I think i dried to much

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
I harvested one of my northern lights and hung it for 4.5 days, when i went to jar it it was real crispy. My question is will it moisten back up while curing? Should i stick some freshly picked buds in there for a little moisture?
 

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
Ive heard sticking a fan leaf or two or a piece of lettuce, is that also frowned upon? They are pretty crispy i dont know how much water is left in them.
 

mr sunshine

Well-Known Member
Ive heard sticking a fan leaf or two or a piece of lettuce, is that also frowned upon? They are pretty crispy i dont know how much water is left in them.
Just jar them and find out.. Imo their still probably to wet. To fully jar without burping .it's a tricky game
 

firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
I just dried for 7 days and they are coming up 60-64% still after a few burpings/time out of the jar.

Did you dry the plant as a whole? It sounds like you did and if you did theres no way its dry by now.

Jar it and check in in a couple hours. Bet you its moist.
 

Alienwidow

Well-Known Member
OK will try that before i do anything stupid.
Yes please dont do anything stupid like lettuce lol. If they are too dry still in 12 hrs, just buy some bovida packs and drop em in there. The moisture will come back and some of the smell. We used to use flour tortillas, not something thats gonna turn to mushy goop.
 

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
I just dried for 7 days and they are coming up 60-64% still after a few burpings/time out of the jar.

Did you dry the plant as a whole? It sounds like you did and if you did theres no way its dry by now.

Jar it and check in in a couple hours. Bet you its moist.
I cut individual branches off, trimmed them then hung to dry for about 5 days. They were super crispy when i put them in the jar. Just put them in the jar about 30 minutes ago i will check on them daily to see if any natural moisture is returned.

Where can i purchase boveda packs? Ive just did a quick search it seems i might be able to find them in a cigar shop? Theres a few in town, should i check there?
 

Oddjob

Well-Known Member
Becareful with lettuce as it works like a snap it making things moist again, but.....it can also cause things to get moldy as well. Keep a sharp eye and nose.
 

lawlrus

Well-Known Member
Do you know what Rh the room you were drying in was? If you were drying in a room with a "normal" drying RH of 50-60% then you may have made a few really small branches with very small buds crispy enough to probably be okay to put in a jar. However -- you would be shocked at how dry a bud can feel after hanging and before the moisture is redistributed from the inside out. You usually want to aim for 6-7 days of total drying at the very least (depending on method, some dry for considerably longer than that) before putting it in the jar so that it is done slowly enough to evenly dessicate the bud. This will keep the smell and flavor as strong as possible and help prevent the "wet hay" smell from taking over.

My preferred method of drying now that I've jumped on the dry trimming bandwagon is a slightly modified version of Rumpleforeskin's where I do the same first steps as he does by lightly trimming while fresh, then hanging large branches at around 55% RH (preferably inside of one of the tents with odor control and the inline fan + a normal fan to aid circulation as proper airflow is crucial to avoid issues with mold) for 72-84 hours. Like this...






After that time is up, unless the bud is very dense or the tent/space is very full of drying plants, the branches will be ready to finish trimming. I tend not to trim very vigorously anyways as I just grow for personal smoke nowadays, but it seems like leaving a few more close trim leaves than you might normally keep on there helps protect the trichomes during the next part of the process.

At that point I break down the individual flowers from the main stalks and place them in paper grocery bags, label appropriately, and then do a clean, tight double fold across the top to very lightly "seal" the top without actually stapling or taping it shut. I like to spread it out among a couple of bags to keep it to a couple of inches in height (the equivalent of 1-2 of the buds you are drying in height, basically) but you can also do like Rumple does and cut up strip of paper bags and stuff more in each bag. You then want to leave it in the same drying conditions and gently shake the buds up to move them around about once a day for anywhere from 2-4 days depending on conditions and what you're drying. Usually the buds feel really dry on the outside, almost too dry if you do it correctly, but again, that moisture will redistribute after some time in the jar.

At this point the stems will vary across the board (depending on size) from a very crisp, clean snap to still having some flexibility, but there generally won't be that visible green hue from the chlorophyll that was there when the buds were still fresh off the plant. Fill the jars mostly full while avoiding packing the buds down on one another and then you have started the curing process. You'll probably want to "burp" the jars for a few minutes periodically -- some say daily, some every other day, some don't do it at all, but you should really consider doing it if for no other reason than to monitor your progress. Just like you can have mold if you leave it too wet in the jar, if you do happen to dry it too much you can reach the "point of no return" and there isn't really any way to make it properly cure at that point. One option to prevent issues is to buy some small hygrometers to place in the jars with the flowers as they cure to monitor the level of moisture in the jar and track the progress of the curing process without having to worry about "eyeballing it." Here is a great thread by Simon on ICM that details how to do just that.

Personally, I would just dry a plant or two and figure it out through trial and error like everything else with this hobby. Like many (maybe even most) things related to growing pot, it's not as hard as everybody wants to make it out to be. You may want to hedge your bets a bit and test a couple of branches to refine your process depending on how much you have to process, but

Hope you enjoy your harvest man!


