Hanging harvested plants is a waste of time. Once a plant is cut down the THC does not travel so there is no benefit from hanging. In fact, hanging plants just makes the smaller leaves curl up and adds hours to the time it takes to trim the plant properly.
Drying/curing is a 2-step process. We dry to remove moisture and cure to evenly distribute the remaining moisture. Without curing we would end up with crispy small buds and soggy large buds. Here's my harvesting protocol --
1. Start harvesting/trimming as soon as you down the plant.
2. Trim as needed and spread the buds on paper towels spread over a 16 x 25 x 1 inch furnace filter ($0.88 at WalMart).
3. Set the filter in a place where it is exposed to the ambient indoor environment. I use a rack that holds 8 filters at a time.
4. After 3 days or so I check daily until the buds are mostly dry. That is the drying process.
5. Put the bud into a large sealable baggie and squeeze the air out before sealing. Being sealed allows the remaining moisture to evenly distribute throughout the bud.
6. Check every 24 hours by hand and decide if the product is where you want it. If still too moist reseal the baggie for another 24 hours. Repeat until you have the moisture level to your liking.
7. Then you can reseal the product for storage. Remember to check stored product every couple of days to make sure you didn't leave too much moisture that leads to mold. I've had to toss several ounces due to skipping this step and ending up with moldy product.
Good luck, BigSteve.
