Curing..hope I am jsut being paranoid?...

I just finished my first crop. Directly after harvest I cut all the fan and sugar leaves off, leaving groomed buds. I cut into individual branches and hung these for five days, until the branches broke/snapped when I bent them. I then put them into mason jars and have been curing as I have read (burp a couple times a day, move them around, keep them in the dark,etc)

My concern is that they do not feel as though they still have much, if any, moisture in them. For the first day or two of the cure they had a barely noticeable amount moisture forming on the inside of the jar, but now there is no moisture build up and they still smell like hay. At the moment, there is a light smell of the bud fragrance when I first open the jars, but when I smell them up close they do not have that fruity/pungent bud smell they had before they were cut.

I am wondering if I may have dried them too fast, and, if so, how can I remedy this so I can still have very smooth and flavorful smoke? I have GDP, Bubbleberry, and Blue Dream. All smelled amazing before harvest. Now they all have just a hint of their previous smell, but have an overwhelming hay smell at the moment. About 5-6 days into cure. Should I rehydrate some?

Thanks

You should stop opening as many jars as possible and let whatever moisture is left inside the bud wick out. Adding water to dried buds is never a good idea imho.

let em sit in the fruity smell stop opening just observe through the glass, open every other day and smell and rotate and make sure no mold grows, if its dry it shouldnt mold

Mother's Finest said:

You should stop opening as many jars as possible and let whatever moisture is left inside the bud wick out. Adding water to dried buds is never a good idea imho.

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maybe add a leaf from one of my plants to bring a bit of moisture back? I only took the mature bud soff my flowering ladies, so I have about 1/4-1/3 of each plant left. Can I maybe put a leaf or two in each jar for a couple of hours to bring a bit of moisture back?

happymedicine said:

maybe add a leaf from one of my plants to bring a bit of moisture back? I only took the mature bud soff my flowering ladies, so I have about 1/4-1/3 of each plant left. Can I maybe put a leaf or two in each jar for a couple of hours to bring a bit of moisture back?

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yes you can. what i do is i leave some airy useless bud fluff on the plant when i harvest. come cure time if anything seems too dry in the jars i snip off a peice of "fresh" bud and toss it in leaf and all. i've used just leaf but i started saving fresh bud figuring it would improve the smell and i think it did. it takes a day or two but the buds inside do get rehydrated to some degree and without any weird smells from non cannabis items.

ide say when you harvest the rest of the plant...dont wait till the stems snap.just wait until the bud has a dry feel on the outside and the stems bend not snap off..ofcourse dont put them in soaking wet but again theyll have a dry crisp feel on the outside.then once in the jars the mostire in the center of the bull will be drawn out.thus havin to burp them..good luck and keep us updated!

you should have read my Drying & Curing post my friend.

too many people end up doing the wrong thing.. and air drying their buds until the stems snap into two.

By that time, you've let too much of the buds moisture content evaporate... that's why you don't have hardly any moisture left inside the buds.

Anyhow, take a glance at my Drying & Curing thread. Might help you out on your next grow.. err actually I know it will.

Better luck next time my friend.

peace..

ganjaluvr said:

you should have read my Drying & Curing post my friend.

too many people end up doing the wrong thing.. and air drying their buds until the stems snap into two.

By that time, you've let too much of the buds moisture content evaporate... that's why you don't have hardly any moisture left inside the buds.

Anyhow, take a glance at my Drying & Curing thread. Might help you out on your next grow.. err actually I know it will.

Better luck next time my friend.

peace..

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Well, crap! I wish you would have written that about 5 days ago. I read SO many articles and blog posts about this process looking for the exact information you posted (about whether to wait for the stem to bend or snap), and most articles said to wait until stems snapped before jarring. That's what I get for taking advice from the general internet consensus. Anyway, i have a second round harvest that I just jarred. Should be the perfect time, based on your post; stems were still bendable and the outside of the buds were crispy. I also have a third round coming in a couple weeks, so I will know what to do then. I am just sad that I don't have anymore fresh GDP. Good news is, they still smell delicious so i am hoping they're salvageable.

Thanks to everyone for the responses

Basic idea of curing is extending that last 10% of the drying process over the longest period you can allow for, longer will always produce and smoother smoke. Now that there pretty much completely dry I would only open up every 3days or so, rotate the buds and seal back up, do this a few times then open up once a week for a week or two, there is still chlorophyll to be broken down so dont quit the process now, you can get that chronic smell back just keep it up...peace

Yeah. I was just being paranoid. The grassy smell is wearing off and the delicious bud smell is becoming more prominent. I am a newbie so I jumped the gun a bit. However, they smoke amazingly, leaving nice white ash and numb my brain/body very nicely. By far some of the best/smoothest stuff I have ever smoked, and it seems like it will only get better from here. I am leaving the jars closed for now and will check them every couple of days by popping the tops. Other than that, I will just check for mold through the glass and shake the buds around (lightly, of course) to rearrange them.

Thank you all very much for dealing with my paranoia, and helping me anyway.