Ok so my girl is getting plucked in 3 days (will be perfectly ready, nice and ripe). My problem is, I have to leave town for a week on business. My plan is to let her hang dry until I get back, but I don't want her to dry out too much, and I certainly don't want any mold. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can let it dry but still keep the buds just moist enough to start curing when I get back. Or, does anyone suggest a better method for slow drying? Any help would be great.

it sounds like the best way is to leave it hangin like u said. no one can check up on it? if u do that leave it by a/c vent to keep it from mold but dont get it too close to dry it out too quick

I'll be putting it in a grow tent with a 170 cfm sucking out air for 10min twice an hour with a timer. Do you think that will be sufficent? I just don't want it to dry out too much.

When I harvest, I always cut and take a large piece of the bottom trunk or stalk of the plant, and refrigerate it. A thick juicy piece, at least 6 or 8 inches long.
THEN I dry my buds, individually, for 4, 5 to 7 days, depending on size.
Then I "JAR" them to CURE them, for 30 days.
If they are not dry enough, I can dry them some more out of the jar. If they are too dry, I cut a two inch lenght of the moist stem, and put it in the jar with the buds, and it safely re-moistens them.
Ta-Da!!!!

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harvest when you get back

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Originally Posted by zoutekoffie
i dont have direct sunlight becouse of the clouds

Wow thats a really good idea, thanks.

Another question. If you hang the entire plant vs. just cutting the branches. Does it dry slower or faster?

I would cut and trim most of the leaves, hang them with a fan blowing in the room but not directly on the plants. Just circulating the air, If the room isn't too hot you should be ablr to leave for a week and when you get back jar them and you should be fine.

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Not a good idea. Some buds will OVER DRY and some will NOT dry enough. I would hope you got some BIG COLAS, and some average size and even some popcorn sized buds. Then too, there is the TRIM leaves,
the FAN leaves and all of them need to be sorted.
Here is my HARVESTING Tutorial from one of my grows:


Harvesting and Curing
Many hydro growers drain the tank and fill it with plain water, two days before harvest. Called Flushing. (I quit doing that, I just could not taste any difference.) Soil growers also FLUSH before harvesting.
I cut the longest branches, put them on a tin-foiled covered tray, and go to my kitchen table. I try to catch any fallen trichomes on the tin foil.
I have three boxes, one for the big FAN leaves. (for oil)
one box for the TRIM leaves, the leaves with trichomes on them, that I manicured off the buds, FOR HASH. I've manicured much more since I learned how to make HASH. I want some naked STEM at the end of the buds to fasten my tape to, so I can hang it in the drying box.
AND One Box for the smaller popcorn buds. (small buds with no stems) SORTING IS VERY IMPORTANT.

I manicure them, and cut the leaves off. I manicure closely. IF you leave those leaves on, by the time the buds are dry, the leaves are crispy and harsh to smoke.
I string masking tape across the top of the box, making rows about 3 or 4 inches a part. I wrap a piece of masking tape, about 4 inches long, around the tip end of the stem, and hang it from the masking tape, in rows, not letting the buds touch each other. VERY IMPORTANT.

I separate the bigger buds from the smaller ones IN DIFFERENT BOXES.
I put the boxes in a dark room, NO DIRECT LIGHT, and blow a gentle oscillating fan across the top, but not on them.
The big buds take 7 days, the smaller ones 5 days. Popcron buds take 3 or 4 days. Some take 5 days.
If you dry them too much, you can add back moisture. If you do not dry them enough, you get rotten buds and mold.
Dry them til the end of the stem will SNAP when you break it, but not crispy dry.
Again, the big buds take 7 days to dry, under a small fan,the smaller ones 5 days.
Keep them in the dark with little light to see and inspect.
I never smoke them then, NEVER.
VERY IMPORTANTLY I then CURE them 30 days in wide mouth jars, opening the jar for ten seconds EVERYDAY , for 30 days.
Every day, I sniff them, smell them, for any funky moldy smell. If they do not smell right, then dry them outside the jar another day or two.
I've lost one jar, out of hundreds, the 30th day, it went bad, to Bud MOLD.

I can not emphasis the importance and difference if you properly MANICURE, Dry AND Cure them.
CURING MAKES A BIG MAJOR DIFFERENCE.
DO I HAVE TO Cure 30 days?
Definitely, I do know for sure, I tried smoking buds cured for a only a week, for two weeks, three weeks and 4 weeks. You should try it too, and you will find what I found. Buds cured 4 weeks not only taste better, they burn better and get you higher too. It has something to do with some scientific complicated SUGAR PROCESSING. or the sugars change . I am 100% sure, you will agree, if you test it like I did. CURE FOR 30 DAYS!

DRYING? They say dry them til the stem will snap. Well, I get stems the thickness of fishing line and I get stems the thickness of a pencil, even bigger. That tells me that you can not DRY them ALL the same amount of time. So I sort mine, fatter stems from skinny stems. The skinny ones, I DRY for 5 or 6 days. The fat ones, I DRY for 7 to 8 days. IF YOU OVER DRY, YOU CAN REMOISTEN THEM. IF YOU DO NOT DRY THEM ENOUGH, THEY WILL ROT ! I dry mine in the open air, moving air, moved with an oscillating fan. A gentle breeze, in temps of what central air or central heat gives me, which is around 75 to 78 degrees and humidity of 30% to 40%.
AND YOU MUST DRY AND CURE THEM IN DARKNESS. LIGHT IS THE ENEMY WHEN DRYING AND CURING. I do DRY mine in a room with the shades pulled down, it is not very dARK, but it is not any direct LIGHT, just some leaking light. I read up on Drying and Curing in 4 books I bought, and the above is what they say.

Save the trim leaves for HASH, you'll be so glad you did.


When I put my buds in Jars, I put them in the jar one bud at a time, feeling it, to see if it is VERY dry, overly dry, or NOT dry enough.

I also save several large pieces of the STEM, for later. When I check a jar, if I find a vERY dry bud, a bud too crispy and dry, I ad a short piece of fresh moist stem to the jar, for a half day, to re-moistion it.


Daily inspecting the jars, opening and smelling them, is of the upmost importantance.






Those pics are a mixture of my 2007 and 2008 crop. The 2007 crop, I did not trim close. I trimmed, but not close. I'd leave a half inch, to keep the scissors from getting glued together adn I was just lazy and in a hurry. I always got a lot of very dry, too dry, bud leaves, that smoked harsh. More times than not, I threw them away or gave them away.

And then I got a KIEF Box with a screen, and I started trimming much closer. The 2008 pics, I trimmed close and everytime I opend a new jar, I went and trimmed them again, to make MORE hash.

Now I reccomend trimming as much as possible and making hash, I never leave any leaf to go into the jar now. I pluck off what I can not trim off.






Buds without STEMS, I just spread out in a box, NOT LETTING THEM PILE UP OR TOUCH EACH OTHER. I stir them everyday.
Proper Harvest and DRYING and Curing are as IMPORTANT as GROWING.
Attached Thumbnails





Popcorn buds:

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May Peace and Joy be your companions.
Roseman's DIY Bubbleponics Tutorial - Marijuana Growing
Pics of OLD Grow on this Page

or just harvest when you get back

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Starting your seeds
Originally Posted by zoutekoffie
i dont have direct sunlight becouse of the clouds