The Real Truth About Slow-Drying Your Harvest

[RookieJuana]

So after countless YouTube vids and reading and researching, for whatever reason, THEY ALL SAY TO KEEP HUMIDITY BETWEEN 50-60% in your dry tent or area! Question is, when I let my rh drop below 65%, they start drying super fast. Too fast. Like 4 days fast. I want my buds to dry and no less than 7 days. Why does everyone say to keep your humidity between 50 and 60% whenever I posted on here, someone said not to let my humidity drop below 65%. What is the real deal here? What is the perfect humidity for me to keep my buds drying slowly? Taking at least 7 days minimum to dry? 70% sound good? Also, is the proper dry what gets the plant smell and harshness out of the buds? Or does the cure do that?

 

[hjayu94]

I can only answer one question for you... Curing is definitely what gives the beautiful aromas, and tastes! Not so much the drying.

Wish I could help as to why your buds are drying so quick! Not experienced just yet.

 

[RookieJuana]

I can only answer one question for you... Curing is definitely what gives the beautiful aromas, and tastes! Not so much the drying.

Thank you thank you! Good to know! So how long after you put the Harvest in the jars will it start smelling like that skunky aroma?

 

[Herb Dean]

Thank you thank you! Good to know! So how long after you put the Harvest in the jars will it start smelling like that skunky aroma?

Hey hey
From what I understand, you really want to cure them a minimum of 2 weeks but can get benefits with curing up to 6 months!

Have you heard of cvault? I’ve got 2 of them ready to cure my first harvest to perfection!

Hope that helps

 

[Barney86]

Yeah it's the cure that brings the smell out. I find 3-4 weeks before they smell propper again.
How are you hanging it? Bigger bunches and leaving the leaves on is how I do it. Takes 6 days usually. Trimming beforehand cuts a day off it. And separating it all cuts another day at least. My first couple dried in 3 days till I started just breaking it Into a few parts and hanging.
Have the fan blowing under them too, not directly on them.

 

[Herb Dean]

Yeah it's the cure that brings the smell out. I find 3-4 weeks before they smell propper again.
How are you hanging it? Bigger bunches and leaving the leaves on is how I do it. Takes 6 days usually. Trimming beforehand cuts a day off it. And separating it all cuts another day at least. My first couple dried in 3 days till I started just breaking it Into a few parts and hanging.
Have the fan blowing under them too, not directly on them.

I’ve always wondered about that @Barney86.. does the fan have to be blowing right next to them as they dry or just aimed anywhere except for directly on them?
Cheers

 

[Barney86]

I’ve always wondered about that @Barney86.. does the fan have to be blowing right next to them as they dry or just aimed anywhere except for directly on them?
Cheers

I always have it facing them but at floor level so it's blasting by underneath, on a low setting without them getting any direct wind. Left it right on them once to see what would happen and it was crispy dry in 2 days and tasted like hay lol.

 

[Stunger]

So after countless YouTube vids and reading and researching, for whatever reason, THEY ALL SAY TO KEEP HUMIDITY BETWEEN 50-60% in your dry tent or area! Question is, when I let my rh drop below 65%, they start drying super fast. Too fast. Like 4 days fast. I want my buds to dry and no less than 7 days. Why does everyone say to keep your humidity between 50 and 60% whenever I posted on here, someone said not to let my humidity drop below 65%. What is the real deal here? What is the perfect humidity for me to keep my buds drying slowly? Taking at least 7 days minimum to dry? 70% sound good? Also, is the proper dry what gets the plant smell and harshness out of the buds? Or does the cure do that?

I also saw a few drying suggestions of what seemed surprisingly low RH. I would have thought something like 7 - 9 days would be an ideal drying time period to aim for. I feel if it dries too fast it'll turn too crispy. Some people favor drying in paper bags in the fridge where the coolness helps preserve the terpenes better. My understanding is a slow curing assists the 'maturing' of the aroma and flavors. Some people also suggest slow curing increases potency as in a decarboxylating manner. There are lots of cannabinoids but some like THC is not available to us until decarboxylated and from what I currently understand is that slow curing actually only contributes to a very small amount of decarbing THCA to THC. I purchased an Ardent Lift/Nova decarboxylator after reading how it 'activates' pretty close to 100% of the THCA to THC. I saw one clip on youtube where the person insisted that it become even more potent when he vaped the decarbed bud, the only issue I see with that is there would be a certain loss of terpenes with decarbing so some of that nice aroma could be lost. Anyway I will test out my unit at some point when my current bud has fully dried and cured.

