Trimming and Drying for FLAVOR?

[Dothraki]

I’ve dried and cured for buddies in the past, but I’m on my own first grow. I’m usually able to get 10-15 day dry by keeping temps down to mid 60s when my RH is around 35-40%. I have one branch from each plant hanging, with no fan leaves removed, let alone sugar leaves.

My questions is... how many of you have experimented in removing fan leaves vs leaving them on while drying? If I dry the plant whole, non-defoliated plant, with all fan leaves intact, could I be in for better flavors and terpenes?

 

[freezeland2]

I don’t dry with fan leaves on plant.

 

[SofaKingHigh]

I’ve dried and cured for buddies in the past, but I’m on my own first grow. I’m usually able to get 10-15 day dry by keeping temps down to mid 60s when my RH is around 35-40%. I have one branch from each plant hanging, with no fan leaves removed, let alone sugar leaves.

My questions is... how many of you have experimented in removing fan leaves vs leaving them on while drying? If I dry the plant whole, non-defoliated plant, with all fan leaves intact, could I be in for better flavors and terpenes?

Drying and curing take some practice and experimenting to find what you like. There are many different ways it can done and no consensus on which is the “right” way. I remove fan leaves and leave the sugar, I’m also in a super dry region so I don’t have issues with mold even if I leave everything on the plant.

 

[Dothraki]

Drying and curing take some practice and experimenting to find what you like. There are many different ways it can done and no consensus on which is the “right” way. I remove fan leaves and leave the sugar, I’m also in a super dry region so I don’t have issues with mold even if I leave everything on the plant.

I know there’s a lot of research to be done... but seems there would be a consensus on terps based on leaving fan leaves as the plant leaches moisture from them like the stem. Ever smell the cut end of a dying fan leaf? They seem to smell very sweet. Wonder if that helps when absorbed by the bud as it dries.

I don’t dry with fan leaves on plant.

Why?

 

[ImpulsiveGrower]

I remove most of the big fan leaves but dry trimming is the way to go especially in RH that low. The small leaves help shield the buds and lock in moisture and promote a slower dry. I would try to raise that RH to like 60% tho.

 

[SofaKingHigh]

I know there’s a lot of research to be done... but seems there would be a consensus on terps based on leaving fan leaves as the plant leaches moisture from them like the stem. Ever smell the cut end of a dying fan leaf? They seem to smell very sweet. Wonder if that helps when absorbed by the bud as it dries.


Why?

Most will remove for mold reasons and in my opinion much easier to remove fan leaves when fresh.

 

[SofaKingHigh]

I remove most of the big fan leaves but dry trimming is the way to go especially in RH that low. The small leaves help shield the buds and lock in moisture and promote a slower dry. I would try to raise that RH to like 60% tho.

I shoot for 60% RH for 2 weeks then trim and jar

 

[quirk]

I give 'em a rough trim and dry in the pot. This is functional for me.
Organic soil auto grower.

 

[Dothraki]

I remove most of the big fan leaves but dry trimming is the way to go especially in RH that low. The small leaves help shield the buds and lock in moisture and promote a slower dry. I would try to raise that RH to like 60% tho.

Yeah once I chop the rest I’ll be able to bring it up a little. Right now it’s pretty chilly because I turned the radiator off and closed the heat vents...hoping to preserve terps in the last week. But seems to be chilly enough where buds not drying out too fast. Top cola branch has been drying for 4 days and isn’t even halfway there so might be pretty good environment where it is.

 

[Dothraki]

I give 'em a rough trim and dry in the pot. This is functional for me.
Organic soil auto grower.

Oh wow. Do you find it helps flavor or terps?

 

[freezeland2]

I know there’s a lot of research to be done... but seems there would be a consensus on terps based on leaving fan leaves as the plant leaches moisture from them like the stem. Ever smell the cut end of a dying fan leaf? They seem to smell very sweet. Wonder if that helps when absorbed by the bud as it dries.


Why?

I wet trim when I harvest. It’s just less to deal with for me when I trim to put in grove bags to cure. It’s less handling of a dry bud in my opinion. Which means less chance to be knocking resin heads off.

 

[Dothraki]

I wet trim when I harvest. It’s just less to deal with for me when I trim to put in grove bags to cure. It’s less handling of a dry bud in my opinion. Which means less chance to be knocking resin heads off.

Definitely a lot easier and quicker to wet trim. Although I figure knocking some off dry would be preferred to them getting smushed while wet...but for flavor it seems dry trimming is preferred by most. I wonder if leaving fan leaves improves it further although without controlled dries being compared it’d be hard to come to a conclusion. For instance if the wet trim bud simply dries quicker than the dry trim bud, then a higher RH would need to be implemented for the wet trim to match the drying rate of the dry trim. I imagine its same as with coffee... like wet vs dry processed. Dry processed (natural processed/unwashed) is when they leave the bean in the cherry while drying before separating. You end up with deeper more complex flavors and the way fermentation affects it. I prefer a natural processed coffee for the flavors and usually seems to be a more viscous mouth feel. But some coffees might just be better with a wet wash depending on the bean and roasting/brewing style. Guess I should run both and see.

