drying and curing for dummies?

[mikeb437]

got my first outdoor plant growing. its almost ready to harvest. this is my second attempt at growing. last time my buds were not good smelling or tasting after drying/curing. this plant is much bigger than my first indoor crop and i need a sure fire way to dry and cure this big plant with no problems. now when i harvest... should i cut off all the branches and hang till the stems snap, then place in a mason jar? or should i cut off all the buds and place in a bag? i dont want to mess anything up!!! any help and comments would be appreciated!! also,, can you tell me how much longer till harvest?

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Drying procedure is diff for each climate. IME 6-7 dAys of dry time is ideal. So if it's humid where you live(judging by the foliage around you are) you would do things to get it to dry quicker I.e. wet trim and buck down into small pieces to dry. Its just finding that perfect balance and nailing your dry time. Make sure your stems snap clean before the cure. How did you dry/trim last time?

 

[Chobble]

WWF has good information.

6-7 days is about the norm, I use a dark area in my veg room and bring the humidity down and that helps reduce time drying. I also like to take cardboard boxes and run strings through them for maximum bud storage. It helps dry everything evenly and quickly (Unless you have drying racks which work the best). At the point when the stem snaps toss them in mason jars, burping the jars once a day for 15-10 minutes, by burping I mean open the lids and let the air escape.

Chobble

 

[soserthc1]

This answer is going to differ from person to person but you want to def hang them in a dry room with some air flow (a fan will work but don't put directly on bud) Some hang the whole plant after plucking the fan leaves. While others like myself trim the entire plant large and small fan leaves and hang from the stem on tomato cages. You def wanna make sure that the stems snap before you trim the buds off the stems into glass jars and then burb/cure several times a day , letting the moisture out of the buds for at least two weeks but the longer the cure usually the better the weed taste. Just my way and my stems usually snap from 7-10 days....

 

[mikeb437]

Last time i hung to dry in my growbox. Left it in there till the stems somewhat snapped but not a hard snap. The buds were feeling crunchy before the stems snapped so i removed the buds and placed in a mason jar. Then i burped the mason jars for about a week or so. I tried to dry them out as slowly as i could. They still didnt taste good or have that good weed smell.. It did however get me high somewhat but it wasnt tasty

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Sounds pretty standard... Theres 20 diff reasons for untasty herbs. Genetics flushing feeding practices...ect.

 

[Harrison Allen]

WWF , I am within about a week or so of harvest , I grew the plants in 3 gallon pots outside
and brought them in 3 weeks ago and put them under 400 w hps light for 12 - 12 .
They have exploded and I don't want to screw them up . I feed them miracle grow as juvies
and then feed them flowering solution , should they be flushed and how . Any advice Thanx

 

[mikeb437]

Just feed them plain water for a week or so. No more nutes!!!

 

[mikeb437]

Ive been giving my plants molasses water. Do i need to flush myself or can i use the backstrap till i pick?

 

[Harrison Allen]

Thanks for the advice WWF and Chobble . Will give it a try and share .

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

WWF , I am within about a week or so of harvest , I grew the plants in 3 gallon pots outside
and brought them in 3 weeks ago and put them under 400 w hps light for 12 - 12 .
They have exploded and I don't want to screw them up . I feed them miracle grow as juvies
and then feed them flowering solution , should they be flushed and how . Any advice Thanx

Hey buddy! you wanna flush flush flush ASAP! I wouldnt pick them till you can flush for atleast 2 weeks. And its not a true flush unless you have 3 gallons of runoff from your 3 gallon pots. I would try to get 3 gal run off 3 times atleast. More is better obviously when using Miracle Grow( not intended for edible plants).

Ive been giving my plants molasses water. Do i need to flush myself or can i use the backstrap till i pick?

Molasses is okay till harvest I dont put it into my last flush. Last flush is only un ph'd tap water as cold as it will get, 55 degrees then pick in 3 - 5 days.

