Lowkeygardener
Well-Known Member
I am posting here today because it seems as though everyday someone is posting that their harvest smells “Grassy” or like “Hay”. It saddens me that some of us put all of our time and money into this fantastic hobby, only for it to be ruined in the end or end up not nearly as fantastic as it should. I’m by no means an expert grower or curer and most of this information is probably obtainable elsewhere. I’m sure there will be multiple people chiming in with their own methods and that is totally fine! In my opinion this is the most sure fire way to ensure your harvest is the absolute best it can be, EVERYTIME! So thanks for stopping by and enjoy the next few minutes of reading.
Step 1: Flush. This may be bordering on the edge of “Bro Science”. When I say flush, I don’t mean running multiple gallons of water through your medium. This is only done when you have a buildup of salts and it is affecting your plant negatively. By flush, I mean only watering with PH corrected water for the final 2-3 weeks of your plants life. This will allow your plants to use up all of its stored energy and nutrients and allow those fan leafs to fade which is what you want. You don’t want to harvest your plant with every leaf perfectly green. I could go more into detail on this but no need to bore you.
Step 2: Make sure that your plant is ready to be harvested. I CANNOT stress this enough. It doesn’t matter how well you dry and cure if you get this step wrong. I personally look for around 15-20% amber trichomes, with the remaining being mainly cloudy. It is always better to let your plant flower longer than it is to harvest early! I’m a firm believer that every strain should go at least 10 weeks of flower to produce the ultimate effect.
Step 3: Dark Cycle. This stage can vary per your liking. I believe it should go through at least 24 hours of complete darkness. I personally do 3 days of complete darkness and here’s why… When the lights are on your plant is photosynthesizing. When the lights are off your plants are not. Harvesting during or after a light cycle will make your plants have a lot of chlorophyll which will need to be cured out. So the purpose of the dark cycle is to reduce chlorophyll as well as allow your buds to build up resin and terpenes which do burn off while your lights are on. So in a sense, the dark period will only improve your dry and cure stage and produce better quality product.
Step 4: The Harvest. Once you have completed a proper “flush”, Dark period and have ensured that your buds are at peak ripeness for harvest, it is time to cut down your plant. Again, there is multiple ways to accomplish this so I’m going to share my way. I like to cut down the plant at the stalk just above the medium. Why? Because the more plant material you hang up, the slower the drying process will be which is what we want! We want a long, slow dry and cure for optimal results. You can remove larger fan leafs that have no resin glands present on them, this is exactly what I do. However, I wouldn’t go any further. Hang those puppies upside down in your drying area and let’s move into step 5.
Step 5: 70% humidity. I know, this is not the norm. A lot of people will try and fight me on this one but hear me out. You want your first 2-3 days to be at 70% relative humidity. Again, we are trying to drag out our dry and curing as long as possible for the best product! You want your drying area to remain completely dark with good airflow. I keep my in-line fan which has temp and hygrometer controls set to 70% humidity. That means it will only turn on if it reaches over 70% humidity. I keep an oscillating dan pointed at the ground on low never blowing directly on or near my buds. I do run a humidifier which does not mist directly on or near my buds as this may produce mold. You will also want to keep your area around 63F to no more than 70F. Any higher and your begging for mold and for your buds to dry too quickly.
Step 6: Drop humidity to 65%. You will notice that your buds are still pretty wet during this stage. Inspect everything for mold. This stage will take another 2-3 days and you can expect to notice your buds will slowly get drier and more crispy on the outside.
Step 7: Drop humidity to 60%. This is your final stage of drying. At this point you are at least 4-6 days into your drying process. This is where you will need to have a “feel” for your plants. I am sure everyone has heard that you want your stems to “snap” but not break. While I am sure that is okay advice, I personally do not rely on this method. I feel the buds and the leafs. You want your buds to not feel wet but a little crispy on the outside with a little spongy give when you gently squeeze them. The leafs should be dry but not flaking off when you touch them. At this point, your smaller stems may have a slight “cracking” noise when you bend them but don’t go off this alone. You are going off the feel of them. It may take another 2-4 days in this stage to achieve that feel bringing your total drying process to 6-10 days. Once you have reached this point, it is ready to trim and buck down your buds and place them into your curing containers.
