Help with harverst!!

Hey everybody! its my first harvest and im very concerned about it.

i have a few questions about the process.. any help would be excellent.

First off, how long should the actual drying process go for? Im talking about cutting the plant down to the stems, trim the fan leaves, and manicure the buds. Then what am i supposed to do? Hang them upside down i know, but with a fan on it? how much airflow? how long? etc.

Also, at what point will i know the buds are done hang drying and ready to cure?

next, how should i cure? how long do i leave the buds without opening the jar each day? etc etc.

Please any overall help about the harvest, drying, and curing process would really help me out alot! thanks guys!

hang them in a cool dark place. with low humidity. using a fan for circulation is good, but dont point the fan directly on the bud. if you have low humidity in the air it should usually take between 4 to 10 days. just check on them after about 4 days. when they get allitle crisp to the touch take em down loosely stick them in jars. and open the jars once a day and take the buds out and and put them back in. this is the curing process.

The temp should be between 65-75 and the humidity at 40-50%. Thats what it says in the Marijuana Horticulture bible anyways.

and I like the snap test. If the stems dont bend but break when you bend them then its time to cure

I have been having a problem with the bud drying too quickly... i have had the fan pointed on the bud so perhaps if i move the fan away from the bud and allow it to sort of air dry rather than fan dry it might help right?

My buds got very crisp in about 2 or 3 days and i havent been able to revive it by curing. Curing seems to give a bad smell to the bud so far... i dont know where i went wrong but i dont wanna fuck up much more bud ya know? haha

I also heard that putting freshly manicured buds in brown paper bags is also a good and perhaps more fool proof way of drying also??

I do both. the paper bag does help pull the moister out more evenly from my understanding.

I have heard of people putting a fresh fruit peel in the jar to help if its to dry

oh yes a fruit peel would work nicely i imagine. I'll give it a try. I also had some luck pointing the fan away from the hanging buds rather than towards the buds. This i guess pulls the air surrounding the buds out and forces the air around the bud to recirculate so u get a slower drying process but it seems to be working nicely. I'm still worried about a steady routine; paper bags, hanging, and curing, on drying my large harvest so hopefully i can figure out a nice combination of the three before that day comes...

thanks for your help!

No problem, good luck with your grows