DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[SweetSue]

Hey everybody on this great thread! Thanks Dr. Ziggy and thanks Sweet Sue!! Bout to harvest a plant m tired of dealing with her ir he/she throwing bananas. I am at week nine with her and dont want her to do anymore harm to her sisiter that she might have already done. Wondering if i should harvest and put in brown paper grocery bag or put on plastic two liter shelves i got from store. Then put in fridge? Which method do yall think is better? I have a couple testers in my frudge. I have some in a plastic container lid open on day nine i have some in a paper bag and i have two buds clipped and hanging. But they are all small samples nothing like a whole plant. So on a bigger scale what would work better?

Oh and another quick question. When u do the normal dry they say let dry till stems break not bend. What is the method if knowing when to put in jars for the cure in the fridge? And is there a optimal temp setting? I have a fridge that has digital settings goes from 34 to 45. I have it set at 40 right in the middle if the lowest and highest i can have it set. Thanks in advance. I have been spreading this great thread in every journal i follow!!

Sorry you got overlooked here pino. I personally try to stick to glass jars when using jars to dry in. I have concerns about the plastic in this process. Paper bags are proving to be a good means to accelerate the drying, so I'd definately advise you go with them. Many of us have been drying on open racks in the fridge. As you can see, there's been a rash of production of different shelf types and racks. All of them have worked so far. It's really just a matter of having the patience to wait it out.

We're still learning to determine when they're dry enough to jar up, but that appears to be coming in consistently around the two week mark.

I hope this helped, and we weren't too late for you. If so, there's always next time.

As far as temperature, we're getting good results with keeping temps around 35-40 degrees F and humidity to 40-50% or so. There's going to be variability, particularly during the spike that occurs in the first couple days, but it'll settle down after that.

 

[pino0911]

Thanks SweetSue for response. M gonna take pics when i get home. I harvested one plant and got more then i expected. I couldnt even fit anymore in there. Which i guess isnt a bad problem to have!! When i get home m gonna take some pics of whats in the medicine fridge!! Lol!! I have half in brown grocery bag and the other half on racks. Just wanting to see what works best for me. The rh did spike when i first put in two days ago it was at 60 thus morning before work already dropped to 50 percent. All in all love the thread and cant wait to share my findings so we can spread this great method of slow drying. Again thanks for the great answers and thanks to you and Dr. Ziggy!!! Will post pics when i get home!!

 

[SweetSue]

I have a question for your good folks. Did any of you try out or consider to try out water curing? It looks very interesting. I want to try out the low'n'slow and the water cure on parts of my coming harvest. It's only 3 weeks left now

No I haven't. Please, can you spare me the search - stretched a bit thin right now - and share the basics? You know me, always up for the experiment. Lol! Ziggy may have tried. He tries everything.

 

[Skullman420]

The basics are:

Water Curing is done by cutting down your buds and removing the fan leaves. It's optional to do further trimming, but note that cured trimmings always make better hash. Place them in a bin of Reverse Osmosis water and keep below above 65F and below 75F. Use something to gently weigh them down. Once a day for 3-7 days (depending on personal preference) change out the water with clean fresh RO water. Because there is a high concentration of chlorophyll and salts in the buds and none in the water, Osmosis will naturally occur, drawing it out of the plant until the levels are equal. The water is changed out to keep the osmotic pressure at its highest: day old water will not have the same osmotic force to suck out everything. After the 3-7 days, hang and dry the buds like you normally would. Done!
Results:

-Less bag appeal
-The smoothest bud you'll ever smoke
-Bud is more potent, but only because the total weight is reduced. IE- where you may get 1.5g air curing, you'll only get 1g with water cure: a much purer product
-Using them method allows you to pump in nutrients all the way to the end, with NO 1-2 weeks of flushing. That could increase yields significantly.

From the thread: Water Curing Marijuana

No I haven't. Please, can you spare me the search - stretched a bit thin right now - and share the basics? You know me, always up for the experiment. Lol! Ziggy may have tried. He tries everything.

 

[Weezze]

I have a question for your good folks. Did any of you try out or consider to try out water curing? It looks very interesting. I want to try out the low'n'slow and the water cure on parts of my coming harvest. It's only 3 weeks left now

I did a water curing with my last harvest. It's not good for smoking, it remove all the taste and smell. But great for oil!

You just need to submerged the weeds completely in water (no air), and change the water each days.

From this:

And after 7 days of water curing and 24h air dried, to this:

 

[SweetSue]

Lately I've been enjoying some particularly delightful Malawi. This morning I reached for the DDA7 that'd been dried low and slo.

Hands down the best in flavor and effect in 2.5 years of continuious growing. Thank you Ziggy!

