I am just curious, I normally cut all the buds off the branches, trim all the buds, put them in drying racks for 2-3 days, then brown bag them for 4-5 days then into jars, I've seen a few remarks about 5 gallon buckets and plastic containers for curing large quantities.
My question is could I skip the brown bag after 2-3 days in the racks, and go with a Rubbermaid container with holes in the lid instead? Mix them around daily etc
If not how do you guys go about drying after they've been in the racks for a few days?
Hmm... well, you do things backward from how I do it. I take the entire plant, hang it upside down for a week to 10 days to dry. If I don't have time to trim it, it gets cured in that position and condition. Curing occurs in plastic bins
if it hasn't occurred where the plant has been drying, and I do like Bluenote above and fill partially, then turn to help ensure no flat buds and no mold or other issues. Works like a charm. But otherwise, I really prefer to let the plant cure where it was hung, then broken down, trimmed, and vacuum-sealed at the perfect RH and cure stage.
If I have to, the whole plant gets broken down, but NOT de-boned, buds stay on the bone and with all fan leaves intact and in situ, and put into plastic bins which are marked with the strain and year. Curing for me needs a minimum of one month, really more like two months because I haven't smoked much that I like as much at 1mo as I do at 2mos. (I hope that made sense, longer cure is better in my world.)
What's just as important for me, because of how I do things (waiting for my favorite little troll to show up with one of my photos of trees hanging in my basement, dude's really hung up on the fiberglass insulation) is relative humidity and temperature during this time. RH must be in the 60%-65% range, whereas my drying must be at a lower RH. Temperature is generally in the 50s, sometimes lower.
No, I do not get fiberglass in my weed, no matter how much my little troll hollers about it. Yes, I do in fact own and use a microscope. I grow outdoors, I have a lot of things to look out for.
The reason for using the paper bags is to help stabilize conditions instead of allowing for rapid changes in relative humidity. Because my basement is essentially a giant humidor, I found that the bags are not necessary any more.
And glass jars? Breakable, and I've ruined more weed by trying to use that bullshit than anything else. The only thing that's ruined more weed for me was root aphids.