 

[growsince79]

For me, hanging with leaves on and dry trim is best. Dry trimming is 10x faster for me. I can do the whole plant in minutes instead of hours and the taste is hands down better. The one exception is buds with yellow sugar leaves. Those nasties get wet trimmed.

 

[freezeland2]

Definitely a lot easier and quicker to wet trim. Although I figure knocking some off dry would be preferred to them getting smushed while wet...but for flavor it seems dry trimming is preferred by most. I wonder if leaving fan leaves improves it further although without controlled dries being compared it’d be hard to come to a conclusion. For instance if the wet trim bud simply dries quicker than the dry trim bud, then a higher RH would need to be implemented for the wet trim to match the drying rate of the dry trim. I imagine its same as with coffee... like wet vs dry processed. Dry processed (natural processed/unwashed) is when they leave the bean in the cherry while drying before separating. You end up with deeper more complex flavors and the way fermentation affects it. I prefer a natural processed coffee for the flavors and usually seems to be a more viscous mouth feel. But some coffees might just be better with a wet wash depending on the bean and roasting/brewing style. Guess I should run both and see.

You do you. Sounds like you already decided.

 

[phxazcraig]

I’ve dried and cured for buddies in the past, but I’m on my own first grow. I’m usually able to get 10-15 day dry by keeping temps down to mid 60s when my RH is around 35-40%. I have one branch from each plant hanging, with no fan leaves removed, let alone sugar leaves.

My questions is... how many of you have experimented in removing fan leaves vs leaving them on while drying? If I dry the plant whole, non-defoliated plant, with all fan leaves intact, could I be in for better flavors and terpenes?

I've only tried curing twice now, and it's tough to do in Phoenix. The temps are never low enough, and the RH is sometimes below 20% in the winter when temps ARE low for a bit. Summer or winter, you end up with a 3-day dry that wants to lock in the hay smell.

To combat a too-fast dry time, the last grow I left a lot of bigger leaves on just to slow down the drying. That helped, by a day or so. (Doesn't sound like much, but it added 50% onto the drying time.)

Then I put them into jars a bit wet and took them in and out of the jars a lot to prevent mold. That helped too, and after a week in the jars the RH was under control and normal curing sort of commenced. After 3 weeks, the green smell mostly faded away and the good stuff came out.

I also tried paper bags, and a bit of refrigerator time.

As for trimming, it's just easier to do that dry, or end up with a lot of shake.

 

[freezeland2]

I've only tried curing twice now, and it's tough to do in Phoenix. The temps are never low enough, and the RH is sometimes below 20% in the winter when temps ARE low for a bit. Summer or winter, you end up with a 3-day dry that wants to lock in the hay smell.

To combat a too-fast dry time, the last grow I left a lot of bigger leaves on just to slow down the drying. That helped, by a day or so. (Doesn't sound like much, but it added 50% onto the drying time.)

Then I put them into jars a bit wet and took them in and out of the jars a lot to prevent mold. That helped too, and after a week in the jars the RH was under control and normal curing sort of commenced. After 3 weeks, the green smell mostly faded away and the good stuff came out.

I also tried paper bags, and a bit of refrigerator time.

As for trimming, it's just easier to do that dry, or end up with a lot of shake.

It’s easy to wet trim with the plant alive and still in its medium.

 

[Dothraki]

I've only tried curing twice now, and it's tough to do in Phoenix. The temps are never low enough, and the RH is sometimes below 20% in the winter when temps ARE low for a bit. Summer or winter, you end up with a 3-day dry that wants to lock in the hay smell.

To combat a too-fast dry time, the last grow I left a lot of bigger leaves on just to slow down the drying. That helped, by a day or so. (Doesn't sound like much, but it added 50% onto the drying time.)

Then I put them into jars a bit wet and took them in and out of the jars a lot to prevent mold. That helped too, and after a week in the jars the RH was under control and normal curing sort of commenced. After 3 weeks, the green smell mostly faded away and the good stuff came out.

I also tried paper bags, and a bit of refrigerator time.

As for trimming, it's just easier to do that dry, or end up with a lot of shake.

That’s crazy. Sounds like you’re working with a lot worse conditions than myself but ya know that extra time and work you put in sounds like it payed off so keep fighting the good fight!

It’s easy to wet trim with the plant alive and still in its medium.

I think for some of us the idea is to bring out the higher quality end result in the buds like flavors and aromas, smoothness etc. so easy can lead to crap results.... but it’s all about what your priority is. Mine is the highest quality, hence discussing methods to increase the quality...not make it easier.

 

[the rrock]

cut off the big leaves and dry than trim, fan leaves suck=thats what we smoked in the 70s,dry leafs

 

[GreenFlexTiger420]

I don't want to argue here so just go watch buildasoil they explain it in a simple way how to save the terms like you want

 

[GreenFlexTiger420]

Terps