general harvest question's

just finished my first plant, she came out super beautiful and good size, just put her in dark at 5 a.m on 07/07/15;yasterday. how long should I keep her in that state for an then throw her into dry for how long an a good method to use for dryin an curng. I seen a few different ways watching videos an stuff but figured I would get some experts advices on drying it properly an curing it the best way an how long to cure for??
thanks guys.

here a pic
shes a lot bigger then she looks trust me, this was taking two weeks ago ill have a updated picture when shes finished.my first time

I tried chopping and hanging the whole plant to dry once and it didnt turn out so well. It all dried before i got a chance to trim it and when it dried all the leaves were sticking together and it was harder to trim. Some people think its easier to trim dry but i like trim wet. I chop and trim one branch at a time now.

Try chopping one branch and trimming it wet then chop one and trim it dry, see what works for you. That plant looks really good for a first grow, you did good.

As far as drying, i let it dry anywhere from two days to a week dependong on bud size and humidity in the room. You want it to dry slow and you can always dry it more but you cant add moisture, so after a short dry, i put in a jar for a day or two with a humidity gauge to see where its at. If its 65% or more, i let it sweat out in a paper bag a few more days and if its under, ill just burp the jars down to 60% and let it sit there a few weeks, i like to smoke it a little under 60% most people like to smoke it dryer. This might not be the best way but it has worked for me.

I also trim a branch at a time. I rough trim right away, hang the branch, move on to the next one. Repeat ad nauseam. In a day or so, as they begin to dry, I'll trim a little more. It becomes easy to see which smaller leaves have trichomes and which don't because they dry differently.
I'll trim here as they dry, then jar them. I burp/air out as needed. I don't use hygrometers or gauges, I have the luxury of checking them regularly until the 'final' seal. I probably would use the packs if I had to do it all on a compressed time frame.

I too, think that plant looks great, you're hooked now. Enjoy!

Congrats on your first grow, it looks like she turned out great.

The key to drying/curing dank ass bud to perfection is all in how long you can leave it hanging. It matters not if you cut the branches or hang the plant whole after trimming as I prefer to do. If it is seasonably very dry and/or hot I will leave more leaf to trim off later but if temps are normal I will trim it wet. You need an enclosed space with no ventilation for a good hang dry. The best thing I've found to use is a small gro tent which allows me to hang my bud for about 10-14 days or even longer depending upon temps/humidity. Hang dry until the branches snap when you bend them - then jar cure for at least a few weeks. Your weed should exhibit full genetic expression at that point.

yea guys I did branch by branch an trimmed up the fan leafs an left one with its normal sugar leafs and the rest shaped up. better trimmed so they will only need a little trimming before going into cure. I have them in my starter cage covered up and the room temps 62, was goanna use my grow tent but I figured ill throw the auto in it and just hang them in the cage to try an so far there drying out nice and slow not speedy fast. whens a good time to check in on the dry ness I don't know if having light hit it every day is a good idea so I figured every three to four days an then check the dryness %. yea she did come out great ill upload a few finish photos when she's done an trimmed up better. just wanted experiment on how better she would taste with sugar leafs on an then off. I am gonna go on with a 2 week cure after seeing as its decent and I don't wanna push it for months seeing as im new to this an rehydrating the buds an stuff pro is not in my range of expertise at the moment so. now one other thing a buddy said to pop the lid every day for a hour or two for two weeks. I read online that I should open the jar once a week to check its progress an if it does not have that emonya smell then carry out the cure stage for another week an if its good then its all set???

