What is RH, and Why Is It Important in Drying, Curing and Storing Bud?

[Flurple]

ya, i only vent my closet once a day and the bag 1 time a day, i just dump the buds out, break em up, put em back in and seal... 1 min vent. if even the tips of the bud or leaf feel crispy its too dry... the stuff should be soft all over

 

[Irish]

Wow! Lots of catchup to do.

Thanks Irish!

The stems were not "snappy" as in a dry toothpick. The were bendy, but the bend had a "snap". The did not snap in half. The buds are still moist, but have lost about 50% of their weight since harvest.

The strain, FLO, has some sativa characteristics and the buds are not too dense, but were really sticky.

I trimmed them up well, before drying.

Alrightie then. You have 25% moisture left to work with and you'd better be judicious with it. When you do a good clean trim, the bud "bleeds" in far more places than if you left it hirsute. This speeds up drying quite a bit. Right now, you want to keep all of the moisture left in it, well, in it. At least until you get your chemical reaction of curing started. If you never smelled that sweet smell of starches turning to sugar before they crisped, the buds never started to cure. You need to keep them in that jar, pack them well but not tight so there is little room for air, and let them readjust the moisture from the stem to the buds.

Do NOT open that jar very much at all. This is important. You've only got 25% moisture left to work with, and you want it to kick start and continue your cure for as long as possible.

welcome aboard DOC, i thought this conversation was gonna be AB only lol. listen to IRISH, jar em til they are soft, if they dont get soft we need to get you adding moisture... in the correct way. this will give you an idea of what moist is.

these buds spent about 8 days in my closet after trim... i have a space heater in there keeping temp at 70F and humidity is around 60% i opened the door once a day to check on em and drop humidity to 50%.

here is a day or 2 later after bagging rolling up the bag tightly, not air tight but a gentle squeeze... just pressing them together they are still wet enough and sticky enough to clump

here they are all broken up.

IRISH please elaborate on my post and correct all my mistakes... any suggestions on temp, vent time, bud spacing, RH?. im new to this but its working for me.

Looking good, Flurple. Be careful packing them tight for very long a time though--could cause an anaerobic atmosphere in the middle, encouraging mold. Also, if your bud flowers are particularly delicate, you can't leave them softly wet for very long--and by very long I mean 10 days or more--they can do a strange dry rot that'll make them moosh to sticky powder once they've reached the proper moisture content and you'll be scratching your head muttering what the.... *L* You can't smell this happening, it's just drawing out a cure too long.

Ideally, 50% RH is what one wants for drying. 60% and you're slowing the process down. Not a bad thing, it can sure make your smoke taste rich, but you have to be wary of taking it too far before the final dry and set.






i am going to ask again with a slight alteration to your question DOC, and multiple questions... cuz you struck a nerve in my head (no nerves in the brain haha) what would cause buds to have a weak smell even when cured correctly.

... can underventing or opening the container too often cause a bad cure even if humidity and moisture are perfect?

Ayup, it sure can. Undervented, and you build up curing vapors (and RH) in the container and can take the cure to the dry rot stage. Overvented, and you get to the point that the cure is interrupted.

... is it important to achieve an anaerobic (oxygenless environment) before venting?

Nope. Not entirely. Just close enough quarters so that the curing vapors permeate every bud in the container. However, when you're going to store long-term, an anaerobic condition is desired, since this puts everything in a sort of suspended animation. Bud will continue to cure in the long term vault, but at a much slower rate.

... the slower the better right??? so as long as i dont have mold i can slowly expose them to more dangerous but perhaps better curing environments? and if so what would these be... higher humidity or higher temp? or both?

The slower the better once you have the proper dry going on. If you stretch out your drying time, the excess moisture can start a rot situation. Doc is right at the point with his 50% moisture dump that he has to hold what moisture he has in the buds for at least a week, 10 days. Once it's gone from the stem, the cure is crippled.

OK, this is info I've never heard before.....cool.

So, you roll your buds together in a bag and you want them to stick? I thought that monster photo above was one bud....but it's actually several!

