ricky_simples
In Bloom
Let’s face it, properly drying and curing your buds can be the difference between a successful grow or flushing the previous 12-16 weeks down the drain. For the first time grower it can be a daunting task, hell it can be challenge for even the most experienced growers. I want to start an open discussion on what method(s) people prefer. We can call it “gettin’ learnt on drying and curing”.
Let me begin my saying my method may not be the best for you, and vice versa. There’s many environmental factors and variables in general that might work for Grower A, but not for Grower B. Examples include geographical location, ambient RH, ambient temps, strain, grow technique used, feeding strength, and overall grower experience.
Alright, so here we go. I stick to the 60/60 rule, which means I aim for 60% humidity and 60° in my drying room. My drying room consists of a single 2x4 grow tent with an inline fan, controller, and carbon filter attached. I know there’s people out there who use cardboard boxes with string, and other similar DIY techniques, but I’ve found tents to work best. It allows you to create a room inside of a room where you can control the environment.
60° is very difficult to achieve for most growers, not everyone has an area of their home that remains that cool year-round. But maybe they can get down to 65°, maybe 68°, hell maybe only down to 70°. Aim for the coldest and closest to 60° as you can. This does two things – First it slows down the drying process – and secondly it makes it harder for mold to grow in inside your buds causing bud rot.
Mold Chart for Temperature and Humidity Monitors – Stetten Home Services
The 60% RH goes hand in hand with the temperature. RH percentages above 60 just means your flirting with bud rot. Understand there’s a big spike in RH when you place fresh cut buds in the drying room, that’s why the controller is important. I use an AC Infinity 4’’ inline fan w/ controller, but the only setting I use is the RH% set to 60, so when it hits 60% RH in the tent the fan kicks on. I understand an AC Infinity fan and controller isn’t cheap, so a budget alternative could be an amazon inline fan coupled with an inkbird humidity controller.
Now, remember when I mentioned earlier that my method might not necessarily work for you, here’s why… I rely on my dry tent being at a higher RH than the room my dry tent is in. If the RH in the room my tent was in hit say 70% RH (like it can in the pacific northwest), I would need to run a dehumidifier in the room, or come up with a different method altogether. Fortunately for me I’m able to keep said room in the 40%-50% range, so it works well in conjunction with the fan & controller to lower the RH in the tent when teh fan kicks on.
I can’t say this enough – you should be aiming for a minimum of 9 days for drying. My sweet spot is 10 days, but I’ve gone as few as 9 and as long as 14. This all depends on the plants you’re drying and whether they have small or big buds and whether they’re leafy or not. All of this matters and will effect the drying and curing.
Tips for extending the dry:
I close the turkey bags and let them sit overnight. The following day I open the bag(s) and feel around and see how pliable the buds are. I observe if the stems bend or crack, and overall just try to discern where they’re at in the process. This is when I’ll almost always leave the bag sit open for 12-24 hours, followed by another 12-24 hours closed. This process is called sweating, and it typically takes me 1-3 days of doing this to get the buds to that perfect pliability. Keep in mind that even at 10+ days of drying there will still be some moisture in the middle of the buds, even if the outside of the buds feel crispy. I’d describe the actions of sweating as extracting the moisture from the middle of the bud back out to the edges/outside of the bud, letting that evaporate, and repeating.
I should note that if you followed the drying process correctly, that you will have beautiful aromas even before the cure. In my opinion the cure only enhances the smells and flavors, it does not fix or cure improperly dried buds.
So let’s say the buds have been sweating for 3 days and I feel they’re perfect and ready to go, what next?
Well that’s when I trim. I pull out the empty 64 oz mason jars and label maker and take my time trimming. I’m fast nowadays, but it still takes me multiple days to trim multiple plants. I use a trim bin for trimming, so it collects pollen at the bottom. And since I already discarded the non-sugar leaves earlier on, all the material I’m left with goes into making extracts.
Once everything has been jarred up it’s ready to go for long term storage. Using this method I feel comfortable keeping a jar of herb unopened for months on end to be enjoyed on a later date.
Key points:
Don’t dry too fast.
