Dry/Cure Confusions..

[Ender87i]

Over the years I've had different ways of drying/curing, but perhaps never got it down to a perfect science..

I have some confusion from reading different books, and hearing conflicting answers.

What I usually do is as follows:
- Trim fan leaves and small leaves off plant
- Cut plant into branches that you can manage
- Hang branches, in the dark, 50% hum, with circulation fan in room.
- After about 5 days when the stems barely start to feel like snapping, store buds in jars overnight, opening 2x a day for 15 mins to sweat.
- Continue doing this until it no longer sweats and is dry. As an option, use paper bag method halfway through the jar method.

Does this sound right? Here are some of my questions..

1.) I've read books that say to cure first, then dry.. Is this correct? Or do u dry first?

2.) Should I hang with a dim light on in the room for the first few days? I've heard this as well.. Or should they be in the dark the whole time?

3.) Once I place them in jars, how often should I sweat them, and for how long?

4.) Should I integrate any kind of paper bag method, or just use jars?

5.) Give me a step by step if u can.

I'm mostly confused about my first two questions.. Please if anybody can enlighten me I would greatly appreciate it. Only reply if you actually know what you're talking about though.

Thanks!

 

[Rancho Cucamonga]

1.never heard of curing before drying.
2.darkness only.
3.get mini hygrometer(humidity gauge) to put in jars. jars need to be high 50s to 63% RH in order to get good cure. An easy way to do this is using Humidipaks



With these you don't need to burp jars, although I do once every few days for a few minutes the first week. Paks both lower and raise and keep RH at 62%, the perfect RH for cure and long-term storage.
You can follow my humidipak cures here

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/630544-so-far-so-good-so.html

Hard to tell how often jars need to be burped without paks, I use to burp every 12 hours the first 2days for 5-10 minutes then every day for 10 minutes for a week more then once every 2-3 days for 10 minutes. It all depends on how much moisture was in buds after dry. Too wet you either need to put back in dry, into brown paper bags or burp very often, too dry your weed will not cure well and if left under 55% RH for more then a day or so cure stops and sometimes sealing them for long periods won't get them moist again. Some say these paks can bring back life to dry buds but I don't know, I just use them before buds RH lowers too low.

4.Never used paper bags.
5.There you go. I always dry at 65-75 degrees and 55-70% RH without a fan in dry room. Here is my dry room, I just use the circulation from my exhaust/filter to move air. When I did use a small clip fan in this room buds dried too fast, if using fan in room do not direct air directly on buds.

 

[DeeTee]

Not sure I would use dry packs in your jar for curing, it'll dry too fast, I use a hygrometer in the jar and aim for 55 to 60 deg hum. hang dry 'till the buds feel dry to the touch then put in jars for curing, burp your jars 'till your reach your goal, that's my method and it works great, btw yes you should dry in total darkness with a little air circularion but not too much, you don't want to dry too fast or overdry your buds.

 

[Nutes and Nugs]

Over the years I've had different ways of drying/curing, but perhaps never got it down to a perfect science..

I have some confusion from reading different books, and hearing conflicting answers.

What I usually do is as follows:
- Trim fan leaves and small leaves off plant
- Cut plant into branches that you can manage
- Hang branches, in the dark, 50% hum, with circulation fan in room.
- After about 5 days when the stems barely start to feel like snapping, store buds in jars overnight, opening 2x a day for 15 mins to sweat.
- Continue doing this until it no longer sweats and is dry. As an option, use paper bag method halfway through the jar method.

Does this sound right? Here are some of my questions..

1.) I've read books that say to cure first, then dry.. Is this correct? Or do u dry first?

2.) Should I hang with a dim light on in the room for the first few days? I've heard this as well.. Or should they be in the dark the whole time?

3.) Once I place them in jars, how often should I sweat them, and for how long?

4.) Should I integrate any kind of paper bag method, or just use jars?

5.) Give me a step by step if u can.

I'm mostly confused about my first two questions.. Please if anybody can enlighten me I would greatly appreciate it. Only reply if you actually know what you're talking about though.

Thanks!

1 Do you mean Trim and dry or dry then Trim?
Water curing would be the only way to cure first then dry.
2 No light. I confess there is not enough room here to dry in darkness and my red and blue cfl party bulbs are on a few hours a day when the buds dry.
3 here Post 15
4 Like Rancho I never used a paper bag. It's humid here.
5 See 3

Another confession, don't get too high with the jars open.
Remembered I opened them hours later.

Cool idea Rancho.
I'm gonna keep an eye on your page.

 

[Nutes and Nugs]

Shit, 3 didnt show up.
Here it is anyway. Post 15 by Serapis.

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/416522-2-half-days-fast-when-2.html

 

[SimonD]

1.) I've read books that say to cure first, then dry.. Is this correct? Or do u dry first?

Let me guess, this came out of Ed's book.

FWIW, we physically can't cure before drying. It's impossible.

Simon

 

[SimplySmokin]

Wow, guess I've been screwing up all this time. I trim and imediately place trimmed buds onto a screen that I leae in a 65 degree room with decent air flow for aprox. 3 days or until the bud feels crunchy on the leafs but the stems can still be easily bent. At that time I place into jars overnight and then sometimes, depending on the density of the bud, I may lace it acck on the screen for another 24 hours. then back to the jars where I open 12 hours and close 12 hours shaking the bud loose before opening. Ussually for 5 to 10 days before i call it cured. Anyrate, ahvent had problems with must mold or any other curing related problems

 

[Ender87i]

SimonD - Yes it came from ED's book lol, why does he say that in it? And why doesn't he list any conventional methods of drying and curing like most people would use?