This plant expressed a limonene that rivals Carnival. That surprised me, because I hadn't realized that limonene was a part of the DDA genetic package. I probably should have, but the alchemy of terpenes and cannabinoids in cannabis is still a mystery to professionals that've explored those waters most of their professional lives, so I won't feel so bad about the personal oversight. Lol!

Outstanding appearance, enticing fragrances, and the most delightfully playful buzz. You bet I'll drying my buds like this from now on. I'll probably find a way to get a dorm fridge up here.

 

[SweetSue]

The basics are:

Water Curing is done by cutting down your buds and removing the fan leaves. It's optional to do further trimming, but note that cured trimmings always make better hash. Place them in a bin of Reverse Osmosis water and keep below above 65F and below 75F. Use something to gently weigh them down. Once a day for 3-7 days (depending on personal preference) change out the water with clean fresh RO water. Because there is a high concentration of chlorophyll and salts in the buds and none in the water, Osmosis will naturally occur, drawing it out of the plant until the levels are equal. The water is changed out to keep the osmotic pressure at its highest: day old water will not have the same osmotic force to suck out everything. After the 3-7 days, hang and dry the buds like you normally would. Done!
Results:

-Less bag appeal
-The smoothest bud you'll ever smoke
-Bud is more potent, but only because the total weight is reduced. IE- where you may get 1.5g air curing, you'll only get 1g with water cure: a much purer product
-Using them method allows you to pump in nutrients all the way to the end, with NO 1-2 weeks of flushing. That could increase yields significantly.

From the thread: Water Curing Marijuana

Wow! I'm impressed. This, I'll have to try. Hmmm....... It's a matter of timing and deciding which plant to use. Demand is ramping up. I'll look over the stable and decide who and when and study some more. That remark about purity caught my attention.

 

[SweetSue]

I did a water curing with my last harvest. It's not good for smoking, it remove all the taste and smell. But great for oil!

You just need to submerged the weeds completely in water (no air), and change the water each days.

From this:

And after 7 days of water curing and 24h air dried, to this:

If it removes all the smell then it removed the terpenes. I can live with that in this experiment, because those volitile molecules continue to float away until we consume the plant material. Cajun got me thinking about what's really going on with the plant with his comments on the FHO thread about the volatility, and that made my head hurt. I have another project to complete before I head down that rabbit hole. There's much more happening here than I understand.

What I am sure of is the increase in potency we get drying like this, and I assume that translates into greater medicinal values. When I hand my daughter her vaping meds I want them to be the best I can generate.

 

[Radogast]

My boveda packs arrived today. Too bad I wasn't paying enough attention when ordering from the rain forest site. I forgot how awful their searches are and how they don't show exactly what you searched for. Is 72% good for anything?

I was visiting Pigeons 420 over at YouTube, a daily pasttime I enhance by sharing a couple hoots with him. Lately I've been enjoying some particularly delightful Malawi. This morning I reached for the DDA7 that'd been dried low and slo.

Hands down the best in flavor and effect in 2.5 years of continuious growing. Thank you Ziggy!

This plant expressed a limonene that rivals Carnival. That surprised me, because I hadn't realized that limonene was a part of the DDA genetic package. I probably should have, but the alchemy of terpenes and cannabinoids in cannabis is still a mystery to professionals that've explored those waters most of their professional lives, so I won't feel so bad about the personal oversight. Lol!

Outstanding appearance, enticing fragrances, and the most delightfully playful buzz. You bet I'll drying my buds like this from now on. I'll probably find a way to get a dorm fridge up here.

Is this also one of the first plants grown under new lights? There might be more than one cause.

 

[DrZiggy]

No I haven't. Please, can you spare me the search - stretched a bit thin right now - and share the basics? You know me, always up for the experiment. Lol! Ziggy may have tried. He tries everything.

i havent tried water curing..yet....but, but, the trichs!!

 

[DrZiggy]

Wow! I'm impressed. This, I'll have to try. Hmmm....... It's a matter of timing and deciding which plant to use. Demand is ramping up. I'll look over the stable and decide who and when and study some more. That remark about purity caught my attention.

you can do it on a few buds of different plants

 

[Skullman420]

I think too it reduce smell and flavor. I've heard people say it's making a great stealth smoke. That makes me a little concerned. I don't want to lose any terpenes.

 

[SweetSue]

I think too it reduce smell and flavor. I've heard people say it's making a great stealth smoke. That makes me a little concerned. I don't want to lose any terpenes.

Cajun keeps reminding me that we're making stars out of the terpenes, when we can get them in other ways, most basically through diet. We can even purchase them and add them back in.

I suspect there's something we don't yet understand going on with the full plant that diminishes when we start removing parts. At times that may be necessary, but when it isn't I'm more comfortable with keeping it all as a unit. I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me to rave about the importance of terpenes and then indiscriminately destroy them when we process.