Step 8: The Cure Week 1. Personally I like to use air tight glass jars. I trim up all my buds nice and pretty and place them gently into my curing jars. Never pack your jars, I keep them around 50-60% capacity so that the buds don’t weigh each other down and they aren’t clumping together increasing your risk of mold. You will need a small hygrometer that you will place in your sealed jar with your buds. Keep an eye on your readings. Wait 24 hours for your readings to stabilize. For the first week you will want to burp your jars about 3-4 times a day. I open the jars, take a nice whiff to smell my beautiful buds then simply leave them open for 10-15 minutes to allow them to air out. You may notice your buds will slightly crisp back up on you on the outsides which is what we want. The curing process is essentially a dragged out drying process. After 10-15 minutes seal your jars back up until it’s time to burp again. You should notice your hygrometer reading between 63-68% humidity. Again this is what we want! We want a long slow cure. By burping you are slowly letting moisture out of your curing jars and allowing the buds to dry on the outside only to be rehydrated when it’s sealed back up. If at any point you fee wetness on your buds, you will need to take them out of your jar and let them dry out for 30minutes to an hour until the feel a little dry again on the outsides.
Step 9: The cure zone. After a week of burping 3-4 times daily, you will notice that your hygrometer readings have slowly began to decrease but stabilize. It is okay for your relative humidity to stabilize between 60-65% humidity for week 2 as 58-63% humidity is considered the cure zone. What you are trying to do during week 2 is slowly get your readings to stabilize at about 62% humidity. Now it’s time to burp when needed. I like to only open my jars when the hygrometer reads over 63%. When that happens I will open my jars for 10-15 minutes. Once you have a constant reading of 58-63% humidity you know that you are now properly curing your bud. WARNING! If yours buds at any point get below 55% humidity inside your jar, you have killed your cure and no type of re-hydrating your buds will make the cure start back up. TIP: If it gets below 58% relative humidity I like to add a fresh fan leaf or 2 to rehydrate the bud back to 62%. Take the leafs back out once you have done so.
Step 10: Now you have completed 2 weeks of curing. Your sealed jars have stabilized at 58-62% humidity. Your bud is still curing and will continue to do so until it reaches 55% humidity. I personally like to cure for at least 3 weeks before sampling my product. People cure for months but at after 3 weeks you can begin smoking your buds but may notice it only gets better and better with time. After 3 weeks you can begin using Boveda humidity packs if you’d like or if your humidity levels are decreasing. I keep my jars around 57-62% humidity for the remainder of their time in jars which essentially is until I’ve smoked it all or given it away to my buddies. My personal opinion is bud stored between 57-59% humidity after 3 weeks of curing produces the best smoke. Remember, your curing will cease once it reaches or dips below 55% humidity, which is fine as long as you’ve cured for at least 3 weeks.
If you’ve made it this far I’d like to thank everyone for taking time to read and I hope you have learned or picked up a few tips for your next Drying and curing! I’d love any feedback! Enjoy and happy smoking fellas!
Step 1: Flush. This may be bordering on the edge of “Bro Science”. When I say flush, I don’t mean running multiple gallons of water through your medium. This is only done when you have a buildup of salts and it is affecting your plant negatively. By flush, I mean only watering with PH corrected water for the final 2-3 weeks of your plants life. This will allow your plants to use up all of its stored energy and nutrients and allow those fan leafs to fade which is what you want. You don’t want to harvest your plant with every leaf perfectly green. I could go more into detail on this but no need to bore you.
Step 2: Make sure that your plant is ready to be harvested. I CANNOT stress this enough. It doesn’t matter how well you dry and cure if you get this step wrong. I personally look for around 15-20% amber trichomes, with the remaining being mainly cloudy. It is always better to let your plant flower longer than it is to harvest early! I’m a firm believer that every strain should go at least 10 weeks of flower to produce the ultimate effect.
Step 3: Dark Cycle. This stage can vary per your liking. I believe it should go through at least 24 hours of complete darkness. I personally do 3 days of complete darkness and here’s why… When the lights are on your plant is photosynthesizing. When the lights are off your plants are not. Harvesting during or after a light cycle will make your plants have a lot of chlorophyll which will need to be cured out. So the purpose of the dark cycle is to reduce chlorophyll as well as allow your buds to build up resin and terpenes which do burn off while your lights are on. So in a sense, the dark period will only improve your dry and cure stage and produce better quality product.
Step 4: The Harvest. Once you have completed a proper “flush”, Dark period and have ensured that your buds are at peak ripeness for harvest, it is time to cut down your plant. Again, there is multiple ways to accomplish this so I’m going to share my way. I like to cut down the plant at the stalk just above the medium. Why? Because the more plant material you hang up, the slower the drying process will be which is what we want! We want a long, slow dry and cure for optimal results. You can remove larger fan leafs that have no resin glands present on them, this is exactly what I do. However, I wouldn’t go any further. Hang those puppies upside down in your drying area and let’s move into step 5.
