The leaf is the main production factory . And i leave them on all the way thru including hang drying, i cut them off when they start to get dry and do that in 3 cuts , on the last cut i check stem for plyable snap then finish the dry in racks. Then i put them in cvaults to finish the cure for 7 to 10 days[with 62 bovedas] burping every other day. Then i take out and seal them up with co2 if moving the product soon, if long term storage then i use nitrogen and cool dark. The stuff just rocks the world. I sell lots of cvaults to many growers each week. I give them 1 to try and they by dozens afterwrds.