Initially, you cut the plant down at each main node near the base. From here, you lay the individual 'branches' fan leaves and all (provided you're bug, mildew, and mold free) side by side with enough air to breath through the foliage. I use netted drying racks but hanging from strings or clotheshangers or whatever works. The point is to spread them evenly in the dark with all the plant material intact. For a few days only. You will have no problem with this, as your plant is mainly a shit ton of calyxes. Wait about two days, and then you remove all fan leaves, and make your manicure-cuts to the jagged little bud leaves near the tips. Now, the point here is to leave as much of the sugary leaf intact, while making a nice cut on the tip to wick away moisture. From here, you now have moderately manicured buds, removed from the stem. All your fan leaves and stems are in a box for hash or whatever. Spread your buds back out on a drying rack separated by size, and give them another 4-6 days to dry. When the smallest ones are ready for the jar up, give them a final manicure and trim off all that extra sweet leaf you left on it (or leave it, some strains are just that dank). From here, you just continue to finish the manicuring prior to jarring for the cure.
The whole idea is to create a smooth flavorful smoke through a proper slow-dry. A lot of people hack their plant down, cut everything off, and jar it up four days later. I've found, that at points in the drying process you do want the plant to be slightly manicured with a good amount of cuts. The less cuts for the water vapors to exit through, the longer the drying time will be. The leaves, including the jagged little sweet leaf, do contain a lot of chlorophyll and this will adversely effect the taste of your product. This is why you leave the fan/sugar leaves on for a few days only, and remove completely for the curing process. The idea is to utilize the remaining energy in the plant matter to further ripen your flowers through a slightly slower process. Manicuring the day of harvest and drying normally takes 5-7 days before jarring up. This method, takes 7-10, with your biggest buds being jarred up at the end. Your final product should look exactly the same either way, but one will display a much more pleasant aroma and smokeability. Here's an excerpt from MzJills Harvesting and Curing write up:
So once again. The process, is simple, and might make your back and neck happy. Instead of chopping and trimming in a 8 hour sitting on day one, you just chop and separate. Day three, remove buds from stems and give it a half-ass'ed manicured to help further the drying process. Day seven to ten, you finalize trimming the sweetleaf and begin jarring the buds, smallest to biggest, over the course of a few days. So take that six hours of work in one night, and stretch it over a few individual steps throughout the process. Hope that helped.
So many people say "Ugh this plant didnt get flushed" or "Ugh, chemicals" when they smoke weed that was improperly dried/cured. Full flavors, and a full rich smoke, are attained through a slower drying process.