this is my first grow, and i wnated to kno all the different ways of drying and curing my bud. and whats the difference between curing and drying???

I'm certainly not the most knowledgable grower here but I 'll take a try at this question. I won't attempt the technical reasons behind it tho.
After the harvest, after you cut the buds, your main concern is Moisture and Mold, You do not want them to mold. So you dry them. I've seen several ways, like just hang the entire plant upside down from a closet pole. Or the way I do it, is chop just the buds and hang them from a string, NOT TOUCHING EACH OTHER. I like to "manicure" them then, to me it is easier then to trim the small bud leaves off. It takes about 5 days in a dry room or dry climate to DRY them. You determine if they are DRY by if the stem will snap easily. Now you have stopped or removed the initial threat of MOLD, but you are not 100% safe from Mold yet.
Now you CURE, and my favorite way is large mouth Mason jars.
I harvested part of my buds one day, and some more the next and some mroe the next. I harvested my top big buds first, then lowered my lights to the lower buds and waited a few days to take them.
so when I was ready to CURE, I wrote the dates on labels on my jars, and I wrote down if the Trichs wre CLEAR, Cloudy, Mixed or Dark Amber Trichs. I wnated to be able to try the different HIGHs. so I label and DATE my jars, and I cure them for 4 weeks, going by the date I wrote on the labels. AND, daily, I "burped" them, or I opened the jar, felt of the pot, moved and stirred it around and I put the lid back on. This "burping" is done to get out any humidity or moisture that gathered. I inspect and burp my buds daily for 4 weeks.
I tried smoking it at different CURE DATES and a 4 week cure gives a better more potent HIGH than a 2 week cure.
I also smoke the CLEAR TRICHs on Saturday morning, before I do my chores and I smoke the Dark Trichs at night when I drink a few bers, to get the "heroin" or "couch lock" effect.
Go to GROWFAQ and read up on it. There is an explanation about Sugars and why the CURE is done.

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