How do YOU prevent over-drying?

My first harvest I over-dried my buds waiting for the stems to snap.
Once the stems were snapping, the buds were too dry and never recovered.
How do YOU prevent over-drying? When do you know it is dry?

I've never snapped a stem in my life. Once the buds start feeling just the slight bit crisp, into the jar they go and let the burping begin. The Boveda packs are a little miracle these days.

I jar while there is some bend still in the stem.

agreed^^^ if the stem snaps it's way to dry n won't cure.

I think the snap test only applies to the smallest stems. I go more by the feel of the bud but generally it does coincide with the small stems snapping.

I dry in my garage because it will have a temp range of about 45-60F during that time of year. My humidity level is generally dry so I try to keep everything but the fan leaves on the branch when I hang em to slow down the dry. After two weeks if they are not dry I move them into the house for one night and they are usually ready the next day. Half the time I jar a little too wet and have to put them in a paper bag for a short period.

If you over dry your buds, try putting some fresh fan leaves in the jars to add back some moisture. I even do this when I buy a bag and it's a little too dry for my liking. Works ok-better then nothing.

I love drying low and slow, like no higher then 60degrees and 60% humidity-but in my new location, I don't think I'm going to be able to do that : (

I also put the buds in jars when there is still a little 'bend' to the stems. Maybe the smallest stems are snapping, but usually no drier. I use hydrometers in the jars to mointor the humidity while I'm burping as well. I burp the jars for about an hour a day for the first week, then 15-30mins the second week. Once they hit 60%RH I keep the lids closed until I'm ready to smoke. This method has always served me well. If buds seam unusually moist/wet any time during the curing process I will take them out and put in a paper bag anywhere from an hour to a day.

hang em till the sunleaves are dry and crispy, at that point the nugs will have some residual moisture, then I trim them, and put them in brown paper bags, roll up the top of the bags for two to three days, then after that I jar them, and check them each day to burp and check moisture levels.
ALL of the mentioned advice is variable though, all depends on your ambient humidity levels.
I do know that the best cures I ever get are when it's cloudy and somewhat humid out, slooooooow and steady. I get my favorite results when it takes about a week to dry the sunleaves, less than that and it's too dry outside. I also always hang em outside (a nice dark, cool place with good airflow), inside is too dry, usually.
course i'm in a redwood forest, doesn't get too hot or too cold, and usually has a good humidity level.

I leave alot of the leaves on and trim on day 2- of the hang dry.. then about 1 or 2 more days to hang... by then the stem is usually a little less green in some places more of an olive then i wait for the dry outside feel.. then jar up immediately.. and burp in the next 24 hours sometimes

Jar them when they are dry on the outside, but still somewhat spongy on the inside.

If the stems snap, you've gone too far.

Jar up, with a hydrometer. Check the moisture the next day.

If it's way high, you can put the bud in a brown paper bag in a cool dark place for a day, that should get rid of the excess moisture, then simply re-jar 24hrs later.

greasemonkeymann said:

hang em till the sunleaves are dry and crispy, at that point the nugs will have some residual moisture, then I trim them, and put them in brown paper bags, roll up the top of the bags for two to three days, then after that I jar them, and check them each day to burp and check moisture levels.
ALL of the mentioned advice is variable though, all depends on your ambient humidity levels.
I do know that the best cures I ever get are when it's cloudy and somewhat humid out, slooooooow and steady. I get my favorite results when it takes about a week to dry the sunleaves, less than that and it's too dry outside. I also always hang em outside (a nice dark, cool place with good airflow), inside is too dry, usually.
course i'm in a redwood forest, doesn't get too hot or too cold, and usually has a good humidity level.

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Hey bro I just trim my buds in put into brown paper bag u say close bag an I read to keep open I'm tarn in between the two open close don't mean no harm am trying to find out what it really is

if you over dry throw a fresh apple slice in the jar for a few hours and put the jar somewhere warm. that will fix the buds right up

NyQuilkush318 said:

Hey bro I just trim my buds in put into brown paper bag u say close bag an I read to keep open I'm tarn in between the two open close don't mean no harm am trying to find out what it really is

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if its dry outside then have the tops of the bags curled close, if it's humid outside leave them open, the point is to have the slowest cure possible without them molding

greasemonkeymann said:

if its dry outside then have the tops of the bags curled close, if it's humid outside leave them open, the point is to have the slowest cure possible without them molding

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Ok bro so I put them in jars an check them today made 12 hours n rh is 56 so do I still have to burp them an can I put humidity pack in jar

NyQuilkush318 said:

Ok bro so I put them in jars an check them today made 12 hours n rh is 56 so do I still have to burp them an can I put humidity pack in jar

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I don't get super technical with it, never used a meter to test the RH, I just keep burping until the smell becomes more "pot" like, if it smells "wet" then keep burping, if they are soft and squishy then its too wet. But like I said, I use a brown paper bag for like 85% of the drying process, only when the small nugs will burn in a bowl, do I put them in jars. Just me, keep in mind I live in a forest, and its a lil humid here mostly

greasemonkeymann said:

I don't get super technical with it, never used a meter to test the RH, I just keep burping until the smell becomes more "pot" like, if it smells "wet" then keep burping, if they are soft and squishy then its too wet. But like I said, I use a brown paper bag for like 85% of the drying process, only when the small nugs will burn in a bowl, do I put them in jars. Just me, keep in mind I live in a forest, and its a lil humid here mostly

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Thinks bro

greenlikemoney said:

I've never snapped a stem in my life. Once the buds start feeling just the slight bit crisp, into the jar they go and let the burping begin. The Boveda packs are a little miracle these days.

