Mold after harvesting

Hi everyone,

I have done the searches and everyone talks about mold during the flowering phase. I have not had this problem, but I do get mold after harvesting and drying/curing. After drying, I put the buds into a sealed bag. Why do I get mold after a week or so? Could the buds be too wet?

Yes. But more to the point it indicates too much humidity in the grow area particularly to the end of flowering. The mold spores are there and they get cracking when you seal them in with food and moisture to cure.

Is that Mr. Miyagi with his face in some hooters? Go Daniel san, beat it like a drum!!!!!

Miyagi said:

Yes. But more to the point it indicates too much humidity in the grow area particularly to the end of flowering. The mold spores are there and they get cracking when you seal them in with food and moisture to cure.

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I concur. This fella sums it up perfectly.

Mold spores are always there. Mold comes from sealing buds when they are still too wet. The only way to do this right is with a hygrometer (humidity meter). When you think buds are pretty dry, put some in a jar and seal it with a small hygrometer inside. You can buy the Caliber III on ebay for $20. If the RH goes up near 70, empty the buds back out and let them dry some more. A good cure requires an RH of 55-60. When you can get it stabilized to that, seal the buds in jars and let them sit a month or more. This will require a lot of checking RH, airing out to lower it and back and forth to get it in the right range. If it is too high (much over 60) you may get mold. If it is below 55, the curing chemical process will stop and cannot be restarted.

Excellent, thanks. and Go Mr. Miyagi!!

The RH in my flower tents never exceeds 55-65. Air circulation is at max. If you do a long flower strain that has some density to it and your grow room is too humid mould will get started. I think you should have some air circulation during drying too. Then the easiest and favorite way is to dry it until the stems snap. I personally stop a bit before then, jar it and burp for a while until it is right to just seal and open when raiding. I have never tried to get a hygrometer into my jars and I do a pretty good job of curing what I can save from myself Do you use a probe or just a big arse container?

Miyagi said:

The RH in my flower tents never exceeds 55-65. Air circulation is at max. If you do a long flower strain that has some density to it and your grow room is too humid mould will get started. I think you should have some air circulation during drying too. Then the easiest and favorite way is to dry it until the stems snap. I personally stop a bit before then, jar it and burp for a while until it is right to just seal and open when raiding. I have never tried to get a hygrometer into my jars and I do a pretty good job of curing what I can save from myself Do you use a probe or just a big arse container?

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I used to do it exactly as you say. I think I probably got below 55 a few times and shot myself in the foot with the curing process. The Caliber 3 fits easily in a jar as small as a pint and you can read it through the glass without opening the jar. What I do is periodically fill a quart halfway with buds and add the hygrometer. The jar being sealed sucks moisture out of the buds and it usually shoots up to 70 quickly. It "is" a time consuming process until you get it stabilized in the 55-60 range.

I guess that would be the foolproof finishing touch then Adz! Personally CBF for the 0.01% improvement I reckon I'd get, it's pretty dialed in by now and tbh nothing gets a real long cure anyway -the monsters are always howling at the door-but I don't disagree with I.S's methods! Good on ya

I'm only growing for myself and a few relatives so I can afford to take time. Frankly, most of what I smoke has been cured for 6 months or more. It does make a difference. Curing weed is essentially the same process as curing tobacco and aging wine. I understand NOT knocking yourself out, but still recommend giving it a try on just one jar sometime.

I pat you on the back and you throw it in my face? Haha pop on over sometime and I'll knock you out! But seriously, I do cure what I can and I would stack my cured bud against your humidicrib nugs anyday. I doubt many people would find fault with mine as I have travelled the world and enjoyed the scene on multiple continents and I know mine is up there! I am sure as I said that your method is more precise and I will give it a go if I ever happen to have one of those hygros and peeps with probs should def give it a go.
ps. the monsters are my friends and family

Adz. said:

Hi everyone,

I have done the searches and everyone talks about mold during the flowering phase. I have not had this problem, but I do get mold after harvesting and drying/curing. After drying, I put the buds into a sealed bag. Why do I get mold after a week or so? Could the buds be too wet?

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Sealed bag? There's your problem.. There's a rewason why people use jars and the burping method... To evaporate extra moisture in buds to prevent mold.

Thanks Nick and everyone else. Now... what is the burping process?

To burp just make sure you open the container for about 10 minutes once or twice a day until you feel that the buds have reached a slightly lower level of moisture. Drying/curing is a 3 step process for me. Hang or rack to dry the majority of moisture. I stop doing that when the buds still feel somewhat durable and soft yet the outsides are just starting to get a dry/crisp feeling. Then put em in a paper bag for twelve hours, open it up and see if the buds perspired any moisture from the core to the outside where you first felt the beginning of the dry/crispiness. If there was no sweating and that same dry/crispy feeling is there, proceed to step 2 which is to seal them in a bag and burp them twice a day preferably, perhaps 10-20 minutes of open container ( ziploc or glass/hdpe jars ( yes, I've tested unused joint compound buckets with sealing gasket lids, they do the same job as glass jars without any negative effects) and a quick sifting through with the hands to bring the bottom buds to the top of the container and vice/versa. If you live in a dry climate you may elect to do this once a day for 10- 20 minutes. If humid, twice a day for 10-20 minutes.
This might be done for several days until the buds feel like they are the correct consistency that you would expect when purchasing for smoking. Now step 3. Just leave them sealed until they gain a beautiful aroma.

Thanks problem solver, great post. Question: Once at step 3 and buds are bagged, how long does it usually take for the buds to aquire the 'beautiful aroma'?