Harvest, trim buds and bag it wet...

Fevs.

Well-Known Member
Ok so I chopped 2 plants yesterday. A G13 Pineapple Express#2 and a Blimburn Cindy. I have No room to hang my plants and normally would trim the buds wet trim, then put the buds in the trays. I have decided this time to try Drying my weed in brown paper bags.

I'm sick of getting a hay smell and having to spend 6-8 weeks to get the smell back. I have used brown bags once before for drying and the buds came out really good and retained their dank smell and tasted good. I just started doing a bit much and got tired and slack. Now though growing is a breeze for me, so I can use my time and effort to nail the drying.

I can't even hang them in the tent they grew in. Each plant has it's own 3ft x3ft tent, but I have 1 1/2 ft topped and supercrop'd bushy clones in there before a leaf has even been chopped. Just leave it on 12/12 and whip 1 out the veg tent to replace the flowering plant.

The Pineapple Express#2 I trimmed the buds like little golf balls with no stem and straight into the paper bags.

The Blimburn Cindy I left some of the stem, so there are like 2 or 3 buds on a small stem, then straight into the bags.

They are all in paper bags with clothes pegs on, so moisture can only escape through the bag. I have one of those camping storage material hanging things with all several shelves and can it 5-6 bags on each shelf. There is fresh air blowing through my flat.

Rh fluctuating between 50% and 55%.

I will say though, in September I have a property visit, so when the next plants are done in August I have to stop. I'm going to take advantage of that time and hang dry the plants in the tents, just to see for myself what difference it makes.

My weed still turns out nice after the jars, but the paper bag method I used once before just seemed to retain more dankness.

It's time to address it. I have 4 more 3ft wide plants coming up to harvest in the next few weeks too, so have plenty of shit to perfect this with.

Last time when I used bags from go to dry the weed, I got no mould whatsoever. That is obviously a great concern.

I'm thinking of aiming a fan at the bags. Got an oscillating tower fan I could use. Would having a fan + fresh air drying the bags be better than just fresh air. I was worried a fan would draw the moisture out too quickly and make the buds lose their smell a bit.

Any thoughts? Any bag dryers on here?
 

JimmyNuggs

Well-Known Member
Been growing a year now and I have completely embraced the brown paper bag...

I do a wet trim (dry trimming is f'king horrendous) then leave in a net for 3 days. By that point a large portion of moisture is gone, then paper bags for 10 days and only then into a jar.
I got alright results using jars but, as with you, the grassy smell lingered a little too long for my liking.
Brown bags work brilliantly and I won't be gong back to hanging for nearly two weeks & jarring just so it can smell like 'grass'. I also used boveida packs but found they were pretty useless and unnecessarily expensive. (Despite their popularity!)
A cardboard box with some bamboo is also a good substitute for the first hang, good luck.
 

Fevs.

Well-Known Member
Holy shit are you way overthinking how to dry, i only get hay if i do stupid stuff like bag wet bud or jar wet bud and try to slow the dry and mold is a sure sign your doing just that.
You are assuming that us 3 get mold because you cannot imagine this working for yourself Slick. lol

Try it next harvest, chuck an oz in a brown paper bag. It's lush when it's ready. You may be surprised to find that the bags are not wet, haven't got darker etc. I will open them quickly 3-4 times for the 1st few days and turn the buds so the ones in the middle get moved.
So explain to me how I'm over thinking it and why it's stupid... But 1st understand this

Grow room 1: five 3x3ft tents, so rh and temps are too high to dry weed. They get 4 litres per tent per day.
Grow room 2: A cloning tent, two 3ft x 3ft tents. Small room, so gets hot. Weed would dry too fast in there.
Grow room 3: 5ft x 5ft tent. Small room, gets kind of hot in there too.
Other rooms: Kitchen which has nutes mixes bubbling, my plants dripping on draining boards. I need all that space to work too.
Bathroom, High rh and I ain't drying my weed where I shit , shower and shave.
I have a small room between all the rooms. The middle of where 5 open windows blow through fresh air and blow the heat out the bathroom. Rh is 50%-55% and it's 16oc-18oc. It seems right to me that it's the only place I have. I have one of those hook screw things in the ceiling, a few cable ties and a fabric storage shelf. It's actually convenient as fuck for me drying it this way.

Like I said I can't just hang the plants in the tents. Maybe you could enlighten me with why drying in a brown paper bag is a stupid idea for me.
 