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Hey bro can you tell me this I checked my rh56 do I still have to burp them an can i put humidity pack in jar now or brup them for a while am lost bro

if you have Bovedas and you are at 56rh then yes, stick them in there.

NyQuilkush318 said:

Thinks bro

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sure no problem, I wish I had more technically precise advice, but I really like to steer away from too much like that. I'm just an old school organic farmer that likes to keep it fairly simple. Works alright for me

I've recently found herb that I had forgotten in a brown bag for over a year (sadly i've done this on accident more than once) anyways it smokes and tastes REALLY nice, like almost as good as a jar-cure, and it's OLD. You'd never know it by looking at it, or the way it smokes, but it's like 400 days old or more. It was just chillin under my bed since last June

randybishop said:

My first harvest I over-dried my buds waiting for the stems to snap.
Once the stems were snapping, the buds were too dry and never recovered.
How do YOU prevent over-drying? When do you know it is dry?

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ok i been working on perfecting this for the last year u can modify it to work where u are i am just listing how i do it

1 area
2 dry method
3 air movement
4 humidity .....
5 smell control
6 cut

links at the end

ok those are the 6 things to worry about for good dry and start to cure ............this method is repeatable every time it is only a matter of timing but that is covered with the humidity

1 a tent or a sealed room with no windows or lights .............this is for the THC degrades faster and the glands to puff more in the darkness ....and allows u to controll a smaller area more effectivly for less funding

2 ppl talk about hanging them this is good and bad due to gravity ...the buds at the bottom take the longest to dry so your timing is all on those allowing the upper ones to over dry .................i like the quick cure racks they sell u can hang them this protects the buds from direct air currents (less chance of mold attaching) but the most important due to the fact they are laying on the side allows the water to be evenly drawlen out amoung all the flowers so the dry time is in sync for the whole branch

3 air movement ......huge this is important like all hell u need a fan moving if u can get one with more then 2 movement points that is great .........the air moving is what takes the water from the air around the flowers ...then the flower drawls more water from stems and all and the air moves that away .....this is the base of the whole thing .......u can look up tobacco dying for more info and all the tech info

4 humidity............this is anouther important factor .........golden zone is 50%.........this is the perfect it keeps the flowers from given out water to fast so the dry is even .........40% to 60% is the safe area if u can not hold a perfect 50% anything lower then that u will notice a hay smell as it dries this does not effect the smoke only the smell in the jars .......now 60% or higher danger zone mold can attach and grow wrecking the whole harvest if not caught intime .............if u get mold do no smoke it do not BHO it do not cook with it .........take it and throw it in trash /compost /toilet ..........this stuff will cuase lung infections possibly killing u or someone else ..........save what u can remove from the area and then bleach wash it all down and run a Ozone gen for a while to kill off any spores ...........this will tell u how long the dry time will be at the very end before the links

5 smell control.........this is to avoid u getting busted by someone just a simple carbon scrubber and fan system running a passive intake .......it removes the air from the system allowing the humidity to exchange

6 the cut is the last important thing ..........this will set the whole stage for time and everything .........ok all the lower buds and ones that are branching off where u can get 2 to 3 inches of just stem u cut off ........take it off with 2/3 inches of stem ............now the bigger tighter buds that are tight to the branch u take the whole branch with about 3/4 inchs of just stem ..........this is allows all of it to be timed right if u are controlling the humidity ..........and like always remove the fan leaves as close to the stems as possible and make sure the air can move around the buds so the water can exchange out

ok if u do all that stuff and have the humidity at 45-53% your stuff can be trimmed down and jared up with in 7 days..............if the Humidity is above 53% u need to add a extra day for each day it is that high (due to rain and other things) i found above 53% the exchange slows down so i add a 24 more hours each day i see that on the meter ...............all my stuff is on weight once i jar it so i know water weight is gone and it is curing

link.......here are links of items i found that work really well for this ........i use amazon since it is national supplier

http://www.amazon.com/Eva-Dry-Edv-1100-Eva-dry-Electric-Dehumidifier/dp/B000H0ZDD2/
small area a 3x3 works fine for me

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GZ5BSBY
stronger one incase bigger area or u are in a major rain zone

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00873CICA/
2 movement point fan ........it rocks for drying the air currents are always in flux more even dry

http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-9921-Softouch-Micro-Tip-Pruning/dp/B00004SD76
great for clipping ......take the lock thing off makes it easier

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009RGRHNQ/
incase to low humidity....has a warm mist setting will make it raise up faster...also has a controler so u can set it and maintain a good upper lvl