Rushing the process of drying weed and curing buds
If all has gone well with your outdoor plants this season then this month will be a harvest festival! While getting this far in a cannabis grow is a reason to be happy – no doubt you have faced some obstacles along the way! – what you do next is crucial. So if you’ve grown a bumper harvest of dank, don’t make these common drying and curing weed mistakes!
So if you are about to harvest your outdoor weed plants, then sharpen your scissors ready for trimming, invest in some airtight glass jars ready for curing and take some steps to avoid these common drying and curing mistakes!
Poor cannabis drying environment
This is a common rookie mistake which is a result of not being prepared for the post-harvest phase. If you are new to growing then much of your growing journey is obsessed (quite rightly!) with taking care of your plants correctly. So take some time to think about they drying space – indoor marijuana growers can use their grow tent, but outdoor growers need to set up a dedicated space. It should be a dark space with room to hang the buds - 7 – 10 days is the ball park figure for drying time - either in a drying net or rack, or suspended in well-spaced rows from cotton or string. Also consider that whichever space you use will stink very strongly of weed for at least 5 - 7 days.
The wrong temperature and humidity levels
If you are hanging harvested weed in a particularly cool or humid cannabis drying environment then inevitably buds won’t dry very efficiently. The ideal drying temperature is 15 - 20° C with humidity levels of 30 – 50%. If this is an inherent issue, then consider bringing some extra heat in to help. A small heater on a low setting, or a greenhouse heater, will boost the temperature of the dry space as night temperatures fluctuate as autumn progresses. Use a timer to save costs – an enclosed space will hold on to the heat for a while.
Poor air circulation
Introducing extra heat won’t be so effective if the air is stagnant. By design, most ideal dark drying spaces won’t tend to have good ventilation, so bring in a fan to move that air around. Make sure the fan is not directly pointing at the buds to avoid drying them out unevenly. Again, use a timer to reduce electricity costs.
* If you are drying and curing in a hot and dry environment, with limited humidity, then the issue is to prevent the buds from drying out too quickly. In this case avoid using a fan, keep the door to the dry space closed and, after 2 - 3 days place buds in a brown paper bag. Investing in a humidifier may be a good idea too.
Putting buds in jars too early
When drying weed and curing bud, everyone knows the trick of snapping the stem and if it breaks the bud is dry, but sometimes it paints a false picture. Some buds are big, some smaller, some dense, some skinny… unless you snap every stem you may be putting some moist buds in with the jar with dry buds. Excess moisture in the jar can affect the other buds, as can the room temperature. If the buds in your jar don’t seem so dry a day or two after putting them in, bring them out for some more drying – putting them in brown papers bags in a warm space will do the trick and take out that excess moisture! Make sure to ‘burp’ or use humidity control pouches in your airtight jars.
Not giving enough cure time
For many home growers, time is often a luxury. The harvest comes when the buds are most needed and that does not include factoring in an extra month for them to cure properly. Ok, we’re probably all guilty of dipping into the jar and ‘testing’ buds which still have some time to go until they are properly cured. Nevertheless patience will reward you with the best tasting and more potent cannabis buds and if you can control your urges until the cure process is properly completed the wait is worth it!
Good luck and wish you a happy harvest festival!