SimplySmokin - That doesn't sound bad except I'd leave the jar open for less time each time.

 

[VTMi'kmaq]

1.never heard of curing before drying.
2.darkness only.
3.get mini hygrometer(humidity gauge) to put in jars. jars need to be high 50s to 63% RH in order to get good cure. An easy way to do this is using Humidipaks

View attachment 2582072View attachment 2582073

With these you don't need to burp jars, although I do once every few days for a few minutes the first week. Paks both lower and raise and keep RH at 62%, the perfect RH for cure and long-term storage.
You can follow my humidipak cures here

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/630544-so-far-so-good-so.html

Hard to tell how often jars need to be burped without paks, I use to burp every 12 hours the first 2days for 5-10 minutes then every day for 10 minutes for a week more then once every 2-3 days for 10 minutes. It all depends on how much moisture was in buds after dry. Too wet you either need to put back in dry, into brown paper bags or burp very often, too dry your weed will not cure well and if left under 55% RH for more then a day or so cure stops and sometimes sealing them for long periods won't get them moist again. Some say these paks can bring back life to dry buds but I don't know, I just use them before buds RH lowers too low.

4.Never used paper bags.
5.There you go. I always dry at 65-75 degrees and 55-70% RH without a fan in dry room. Here is my dry room, I just use the circulation from my exhaust/filter to move air. When I did use a small clip fan in this room buds dried too fast, if using fan in room do not direct air directly on buds.

View attachment 2582078

can one use silica gel packs from a pair of new sneakers? lol, im a frugal farmer is all!

 

[Edgar9]

It's really not that difficult.
Drying times depend on what the heat and humidity levels are where you are located.
Where I live, a 3.5 day hang dry with leaves on gets the buds dry to the touch.
I then cut off leaves and buds and put the buds in large but shallow tupperware containers.
At this point I go between lid on for 12 hours and then lid off for 12 hours.
Based on my environmental conditions this lid on/lid off routine goes on for about 2 weeks.
When I think the buds are about ready I start testing buds in a jar overnight with my hygrometer.
I put the hygrometer in an empty jar first to get a baseline. Last time the RH in an empty jar was 64% based on where I live. That being said when my buds in the jar were at about 66% I felt confident to jar them up for a month.
After a month in the jars I then transfer into smaller jars which gives them a little burp before even longer term storage which gets rid of any odors from the chlorophyl breaking down.
Now the buds are in small jars. They have been slow dried in tupperware bins and then cured for a month in large jars, then burped when transferred to the smaller jars. DONE.

 

[Rancho Cucamonga]

lol I have no idea. I can say these humidipaks are lasting a long time so far. I'm guessing once in use 2-3 months, storing them in mason jars by themselves should allow them to last 6-8 months. So if you buy enough for the right time period it's a cheap overall. Not silica gel cheap but not bad.

 

[Ender87i]

I don't think using these humidipaks is such a great idea.. I mean maybe for quick-drying, but not if you want your buds to be cured well, and turn out optimal..

 

[Mr.Marijuana420]

I dnt believe there can be an "exact science", but more so general guidelines. Different sized buds have varying drying times so they all wont be ready for jarring at the same time. First i cut the plant into managable pieces. I trim off all fan leaves and leave all the smaller sugar leaves to drape over the bud while they dry, ensuring a slower dry, a fan circulating air is a must to prevent mold. The tough part is the appropriate time to jar them, after some time, maybe 5 days(usually longer) Ill check the buds feeling the outside and also starting with the smaller buds first, pull them off the main stem theyre drying on to see if the bud breaks of easily, or u have to tear it off, in which case its still too wet. I check the buds on an individual basis, your smaller tops are gonna be ready for jarring before your main colas, naturally, as they have less moisture. How often you burp for, how long ulitimatly depends on when you jarred them. If you jarred them a little moist you will burp them more, to get the excess moisture out. Jarred a little dry, with a small amount of moisture in the center, the buds need to be jarred longer for the moisture to transfer throughout the bud. Check your buds after the burp. When they are no longer moist on the outside, you can reseal the jar(also you need to kinda shake the buds up ensuring theyre loosly packed, and flipped around so buds at the bottom get some airflow when the lids are off) . I like to break a small bud up when i feel they there almost ready to seal for good. If you find yourself trying to tear the bud apart, its not ready to seal. You want it to break apart nice and easy, not crumble, but chunk up nice, and be just the slightest bit sticky in the center, thats how i like it, and when i seal em.

 

[kgp]

This is what I do....

I cut my plants down whole and hang them upside down in my basement. Whats the RH and temp? I dont know, nor do I care...

I check everyday after about 3 days to see the status. When they start to crisp up, I jar for 12 hours. Buds are moist again. I then leave the jar open all night, and reseal in the morning. Repeat till they are dry but not brittle. Smokable in a joint. Dont worry about over drying. They will moisten back up. The stems hold moisture that you can use.

Now for the fun part.... Smoke your buds... They might be a tad bit moist at first, but every time you open the jar to roll up, it will release the moisture. The buds get better every time you grab another one out.

No measuring, or over analyzing. This method has never failed me. Good luck.