The neat thing about curing in bags is that you can extract as much air as you need to keep them curing, and watch the bag puff back up with vapor, which is your cue to vent the bag, just like Flurple.

Right now, mine are in jars, with lids on, so if they dried too fast, they should rehydrate decently. Again, they were not crispy, but dried pretty fast.

The RH in my room is between 25 and 50. It's been dry as hell up here lately.

You'll need to stabilize that RH if you can. What is the temp?

I'm harvesting my two best plants tomorrow night, so I want to get it right!

You guys and gals are awesome to help out like this.

Always happy to help, Doc.

read over all the posts by IRISH... i also read a few others on here under the FAQ and medical MJ section. and the buds dont need to stick from the pressure, they should be sticking because they are not dry yet. wet leaf and wet trichomes are sticky as hell. IRISH mentions crispy leafs and how to notice when to jar or bag. also that drying too quick can be fixed with jarring early. this allows the moisture still present in the core of the stems and bud to even out and remoisturize the crispy outside.

Drying too quick might be fixed with jarring early. If it's too dry, you're pretty fracked, even if you introduce moisture again.

if you have low humidity combat that with smaller quarters for your cure or less ventilation and air circulation

Yep yep, and if necessary, put a shallow pan or tray in the curing room and fill it with hot water. This will bring the RH right up, but then you have to devise a way to keep it up and stable. It's amazing how much moisture a load of dry bud can soak up...

Well, they were still sticky when they went into the jars. I'm going to ventilate them quite a bit....but from what I've told you, have I dried too much, too fast?

What do you think my next move should be?

DON'T ventilate them quite a bit, you'll waste the little moisture you have to work with in the bud. You want it to begin curing now, you've dried it quite enough.

ya, i only vent my closet once a day and the bag 1 time a day, i just dump the buds out, break em up, put em back in and seal... 1 min vent. if even the tips of the bud or leaf feel crispy its too dry... the stuff should be soft all over

That's how we dooze it....

 

[Doc Bud]

OK, they're in mason jars with the lid on. I just cracked 'em, and there is not bad smell, just a fresh green smell, with a bit of a MJ undertone.

How often should I crack the jars? They are in a dark closet, about 74 degrees, in sealed jars.

 

[Flurple]

wow, awesome replies as always IRISH.

i guess ill keep my door open cuz the RH round the house is dead on 50%

and my buds in the bag are no longer sticking to each other but i do love seing them like that. thanks again for all the top notch info.

 

[Irish]

OK, they're in mason jars with the lid on. I just cracked 'em, and there is not bad smell, just a fresh green smell, with a bit of a MJ undertone.

How often should I crack the jars? They are in a dark closet, about 74 degrees, in sealed jars.

Right now, check them in the morning when you get up and in the evening when you crash. It may be beneficial if you can dump the temp a bit. 74 is a little warm--you can cope with it but cooler would help slow things down a bit. When you check your bud, touch them to see how soft they are and if they bounce back when squeezed or stay depressed. If they stay depressed, you should be "smelling the sweet" pretty soon. Don't leave the lid off very long--just long enough to smell, touch, and lightly fluff up the bud before sealing again. If they bounce back when squeezed, don't open the jar again for 24 hours, and then do just a quick check, no fluffing. Ideally, the bouquet should bloom and keep blooming like a bell-curve until opening the jar does not produce the thick, heady perfume that it did previously. At that point, your cure has come to its pinnacle and you should be able to seal and store indefinitely.

wow, awesome replies as always IRISH.

i guess ill keep my door open cuz the RH round the house is dead on 50%

and my buds in the bag are no longer sticking to each other but i do love seing them like that. thanks again for all the top notch info.

Me too! You should see my 3rd cutting Strawberry Cough--a solid pillow of black maroon.... Keep Fluffin 'em and resealing them like you have been and those puppies are going to be soooo dank!

​

 

[Doc Bud]

Thanks Irish and Flurple!

