Drying Technique Comparison -PICS

Freda Felcher

Well-Known Member
I just harvested four AK plants, two were from one mom and two were from another. I grew them side by side to compare and maybe narrow down my numero uno mom. They were in 1 gallon pots of Fox farm Happy Frog and were fed GH nutes. I had them with my others in a 3x3 tent that has an air cooled 600w hps. I'm doing a perpetual harvest and usually cut every three weeks or so.

I want to experiment a little with the drying so I'm going to try two different ways of doing it. I'm going to dry one of each plant with both techniques.

Basically I'm going to cut two of the plants at the base and let them dry till the outsides become crisp. Then i will trim and cut them off the main stems so they can fit into jars.

The second way I'm doing it is I'm trimming everything on plants right away. Then I will hang them or set them on a screen if their little nuggets until crisp on the outside.

Once they are crisp on the outside, i'll jar them and open every 12 hours. Once open i let them sit out for an hour then back in the jars for another 12 hours. This goes on until the stem can snap and then i burp them every other day for at least a month.

The buds are now moved to a dark room, i keep a small humidifier in there to keep the air at 40 to 50%.

I was going for a Qp dry between the four plants, but i think they will average more like 20 grams a plant. Which is not too bad coming out of 1 gallon soil pots. Here are some pics of my plants before and after. Let me know what you think, and if you would like to, add your method of drying and curing. I would love to hear how others do it and may try your way in the future! Thanks!
 

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Freda Felcher

Well-Known Member
I need to add that i harvested them when the trich's were cloudy and just beginning to show amber. I like to wait another week and let more amber show but space was becoming an issue in the tent and I had already flushed over a week. The plants flowered for 62 days.
 

CaNNaBiZ CaNucK

Well-Known Member
I'd be interested to see how your 'hang first-trim later' technique works out for you. I wonder if it will be a pain in the ass trimming them with the leaves hugging the colas. I've always trimmed first, myself.

Watching..:cool:
 

Newz

Member
If I cut the branches down, hang them up and let them dry for a couple days...THEN cut and trim them, then the smell remains intact. Nice and pure, really fresh. If I trim before I dry, then when the bud is done it smells like regular air. Like it was stripped of any smell.
 

Freda Felcher

Well-Known Member
I'd be interested to see how your 'hang first-trim later' technique works out for you. I wonder if it will be a pain in the ass trimming them with the leaves hugging the colas. I've always trimmed first, myself.

Watching..:cool:
Yeah, we'll see how it goes. I'm just seeing what will make the smoothest best tasting end product. If it requires more work and trimming but tastes and hits better in the end, so be it.

After trimming, usually how long do you let them dry? Or better yet, how dry do you let them get? Do you cure as well?

Edit- Here is a link i forgot to post. It's where I got the technique from. https://www.rollitup.org/view.php?pg=faq&cmd=article&id=152
 

jam2764

Member
damn man those are some of the fattest buds i've seen considering the size of ur plants. nice work
 

Freda Felcher

Well-Known Member
If I cut the branches down, hang them up and let them dry for a couple days...THEN cut and trim them, then the smell remains intact. Nice and pure, really fresh. If I trim before I dry, then when the bud is done it smells like regular air. Like it was stripped of any smell.
Do you normally cure them after drying? From what I have read, that is what can bring the flavor back and takes off some of the harsh.
 

Freda Felcher

Well-Known Member
damn man those are some of the fattest buds i've seen considering the size of ur plants. nice work
Thanks Dude! Without the pot, the tallest one of the bunch stood just over two feet from the soil. The Ak-47 from serious seeds is a sativa/indica hybrid mix. When looking at how the buds grow you can see the sativa. And from how short i can get them you can see the Indica. Just wish i could get the node placement you can get on an Indica!
 

CaNNaBiZ CaNucK

Well-Known Member
Curing definitely brings the scent and flavour out. I actually just harvested and trimmed my Nirvana Ice about 48 hours ago. I have them hanging on some hangers in my closet. They're getting very crispy around the edges so I think I'll jar in the next couple hours to err on the side of caution. It might be a tad early but IMO it's easier to dry than rehydrate during curing.

EDIT: And yes, I have found the smoke to be much smoother after cure compared to freshly dried.
 

Freda Felcher

Well-Known Member
Curing definitely brings the scent and flavour out. I actually just harvested and trimmed my Nirvana Ice about 48 hours ago. I have them hanging on some hangers in my closet. They're getting very crispy around the edges so I think I'll jar in the next couple hours to err on the side of caution. It might be a tad early but IMO it's easier to dry than rehydrate during curing.
Whenever I check out Nirvana's page, I always stop on "Ice". That will probably be the first one I order from them if I ever get around to it. Is this your first harvest of Ice? How is it?
 

CaNNaBiZ CaNucK

Well-Known Member
Whenever I check out Nirvana's page, I always stop on "Ice". That will probably be the first one I order from them if I ever get around to it. Is this your first harvest of Ice? How is it?
HeHe it's a beautiful plant :weed: Yep, it's my first go with Ice. I had four feminized seeds going and they all turned out to be very hearty and robust plants. At the beginning I stressed them out a bit (heat issues) but they pulled through just fine. The trichome production on these ladies are incredible, and the scent is exquisite. On Nirvana's site they describe the odour as fuel-like and that's exactly what they smell like; a sweet fuelly aroma. Hard to describe. And the buds I've sampled produce an intense, rushy euphoric stone. But not too stoney and very cerebral. I was expecting a 'knock-you-on-your-ass' high but so far it's pretty uppy. We'll see what happens after cure :D Expecting great things.

Wish I had pics but no cam :(
 

Elove11

Well-Known Member
i like to chop em down and hang the whole plant for about a day or two then trim...leaves dont stick to the buds...makes my buds stinky
 

Freda Felcher

Well-Known Member
i like to chop em down and hang the whole plant for about a day or two then trim...leaves dont stick to the buds...makes my buds stinky
I'm going to let them hang until the outer leaves on the bud and fan leaves begin to crisp. Then i'll trim, and let them set for another day or two in a grocery bag. Then into the canning jars. I'll open the jars every 12 hours and let them sit out for a bit. I'll do this until dry enough and then I burp cure them once a day for at least a month.

The other two plants i trimmed already will hang until crisp on the outside. Then i will cut the buds off the main stem and put them in a grocery bag for a day or two and then continue the process I explained above.
 

Freda Felcher

Well-Known Member
Here's a pic of my tent. The plants in the white hempy buckets on the right were put into bloom about a week ago. I'm doing a very small perpetual grow, so in the tent right now i have plants at three different phases of bloom. They are in sets of three, spread out about two to three weeks apart. So I just harvested three and put three more in to replenish. That way I can harvest fresh bud every three weeks and always have some smoke around!
 

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Freda Felcher

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Just to give this thread some closure since I have been away for a while, I discovered they both tasted well. The buds that i let hang longer with leaves had an edge on taste and smoothness. But I will have to say it it wasn't much of a difference.
 
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