There's a lot of things we can do, but the real question is for what purpose?

 

[DrZiggy]

Cajun keeps reminding me that we're making stars out of the terpenes, when we can get them in other ways, most basically through diet. We can even purchase them and add them back in.

I suspect there's something we don't yet understand going on with the full plant that diminishes when we start removing parts. At times that may be necessary, but when it isn't I'm more comfortable with keeping it all as a unit. I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me to rave about the importance of terpenes and then indiscriminately destroy them when we process.

There's a lot of things we can do, but the real question is for what purpose?

its always the case...the whole is greater than the sum of the parts with food...

 

[Radogast]

its always the case...the whole is greater than the sum of the parts with food...

If I eat my succotash one vegetable at a time, do I get less calories or less nutrition?

 

[pino0911]

Hey everybody jus wanted to share what i have going on in the fridge due to this great thread! I harvested my first plant EVER on Monday trimmed and put half on racks and half in two brown grocery bags PAPER!! And put larfy airy buds in small paper bag into the fridge. Set the temp to 37 and leaving alone. Cant wait!!

I will update so i can contibute to this great method!! Here is a pic of lower buds i picked two weeks ago and put in fridge. Still lil spongy but curing well in jars with daily burping!!

Hope yall enjoyed the lil i contribute and will be back every so often to post how the drying medicine fridge is doing!! I expect great things!! Thanks to everyone without yall i would be lost!!

 

[Furcifer]

I just came across this journal.
And, I love the intensity everyone is putting into it.
I also have been (since 1976) understanding and perfecting (to my liking) drying and curing Cannabis for smoking.

Three methods....all slow dry to cure.

Traditional- wash, hang, jar, burp (2 months)
Low and Slow- wash, open jar in frost free refrigerator, closed jar, burp (3 months)
Water cure- wash, dry, infusion/rehydrate, burp (1 month) used for unflushed, PM, or a narcotic party favor.

Top BUD is for comparison. She is fresh.
2nd BUD is Low and Slow (in closed jar burping process. 1 week untill done.)
3rd BUD is Traditional (finished)
4th BUD is water cured (done except infusing smell and taste).

I am not going to go into the technical scientific reasoning as to why this works.
Just the steps that I use to get the smoothest most tasteful product. That has not been degraded by improper or rushed to finish drying and curing techniques.

Low and Slow or (Lotus Cure) as we used to call it.
Harvest and trim fan and large leaves from plants. Wash buds. Hang to drip dry. Small fan circulating air. Can blow across buds as long as buds do not move.
Around 4 hours.
Do not remove sugar leaves. They are the buffer to protect the flowers.
Remove buds from stalks and put in canning jars. Fill jars loosely 1/2 to 2/3 full. Cover open end of jar with nylon screen and screw on cap ring. This keeps the buds from falling out during rolling or gentle shaking of jars.
Place in the crisper of a frost free refrigerator.
3 to 5 week process.
Week 1. Everyday roll or gently shake jar.
After 7 to 10 days. Take a jar out and let it come up to room temp 68F to 76F deg temp RH below 60%.
Place a humidity sensor in jar and seal. Place in dark. Wait one hour. If not between 64% and 72% RH. Replace screen and return to crisper.
Week 2 through 5. Check and roll/gentle shake every couple of days. Check RH% weekly.
Once RH% is between 64% and 72%.
Remove jars from refrigerator. Let them come up to room temp. 68F to 76F deg with RH% at 62%.
Seal jars (place a humidity sensor in one jar) and place in the dark with above parameters.
Burp jars daily. BURPING: Gently shake or roll jar before opening.
Room parameters 72F to 76F deg temp. 62% RH.
Open all jars. Place a test jar on its side with a humidity sensor inside.
Leave untill sensor reads 62%.
Before I seal each jar. I run a small fan over the top of jars. Forcing fresh air in.
Repeat process untill test jar sensor reads 62%.
Burp and seal jars for one week. Checking daily that RH is stable.
After I week. Burp jars and seal for 1 month.
After a month. Smoke, vape and enjoy.
Unopened jars burp every 4 months. Can be placed sealed in frost free fridge. And burp every 4 months.

Used very efficient frost free

Nutes and Nugs.

Hydro meter reads 44% RH, 9deg C.
Average for FF Frig.
Can you see it?

The other drawer.

Lined up for show.
7 Budsicle's from SOG.
Left jar is test jar with hydro meter.

Test jar after 10 days. 99% RH. 24 deg C.

Placed in crisper on May 24. Reached 64% RH on June 28. Will burp on July 6 and seal for a month.

Test BURN!

Almost there.
Next installment. Traditional or Water?