 

[Flurple]

no prob DOC

IRISH you have some crazy colors in your plants, i love it.

 

[Doc Bud]

Right now, check them in the morning when you get up and in the evening when you crash. It may be beneficial if you can dump the temp a bit. 74 is a little warm--you can cope with it but cooler would help slow things down a bit. When you check your bud, touch them to see how soft they are and if they bounce back when squeezed or stay depressed. If they stay depressed, you should be "smelling the sweet" pretty soon. Don't leave the lid off very long--just long enough to smell, touch, and lightly fluff up the bud before sealing again. If they bounce back when squeezed, don't open the jar again for 24 hours, and then do just a quick check, no fluffing. Ideally, the bouquet should bloom and keep blooming like a bell-curve until opening the jar does not produce the thick, heady perfume that it did previously. At that point, your cure has come to its pinnacle and you should be able to seal and store indefinitely.



Me too! You should see my 3rd cutting Strawberry Cough--a solid pillow of black maroon.... Keep Fluffin 'em and resealing them like you have been and those puppies are going to be soooo dank!

​

OK, temp's down to 70.
I opened the jars this morning, and the buds depress and stay when pinched. There is still a "green" smell, with no MJ smell, in the jars. Nothing smells rotten or moldy.....but the stems are no longer snappy. Things seem to have rehydrated.

 

[Flurple]

i am loving the yeasty smell. like pot bread baking.

IRISH, i got a few more ?s for ya...

since my harvest is staggered i was considering putting the next batch in the same bag with the other stuff. is that a bad idea in any way?

also i have family coming over, i have bagged the stuff that was just trimmed a little early. will venting the bag 3-4 times a day suffice?

 

[Flurple]

the holiday weekend is over and all went well... so what do you think about the ?s anyway.

 

[Irish]

i am loving the yeasty smell. like pot bread baking.

IRISH, i got a few more ?s for ya...

since my harvest is staggered i was considering putting the next batch in the same bag with the other stuff. is that a bad idea in any way?

I like to do separate micro-cures, so I keep everything in their own bag/jar/tub for the duration. If your first bag was tending to the over-dry side, I'd say go for it, because this can actually help the earlier bud. But if it's going good, just leave it to itself and manage the other on its own.

also i have family coming over, i have bagged the stuff that was just trimmed a little early. will venting the bag 3-4 times a day suffice?

Depends on how wet it is. If it's not too bad, leave a little air in the bag so you don't have to vent so much. But you're going to have to check it often to make sure it's not getting too wet. If family is gonna only be there for the day, you'll be okay. For a week? Well...just manage the moisture and vent as often as the bud gets soft. No matter what you do, you're going to have that yummy smell all over every time you open the bag. *LOL*

So sorry for the late reply. For some reason I don't always get email notification and I forget to check....

 

[Flurple]

thanks, everything went fine. now im busy trimming the wheelchairs that came down

 

[Irish]

thanks, everything went fine. now im busy trimming the wheelchairs that came down

Wheelchairs?

 

[Doc Bud]

my stuff is curing very well, thank you!

Due to the very low RH in my grow room, I had to bring everything inside. It was dry on the outside, but still moist on the inside. Everything re-hydrated after being sealed up for a few hours.

When I first brought them in, I sealed them up to equalize the moisture, then put them in paper bags for 24 hours, which dried them nicely.

I'm using glass storage trays, with airtite lids, about 12 hours on 12 hours off. I'm about to go to mostly sealed, with burping daily. Then totally sealed.

The green smell is gone and that nice sweet MJ smell is coming along....except with the Flo, which smells like dirt, but smokes very well.

 

[Irish]

my stuff is curing very well, thank you!

Due to the very low RH in my grow room, I had to bring everything inside. It was dry on the outside, but still moist on the inside. Everything re-hydrated after being sealed up for a few hours.

When I first brought them in, I sealed them up to equalize the moisture, then put them in paper bags for 24 hours, which dried them nicely.

