how will I know? when it's ready?
I tried my best to follow fdds thread on how to harvest and dry and cure and all that.. he says he still throws them in there while they have little moisture.
I take it you don't have a humidity gauge.
Here's what you need to do ASAP. As in as soon as you read this. Go find something to monitor humidity. In a pinch like this I'll tell you a cheap and fast one that'll work just fine. Go down to the nearest pet store. Grab yourself TWO of those humidity gauges for reptile habitats. It'll look like a small compass. There are digital and analogue ones. The analogue ones work just fine (DO NOT DROP IT OR LET IT BANG OFF A HARD SURFACE OR ANYTHING. That'll ruin it) It shouldn't run you any more than 10$ each.
They may have them at your local Wal-Mart in the pet section as well.
Go to Wal-Mart or somewhere. Grab a big ass glass container with the clear glass top. Enough to put ALL of your product in anyways. But don't fill it more than 75-80%. The big plastic jars with the rubber seal lids work nicely as well. They have a clear lid as well. Not to mention a handy dandy metal handle so you can frolic through the forest with it and shit.
Take out the humidity monitor. Tape it to the lid so you can see the gauge on it. Try not to cover any of the holes in the back of it. Chuck all of your dope in there. If your dope's really wet then you'll see that needle start ticking upwards in as little as 2 minutes. If it goes up and over the cure zone then let it sit for about 4 hours. That way the moisture inside will redistribute throughout the dope.And it'll even out the RH in the jar as well. If you're past the cure zone by 5+points then pour everything out of the jar. Return it in 2 hours. Rinse/repeat. When you get into the 5 point range then switch over to 1 hour. When you get into the cure zone then just monitor it after things are closed up. If it stays at a stable RH in the cure range then you're good to go. Keep an eye on it for the next 2-3 days. If it stays in the same spot then it's good and stable.THEN add your boveda pack.
Take your other humidity gauge. Have it in the room you're drying in. That way you'll see if the area is even suitable to dry in or not. I don't care what the weatherman says. Inside and outside humidity are 2 totally different things. How the room "feels" and thinking it's dry enough is like trying to eyeball an ounce instead of using a scale. If your humidity is too high then buy a dehumidifier. Get the room's RH where you need it to be. If it's low then don't worry about it too much. If it's REALLY low then keep a close eye on your buds humidity and modify the time you leave it out to dry.
After all of your product has reached it's desired RH and is stable feel free to break down all of your weight and get it into glass jars as you see fit. Or just leave it all together in a big one. I've kept 8 ounces in a giant ass container and didn't have any problems with it.
So tldr
1 Buy something to check your humidity. Today.
2 get your dope where you need it to be.
3 learn to cure without boveda packs.