Curing, a myth perpetuated by bad growers

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Yeah...this discussion has veered off course. I for one will absolutely be curing...

While we're back on this topic, if anyone can chime in on my situation I will be extremely thankful.

Projected temps and RH are going to be 60-65 degrees and low 40's RH...RH potentially get even into the 30's...
I want to prolong the drying as long as possible before going into jars. What will cause them to dry quicker...warmer temps or lower humidity?

 

[Squidbilly]

Yeah...this discussion has veered off course. I for one will absolutely be curing...

While we're back on this topic, if anyone can chime in on my situation I will be extremely thankful.

Projected temps and RH are going to be 60-65 degrees and low 40's RH...RH potentially get even into the 30's...
I want to prolong the drying as long as possible before going into jars. What will cause them to dry quicker...warmer temps or lower humidity?

Don't give them water for at least 48 hours before chop - longer if they can tolerate it without getting all wilted - and choping in the dark, before the light goes on. This will shave days off your drying time no matter what.

I always say try and keep the RH rouhgly between 40-50% when drying

 

[Steele_GreenMan]

were gonna have to all agree that no matter what, everyones situation is different

this is regarding RH in your drying area, neighborhood, country as well as the herb itself and the day it was harvested.

Everyones situation is different and to say one way is right while all others are wrong, while curing obviously works wonders for some people, is completely ignorant and pigheaded lmao.

Ill agree that curing isnt necessary MUST under the proper conditions.

i mean what if u think ur not curing, when you take your buds down after drying, and putting them in a jar. your still curing lol

 

[Squidbilly]

If you chop once the lights have been on they have sucked up water from the medium...if you chop RIGHT BEFORE lights go on, in the dark, there is way less moisture in them to begin with.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

I'm not going to be able to get RH that high but I'm hoping the lower temps will assist in slowing down the dry.

One idea i'm pondering is to take oversized brown paper lunch bags and use them as needed by wrapping it around the drying colas, without actually touching the buds, to try and normalize the drying rate and humidity in the buds. Something like....3 days hang, then do the paper covering for a few hours a few times a day?

 

[st0wandgrow]

I am ashamed to say I had never heard of quantacann until just now when I googled it. Seems like an interesting idea, but I have a hard time believing that NIR spectroscopy can give as accurate a reading as HPLC does, especially when it's only using comparative data from a sample of tests. Guess I'm lucky that it hasn't made it to my area, pretty much every dispensary here uses the SCLabs place I mentioned, which is nice because they catalog their tested samples online so you can double check and make sure no one's fudging the numbers. It's also very telling to see which places are ordering terpene and solvent residue tests and which aren't.

I'm not sold on Quantacann. It gives you an idea, but it's not very accurate. I took a sample to a dispensary here that offers quantacann testing and gave them a sample from a high CBD plant. I made up some bogus name for the plant to see if it would still test accordingly. To my surprise it did register as a high cbd sample. It came back at 9% cbd and 2.2% thc. A sample was also taken in to Iron Labs (who uses liquid chromotoghraphy) and it tested at 3.5% cbd and 0.25% thc.

 

[greenghost420]

wow quite the difference. was the second sample bounced in the kif box? lol

 

[Hydrotech364]

Yeah...this discussion has veered off course. I for one will absolutely be curing...

While we're back on this topic, if anyone can chime in on my situation I will be extremely thankful.

Projected temps and RH are going to be 60-65 degrees and low 40's RH...RH potentially get even into the 30's...
I want to prolong the drying as long as possible before going into jars. What will cause them to dry quicker...warmer temps or lower humidity?

Brown Paper Bag's..Twist them closed and it will stall a good Bud..

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Brown Paper Bag's..Twist them closed and it will stall a good Bud..

When you say stall a good bud im not sure what you mean. Does my idea sound reasonable?

 

[Hydrotech364]

The longer it stall's then the more chlorophyll is removed..But if the Herb is from good Genetic's and has a dank trait then this is just a mean's to keep tissues tender IMO.....

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

The longer it stall's then the more chlorophyll is removed..But if the Herb is from good Genetic's and has a dank trait then this is just a mean's to keep tissues tender IMO.....

OK...this is what I'm considering to extend the drying time before jarring. Thanks.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Just to elaborate on my thought process, and please...if I'm off base feel free to chime in. I'm going on instinct and drawing conclusions based on information and not experience.

Let's make a couple of assumptions...based on a reputable curing guide, here is a snippet:

"Below 55% RH - the RH is too low for the curing process to take place. The product starts to feel brittle. Once you've hit this point, nothing will make it better.
Adding moisture won't restart the curing process; it will just make the product wet."

So I don't want to debate that statement, but let's assume that if a bud is dried to much and ends up being under 55% when it hits the jar that no curing will occur.
With that logic, I propose the following questions to you guys:

When a bud is hanging during the 1st few days of drying, at some point the moisture of the exterior should equal or at least be very close to whatever the moisture content in the room is, right? While the inner portions of the bud will contain more moisture. If we are to believe that sub 55% will render material incapable of cure, then doesn't it sound reasonable that the outer layers of material have been compromised and that by placing the bud into a paper bag, or jar, or whatever in order to redistribute the moisture, that the exterior portions of the bud have already been compromised and that by allowing them to gain moisture from the wetter interior of the bud, all we have really done is gotten the exterior wet again.

Is it possible that by letting the exterior of the bud deviate dramatically from the interior of the bud in regard to moisture, that ultimately a cure will really only be curing the interior of the bud as the exterior breached 55% and is therefor compromised?

This is how I have been thinking about *drying* and is why I was posing my earlier questions.