I'm using glass storage trays, with airtite lids, about 12 hours on 12 hours off. I'm about to go to mostly sealed, with burping daily. Then totally sealed.

The green smell is gone and that nice sweet MJ smell is coming along....except with the Flo, which smells like dirt, but smokes very well.

Yay! Great! You got it under control. Excellent.

So Flo smells like dirt? What is her finished bud to leaf ratio? If you left many leaves in there, that's what you're smelling. I grew a Hashberry plant a few years ago whose buds were just thick with leaves--in fact, to do a decent trim left a bare stalk with little dime sized nugget berries dangling on crooked stems, kinda like Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree--so hating how they looked, I basically did a shave job on the buds before drying, which left a lotta lotta leaf in them but presented a picturesque bud. After the buds had cured they smelled very much like old dried portobello mushrooms with a hint of soysauce and humus. It was awful. But the buds themselves were thick with trichomes, just frosty. So I did the trim job I should have done in the first place and WOW! What a difference in smell, taste and smoke! The bag with the judiciously trimmed buds smelled so fruity, the bag with the shaved buds smelled like an ancient Chinatown market. *LOL*

So if it looks like you may have left Flo too much leaf, dive in and trim the salad out of the buds and bottle 'em up for a while. You may be amazed at the difference.

 

[Doc Bud]

Thanks Irish!

I do think I'm getting the hang of curing, thanks to your journal and this thread.

Flo was trimmed really well, the plant just doesn't smell like the others, which I'm told is normal for this strain. There's very little taste to the smoke....and people love the high.

Here's a question for you: what would happen if I but some really aromatic buds and dried them combined with Flo buds? Would the Flo smell better?

 

[Irish]

Thanks Irish!

I do think I'm getting the hang of curing, thanks to your journal and this thread.

Flo was trimmed really well, the plant just doesn't smell like the others, which I'm told is normal for this strain. There's very little taste to the smoke....and people love the high.

Here's a question for you: what would happen if I but some really aromatic buds and dried them combined with Flo buds? Would the Flo smell better?

Interesting. What is the genetics of the Flo?

If you're asking if the Flo would smell better due to osmosis with other more aromatic buds, I really don't think so. It may smell great while the aromatic buds are in with them, but once you grind the Flo buds up to smoke, it'll taste pretty much the same as it did before.

 

[Doc Bud]

Interesting. What is the genetics of the Flo?

If you're asking if the Flo would smell better due to osmosis with other more aromatic buds, I really don't think so. It may smell great while the aromatic buds are in with them, but once you grind the Flo buds up to smoke, it'll taste pretty much the same as it did before.

From what I've been able to learn from the NET, Flo has Thai and Afghani origins. The person I got the clone from grows it outdoors and when I shared with him my frustration about the smell he told me that was normal.

It smokes very well, and people really like it.

 

[Flurple]

im finally back... sorry, the wheelchairs are one of the strains im growing... electric wheelchair. didnt mean to confuse you.

im glad you mentioned the soil odor, my leaf is curing in bags and it had a funky smell so i kept drying it out... now its a little on the crispy side but no biggy i will know for next time.

 

[musikgenman]

This has been a great read. Unfortunately I have recently remedied my own problem.
In my part of the world the RH is really high in the summer and really low in the winter.I have RH at levels like 20% throughout my house in the winter months. I had to dry a few plants like this before getting a humidifier. The temps in the area fluctuated from 55f to 65f a little on the low side, and the RH being 20-24% it creates what I believe a crazy situation where only my budz can suffer. so the low temps and it dries slowly but the low RH allows it to dry fast, so the two variables have to create a bad environment. Until I got the humidifier I figured that the environment wasn't the greatest but at least I wasn't getting budrot. Although, I can really tell the difference between the plants that dried quickly and the plants that dried slowly.
I say it in my current journal but learning about Relative Humidity has definately seemed like the greatest lesson learned, a true triumph in my quest to grow and cure the best Cannabis possible.

To me a Hygrometer to Cannabis is what a Hydrometer is to Beer/Wine. A must have!

Musik