If your smoke is 'smelling like grass' after it has been chopped down then you are cropping too early. Cannabis when it's chopped down and drying should smell hashy, if it doesn't then it wasn't ready and was taken too early. Best way to avoid this and something I believe every grower should follow is as follows; 'if you think it is ready, leave it for another week'

Drying is super easy, you hang it in a dark room for 10 - 14 days and only if the stems are then dry do you strip the buds and jar up.


Also I think it is worth pointing out that drying and curing are completely separate processes. You hang it to dry and then You cure in a jar. The 'burping' is only a way to even out moisture in the jar and shouldn't be done for any longer than a week.
 

Fevs.

Well-Known Member
If your smoke is 'smelling like grass' after it has been chopped down then you are cropping too early. Cannabis when it's chopped down and drying should smell hashy, if it doesn't then it wasn't ready and was taken too early. Best way to avoid this and something I believe every grower should follow is as follows; 'if you think it is ready, leave it for another week'

Drying is super easy, you hang it in a dark room for 10 - 14 days and only if the stems are then dry do you strip the buds and jar up.


Also I think it is worth pointing out that drying and curing are completely separate processes. You hang it to dry and then You cure in a jar. The 'burping' is only a way to even out moisture in the jar and shouldn't be done for any longer than a week.
I under stand what you are saying, however no I'm not chopping too early. I chop between either 100% cloudy for sativas, 90% cloudy and 10% ambers for Indica plants. The smell comes back great in the jar, but there's just something about the brown bag.

I don't have a dark room spare pal.

I know how to grow. I let my plants fade with reds purples and yellow leaves. I'll take a photo later and upload it tmrw. I was drying my weed at a different address as I didn't have room to do it.
 

LinguaPeel

Well-Known Member
Holy shit are you way overthinking how to dry, i only get hay if i do stupid stuff like bag wet bud or jar wet bud and try to slow the dry and mold is a sure sign your doing just that.

There is clearly more work that can be undertaken to build on the initial observations made of postharvest behaviour of leaf stomata. However, enough information has been revealed to suggest that handling techniques can play a role in stomatal closing and this has the potential
to influence quality of high-value products.

Future studies in this area would benefit from long-term assessments of stored material, including the investigation of high CO2 package atmospheres on stomatal aperture.
 

Crown n coke

Well-Known Member
There is clearly more work that can be undertaken to build on the initial observations made of postharvest behaviour of leaf stomata. However, enough information has been revealed to suggest that handling techniques can play a role in stomatal closing and this has the potential
to influence quality of high-value products.

Future studies in this area would benefit from long-term assessments of stored material, including the investigation of high CO2 package atmospheres on stomatal aperture.
I was thinking that exact thing....I think.. no, no I was not!
 

Mr. Cheetah

Well-Known Member
best way for drying for me is trim wet, than hang the branches till the top of the buds feel dry, than i put all the branches in a big nylon bag for about 8 hours. that way the buds are sweating the moisture from the inside. after that i repeat the process with the hanging and when they feel dry again i get them back in the bag, this time for about 4 hours, then 2 hours and in about 2 weeks they should be ready for the jars. that depends on the humid levels and the aeration of the place where you dry them.
EDIT: best way to know if they are ready is to snap the branches* thats how i do it
 

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
Ive dried a crop since you have bagged your buds, lovely weather were having here. Mines just dry enough to smoke and just going to have a few samples over next week check it getting its flavour through nicely before it goes into hash.

How is yours doing? Any updates yet.
 

Fevs.

Well-Known Member
Ive dried a crop since you have bagged your buds, lovely weather were having here. Mines just dry enough to smoke and just going to have a few samples over next week check it getting its flavour through nicely before it goes into hash.

How is yours doing? Any updates yet.
Mine are coming in lovely. 2 day max until 1st lot is ready to jar. No hay smell at all. Just dank buds. I'll take some photo's soon, but it ain't dry yet. Got blue cheese drying, pineapple express#2 and Blimburn Cindy (2 plants). 1 harvested yesterday.
 

2Hearts

Well-Known Member
Great stuff, the bags have extended the dry two to three days.

Mine are coming in lovely. 2 day max until 1st lot is ready to jar. No hay smell at all. Just dank buds. I'll take some photo's soon, but it ain't dry yet. Got blue cheese drying, pineapple express#2 and Blimburn Cindy (2 plants). 1 harvested yesterday.
 
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