how do you mile-highers harvest/dry/cure your buds??

still pretty new to growing, last go around buds didnt turn out so well and iam blaming the drying/ curing and i wanna make sure my humidity and everything will be right next time round, what are you guys having to do to obtain optimal conditions to dry your buds?? iam in the denver area and i just donno how our elevation plays a roll on things.... and is the hanging the whole plant and trimming dry really the best thing to do??

I (actually my wife) trim as quickly as possible after cutting the branches off the plant. We work as a tag team. I cut down the plant, trim all the fan leaves and cut the branches into manageable pieces. She does the fine trim work. We hang the trimmed buds in the veg room to dry. I know people generally recommend not to dry in the grow room but it helps slow down the dry process since the room has higher (50%) humidity.

Depending on bud density they will be dry enough to put in jars in 4-5 days. I wait until the stems can be snapped, but still bend slightly, before jarring. If you have a mini hygrometer you can toss it in the jar to check humidity. I like my buds to be about 65% humidity so I'll leave the lids off until they get in that range. The final step is to open the jars a couple times a day for the first few days to let them burb. After the first week I'll burb every few days for another 10 days or so and they should be good to go. Your nose will tell you when they are ready. If they smell at all like hay or fresh cut grass they need more cure time and might still be too wet.

I cut the branches and hang them upside down from one of those multi-level hangers. I hang the hanger in a dark closet near my veg tent. I don't trim anything until it's mostly dry and ready to go into jars. I wait until the stems can be snapped but still have a little bit of bend to them, just like Medshed, and put them in glass jars as I'm trimming. We are at 6500 feet and it's very dry here, so I find if I trim everything first, the plant dries to a crisp too quickly. I burp the jars once or twice a day for 15 minutes or so, for about a week. Then I start smoking my harvest after two weeks or so, but it's always better the longer I wait.

anywhere around denver to find those mini hygrometers or is that something u gotta get online?? seems like that would be the best way to go!!!!!

I think I got mine at McGuckin in Boulder, but am not sure. Cigar stores probably have them since they are used in humidors. They usually read both temperature and humidity. You want to get a digital one, not the analog cheap ones. I've tried a few of them and they are not accurate at all.

dam i love cheep ahahaha, i will look around for em for sure!!! hopefully this grow turns out better then my last one haha, what bloom additives are you guys using? all i have right now is bio bizz bloom and molasses, deff looking for something that can be used in soil that will help with yield

what medshed and 420sw said. on the part about jarring when the branch has a slight bendable nature still, but ready to snap refers to the colas/tops (since those hold the most moisture for longer). I also use my grow room (relative Hum = 42-55% between day/night cycle) as my drying room. after 5-7 days they are perfectly ready for the jar. jars get burped (un capped and let breath for a few minutes each time) once or twice daily for @ 1-2weeks to get the flavors and tastes.

I just use Supersoil with a couple of Sucanat feedings during flower. If the plants start getting hungry during flower I'll give them some Earth Juice.

eyecandi said:

what medshed and 420sw said. on the part about jarring when the branch has a slight bendable nature still, but ready to snap refers to the colas/tops (since those hold the most moisture for longer). I also use my grow room (relative Hum = 42-55% between day/night cycle) as my drying room. after 5-7 days they are perfectly ready for the jar. jars get burped (un capped and let breath for a few minutes each time) once or twice daily for @ 1-2weeks to get the flavors and tastes.

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pro5imian said:

still pretty new to growing, last go around buds didnt turn out so well and iam blaming the drying/ curing and i wanna make sure my humidity and everything will be right next time round, what are you guys having to do to obtain optimal conditions to dry your buds?? iam in the denver area and i just donno how our elevation plays a roll on things.... and is the hanging the whole plant and trimming dry really the best thing to do??

Click to expand...

Welcome to the best
Kush Mile higher Forum
There's a ton of Great homies on here.

NavySEALsVet said:

Welcome to the best
Kush Mile higher Forum
There's a ton of Great homies on here.

Click to expand...

interesting...i was told by many NO LIGHT!! lol but havent harvested enuff to tell whats best. however i knw for a fact that humidity def plays a major part. ive always been told,to treat them as if were still alive.....like higher day temp, lower nite...when u guys say the veg room, what cycle are you using? for me, it would be 2four/2four....the question id like to knw, does the time of cure increse or decrese, by the amount of light they get?

I think the reason you are told no light is because it will speed up the drying process. Since we are battling low humidity around here the problem of added light is offset by the benefit of added humidity.

To be clear, my drying buds are hanging above (and to the side of) my lamp. They don't get direct light but they are in a lit room. I have experimented with covering the buds (hanging on clothes hangers) with newspapers to keep the light out. I can't see that it made much difference.

I currently have some of my outdoor crop drying in the veg room and I covered the hangers with plastic grocery bags to slow the drying process down more. I left the bags on for the first couple days and can tell it will extend the dry time to y a day or so.

In general, you want your buds to dry as slow as possible without getting moldy. 7-10 days is probably ideal but hard to attain around here. Maybe CAS will chime in with his experience. I've seen his drying chamber and it is pretty sweet. It is basically cimate controlled.

asmokin said:

interesting...i was told by many NO LIGHT!! lol but havent harvested enuff to tell whats best. however i knw for a fact that humidity def plays a major part. ive always been told,to treat them as if were still alive.....like higher day temp, lower nite...when u guys say the veg room, what cycle are you using? for me, it would be 2four/2four....the question id like to knw, does the time of cure increse or decrese, by the amount of light they get?

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No light is best in your dry area. I built a long box against the wall of my flower room that allows airflow into the sides with minimal light getting in. do not cure in the light if you can avoid it - it will degrade the end product results.

during late spring -> mid fall I veg for 18/6, the other times I use 24hr schedule due to colder temps (my room is in my garage), to keep a stable temp in the room.

DO NOT expose your buds to light whatever you do. Light degrades freshly harvested THC on contact. The more light your buds come in contact with during the drying/curing process, the less potent your bud is gunna be. since we do live in such a dry state, I would suggest drying in a totally sealed off room, with a dehumidifier running at around 45-50% for 22-23 hours a day with an hour or two of offtime. Try and dry the bud as slowly as possible by keeping the fan pointed up and away at a 45 degree angle so that the air isn't sucking all the moisture out of them. It is very important to not let your buds get too dry before putting them in the jars. wait untill the stems are just about to snap, they should have just enough moisture in them to have a tiny bit of "spring" to them when you squease. fill the glass jars about 9/10th's the way full and keep them in a dark place. burp the jars for 5 minutes a day for the first week, and then once every 2 or 3 days after that untill the cure is finished. Three weeks is long enough for a good cure, however a couple of months would be better. Never cure longer than 6 months because the THC will start to degrade after that point.

eyecandi said:

No light is best in your dry area. I built a long box against the wall of my flower room that allows airflow into the sides with minimal light getting in. do not cure in the light if you can avoid it - it will degrade the end product results.

during late spring -> mid fall I veg for 18/6, the other times I use 24hr schedule due to colder temps (my room is in my garage), to keep a stable temp in the room.

Click to expand...

I put my dry box ( 18 gallon tub w/ a 4" PC fan attached ) in my flower room just to control the funk . Plus it makes a good stand for the less mature plants to sit on and even up the canopy under my single lamp.