 

[ayr0n]

Just to elaborate on my thought process, and please...if I'm off base feel free to chime in. I'm going on instinct and drawing conclusions based on information and not experience.

Let's make a couple of assumptions...based on a reputable curing guide, here is a snippet:

"Below 55% RH - the RH is too low for the curing process to take place. The product starts to feel brittle. Once you've hit this point, nothing will make it better.
Adding moisture won't restart the curing process; it will just make the product wet."

So I don't want to debate that statement, but let's assume that if a bud is dried to much and ends up being under 55% when it hits the jar that no curing will occur.
With that logic, I propose the following questions to you guys:

When a bud is hanging during the 1st few days of drying, at some point the moisture of the exterior should equal or at least be very close to whatever the moisture content in the room is, right? While the inner portions of the bud will contain more moisture. If we are to believe that sub 55% will render material incapable of cure, then doesn't it sound reasonable that the outer layers of material have been compromised and that by placing the bud into a paper bag, or jar, or whatever in order to redistribute the moisture, that the exterior portions of the bud have already been compromised and that by allowing them to gain moisture from the wetter interior of the bud, all we have really done is gotten the exterior wet again.

Is it possible that by letting the exterior of the bud deviate dramatically from the interior of the bud in regard to moisture, that ultimately a cure will really only be curing the interior of the bud as the exterior breached 55% and is therefor compromised?

This is how I have been thinking about *drying* and is why I was posing my earlier questions.

I believe where you're getting mixed up is that when the exterior dries on the freshly hung plants, the plant material is still 'living' so to speak and uses chemical processes to break down chlorophyll, using osmosis to redistribute the water, etc...where as if you dry the whole bud out too far then the chemical processes can no longer occur because the activity inside of the plant won't just start again by getting the 'dead' bud wet again... I could be wrong but I think that's the difference...

 

[Midwest Weedist]

Just to elaborate on my thought process, and please...if I'm off base feel free to chime in. I'm going on instinct and drawing conclusions based on information and not experience.

Let's make a couple of assumptions...based on a reputable curing guide, here is a snippet:

"Below 55% RH - the RH is too low for the curing process to take place. The product starts to feel brittle. Once you've hit this point, nothing will make it better.
Adding moisture won't restart the curing process; it will just make the product wet."

So I don't want to debate that statement, but let's assume that if a bud is dried to much and ends up being under 55% when it hits the jar that no curing will occur.
With that logic, I propose the following questions to you guys:

When a bud is hanging during the 1st few days of drying, at some point the moisture of the exterior should equal or at least be very close to whatever the moisture content in the room is, right? While the inner portions of the bud will contain more moisture. If we are to believe that sub 55% will render material incapable of cure, then doesn't it sound reasonable that the outer layers of material have been compromised and that by placing the bud into a paper bag, or jar, or whatever in order to redistribute the moisture, that the exterior portions of the bud have already been compromised and that by allowing them to gain moisture from the wetter interior of the bud, all we have really done is gotten the exterior wet again.

Is it possible that by letting the exterior of the bud deviate dramatically from the interior of the bud in regard to moisture, that ultimately a cure will really only be curing the interior of the bud as the exterior breached 55% and is therefor compromised?

This is how I have been thinking about *drying* and is why I was posing my earlier questions.

I think I understand what you're getting at, and I've wondered that too. Which if true, would back up a theory of mine on why the trichomes from inside of a bud structure will seem to be more potent than on the outside.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Food for thought huh...
i will attempt to use the bag approach when it comes time..im curious

 

[Midwest Weedist]

Food for thought huh...
i will attempt to use the bag approach when it comes time..im curious

I think the only way to verify this would be to have two side by side buds where one was dried with the outside being allowed to drop below 55% and the other being dried in a room where the RH doesn't allow the bud to drop below 55% at all. Which would support the need for a long slow drying process if the bud that was allowed to dry too much on the outside has less potent cannabinoids on the exterior of the bud.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

I think the only way to verify this would be to have two side by side buds where one was dried with the outside being allowed to drop below 55% and the other being dried in a room where the RH doesn't allow the bud to drop below 55% at all. Which would support the need for a long slow drying process if the bud that was allowed to dry too much on the outside has less potent cannabinoids on the exterior of the bud.

Got any ideas on how to setup a test like this?

 

[blackforest]

Food for thought huh...
i will attempt to use the bag approach when it comes time..im curious

I normally dry in one of my tents after they come down. The rh in my room might only be 30%, but in the tent it gets over 60% rh while drying sometimes. Easy to control, just open it for a minute. Last grow i built a 'cabinet' out of 2 large boxes and cut a hole in the side and put in a small humidity gauge. Most of the time it would stay around 50% rh which I think is perfect for 'drying'. Good Luck!

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

I'm considering buying another tent just for this...and yes, I am certifiably crazy

 

[WestDenverPioneer]

Your right about the fact a cure won't make bad weed good. That is a fact. But there are chemical processes that take place when you properly cure.

If your bud is good, it would be even better flushed and cured. The argument isn't that curing makes the bud, it's that curing makes top shelf bud even better. If you don't jar up and cure your shit it won't burn evenly. If it's just hung and dried it will be drier on the outside than the inside - that's a fact. Curing evenly distributes the moisture through out the bud if nothing else, so it burns easily.

"The argument isn't that curing makes the bud, it's that curing makes top shelf bud even better."

No it doesn't.
My cured bud is great. My FRESH bud is even better.
Top shelf flowers only go down, not up in quality. Pick them ripe, hang em for about a week in the dry Denver air. Enjoy.

A long-term cure will change the flavor of the flowers. I don't think anyone is denying that. Some of you are saying it is an improvement. That is your opinion and you are welcome to hold on to it.