Hey All,
I've had some stellar grows, but always seem to have fumbled the bag when it comes to harvesting and curing. This last harvest, however, I finally figured out a better process and produced some A1 top-shelf bud I am super proud of. I'm writing this in hopes it'll potentially help out a newer grower who is struggling with the same issues I've had, but would love to hear feedback and suggestions from tenured growers as well!
I have been growing for almost 3 years now. Started with a space bucket that turned into a space 64-gallon garbage can lol, and quickly escalated to a full 4x4 tent with proper ventilation and a Spider Farmer SF-4000. I learned a lot from every grow, but with this one in particular I decided to switch up how I harvested, dried, and cured which made all the difference.
Historically I have done a wet trim (mostly just removing large fan leaves and trimming back some of the sugar leaves) before chopping since I live in an area with medium-high humidity (55-80%) and then have tried both drying racks and cutting branches and letting them hang. Usually, after 6 or 7 days the buds are crispy on the outside so I do another more thorough trim, jar them up, and start a burping regiment. Usually what follows is that dreaded hay smell I pray will go away as they cure furthers, but normally just diminishes and doesn't leave completely. I didn't get it, I could never get my buds to compare the kind that comes from dispensaries both in look, feel or smell. The only thing my buds were similar in was potency, boy did they still get you high AF, just the overall smoking process left something to be desired.
Please note that I did my best to accurately measure RH in both the drying area and inside the Jar with hygrometers aiming for that perfect 60-62% cure zone. Just wasn't working.
Here's where I changed things up, normally my grow is based in my basement as that is where I had space to set up, however, unlike the rest of the house, the basement tends to run a bit hotter and does not have central air. Lightbulb moment. So for this go around I did pretty much the same process with a gentle wet trim and then hung the whole plant in a room upstairs. The fact that the room was ~15 degrees cooler (and ~5-10% more humid), I think made a huge difference as after 6-7 days the buds were still decently wet compared to the normal crunchiness I've experienced. I let them hang for another 2 and a half days before taking them down, doing another trim, and starting to jar them up. To my surprise, the hygrometers in the jars shot up from the 63% it was in the room to over 70%. In the past, the hygrometer would sometimes drop to the 50s so I already knew something different was happening this time.
To be honest, I started to panic thinking I jarred the buds up too early and started to fear for mold and other issues, so I decided to let the buds dry on a rack overnight instead of in jars. The next morning I did the same thing, jarred them up, and watched the hygrometer. It again started to rise, not as quickly but still got up to 70%. This is where I had my epiphany, I need to go to war basically with this curing process. Every time it gets to 70%, take the buds out of the jar, let them dry a bit then back in. Rinse and repeat. Each time I did this, I noticed the time it took to get to 70% would take longer and longer, eventually, it stopped getting there entirely and would only go up to 68%, then 67%, etc. After a week of doing this, the buds seem to be steady at 62-65% so I started leaving them in and just opening the top for around 30mins to an hour once daily for another week.
The result?
Everything my previous buds were lacking had come to fruition. The buds were still spongey and had both a taste and smell that I absolutely loved. No hay smell, just straight dank.
My conclusion: The colder the room the better when it comes to drying. I believe the hotter temperature was drying out the buds much faster than I was anticipating in my basement even with decent humidity. I will keep experimenting and trying to figure out the perfect harvest, dry, and cure, as a know I still have a TON to learn, but it does just feels nice to see myself improving. For next time I will most likely even experiment with leaving them hang dry a little longer than 9-10 days, maybe upwards to 2 weeks. Besides the atmosphere where I will dry after harvest, I think it is really important to realize its not just as simple as letting them dry then right to jars. Its about knowing where your buds are in the process and constantly adjusting/reacting to them. If their too wet, take them out and dry a little - then back in jars. Its much easier, and I believe more beneficial to do it this way rather than "waiting for the stems to snap". I think if you wait that long, your buds are already past the point of no return.
Thank you for reading this. Obviously I am no expert, just a grower, growing for myself and trying to get better. I hope this piece may help or you at least find my trials interesting. I know I have a lot still to learn, so if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for me I would absolutely love to hear them.
