Curing problems

My first grow had multiple problems, as I guess a lot of people's do, but I made it to harvest and got 50 grams dry off a single plant. No large buds, it was LST real hard and had countless tiny spaghetti branches with a little bud on the top. I trimmed them the day I shopped them down and hung them in a large cardboard box for about six days and then put them in a jar and started the curing process. The aroma slowly went away, leaving that hay smell. I was told to try leaving the leaves on for a few days after chopping, and to sweat them in a paper bag before putting them in the jar, so that's what I did this time. They already smell like hay and they just went in the jar today. I've read everything I could find on curing, I've watched several videos that seem to not show anything, and have even gotten advice from some grower friends, but I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. Is there a really detailed comprehensive video out there? I've seen incredibly detailed videos on everything from trimming to LST to mixing nutrients to germinating seeds, but all the curing videos I have found just seemed to be a guy holding a big bud and reciting the things I've read, nothing terribly detailed. Pic related, my buds

Those buds look nice, how long have you been curing? you could put a hygrometer in the jar and you'll know the moisture content of your buds, they should be around 55 to 60% moisture, it's possible you dried them too much, before curing...just my opinion.

Thanks! I should invest in a hygrometer. I cut my dry time down to 4 days this time, 3 days with leaves on and a day after trimming. I went to check on them this morning and they were completely dry on the outside and smelling like hay so I jarred them. A few hours later they were moist again, half aromatic and half hay smelling. I live in a super hot and dry area so I think they are drying out too quick. I'm going to take it slow and see if things improve but I really don't know what I'm doing. I just open the jar twice a day and lay the weed out until it's not moist to the touch anymore and put it back in. I burped it twice today since jarring it.

Im going through the same ordeal.... I thought maybe I was drying to long, or I was'nt drying long enough and the "hay" smell was because it was to wet in the jar....

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/514841-perfect-cure-every-time.html

This is so easy to follow...
It works....
Once you do this a few times, you will be the Master....
It takes the guess work right out...
Follow along, and perfect cure...
Good Luck man, and happy 4/20...

the hay smells goes after a cure that method ^^^^ there is as easy as it gets to follow

Thanks for the link! I'm going to get on eBay today

Sand4x105 said:

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/514841-perfect-cure-every-time.html

This is so easy to follow...
It works....
Once you do this a few times, you will be the Master....
It takes the guess work right out...
Follow along, and perfect cure...
Good Luck man, and happy 4/20...

Click to expand...

Sand4 and Redeye got you going the right direction. I'm 5 weeks cured using this method. Buds smell great and are stable at 62% with humidity packs added to canning jars. Just follow the instructions and get the hydrometers (bought 6 through amazon) and humidity packs ( http://www.bovedainc.com/solutions/herbal/ boveda 62% on this link). Good luck.

at least you know you cant go wrong nothing worse than loosing your whole crop to mould after all the hard work you put in is defo a good investment good luck...p.s. nugs look swheet

I've never put a hygrometer in jar but it might be easier then my system. For me, the problem was I was either drying too fast and/or I was putting the buds into a curing jar when they weren't dry enough. My current system goes as follows: At harvest, I leave all the leaves on the plant and hang them in a cool, dark, and dry place (around 50% rh). I leave them them there for at least 5 days, no longer than 10 until dry to the touch. I then go through and pull off the fan leaves and anything that doesn't have trichs. Based on how fast my buds dried out and their density I will either put them in an plastic garbage overnight for a good sweat then put them in paper bags for a couple more days or I will go straight to the paper bags if the first step lasted on the longer side. Then, when I get around to it, I precision trim the sugar leaves off the buds. After this I either decide to put them back into the paper bags for another day or two or I go to the mason jar. The issue here is, you want to make sure the buds aren't wetter inside then they are outside. They should be dried throughout and smoke-able. Once in the mason jar, I try to burp at least once a day for the first few days.

simon's method was the most comprehensive method i found when i came here 3 years ago. it works. now i recommend it to everyone. its like curing by numbers. ez.

I just finished my first grow in a tent and Man, worried about the same f'ing thing and espc the dry , hang and cure method (s) .
I like you read a bunch , watch videos until I was blue in the face and still....... think i dried to long or not at around 55% humidity, mine was around 70% so after an adjustment and stems bending and snapping but not breaking I put them in jars to cure.. Of course I burped and made sure for the first 2 weeks that everything was feeling good to the touch... no air moisture meters or anything ( although I will get those next time) ... now after 5 weeks I only have oz left, because i couldnt wait, lol.
but what I have left Is so sweet and tasty its dumb.. so wait and watch for stems to snap but not break ( breaking means too dry )

but again I am also a first time indoor grower, and dont know crap!!!

I have done outdoor once before and am now again from seeds from my recent indoor... with great results... nothing like lumnes from the Sun.

As for leaves and leaving them on... I have to say no to that.. Id clip them all off at harvest, dry and make ice hash, but thats me.. Once they get dry ( the leaves ) its harder to cut and with the them being brittle they crumble easily.

again my experiences.

as

bought this on amazon and loves it..

So I bought 6 hygrometers for my jars, and it seems like I'm letting the weed get WAAAAAY too dry going off the info given. Wondering if it's because I bought cheap ones? They all read 32% ambient humidity, so if they're all wrong at least they're consistent. The weed is brittle and crumbly at around 65% humidity in the jar though.

I always go with 50-55 for dry, cure, 65+ is too high IMO
FYI - spend a lil extra $$$ for reliable instruments , pays off in long run

Drying/curing is a two-part process. Drying removes the majority of the wetness and curing spreads the remaining moisture evenly throughout the product. Different size nugs dry at varying rates. If you ignore the curing step and only worry about drying you will end up with small crispy nugs and large wet ones. So we dry for a few days then seal in a jar to cure. The act of sealing is what distributes the moisture evenly, so if you want a uniform product you have to cure too. BigSteve.

Try experimenting with larger containers, one of the problems with curing in jars is the buds are all squashed up together
its not so easy to burp jars without touching the buds, the buds at the bottom of the jars stay wetter than those at the top
the shape of jars is not ideal imo for curing, unless you buy so many jars you only need to put a few buds in each jar
flat glass cooking dishes with lids or food grade plastic tubs work better to even spread the moisture around the buds when curing lots of buds at the same time
its good to burp them for long periods, the bud will go through a spongy/crispy cycle several times during the cure

i tend to just use glass jars for storage once the buds have been cured

curing them as wet as possible that you can get away with, results in a smoother bud with very light green colour and more of a medicated smell
like cough syrup
try placing a single large bud in a jar, after about 4 days of drying and let it almost dry/cure, burp it several times per day
this is a good way to experiment as you can learn how wet a bud can be before it will mold if it does mold you only lose 1 bud
and you get to see how much you need to cure it or not, some bud once cured tends to be little different in taste from when it was dry
if you do not have a large amount of weed with some strains curing is quite pointless and a slow dry is sufficient
other bud improves a fair bit with a good cure as it brings out other subtle flavors

peace