 

[mikeb437]

I checked the trichs and they were all cloudy at this point with a couple amber here n there. So i picked 2 lower branches with minimal flowers on them. I trimmed the bigger leaves off and kinda trimmed around the buds. I then hung in the garage. I do notice that the branches are quite long with a small bud on the end. Is it recommended to snip the branches down a bit or leave long? Im assuming the longer they are the longer it will take before they snap. But with the buds being only on the end, will the buds dry out before the stems snap? Or do i just wait till the buds become crunchy then put in jars? Tis is what im confused by.

 

[kolah]

A good detailed read is DJ Shorts harvesting, drying and curing thread here on the forum. It's a sticky and easy to find. Have fun!

I use a bright light or the sun when looking at trichromes through a loupe. If you look at them in lower light levels the tri's can appear cloudy when really they are often still clear. I like a 40-60x magnification to check them...although some folks use 30x.

 

[Chobble]

I checked the trichs and they were all cloudy at this point with a couple amber here n there. So i picked 2 lower branches with minimal flowers on them. I trimmed the bigger leaves off and kinda trimmed around the buds. I then hung in the garage. I do notice that the branches are quite long with a small bud on the end. Is it recommended to snip the branches down a bit or leave long? Im assuming the longer they are the longer it will take before they snap. But with the buds being only on the end, will the buds dry out before the stems snap? Or do i just wait till the buds become crunchy then put in jars? Tis is what im confused by.

I'm going to go out and take some pictures of what I do. It makes a nice even dry that you can easily store etc. You want to just go till the stem snaps, or if the bud will snap off the branch.

Chobble

 

[mikeb437]

A good detailed read is DJ Shorts harvesting, drying and curing thread here on the forum. It's a sticky and easy to find. Have fun!

I use a bright light or the sun when looking at trichromes through a loupe. If you look at them in lower light levels the tri's can appear cloudy when really they are often still clear. I like a 40-60x magnification to check them...although some folks use 30x.

I dont see any threads by a dj short. Can you tell me where its at?

 

[Chobble]

I dont see any threads by a dj short. Can you tell me where its at?

Its in the Harvesting and Curing area, or right here https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/forums/cannabis-harvesting-curing.34/ :D

Good hunting.

Chobble

 

[Smoking Gun]

Ok, I always find pictures help a bit. Theses are some pics of a simple Rubbermaid style cabinet used as a drying space. It was the end of June in SoCal, so the cabinet remained outside. I did not use any fans, the gaps in the cabinet provided enough air flow. I trimmed all the branches fully before placing them in the cabinet. Having long branches will not prolong dry time, but I do tend to chop off excess stem to save on space, but I keep them long enough to hang them by. Always wait until the stems make a snap sound before you put the buds in the jar. Ok, this is the cabinet upon the completion of harvest.

This is the cabinet 11 days later. You can clearly see I snapped a few of the stems to check how dry they were.

And a couple of jars. I do not totally stuff the jars to allow some air flow within the jars themselves, and when I open them up to burp them.

Hopefully this helped answer some of your questions.

 

[kolah]

Great pics, SG! I trim quite similar as I like to leave more of the leafs that still have a high tri-chrome content.

I like to cure my stuff 3-4 weeks,,, as it really brings out the great fragrances and provides for a smooth clean smoke.

IMO, the drying and cure method is the most critical part of growing great weed. You can have the best weed going on and ruin it quickly by muffing up the drying process.

 

[Smoking Gun]

I actually don't leave much leaf on the buds, I prefer to use it for hash. I like my buds to have a high calyx to leaf ratio.

Those buds got a nice 3 week cure in the jars before I broke into them. I was smoking on those buds until September that year. Somewhere around August the cure was perfect. So much so that a sealed jar of that would still reek up an open parking lot; this is not an exaggeration, I brought a half full jar to a Phish show and could smell that bud down the aisle several cars with the car doors and jar closed, when I opened the jar people were starting to flock over.

But I agree I have seen great grown herb totally destroyed by a shitty cure. If you don't cure properly you will have an unpleasant final product.

 

[mikeb437]

Great pics! I dont have a cabinet but ill just hang upside down in my basement till the snap. I guess its trial and error and hope for the best till i get experience. Thanks for the info guys,, ill keep ya posted on how things go