How To Cure Your Marijuana Crop

I had a pretty successful dry & cure recently. I dried my buds by hanging them in the basement(pretty stable 72 degrees, 45% RH) for 5 days. I had a fan circulating air most of the day. A little bit of the fan air did hit the buds directly but it was from far away. Like a gentle occasional breeze. Then, on day 6, I placed all the buds in a large shoe box evenly spread out. 2 days later, into the jars they went. I checked them and burped the jars daily. There was no moisture in the jar so that means I dried them pretty good.

After about 3 weeks in the jars with occasional burping, the odor was incredibly nasty....when you first crack that jar - Oh my Lord... your eyes water from the dankness! :)

Ive slowly been smoking some of the smaller buds and the flavor and odor is exquisite. The larger buds will stay there for a while longer.

Overall, for such a scary-sounding process with all of the horror stories of mold, damp buds, dried out buds, etc, etc, Im smitten with how mine came out. Woo Hoo! :Love:
 
elfstone said:
I have found that a "Drynet" from Homebox, suspended inside a GrowLab GL120 works wonders for slow drying and initial curing.
Click to expand...

About curing bud..

I'm in Canada and I've been growing indoors for 14 years now and my favorite way to cure bud is to lay the stems out with alot of bud still attached and then cover them with one more piece of newspaper,, turn them over each 2 days for about a week and then change the newspaper for another week if needed.. Then I like to cut off all the buds and sweat them in ziplock bags for a day, then let them dry in between newspaper for another 2 days and then sweat them again,, At this point I like to seal them up tight with no air in 2 ziplocks and seal them away in my fridge with the temp quite low,, about a month later they are full of crystals and give the best stone ever... I had to stop growing after me and my girlfriend broke up because she tried to stool on me and now get all of my bud delivered to me through the mail from my mail order guy, My favorites are King Kush, Power Plant, jack Herer, Purple Kush and Og Kush.. He ships straight to my door and that avoids any legal problems here in Canada since the law doesn't concern itself with what you like to do in your homes here and having pot delivered isn't a crime. If any growers or tokers out there want my advice, feel free to write me back here.
 
I use a similar method.My smaller buds, say 5-9g i sit on a mesh screen or some on paper, I use like the paper shopping bags.. I do cure some in jars, But Ive found drying some by hanging on twine or fishing line in a room with thats got fresh circulating air dries them ok, I keep the room fairly dark, and about 15*C or so..
Usually takes a litlle while, few days pending how big the buds are, others I hang on a clothes horse in a dry space i have with a fan too. Then once theyre pretty much dry i put some in snap locks too, and some in jars and burp every 6 hrs or so for a couple, i mix the buds around, and after a few days to a week theyre pretty close.. Ive found this to give a good smoke, thats not harsh and tastes fine:) JUST DONT MICROWAVE IT!!! Yuck.... Later guys, Smokemup
 
thanks for the info, :), as far as flavoring goes, i would steer clear of vanilla, i did some research into vanillin, molecule responsible for vanilla's aroma, and when burnt and inhaled it is quite carcinogenic, its bummer i know, i wanted a crop of vanilla smelling weed but not worth the risk..

have heard very good things about mangoes however, not only with flavor, but also a chemical called myrcene, apparently reacts with the psycoactives in pot and gives a better buzz, you can test this by eating a mango about an hour before you smoke up :)
 
This could be a placebo or it could actually be true, I don't know, I can say when I eat a mango, I do notice a change in the buzz I feel, not an increase in intensity, but just a change in the stone I get.. could be the sugar in the mango, but its a more active alert high, not so much a dopey couch lock

I don't think its the sort of thing we will get scientific tests on.. and it will remain a matter of opinion based on experience's had, but hell if I can eat a tasty mango and have it change the way I get high.. bonus!
 
HEy guys,
Just been reading the few posts on Mangos.. Here in Aussie land, South Australia to be exact, we used to get some weed from an outdoor grower.. He called his product 'Mango Buds' and from what I gathered he used some vegetable/fruit products as a kind of Mulch/compost he added into his soil he was growing in.
The weed did have a different smell to it, sort of fruity, I am not 100% on the exact method he was using I only heard he used to use fruit scraps and shit to his soil. I have not heard of this stuff grown around here anymore as it was over 10yrs ago, and I have lost contact with him.
As for the quality of the stone, well I dont recall it being a 'ONE HIT WONDER' but it was an adequate smoke compared to some outdoors gear at the time. There may be some ingredient in these fruits that may be released as it breaks down or it may be present in the juice or rind of the fruit. I also was told ages back about smoking the inner lines of banana skin too, to get ya baked, I did attempt to make some but I had NO IDEA WOT I WAS DOIN - and ended up with sumfin I wasnt gunna toke!!
There may be pectins or such in some fruit that are capable of giving a cerebral high if produced right but ITS WAYYY OUTTA MY LEAGUE OF INFORMATION. Last thing I want is someone toking on a banana and heading off into some permanent hallucinagenic world!:)
 
I've got an Excalibur food dehydrator that has multiple shelves, a gentle fan and a thermostat to adust the warmth of the circulating air. It works extremely well on any kind of fruit or vegetable, including anything that is delicate.

I wonder if it would not be suitable for the initial drying of my buds? It's compact and will allow me to dry in the growing room to control odors. Anyone else ever try this method? If it works well for food, why not head-food??

Comments and suggestions are most welcome...
 
I have never tried a food dehydrator myself so really can't tell you if it is a good idea or not. Try a little and see for your self. Check often. If that doesn't work or it's not the same as if you were to dry it the old fashion way you will know what not to do. But experimenting is where new ideas and techniques come from. I say give it a go and let us know.
 
Personally I would take your spongy buds and put the in a brown paper bag for a few more days. leave bag open in a cool dark room. check a few times a day, move them gently around with a chop stick or gemtly shake bag. Than put in jars but do not pack buds tightly in jars and burp them 2-3 times a day for a week than burp once a day for a week or so. and take it from there. Check often for mold or mildew. When you burp them use the chop stick and move them around while getting fresh air from a fan is good. Do that for about 30 seconds each time. I really hope this helps you. Aloha
 
The main reason for a slow and controlled drying/curing is to aid in the breakdown and transformation of unwanted compounds such as chlorophyll. I would think that a relatively fast dry, hours as compared to days, would not allow this to completely finish and would cause a harsh tasting stash. I've never tried it and I even waited the 5 full days of drying before I vaped the trim and popcorn buds. Even after two weeks of curing I could tell the difference between my cured and not cured stash.
 
Do any of you all have an alternative to glass jar curing? I ask because it sure does take a bunch of monotonous time to burp the jars of a large crop for the first couple of weeks. It would be nice to have an alternative that was larger and easier to handle than say 20 mason jars.

Thanks!

B-
 
I found that with the use of Boveda 62% Humidipaks that burping isn't really necessary. I only burped my harvest twice, once 12 hours after the start of curing and the second time 24 hours after that and I did not notice any differences either before or after the burping so I stopped burping. I plan to not burp at all during the curing of my next harvest. One jar has been sealed since then, except for less than one minute when I installed the hygrometer lid, and the humidity is rock solid at 64% while the buds look exactly like they did after my last burping almost two months ago. There is absolutely no signs of any degradation of or mold on the buds. If interested, I can post pictures.
 
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