting as ripe as possible, however that ends up.....and personal taste. We probably all agree that we should cut down/eliminate fertilizer/chemical nutrients near the end. And we all probably agree on the range of "ripeness".......some people prefer to pick a little early, some like an extra week, but there's still a rather accepted range. After that, it's gotta come down to what you like. I like to hang plants almost whole at first.......large branches, leaves mostly still on. I think drying should take time (of course not so long that mold happens), but I like to keep the air a little dry, cool, and a slight beeeze/fan. I like the temp closer to 60. I think there may be something about slowly converting starches to sugars, and cooler temps being better. I like a long, slow, cool cure. From drying through the early part of curing I remove smaller leaves in stages. The leaves help protect the flowers......until the end of curing which is down to the flowers only. I prefer 10+ days of drying over 5+, and 2 months of curing over 1 month........

How you go about the process, what tastes and smells "better" for you, is up to you. There may be scientific ways to test various aspects of what "ripe" and "well cured" means, but that still has to run up against what you like.

 

[Mudballs]

No advantages. In fact it would be detrimental cuz even if soil has no water the plants phloem and xylem are still moving water and nutes and starches until it is finally cut. And that moisture and nutes still moving into the flower cluster to maintain life of the plant will only extend the life of microbial activities and increase ur chance at rot and losing more material, instead of chopping it and stopping all biological activity and getting it into good drying conditions.
You can look up "retting" that farmers do to help get you into the plants headspace. That is just a small referral to get you reading and smarter, that's all.

 

[Harpua88]

Yeah if Habosabin is asking if they should let the plant fully dry uncut, still in the medium (in the dark? Still under 12/12 light? For a week? More?) , that's different than like, letting them wilt and start the drying process for a few days before cutting......

 

[0ttomanfarmer]

Aint there a standard method which 95% of the growers accept as " a good/legit way to do it" ?
I am in that phase and i dont know if i am doing it right tbh.
I am flushing since 2 weeks now, every 3rd day or so i give like 400ml water. The smell of the tent has gone since i do that, now im not sure anymore if it was a good idea...
Test smokes (7days in dry tent, 2days in jars @62%) of the first cuts were very smooth.

 

[Trixie]

If a plant drys completely in the ground fast the trichomes will burst and fall off. It's best to get the plant while the stem still has moisture and slow the drying down. .

 

[Harpua88]

Aint there a standard method which 95% of the growers accept as " a good/legit way to do it" ?
I am in that phase and i dont know if i am doing it right tbh.
I am flushing since 2 weeks now, every 3rd day or so i give like 400ml water. The smell of the tent has gone since i do that, now im not sure anymore if it was a good idea...
Test smokes (7days in dry tent, 2days in jars @62%) of the first cuts were very smooth.

A lot of the smell thing, the terps.......I'm learning that it's also about process. It's not like they smell great, more and more up to bagging it. There's that initial hay-like smell, wleven after a few days of curing......that's why it's more like a month or so......things transform, terps serm to reveal themselves and improve over time. That chlorophyl breakdown and starches to sugars thing.......and I'm no scientist, but i think that's all more of a transformative process over time. So i wouldn't worry if during a final week of flushing, maybe smells are not quite as strong......

There's a limit to everything though. If it's all hydroponic vs. soil.......lights still 12/12?....at some point, with hydroponics, if you're literally starving them and continuing past that, well that might be too much.

You will get so much improvement if you cure longer, slowly.....you'll see. I find cooler is better.....but it's over the 3rd, 4th week of good, proper curing where great things happen. Of course, not picking too early is just as important.

 

[TSD]

I think a slow death would probably be more detrimental than anything. I wouldn't let my veggies wither and die on the vine before picking and I wouldn't do that to my buds either. Chop em and get them drying, you want to minimize opportunity for mold and fungus to grow.

 

[2Bad]

i was told when i was just a wee lil lad by an old stoner from the 70's that the you should hang them upside down with the roots attached
i have yet to try it tho

I feel like soil would get on the buds

 

[biggerbud420]

I feel like soil would get on the buds

not if u rinsed them off

 

[2Bad]

not if u rinsed them off

I've had my carbon filter leak charcoal tried to wash it off and wouldn't come off. For some reason cannabis seems to be sticky.

 

[Habosabin]

I was thinking like in rockwool. The block would go dry in a day and then it would seem to delay the initial dry a little longer. All in dark like a dry. Maybe throw out some trichomes under stress? Dunno. Similar to hanging with roots. Maybe help break down chlorophyll?? Just discussing.

 

[2Bad]

I was thinking like in rockwool. The block would go dry in a day and then it would seem to delay the initial dry a little longer. All in dark like a dry. Maybe throw out some trichomes under stress? Dunno. Similar to hanging with roots. Maybe help break down chlorophyll?? Just discussing.

Most people above are saying it's a bad idea i'd say don't do it

 

[bumpy]

I couldnt really find this on search. Is there any advantage to chopping and hanging upside down versus a more gradual death by stopping feeding and letting it dry up until the right moisture content to go into cure.

Hanging upside down only helps dry matter fall to the ground less trim ,plus benefit of more drying space,bad idea to leave plant in growing site to dry.

 

[TSD]

Hanging upside down only helps dry matter fall to the ground less trim ,plus benefit of more drying space,bad idea to leave plant in growing site to dry.

I think if you didn't dry upside down, the buds would dry weird from gravity, being upside down helps them stay tight against the stem.

 

[Harpua88]

not if u rinsed them off

That's funny. Of course, way back when a lot of people thought that THC flowed within plants, and would "swell up" the buds when a plant was hung upside down......actually, I'll bet a lot of people still think this is true......

So of course, up to a point it's all just ways of flushing chemicals, drying and curing. Once the plant is truly dead......not a nice way of putting it, it's still a process.....even through curing there are still active chemical processes going on......but since we want to dry and cure in the dark, you don't have much of a window to try to squeeze out some sort of "vine ripening".....I think of it like fruit, or tomatoes.....which is fruit.....you can pluck a tomato when it's half ripe, and it will ripen further and get more red, but it won't be the same if you waited and let it truly ripen on the vine. Sweeter......better. But, wait too long and not so good. I'd say kind of the same thing except after the plant wilts and starts dying, THC, resin, might start getting more destroyed by the lights than increase from the extra time.

 

[Harpua88]

I think if you didn't dry upside down, the buds would dry weird from gravity, being upside down helps them stay tight against the stem.

Yeah, I hang upside down (not with the roots of course) because the small leaves protect the resin glands as they wilt and surround the buds. Plus it gives buds that nice, rounded look, they don't get smushed.....

 

[bumpy]

I hang upside down for few days with sugar leaves still in place as it drys bit slower, move to screen mesh table few days follow by mansion jars. I'm old school ...funny how many didn't understand tricomes back in the day, I did as I was taught by hash makers

 

[Harpua88]

I hang upside down for few days with sugar leaves still in place as it drys bit slower, move to screen mesh table few days follow by mansion jars. I'm old school ...funny how many didn't understand tricomes back in the day, I did as I was taught by hash makers

Everyone's youth was "back in the day" .... ;) . But yeah, I agree with the slower dry thing, although mansion jars might be a little too big and fancy.......he he he....