Trouble reading today's article? Click here: Issue #163 - Sunday, May 31, 2015 Dear Fellow
Grower, In today's issue... - How you dry and cure your bud is just as important as how you grow
it! Make sure you finish the right way!
- Get your hands on an absolute beast of a strain that has quickly become a favorite in our household!
- An anonymous reader sent in some pics of
his/her overachieving plant. I don't think this plant could've produced any more bud if it wanted to!
Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of
GrowWeedEasy.com)
"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."
~Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Tips for Expertly Drying and Curing Your Bud! by Nebula Haze |
Table of Contents (links open at appropriate spot in article at GrowWeedEasy.com)
- Harvest: Harvest on the early side for more of a psychoactive, in-your-head effect, but very early harvests can sometimes trigger anxiousness or headaches. Harvest later for more of a tingly, body effect, though buds harvested very late tend to cause sleepiness. The most common way to
harvest is: cut down branches, trim off unwanted leaves, then hang branches upside down in a ventilated area.
- Drying: Dry buds slowly for 4-14 days. The amount of drying time will be different depending
on your local temperature and humidity. Avoid letting buds touch each other during drying, especially in high humidity. Watch buds closely to make sure they're not drying to a crisp overnight (drying too fast), or parts of buds feel wet and don't seem to be drying (drying too slow). Drying is finished when small stems start to snap instead of bend.
- 1st Level Curing: Put buds in quart-sized glass mason jars for at least 2 weeks. Curing for 2-4 weeks will reduce “harshness,” the fresh cut grass smell of newly dried buds, as well as help prevent headaches and anxious effects. Open jars at least once a day for a minute or
two. The outside of all the buds should never feel wet; if they feel wet then leave lid off jar for an hour or two until they feel dry again, and go back to curing.
- 2nd Level Curing: Continue
curing buds for up to 6 months to further increase smoothness and potency (while buds "feel stronger," it's unknown whether 2nd level curing has any effect on the medical benefits of cannabis)
- Long-Term
Storage: After 6 months, you should prepare your buds for long-term storage.
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Introduction
It takes a lot of patience to wait for
your buds to mature until they're ready for harvest. Many cannabis growers (especially first-time growers) have a tendency to harvest their cannabis too early out of excitement.
To test your patience even more, after you've harvested your cannabis, buds still need to be dried and “cured” to achieve the proper taste, smell and potency most growers are looking for in high-quality
buds.
Drying and curing your buds improperly (or not drying and curing at all) will result in buds that are harsh, taste/smell bad, and actually seem less potent. Improperly dried and cured buds can also give you a headache or increase your chances of feeling anxious or paranoid during use. This article will give you hints and tips to achieve the perfect dry/cure every time so you produce the best
buds possible with every harvest.
Why Do Growers Cure Buds After Harvest?
Here’s what drying and curing cannabis will do for you…
- Dramatically improves taste of buds after harvest
- Gets rid of the unpleasant “fresh hay” or “cut grass” smell which is common on newly harvested buds
- Brings out the subtle flavors and unique smell of your cannabis strain
- Reduces “harshness” in buds; you’re less likely to start coughing or get a headache
- Buds that are dried/cured properly are less likely to cause anxiety, racing thoughts, or paranoia
- Increases storage time; you can store properly dried/cured buds for years and buds will retain a lot of their original potency
- Reduce
the chance of mold growing on your buds
- Curing increases the perceived “potency” of your buds. Buds actually produce stronger effects!
Detailed Breakdown of the Dry/Cure Process
Harvest
Harvesting your cannabis at the right time will dramatically increase the quality of your buds. When do I harvest? The first step of a great dry/cure is to harvest your cannabis the right way at the right time. During harvest, you will cut the buds from your cannabis plant. How do I harvest the buds from the plant? For most growers, harvesting plants means cutting stems with buds on them away from the main plant.