Step 5: 70% humidity. I know, this is not the norm. A lot of people will try and fight me on this one but hear me out. You want your first 2-3 days to be at 70% relative humidity. Again, we are trying to drag out our dry and curing as long as possible for the best product! You want your drying area to remain completely dark with good airflow. I keep my in-line fan which has temp and hygrometer controls set to 70% humidity. That means it will only turn on if it reaches over 70% humidity. I keep an oscillating dan pointed at the ground on low never blowing directly on or near my buds. I do run a humidifier which does not mist directly on or near my buds as this may produce mold. You will also want to keep your area around 63F to no more than 70F. Any higher and your begging for mold and for your buds to dry too quickly.
Step 6: Drop humidity to 65%. You will notice that your buds are still pretty wet during this stage. Inspect everything for mold. This stage will take another 2-3 days and you can expect to notice your buds will slowly get drier and more crispy on the outside.
Step 7: Drop humidity to 60%. This is your final stage of drying. At this point you are at least 4-6 days into your drying process. This is where you will need to have a “feel” for your plants. I am sure everyone has heard that you want your stems to “snap” but not break. While I am sure that is okay advice, I personally do not rely on this method. I feel the buds and the leafs. You want your buds to not feel wet but a little crispy on the outside with a little spongy give when you gently squeeze them. The leafs should be dry but not flaking off when you touch them. At this point, your smaller stems may have a slight “cracking” noise when you bend them but don’t go off this alone. You are going off the feel of them. It may take another 2-4 days in this stage to achieve that feel bringing your total drying process to 6-10 days. Once you have reached this point, it is ready to trim and buck down your buds and place them into your curing containers.
Step 8: The Cure Week 1. Personally I like to use air tight glass jars. I trim up all my buds nice and pretty and place them gently into my curing jars. Never pack your jars, I keep them around 50-60% capacity so that the buds don’t weigh each other down and they aren’t clumping together increasing your risk of mold. You will need a small hygrometer that you will place in your sealed jar with your buds. Keep an eye on your readings. Wait 24 hours for your readings to stabilize. For the first week you will want to burp your jars about 3-4 times a day. I open the jars, take a nice whiff to smell my beautiful buds then simply leave them open for 10-15 minutes to allow them to air out. You may notice your buds will slightly crisp back up on you on the outsides which is what we want. The curing process is essentially a dragged out drying process. After 10-15 minutes seal your jars back up until it’s time to burp again. You should notice your hygrometer reading between 63-68% humidity. Again this is what we want! We want a long slow cure. By burping you are slowly letting moisture out of your curing jars and allowing the buds to dry on the outside only to be rehydrated when it’s sealed back up. If at any point you fee wetness on your buds, you will need to take them out of your jar and let them dry out for 30minutes to an hour until the feel a little dry again on the outsides.
Step 9: The cure zone. After a week of burping 3-4 times daily, you will notice that your hygrometer readings have slowly began to decrease but stabilize. It is okay for your relative humidity to stabilize between 60-65% humidity for week 2 as 58-63% humidity is considered the cure zone. What you are trying to do during week 2 is slowly get your readings to stabilize at about 62% humidity. Now it’s time to burp when needed. I like to only open my jars when the hygrometer reads over 63%. When that happens I will open my jars for 10-15 minutes. Once you have a constant reading of 58-63% humidity you know that you are now properly curing your bud. WARNING! If yours buds at any point get below 55% humidity inside your jar, you have killed your cure and no type of re-hydrating your buds will make the cure start back up. TIP: If it gets below 58% relative humidity I like to add a fresh fan leaf or 2 to rehydrate the bud back to 62%. Take the leafs back out once you have done so.
Step 10: Now you have completed 2 weeks of curing. Your sealed jars have stabilized at 58-62% humidity. Your bud is still curing and will continue to do so until it reaches 55% humidity. I personally like to cure for at least 3 weeks before sampling my product. People cure for months but at after 3 weeks you can begin smoking your buds but may notice it only gets better and better with time. After 3 weeks you can begin using Boveda humidity packs if you’d like or if your humidity levels are decreasing. I keep my jars around 57-62% humidity for the remainder of their time in jars which essentially is until I’ve smoked it all or given it away to my buddies. My personal opinion is bud stored between 57-59% humidity after 3 weeks of curing produces the best smoke. Remember, your curing will cease once it reaches or dips below 55% humidity, which is fine as long as you’ve cured for at least 3 weeks.
If you’ve made it this far I’d like to thank everyone for taking time to read and I hope you have learned or picked up a few tips for your next Drying and curing! I’d love any feedback! Enjoy and happy smoking fellas!