I just smoked a huge joint and I get real wordy when I get high so my apologies for the rambling and unsolicited advice there, lol
 
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lawlrus

Well-Known Member
I've never personally tried rehydrating such as with the lettuce there so I can't speak to that from experience, but that seems like something you would want to avoid if at all possible to me.
 

ebcrew

Well-Known Member
Do you know what Rh the room you were drying in was? If you were drying in a room with a "normal" drying RH of 50-60% then you may have made a few really small branches with very small buds crispy enough to probably be okay to put in a jar. However -- you would be shocked at how dry a bud can feel after hanging and before the moisture is redistributed from the inside out. You usually want to aim for 6-7 days of total drying at the very least (depending on method, some dry for considerably longer than that) before putting it in the jar so that it is done slowly enough to evenly dessicate the bud. This will keep the smell and flavor as strong as possible and help prevent the "wet hay" smell from taking over.

My preferred method of drying now that I've jumped on the dry trimming bandwagon is a slightly modified version of Rumpleforeskin's where I do the same first steps as he does by lightly trimming while fresh, then hanging large branches at around 55% RH (preferably inside of one of the tents with odor control and the inline fan + a normal fan to aid circulation as proper airflow is crucial to avoid issues with mold) for 72-84 hours. Like this...






After that time is up, unless the bud is very dense or the tent/space is very full of drying plants, the branches will be ready to finish trimming. I tend not to trim very vigorously anyways as I just grow for personal smoke nowadays, but it seems like leaving a few more close trim leaves than you might normally keep on there helps protect the trichomes during the next part of the process.

At that point I break down the individual flowers from the main stalks and place them in paper grocery bags, label appropriately, and then do a clean, tight double fold across the top to very lightly "seal" the top without actually stapling or taping it shut. I like to spread it out among a couple of bags to keep it to a couple of inches in height (the equivalent of 1-2 of the buds you are drying in height, basically) but you can also do like Rumple does and cut up strip of paper bags and stuff more in each bag. You then want to leave it in the same drying conditions and gently shake the buds up to move them around about once a day for anywhere from 2-4 days depending on conditions and what you're drying. Usually the buds feel really dry on the outside, almost too dry if you do it correctly, but again, that moisture will redistribute after some time in the jar.

At this point the stems will vary across the board (depending on size) from a very crisp, clean snap to still having some flexibility, but there generally won't be that visible green hue from the chlorophyll that was there when the buds were still fresh off the plant. Fill the jars mostly full while avoiding packing the buds down on one another and then you have started the curing process. You'll probably want to "burp" the jars for a few minutes periodically -- some say daily, some every other day, some don't do it at all, but you should really consider doing it if for no other reason than to monitor your progress. Just like you can have mold if you leave it too wet in the jar, if you do happen to dry it too much you can reach the "point of no return" and there isn't really any way to make it properly cure at that point. One option to prevent issues is to buy some small hygrometers to place in the jars with the flowers as they cure to monitor the level of moisture in the jar and track the progress of the curing process without having to worry about "eyeballing it." Here is a great thread by Simon on ICM that details how to do just that.

Personally, I would just dry a plant or two and figure it out through trial and error like everything else with this hobby. Like many (maybe even most) things related to growing pot, it's not as hard as everybody wants to make it out to be. You may want to hedge your bets a bit and test a couple of branches to refine your process depending on how much you have to process, but

Hope you enjoy your harvest man!


I just smoked a huge joint and I get real wordy when I get high so my apologies for the rambling and unsolicited advice there, lol
wow thanks for the great advice and read, appreciate you taking the time to type that up for me. I hope they naturally moisten up a bit in the jars and havent reached the "point of no return". Its amazing how fast they dried out this time. My last harvest took almost a week to dry. My RH meter reads "normal" in the drying room. im not home but im assuming normal is around 35-50% RH and about 80-85 degrees Fahrenheit.
 

firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
I cut individual branches off, trimmed them then hung to dry for about 5 days. They were super crispy when i put them in the jar. Just put them in the jar about 30 minutes ago i will check on them daily to see if any natural moisture is returned.

Where can i purchase boveda packs? Ive just did a quick search it seems i might be able to find them in a cigar shop? Theres a few in town, should i check there?
I get boveda on their website. I wasnt a huge fan of the 62s. They kept it too wet for my liking. They do make 54s now.

You cant go to cigar shops as cigars require 70-72 depending on its use. So all theyll have is that if they have em. Some hydro stores near me stock them.
 

firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
My gf old school fathet uses lettuce. I used the boveda 62s this winter harvest when the room was like 30%RH and got too dry. It reclaimed it.
 

ISK

Well-Known Member
I'll put a fresh marijuana leaf in the jar to increase the RH, only problem is it will transfer a pot taste into my buds...yeah I guess that's not so bad
 

Sean D

New Member
lawlrus:



if you cut your plants starting with the top and work your way down, cutting the branches off the main stem, the ends form a V. Then its easy to hang those branches from a wire clothing hanger and you can hang quite a few more branches on your string lines, taking up less room, and without the possibility of them falling off one of those clothes pins.
 
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