 

[DrZiggy]

I just came across this journal.
And, I love the intensity everyone is putting into it.
I also have been (since 1976) understanding and perfecting (to my liking) drying and curing Cannabis for smoking.

Three methods....all slow dry to cure.

Traditional- wash, hang, jar, burp (2 months)
Low and Slow- wash, open jar in frost free refrigerator, closed jar, burp (3 months)
Water cure- wash, dry, infusion/rehydrate, burp (1 month) used for unflushed, PM, or a narcotic party favor.

Top BUD is for comparison. She is fresh.
2nd BUD is Low and Slow (in closed jar burping process. 1 week untill done.)
3rd BUD is Traditional (finished)
4th BUD is water cured (done except infusing smell and taste).

I am not going to go into the technical scientific reasoning as to why this works.
Just the steps that I use to get the smoothest most tasteful product. That has not been degraded by improper or rushed to finish drying and curing techniques.

Low and Slow or (Lotus Cure) as we used to call it.
Harvest and trim fan and large leaves from plants. Wash buds. Hang to drip dry. Small fan circulating air. Can blow across buds as long as buds do not move.
Around 4 hours.
Do not remove sugar leaves. They are the buffer to protect the flowers.
Remove buds from stalks and put in canning jars. Fill jars loosely 1/2 to 2/3 full. Cover open end of jar with nylon screen and screw on cap ring. This keeps the buds from falling out during rolling or gentle shaking of jars.
Place in the crisper of a frost free refrigerator.
3 to 5 week process.
Week 1. Everyday roll or gently shake jar.
After 7 to 10 days. Take a jar out and let it come up to room temp 68F to 76F deg temp RH below 60%.
Place a humidity sensor in jar and seal. Place in dark. Wait one hour. If not between 64% and 72% RH. Replace screen and return to crisper.
Week 2 through 5. Check and roll/gentle shake every couple of days. Check RH% weekly.
Once RH% is between 64% and 72%.
Remove jars from refrigerator. Let them come up to room temp. 68F to 76F deg with RH% at 62%.
Seal jars (place a humidity sensor in one jar) and place in the dark with above parameters.
Burp jars daily. BURPING: Gently shake or roll jar before opening.
Room parameters 72F to 76F deg temp. 62% RH.
Open all jars. Place a test jar on its side with a humidity sensor inside.
Leave untill sensor reads 62%.
Before I seal each jar. I run a small fan over the top of jars. Forcing fresh air in.
Repeat process untill test jar sensor reads 62%.
Burp and seal jars for one week. Checking daily that RH is stable.
After I week. Burp jars and seal for 1 month.
After a month. Smoke, vape and enjoy.
Unopened jars burp every 4 months. Can be placed sealed in frost free fridge. And burp every 4 months.

Used very efficient frost free

Nutes and Nugs.

Hydro meter reads 44% RH, 9deg C.
Average for FF Frig.
Can you see it?

The other drawer.

Lined up for show.
7 Budsicle's from SOG.
Left jar is test jar with hydro meter.

Test jar after 10 days. 99% RH. 24 deg C.

Placed in crisper on May 24. Reached 64% RH on June 28. Will burp on July 6 and seal for a month.

Test BURN!

Almost there.
Next installment. Traditional or Water?

great job!!

 

[Radogast]

I just came across this journal.
And, I love the intensity everyone is putting into it.
I also have been (since 1976) understanding and perfecting (to my liking) drying and curing Cannabis for smoking.

Three methods....all slow dry to cure.

Traditional- wash, hang, jar, burp (2 months)
Low and Slow- wash, open jar in frost free refrigerator, closed jar, burp (3 months)
Water cure- wash, dry, infusion/rehydrate, burp (1 month) used for unflushed, PM, or a narcotic party favor.

Top BUD is for comparison. She is fresh.
2nd BUD is Low and Slow (in closed jar burping process. 1 week untill done.)
3rd BUD is Traditional (finished)
4th BUD is water cured (done except infusing smell and taste).

I am not going to go into the technical scientific reasoning as to why this works.
Just the steps that I use to get the smoothest most tasteful product. That has not been degraded by improper or rushed to finish drying and curing techniques.

Low and Slow or (Lotus Cure) as we used to call it.

. . .

reps for the time tested explanation of the Lotus Cure

Thanks for putting this out there.

 

[DopyLemontree]

Thanks Tricam! This is great info...your post validates that this is a time tested way of drying/ curing. Sue has reported that the taste and effect are the best she has experienced, using the low and slow, or "lotus" technique. Great thread...I'm onboard when I harvest next.

Tricam, you mentioned that you wash your bud also, may I inquire what your method is, as many of us wash also. I am always seeking enlightenment in what is the best way to do something, and why. Please, if you need to be scientific, lay it on us.