So I'm going into my second grow and already thinking about the drying/curing process and was wondering if my first drying/curing session was a bust. It seemed to get dry awfully fast and then when I put it in a jar to cure it just didn't really change a whole lot. It never got a great "bud" smell. It never even got a smell like fresh cut grass or anything. It just seemed to dry, like in a week, and then it just seemed to dry up more in the jar.
Did I do something wrong with it? Did it get too dry? or dried to fast or something?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
well if you didnt harvest early and the buds were ripe then it may have been a combination of both drying to fast and too dry before going into jars for the cure. i read somewhere that said you want 10% moisture in the buds for a good cure. when i put them inside the jars early it is to even out the moisture and to slow the drying process.
i find that if i end up with a harvest in mid summer and its hot, i cant hang dry for as long as i want. i also cant dry in the comfort of the air conditioned house so that doesnt help. so i dry in a shed. i have a fan blowing on slow speed away from the buds and just to have air movement. also exhaust fan running but after a couple days only have the fan running on a timer at intervals. dehumidifier if needed but will also raise the temp. even more.
if the outside of the buds are getting crispy after 3 or 4 days, ill take the buds off of the main stalk but leave a good amount of stem attatched to the buds. whatever i can leave and still fit inside the jar. place them in jars for about 12 hours, take them out and put inside paper bags with the top rolled down a bit. check them often during the day and rearrange them inside the bag. usually within 24 hours or less they are ready to go back into jars again to even out the moisture. once the moisture evens out they can go back into bags for another time if needed. you just have to watch out for mold going into jars early.
once they are dry enough to stay in jars for the cure, burp them as usual, and at anytime you think they can go back into paper bags. but the farther along you are in the process the less amount of time they will need in the bag. each time you go into the bags it will be for less time.
after you have had them in the jars for about a week or so with the normal burping, now you can take out the extra portions of stems that you left on there that helped with some extra moisture to help slow the dry process. but still leave a small amount of stem on the end of the bud.
i also store the jars inside the house but take them out to the shed for the paper bag or the burping.
the times i have listed are estimates and will vary due to temp humidity and other conditions.
i hope this helped its always worked for me. now i try and time my harvests for before the heat of summer and early fall