Control the environment (60/60 rule)
Sweat those buds – get that moisture out of the middle
Let me begin my saying my method may not be the best for you, and vice versa. There’s many environmental factors and variables in general that might work for Grower A, but not for Grower B. Examples include geographical location, ambient RH, ambient temps, strain, grow technique used, feeding strength, and overall grower experience.
Alright, so here we go. I stick to the 60/60 rule, which means I aim for 60% humidity and 60° in my drying room. My drying room consists of a single 2x4 grow tent with an inline fan, controller, and carbon filter attached. I know there’s people out there who use cardboard boxes with string, and other similar DIY techniques, but I’ve found tents to work best. It allows you to create a room inside of a room where you can control the environment.
60° is very difficult to achieve for most growers, not everyone has an area of their home that remains that cool year-round. But maybe they can get down to 65°, maybe 68°, hell maybe only down to 70°. Aim for the coldest and closest to 60° as you can. This does two things – First it slows down the drying process – and secondly it makes it harder for mold to grow in inside your buds causing bud rot.
Mold Chart for Temperature and Humidity Monitors – Stetten Home Services
The 60% RH goes hand in hand with the temperature. RH percentages above 60 just means your flirting with bud rot. Understand there’s a big spike in RH when you place fresh cut buds in the drying room, that’s why the controller is important. I use an AC Infinity 4’’ inline fan w/ controller, but the only setting I use is the RH% set to 60, so when it hits 60% RH in the tent the fan kicks on. I understand an AC Infinity fan and controller isn’t cheap, so a budget alternative could be an amazon inline fan coupled with an inkbird humidity controller.
Now, remember when I mentioned earlier that my method might not necessarily work for you, here’s why… I rely on my dry tent being at a higher RH than the room my dry tent is in. If the RH in the room my tent was in hit say 70% RH (like it can in the pacific northwest), I would need to run a dehumidifier in the room, or come up with a different method altogether. Fortunately for me I’m able to keep said room in the 40%-50% range, so it works well in conjunction with the fan & controller to lower the RH in the tent when teh fan kicks on.
I can’t say this enough – you should be aiming for a minimum of 9 days for drying. My sweet spot is 10 days, but I’ve gone as few as 9 and as long as 14. This all depends on the plants you’re drying and whether they have small or big buds and whether they’re leafy or not. All of this matters and will effect the drying and curing.
Tips for extending the dry:
- Try doing a full plant hang by cutting the plant at the base and hanging upside down. Depending on how many leaves have necrosis, you may or may want to remove some of those fully faded out leaves.
- If doing a full plant hang isn’t feasible, try doing one branch at a time (but cut the branch near the main stalk) to keep the branches long. More branch means more moisture, which means longer dry time.
I close the turkey bags and let them sit overnight. The following day I open the bag(s) and feel around and see how pliable the buds are. I observe if the stems bend or crack, and overall just try to discern where they’re at in the process. This is when I’ll almost always leave the bag sit open for 12-24 hours, followed by another 12-24 hours closed. This process is called sweating, and it typically takes me 1-3 days of doing this to get the buds to that perfect pliability. Keep in mind that even at 10+ days of drying there will still be some moisture in the middle of the buds, even if the outside of the buds feel crispy. I’d describe the actions of sweating as extracting the moisture from the middle of the bud back out to the edges/outside of the bud, letting that evaporate, and repeating.
I should note that if you followed the drying process correctly, that you will have beautiful aromas even before the cure. In my opinion the cure only enhances the smells and flavors, it does not fix or cure improperly dried buds.
So let’s say the buds have been sweating for 3 days and I feel they’re perfect and ready to go, what next?
Well that’s when I trim. I pull out the empty 64 oz mason jars and label maker and take my time trimming. I’m fast nowadays, but it still takes me multiple days to trim multiple plants. I use a trim bin for trimming, so it collects pollen at the bottom. And since I already discarded the non-sugar leaves earlier on, all the material I’m left with goes into making extracts.
Once everything has been jarred up it’s ready to go for long term storage. Using this method I feel comfortable keeping a jar of herb unopened for months on end to be enjoyed on a later date.
Key points:
Don’t dry too fast.
Control the environment (60/60 rule)
Sweat those buds – get that moisture out of the middle
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