Going home for christmas...Best way to harvest in 1 week?

Hi all.

Finally I've reached my harvest, I knew it was going to be close with time as I will go home from school in 7 days but now they look flushed and I'm happy they are optimal and I maxed out the grow time as much as possible,

The only thing is I might have underestimated how long I need for optimal curing.
As it stands I think I have two options.

1. air dry for a few days, Put in jars and leave in my apartment over the holiday period to cure.
Only problem I see with this is I wont be able to open the lids on the jars until January and could this maybe cause a mound risk.
Also if I use a large curing jar that will have more air content might this counteract the lack of fresh air from opening the jars.

2. Water curing, Need to look into this more but from I hear it's less time, more potency, uglier bud, less weight is the general thing I hear about this method.

It's not that I have to pack and leave my apartment or anything but it's my first grow and leaving my not fully cured bud on it's own for 2 weeks is a bit unnerving after 4 months of growing

I have water cured and bud so smooth but yes you loose weight and bag appeal BUT for personal use does it matter? Your call. I would choose this method in your shoes because lose bit of weight get good smoke or leave in jars risk mold and lose whole crop? Better safe then sorry. Just my opinion anyway

djlifeline said:

I have water cured and bud so smooth but yes you loose weight and bag appeal BUT for personal use does it matter? Your call. I would choose this method in your shoes because lose bit of weight get good smoke or leave in jars risk mold and lose whole crop? Better safe then sorry. Just my opinion anyway

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It's only for me so the "bag appeal" isn't so important (unless for envy)
But yea I think I agree with your safe over sorry approach as well, Going to read up a bit on the water curing as the idea of putting my nice bud in water seems weird and scary still

water curing you have to change the water every day so thats not gonna work either im afraid

Even a water cure need to be watched. A good slow dry first, which personally, I make my drying take a minimum of 5 days. Then the water cure takes about 7, with fresh water being added daily.

Edit: stonemalone beat me to it (damn phone rang so I couldn't finish).

I tried this and it worked really well the stuff is pretty cheap too.

Silica gel can be found in most garden centers, nurseries, florist, or hobby shops. It absorbs moisture from flowers rapidly, thus preserving flower color better than other drying methods. Most flowers will dry in 36 to 48 hours.
Use silica gel in an airtight container or it will absorb moisture from the air, not from the flower tissues. You can redry the silica gel in a warm oven (not in a microwave) and reuse it for other flowers later. Winifrede Morrison's book Drying & Preserving Flowers gives details on the use of silica gel. Flowers that dry well in either borax or silica gel include: rose, aster, carnation, marigold, dahlia, larkspur, geranium, zinnia, chrysanthemum and delphinium.

dont use silica gel its a known cancer causing compound and should not be put near anything consumable.

stonemalone said:

water curing you have to change the water every day so thats not gonna work either im afraid

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Hmm well I have 7 days from today and they are not chopped and hanging up in my grow room so I might have enough time.

Really appreciate the responses guys, Reading info is all well and good but sometimes I just need to ask to find the answers.
If I'm not happy with it in a week I can probably leave my keys to a friend and ask them to open the lid on my mason jar every few days while I'm away but right now that's still plan B.

stonemalone said:

dont use silica gel its a known cancer causing compound and should not be put near anything consumable.

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Fuck why they put it in beef jerky packs then, should sue their asses

http://www.silicagelpackets.com/faqs turns out not all of them have cobalt chloride in them

why not get em dry enough, bring the jars and go for a walk with a backpack to air them? Bring em with you if you dont want to ruin them somehow (overdry ruins them somewhat, mold instantly ruins them).