Curing while still in the ground

So I saw fdd post something about this somewhere but I can't seem to find it again.
Does anyone have experience with letting the buds cure/dry while the plant is still in the ground? If so, how long did you do it for? How did it affect the high? If i remember right, fdd said it gave him an intense couchlock high.
I was thinking I'd try this on a plant next harvest season. I guess I would just stop watering the plant when it looks ready to harvest and let it sit for 1-2 weeks or until it gets too cold? I want something that'll really knock someone out

Umm, if the plant is still in the ground isn't it still taking in water via the root system? That would kinda work against what you're trying to do. Curing is normally done after it is cut and dried.

bKonz said:

Umm, if the plant is still in the ground isn't it still taking in water via the root system? That would kinda work against what you're trying to do. Curing is normally done after it is cut and dried.

Click to expand...

well im not sure if it is would be correctly termed "curing"? But who cares.. I'm still interested in the results from it. fdd where are you!

i was out cleaning the yard today and found a bud on the fence that was sun dried. it would dry a little each day then at night it would get all wet from the fog. when i brought it in the house it was still damp. after about 2 hours it dried out. it is golden brown. i smoked a small bowl load and then napped. way stony. it could be the sun breaking down the THC.

mr j2 said:

So I saw fdd post something about this somewhere but I can't seem to find it again.
Does anyone have experience with letting the buds cure/dry while the plant is still in the ground? If so, how long did you do it for? How did it affect the high? If i remember right, fdd said it gave him an intense couchlock high.
I was thinking I'd try this on a plant next harvest season. I guess I would just stop watering the plant when it looks ready to harvest and let it sit for 1-2 weeks or until it gets too cold? I want something that'll really knock someone out

Click to expand...

It's "vine-ripened" bud. You basically leave the plant out after it has reached it's full flowering potential, and provide it with no more water or nutrients. This is best done in a dry, hot climate though. You wait until the plant turns a golden hue, and then harvest it. It's quite crispy by that time, I imagine, so I'd be careful harvesting it.

I haven't done this in soil, but I've done something like it in an aeroponic setup, though I didn't let it go quite as far as fdd's friend did. I'm not even sure I could have. The bud is effectively cured on the vine, and is indeed quite dry. And yes, every trichome I could see with the naked eye was about as amber as it gets, leading to an intense couchlock high, but it was still pretty cerebral considering. I achieved this by providing only distilled water to the plant for quite some time, and leaving the lights on 12/12. I slowly decreased the amount of water in the reservoir until the plant was receiving only air through the roots. I eventually removed the roots entirely to prevent rot. Let it go for about a month, and... voila. Vine-ripened bud, that's a slight golden-green. You have to be on guard for decay and disease, though. The bud was cured a bit afterward too though, using the traditional air curing method. Potent smell, interesting high. This just sort of started the process of curing while still on the plant- I would strongly suspect that in the presence of light, some of the THC breaks down into other psychoactive (as well as non-psychoative) cannabinoids that change the character of the high. I'm sure many of us have experienced this to some extent, by finding little pieces of bud on the floor left over from a harvest some time afterward, while other plants were still flowering.

Try it in soil if you're growing indoors (or outside, for that matter, though I'd be hesitant to do so if I lived in a wet climate); I'd be interested in the results. I imagine it would be much more dramatic than what I attempted to do.

~Ethno

if i leave mine in the ground to long, i harvest pre roll zig zag oranges!! <gag>

fdd2blk said:

i was out cleaning the yard today and found a bud on the fence that was sun dried. it would dry a little each day then at night it would get all wet from the fog. when i brought it in the house it was still damp. after about 2 hours it dried out. it is golden brown. i smoked a small bowl load and then napped. way stony. it could be the sun breaking down the THC.

Click to expand...

How golden-brown was it? No visible mold, either?

As I mentioned, mine was only slightly golden; a number of the tips on the bud turned a deep brown though.

I also only left a small amount of it on the plant to cure this way, as I wasn't sure how well it would work, and didn't want to waste all of it. This was after a plant died on me toward the end of flowering and I let the drying process begin on the vine. It was plenty potent (if a bit brown in some parts), so I had to try to "cure" some on the plant in a controlled manner.

~Ethno

Ethnobotanist said:

How golden-brown was it? No visible mold, either?

As I mentioned, mine was only slightly golden; a number of the tips on the bud turned a deep brown though.

I also only left a small amount of it on the plant to cure this way, as I wasn't sure how well it would work, and didn't want to waste all of it. This was after a plant died on me toward the end of flowering and I let the drying process begin on the vine. It was plenty potent (if a bit brown in some parts), so I had to try to "cure" some on the plant in a controlled manner.

~Ethno

Click to expand...

like dead grass brown. no mold, mildew or rot.

fdd2blk said:

like dead grass brown. no mold, mildew or rot.

Click to expand...

Wow. I think we've stumbled onto something.

~Ethno

when drying do u cut the rootball loose or leave it while hanging until almost dry?