yea hung upside down kinda drys it evenly but takes a lot longer an it don't really show much of a difference besides one has dried faster then the other but close equivalent quality

ccame out fat 70% of the buds are that big

Yes your homie is right; burp them jars twice a day for the first week or 2 - try to let it all dry for a minimum of 7- 10 days if you can; once the branches are brittle enough to snap like a twig jar them shits. Smell deep into your jars when you crack em open- if you get a hay or ammonia smell dump it all out & let it air dry more. It's way better to let it hang for a day or 2 longer if you are not sure than it is to jar too early which can quickly turn your fresh green herb to a nasty brown with subpar flavors- believe me I've done it & there's nothing more disappointing. Exposure to light for a few mins at a time won't affect it much but keep your shit hanging & curing in a dark place. Even just a couple weeks in a jar will make it smoother & more potent than no jar cure at all. The trichomes continue to develop through the curing process. Mine never seems to last more than 30 days lol

lol good idea thank you bos on the tip. yea wanted to check in every few days or so an check every one cus I got like 12 branches big fat thick ass branches an I mean the stem part not te bud so they might take a litte longer as u can see in the pic there about pointer finger size stems. rather get tips from you experts befor messing with my shit an sending it trew a loop an fucking every thing up especially after a 5 month long wait. about to start alien og next an grizzly purp kush.. alien og gets to 28% thc an I did not bealive it at first but then two hours of looking into it really is the highest strain recorded in 2014, idk about this years but it was last year so im excited to see that one, I got a auto flower an man you would think that a auto doing its own thing would be a lot easier then a reg strain but not this one boy there a waist of time an mony to the average or beg grower, some are like thi one gave me some serious issue in the beg but now its bottom stocks are taller then the whole plant an some. take look at my auto idk whats its issue. on week 4 n 4 days now inside a 5g pot using ffof soil an 3part jungle j,=m-b-g + bud candy + sensi cal mag extra at 1/2 str

thanks guys for the help seriously...post a pic maybe one of u can see what is wrong

its blue kush auto

This plant appears shriveled from nutrient burn. If you are only in week 4 of veg and in FFOF soil you really should be giving them nothing but water. Ocean forest is a pretty stout mix on it's own. Unless your temps are very high which is another possibility- be sure to keep your HPS at least 18" away from the canopy. Get a TDS to mix your nutes to the proper ppm- a tsp is not accurate enough. Or do one better and feed with organics like EWC and compost teas.
Whatever the site you got seeds from might tell you the THC content for marketing purposes but it is actually a reflection of the growers skill. Just because the breeder tested their strain at 28% doesn't mean yours will test out the same. I ordered some AOG based on the same info - but I couldn't even get them to germinate- and I usually have a 100% success rate popping seeds. I'm trying to say don't believe the hype; choose strains based on lineage and your own personal preference. Claims of THC content means nothing unless your growing skills are up to par. Autos are surely not "easier" to grow you just don't have to flip the lights and you cannot control them as you can reg seed which is why I don't run them anymore.

I use a ml syringe to lvl my nutrients out and I order off attitude seedbank an I did days of research, looking into the strain an 72% people have reach the alien og top thc lvl. its a legit strain by a good breader=cali connection an yea its the chance you take rather they pop or not, cost me 110$ for 5 seeds. attitudeseedbank.com only site I will order from, so many freebies,cheap, has every breeder o most an 1000s strains to choose from, promotions from all most every breeder so. spent 60$ got a shit tone of fem seeds from great breeders like barney farm.cali connection.humbolt.710 genetics. an few others with high review ratings on there strains being very successful. I think I could get the alien to its peak I have an amazing green thumb for this specially for my first time so im going to keep my fingers crosses an hope I can make this next grow turns out better, doing cheesy headband-grizzly purple kush-alien og-alien tho man has serious ratings from a lot of people an the high I gues is not for the apprentice smoker lol what it says for discription

wont nute burn though show in the leafs like brown spots or so? these are just curled there no nute burn marks any where

Yeah a grower I know posted pics of his frosted up AOG bud on another forum & made me a believer too but sadly none of my beans would sprout- hope you have better luck cuz it do look like some bombass herb good luck happy growing

matdagrow420man said:

wont nute burn though show in the leafs like brown spots or so? these are just curled there no nute burn marks any where

Click to expand...

Could be temps then but it's clearly shriveled up -I would try giving straight water for awhile to see of it recovers & be sure your temps are in a healthy range but it seems more likely to be nute burn; kinds hard to see it under HPS light