Most people hang dry thier pot. After harvest, they hang the entire plant or at least the branches upside-down in a dark room for a week or so. They feel the buds and when they're dry they bag them up. Only to find thier buds a nasty smelly mushy mess a few days later when they open the bag. That's because even tho the buds feel crispy-dry, the stems still hold a lot of moisture that needs to escape. A much better way is to paper bag dry. That promotes even drying. If you don't want to paper bag dry, wait until the stems bend slightly before breaking before putting them in a plastic bag or container. You've gone through a lot to grow buds; don't ruin them now.
well i reckon i learned alot in 'time' mainly thanx to ranger danger and his tips- if only i knew these things when i grew. but nonetheless i will grow again
what about doing a hang dry for a few days until mostly dry, then doing a bag dry for a few more days to a week until ready to go into jars for curing?
Why bother with hang drying at all? Manicure the buds, put 'em in a bag, open the bag daily and gently move the buds around, for 5--10 days (depending on ambient humidity) and they're ready for curing.
Off the top of my head I say about 40% rh. But 30-60% rh is probably more realistic for most of the U.S. Any lower and it may dry out "too fast"; much higher and you may have problems with mold.
so putting freshly harvested and trimmed buds straight into a paper bag wont be too moist? and are you talking about leaving the buds on the stems while in the bag, or cutting off all the buds after manicuring and then putting those in the bag?
Manicure immediently after harvest. SDince I grow in my backyard, if the weathers nice i even start manicuring BEFORE harvesting, removing all the fan leaves. Then I cut the branches off, bring them inside and manicure down to the final product, removing all extraneous stemmage. These go in a heavy-duty supermarket-type bag with the top folded over, and gently "comb" them with my fingers until almost dry, then they go into containers for curing.
Due to both method and strain, by harvest time there are no fan leaves left on the plants. The plants are grown in soil and are heavily flushed with water for around 3 days prior to harvest. At the end of these 3 days all watering is suspended and in 1 to 3 days the plants droop and are harvested. I consider this to be a part of the curing process. Smaller buds are trimmed off the plant directly into brown paper shopping bags. Bags are filled to about 2-3' deep and the top of the bag is folded over and bag is placed in a warm dark place. The bag is opened several times a day, buds are mixed - finger combing or gentle shaking works fine. This process also exchanges the air in the bag. Larger buds are hung upside down on stems in a dark room. More than anything this gets everything hanging in the same direction and the buds are easier to handle. After 1 to 3 days the buds are trimmed from the stems into brown paper bags in the same fashion as above with the same treatment while in the bags. After 2 to 4 days in the brown bags product is lightly packed into 1 gallon glass pickle jars for curing. The jars are handled similarly to the brown bags, they are opened several times a day, buds are gently mixed and air is exchanged in the jar. After 3 to 4 weeks product is tightly packed into pint glass canning jars for long term storage in a secure dark cool place. When starting a new step in the process checking and handling the product is done more frequently than later on. You can spot problems and go back a step if things aren't right. This whole process is about moisture control. The plant material needs a certain amount of moisture to age correctly which is a chemical process that occurs most readily in water. If it is too moist then biologic decay will occur in some form, mold and fungi being the more common. Too dry slows and alters the process. However, the buds will always seem too dry, it is the stems holding the bulk of the water therefore, the bend-snap stem test is the best gauge I have found. The point of the entire process is to change the product into something better than the raw plant. If you pay attention while performing this process the product changes in detectable ways. Identifying and recognizing the changes contribute to your continued success. My final product completely satisfies my needs and requirements, your mileage may vary.
MoGrow: Have you ever got it wrong. Flushing the plants should be done at least two weeks before they mature. Giving a time period for drying and curing is not a feasible idea. There are so many variables to take into consideration: the humidity where you are drying, the size of the plant, and so on. you should read this thread: http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=325367&f=222 PAX
Always nice to be corrected by an expert! I have thrown out all that crap I've been producing and converted to your process. Thanks for showing me the one true path.
didn't read much of the thread but this is my method... i live in a low RH part of the US, during the winter and summer the RH usually never goes above 50%, i also have a propane furnace and that also dries the air out quite abit. So for my situation i have to compromise and leave most of the leafs, minus the fan leafs, on the branches so they DON'T get crispy dry in 2-3 days. I hang them upside down with rows of chains and coat hangers with clothespins holding individual branches on each coat hanger.........usually 6-10 branches per coat hanger. Leave them there for 5-6 days and start trimming/manicuring them down to final product..........they usually still have abit of moisture in the stem so i put 'em in brown paper bags for 1-3 days........combing them 1-2 times a day......then they go into jars for curing. I get great results that i can't complain about......remember tho..........this is for a very low RH situation.......