At this point, most growers will trim the extra leaves off their newly harvested buds. Leaves do not contain as much THC and other cannabinoids as the buds themselves, and
leaving too many leaves on the buds will contribute to “harshness.”
Don’t worry, you can still use the extra leaves or “trim” to make hash or edibles (like Canna Caps, Cannabis Extract Oil or Dry Ice Hash). These processes extract the “good stuff” from the leaves of the plant, while getting rid of the inert matter in the leaves that can cause harshness.
Some growers choose to trim leaves
off the buds after the drying process, but please note that trimming after drying is much more difficult! I only recommend waiting to trim if you live in a very dry area (extremely low humidity), and absolutely need the leaves to help slow down the drying process. Otherwise it's recommended that most growers trim their cannabis buds immediately after harvest.
Here's some examples to help show you
what I mean.
Drying before trimming (not recommended unless you live in a extremely dry environment) The buds still have all of their leaves because they were not trimmed before being hung to dry Drying after trimming (recommended)
Notice how the leaves have been mostly trimmed away before the buds were hung up to dry Drying: Dry buds slowly, for 4-14 days
While “drying” and “curing” are usually thought of as two separate events, the "curing" process actually starts as soon as you cut your buds from your plants. Drying your cannabis buds slowly is a part of achieving the best cure.
It’s important to leave just the right amount of moisture before taking buds
down. If you dry the buds too quickly, or too much, it can actually halt the whole curing process so you don't get as much benefits or improvement from jarring your buds.
When deciding when to pull buds down during the drying process, it's better to err on the side of leaving buds too wet than too dry. You can always dry buds more, but the curing process will not go as well if you've dried your
buds too much.
Some growers like to use mesh racks for the drying process. I personally believe most growers, especially small-scale growers, will get the best results by drying their buds hanging upside down
with buds still attached to their stems.
When using mesh racks, buds will dry quicker because you cut the buds off the stems (which contain moisture and help the buds dry slowly). Being horizontal (as buds will be on a mesh rack) also seems to make buds dry more quickly. Additionally, buds tend to flatten on the side that's lying on the mesh due to gravity and the softness of
buds.
Racks will help your buds dry faster (and prevent mold), so they are a great choice if you live in a high humidity area, and/or if you're drying a LOT of buds in a small area. If you're drying a pound or more of buds in a small space, you may want to invest in a mesh rack to make sure buds don't mold.
Remember how we had to trim the buds earlier? Racks are also useful for those who have huge harvests because it is easier/faster to trim buds when they’ve been separated from the stems. Some growers even use trimming machines to trim buds, but machines need the buds to be separated from their stems. Trimming buds while still on the stems can be time-consuming. A rack allows you to dry buds no matter how they've been trimmed, even if they've been separated
from the stems.
That being said, I highly recommend trimming your buds while still on their stems, then hanging them upside down if possible. You want your buds to dry relatively slowly to achieve the best cure, and I've always achieved the best results by drying my cannabis buds by hanging them upside down by their stems. When I've used mesh racks to dry my buds, they've always tended to dry too
quickly.
Whether your hanging your buds or drying them on a mesh rack, don't let buds touch each other during the drying process! This increases the likelihood that your buds will get mold. Throughout the drying/curing process, it's a battle between drying too fast and the possibility of mold. One of the best things you can do to prevent mold is to never let buds that feel wet on the outside touch
each other.
Never let buds touch each other during the drying process (arrange them so buds don't touch) When it comes to drying slowly, it's good to aim for a drying process that has your buds ready to put in jars after about 7 days. That being said, growers have dried buds for only a few days, and up to a few weeks and still gotten great
results.
The most important thing to remember is to always take buds down and put them in the jars before they're too dry. If they're too wet, there's still a lot you can do to dry them out more, but you can't fix overdried buds.
When are buds done drying? Your buds are ready to
be placed in jars when the outsides of buds start to feel dry to the touch. At this point, some of the small stems will snap, though the thicker stems should still have a small amount of flex when you try to bend them in half. This flex indicates that there's still moisture contained inside the stems, which is what you need for the curing process.