Much love to all my fellow growers out there
I've had some stellar grows, but always seem to have fumbled the bag when it comes to harvesting and curing. This last harvest, however, I finally figured out a better process and produced some A1 top-shelf bud I am super proud of. I'm writing this in hopes it'll potentially help out a newer grower who is struggling with the same issues I've had, but would love to hear feedback and suggestions from tenured growers as well!
I have been growing for almost 3 years now. Started with a space bucket that turned into a space 64-gallon garbage can lol, and quickly escalated to a full 4x4 tent with proper ventilation and a Spider Farmer SF-4000. I learned a lot from every grow, but with this one in particular I decided to switch up how I harvested, dried, and cured which made all the difference.
Historically I have done a wet trim (mostly just removing large fan leaves and trimming back some of the sugar leaves) before chopping since I live in an area with medium-high humidity (55-80%) and then have tried both drying racks and cutting branches and letting them hang. Usually, after 6 or 7 days the buds are crispy on the outside so I do another more thorough trim, jar them up, and start a burping regiment. Usually what follows is that dreaded hay smell I pray will go away as they cure furthers, but normally just diminishes and doesn't leave completely. I didn't get it, I could never get my buds to compare the kind that comes from dispensaries both in look, feel or smell. The only thing my buds were similar in was potency, boy did they still get you high AF, just the overall smoking process left something to be desired.
Please note that I did my best to accurately measure RH in both the drying area and inside the Jar with hygrometers aiming for that perfect 60-62% cure zone. Just wasn't working.
Here's where I changed things up, normally my grow is based in my basement as that is where I had space to set up, however, unlike the rest of the house, the basement tends to run a bit hotter and does not have central air. Lightbulb moment. So for this go around I did pretty much the same process with a gentle wet trim and then hung the whole plant in a room upstairs. The fact that the room was ~15 degrees cooler (and ~5-10% more humid), I think made a huge difference as after 6-7 days the buds were still decently wet compared to the normal crunchiness I've experienced. I let them hang for another 2 and a half days before taking them down, doing another trim, and starting to jar them up. To my surprise, the hygrometers in the jars shot up from the 63% it was in the room to over 70%. In the past, the hygrometer would sometimes drop to the 50s so I already knew something different was happening this time.
To be honest, I started to panic thinking I jarred the buds up too early and started to fear for mold and other issues, so I decided to let the buds dry on a rack overnight instead of in jars. The next morning I did the same thing, jarred them up, and watched the hygrometer. It again started to rise, not as quickly but still got up to 70%. This is where I had my epiphany, I need to go to war basically with this curing process. Every time it gets to 70%, take the buds out of the jar, let them dry a bit then back in. Rinse and repeat. Each time I did this, I noticed the time it took to get to 70% would take longer and longer, eventually, it stopped getting there entirely and would only go up to 68%, then 67%, etc. After a week of doing this, the buds seem to be steady at 62-65% so I started leaving them in and just opening the top for around 30mins to an hour once daily for another week.
The result?
Everything my previous buds were lacking had come to fruition. The buds were still spongey and had both a taste and smell that I absolutely loved. No hay smell, just straight dank.
My conclusion: The colder the room the better when it comes to drying. I believe the hotter temperature was drying out the buds much faster than I was anticipating in my basement even with decent humidity. I will keep experimenting and trying to figure out the perfect harvest, dry, and cure, as a know I still have a TON to learn, but it does just feels nice to see myself improving. For next time I will most likely even experiment with leaving them hang dry a little longer than 9-10 days, maybe upwards to 2 weeks. Besides the atmosphere where I will dry after harvest, I think it is really important to realize its not just as simple as letting them dry then right to jars. Its about knowing where your buds are in the process and constantly adjusting/reacting to them. If their too wet, take them out and dry a little - then back in jars. Its much easier, and I believe more beneficial to do it this way rather than "waiting for the stems to snap". I think if you wait that long, your buds are already past the point of no return.
Thank you for reading this. Obviously I am no expert, just a grower, growing for myself and trying to get better. I hope this piece may help or you at least find my trials interesting. I know I have a lot still to learn, so if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for me I would absolutely love to hear them.
Much love to all my fellow growers out there