I also liked the look of the suggestion of the cvault storage container that Herb Dean mentioned. They look pretty good, altho I wonder how long the humidity packs last.

 

[Orlando Scout]

Check out the low and slow thread sweetsue has. Its the best way I have found to dry. I hang dry for 1-2days, then I put the buds into a paper bag a little under half full, and into the crisper in my fridge gor about 2weeks!!!
Another little tip, keep wherever your drying nice and cool. It will aid in slowing your drying process down!!!

 

[Herb Dean]

Check out the low and slow thread sweetsue has. Its the best way I have found to dry. I hang dry for 1-2days, then I put the buds into a paper bag a little under half full, and into the crisper in my fridge gor about 2weeks!!!
Another little tip, keep wherever your drying nice and cool. It will aid in slowing your drying process down!!!

Do you cure after this as well? Sounds like a “cool” idea haha

 

[Lowrider72]

Theres heaps of ways to dry and cure...

Heres one I have used for years...

Take whole plant, cut into pieces with two opposing branches on one piece of stem.
Split the stem down the middle so you bow have a branch with a hook to hang.
Pull all shade leaves off, trim, hang.
Rinse and repeat....

Leave to dry, no heat, no light, moving air and good air exchange... Humidity.... Whatever....
Will take longer to dry , 1-2 weeks but buds are ready to cut down, and get ready to cure...

To cure, use a turkey bag, jar or plastic food grade bucket with sealing lid.
Put buds in but not tight.
Open and air for 20min twice a day.
Do this for a week.
Next week once a day.
Done.
Then seal up airtight for a month, that gives a great taste. 1-2 months like that , buds are perfecto!

Hope that gets you intrested.
Took me 10 years to get to that.
Will demonstrate at harvest.

 

[Orlando Scout]

Do you cure after this as well? Sounds like a “cool” idea haha

Yes I cure afterwards in either a glass jar or turkey bag with boveda packs.

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Hi Juana. heres my exp to date and why i slow dry too.
I have tried numerous ways over the years to get it right and it seems and endless task. There are always other factors at play too ,strain , lights , products , flush or not , airflow etc..
I used to panic about humidity to achieve the dry in the best time so trimmed wet , hung in room temp and in the dark. No amount of curing would rid me of the Hay taste or harshness. Flushing for me is a myth !!! ( waiting for the pitchforks!!) so harshnesh was always assumed to be the nutes left over. After flushing and still getting the lack of taste/smell potency even after storing( never for long enough but would still have leaves and green from the wet trim within the buds after drying too.
drove me nuts seeing all these successes with Flavours of fruits , nuts,berries and gods pubic hair( ok i made that one up !!!.lol) , that i decided to try some of the controversial ideas that old pros wrote about and others within plant biology generally used. Result for me now is a resounding
No Flush before harvest (happy to elaborate if needed.) but not to feed any nutes for the last week ,only ph'd water ( and any designed till end products used)
Remove plant intact but some rootball st

 

[Stunger]

Hi Juana. heres my exp to date and why i slow dry too.
I have tried numerous ways over the years to get it right and it seems and endless task. There are always other factors at play too ,strain , lights , products , flush or not , airflow etc..
I used to panic about humidity to achieve the dry in the best time so trimmed wet , hung in room temp and in the dark. No amount of curing would rid me of the Hay taste or harshness. Flushing for me is a myth !!! ( waiting for the pitchforks!!) so harshnesh was always assumed to be the nutes left over. After flushing and still getting the lack of taste/smell potency even after storing( never for long enough but would still have leaves and green from the wet trim within the buds after drying too.
drove me nuts seeing all these successes with Flavours of fruits , nuts,berries and gods pubic hair( ok i made that one up !!!.lol) , that i decided to try some of the controversial ideas that old pros wrote about and others within plant biology generally used. Result for me now is a resounding
No Flush before harvest (happy to elaborate if needed.) but not to feed any nutes for the last week ,only ph'd water ( and any designed till end products used)
Remove plant intact but some rootball st

Hey Ganjagandaddy, I enjoyed reading your post and would like to hear more, but did your reply get cut off at the end?

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Hey Ganjagandaddy, I enjoyed reading your post and would like to hear more, but did your reply get cut off at the end?

damnit. it did. thank you for letting me.know . i did struggle to post it too. not sure what happened but......
here goes again , sorry
So cont.........
No nutes for last week of the grow to force her to start on the stores in her leaves .Dont flush at all. ( Will keep feeding when the plant needs it the most in her cycle ( flushing is a huge myth gone mad!)).
Remove Her as complete as possible inc root ball.
Hang Her uncut with NO LEAVES removed yet. She will cannibalize over the slow drying period and convert anything left into carbs for her precious flowers. Hence one reason no need to flush. It is leaf matter containing chlorophyll that creates the harshness to dried too fast weed. If you also trim wet then so much leaf matter gets left in the finished buds by way of sugar leaves trimmed off and not plucked once dried.( Not everyone's before i get lynched...).
Hang her in good circulating air with a fan assisting to move the air around but not the plants. The idea is to exchange the air to avoid any chance of mildew spores finding a good home. The ideal temp for me is below normal room temp around 18-19°c ( I use my attic space so has cold air for most of year coming through eaves)
The rh is not a big issue if you keep the clean , fresh air circulation going and the fluid will eventually be used up by her last breaths of love to her buds ( No chops or trim keeps the networks of mobility for the fluids open , allowing for all fluid to be used up rather than trapped within the chopped stem/leaves to rely on evaporation to remove it.
This slow dry to snappable can take between 10 and 14 days easily but does make up for it with not needing long to final cure.
Once dry then the trim removes all the leaves at their base , even within the buds that are growing outward( makes sense when you do it !) , which is a real pain in the ass but the sugar leaf and trim make amazing hash easily so no waste of trichromes at all.
A longer more frustrating trim is a small price to pay not smoking "alfalfa" after all that love and hard work to get those terpenes active. Result is always a great success using this way and the science supports a lot of the concepts too. Please research any of the methods for a more comprehensive and understandable explanation than my ramble. lol
hope it helps. peace
a couple of low and slow dried buds from my last barneys farm grow as an example. good luck and enjoy

all down ,dry and ready to trim

 

[Bilbobudkin420]

I can only answer one question for you... Curing is definitely what gives the beautiful aromas, and tastes! Not so much the drying.

Wish I could help as to why your buds are drying so quick! Not experienced just yet.

Yeah it's the cure that brings the smell out. I find 3-4 weeks before they smell propper again.
How are you hanging it? Bigger bunches and leaving the leaves on is how I do it. Takes 6 days usually. Trimming beforehand cuts a day off it. And separating it all cuts another day at least. My first couple dried in 3 days till I started just breaking it Into a few parts and hanging.
Have the fan blowing under them too, not directly on them.

Nah trust me a slow dry in a enclosed environment is the key to storing terpenes. Ganjagranddaddy and orlando have already touched on some reasons and ways. I usually hang em in a cardboard box for the first week as the most terpenes are lost in the first stages of dryin. After that ill let em air out for a couple days and then trim dry (this also helps seal in the terpenes as touched on by the homies )

 

[Lowrider72]

Thanks Grandpa,
I have had my eyes opened, I see sense in your method.
This harvest I will try your way, as I have seen your results and your all seasoned growers.
Just a bit worried about being in coco perlite...getting it on buds when I hang.
Also my roots fill the entire bucket, do I trim it down aka bonsai style and wash whats left bedore hanging?
I agree with the science behind what you do.

LR72

 

[Ganjagrandaddy]

Thanks Grandpa,
I have had my eyes opened, I see sense in your method.
This harvest I will try your way, as I have seen your results and your all seasoned growers.
Just a bit worried about being in coco perlite...getting it on buds when I hang.
Also my roots fill the entire bucket, do I trim it down aka bonsai style and wash whats left bedore hanging?
I agree with the science behind what you do.

LR72

Thanks for the trust. The coco and perlite will fall away very easily with a shake and tapping. You can trim the roots to a manageable clump and i have yet too be able to keep it complete. With the "stressing" her out by finally removing her light too , the least amount of added stress , the better. so any cut is a threat to her bud babies and stress. As Bilbo rightly bought up , terpenes. Fragile little scent sacs to attract pollinators. Light erodes them , air erodes them and drying fast pops them like bubbles , add a fan blowing at them and you have Alfalfa. There seems to be a lot of good data to support frost -free fridge drying going down too. This is preserving the terpenes like fresh vegetables and drying the buds to a smokable state intact. One to keep an eye on i think. some innovative ideas going on . We are all philosophers , are we not ??. stoners. lol

 

[Lowrider72]

Harry Pothead and the Philosphers stoners....
hehe....

 

[Herb Dean]

Thanks for taking the time to share the info @Ganjagrandaddy!