1st Level Curing: Keep buds in glass mason jars for 2-4 Weeks
When buds have just finished drying, they tend to have a "fresh cut grass" smell instead of the skunky or sweet scent they carried during the flowering stage. If smoked,
newly dried buds which haven't been cured tend to be “harsh” and are more likely to cause headaches, racing thoughts or anxiety.
1st level curing will reduce harshness and bring out the natural taste and smell of your cannabis. It will make your buds smoother and can actually increase the perceived potency compared to newly dried buds.
Use glass mason jars that are quart-sized with a wide mouth, like this: Never leave buds closed in jars for long periods of time if they feel moist or wet! You need to open your jars at least daily and monitor your buds closely for
the first few weeks, and this gives you a perfect chance to check on the moisture levels of your buds.
If you ever notice that buds feel moist or wet, you should leave jars open for 20 minutes to an hour (or until the outsides of the buds feel dry to the touch). If buds ever are left in jars while they feel wet on the outside, they are much more likely to get mold! Buds should feel dry on the
outside every time you close them in your jars.
During the first few weeks of the curing process, it's normal for buds to periodically feel wet as the moisture from the inside of the buds works its way to the outside. That's a good thing because it means you didn't overdry the buds, but this is also part of why it's so important to open jars at least daily for the first few weeks - you need to
check on them and control the moisture levels.
This article got a bit long! Click here to view the rest of this article:
One of Our Favorite Strains: Critical Kush! |
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I like to think of Critical Kush as a slow moving bulldozer. Its potency is on par with powerhouse strains like Liberty Haze or Sour Diesel, but it takes a little longer to take effect. This gives Critical Kush a more relaxing feel that transitions into a couchlock that sneaks up out of
nowhere!
But don't be fooled, this is a beastly quick flowering plant. Ours flowered indoors during a hot summer and proved to be resilient despite hot lights and high temperatures.
Plus it's from Barneys Farm, so you know it's gonna be good!
Get your hands on some |
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"Your website is by far the most comprehensive, user friendly and experienced resource out there. I use it all the time and if I have a question on my grow I consult your site first! Thanks so much!! So much better than some forum!"
~ Adam |
Trophy Pictures of the Week! |
This set of trophy pics was sent in by an anonymous grower. No name, no message, just beautiful pics for us all to enjoy. Good job, anonymous person!
-Sirius |
We encourage you to forward this email to a friend in need!
Who Runs This
Newsletter? |
Nebula Haze:
Medical cannabis is important to me personally, and I'm dedicated to showing others how easy it is to grow their own supply of
cannabis at home.
It is my mission to educate and build growing resources to help both new and advanced growers get bigger, better yields with less time and money. |
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Learn which seed sources are personally recommended by Nebula Haze |
Sirius Fourside:
Sirius Fourside is a hobbyist grower who has gained the bulk of his experience growing in water as a medium(deep water culture,
bubbleponics).
"Growing cannabis is a relaxing hobby in and of itself, but it also saves you money and keeps you from having to deal with shady characters. Cannabis is much
easier to grow than people give it credit for, and growing in water doesn't increase the difficulty much, if any. But whether you want to grow in water, coco, or a different medium, we'll show you how easy it can be!"
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GrowWeedEasy.com has put together a hand-picked list of all the available SEED BANKS including what type of payment they
accept and where they ship in the world!
View complete list of trusted seed sources:
http://www.growweedeasy.com/seeds
Why not start your grow with quality genetics from an award-winning
strain? Or choose a strain that suits your growing style and personal needs. Still not sure? We recommend Nirvana. They've been breeding award-winning strains for decades
and offer some of the most reliable stealth shipping in the industry. In our complete seed sources list you'll discover... - Which Seed Sources are Fast, Safe and Reliable (list is updated regularly)
- Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Check Money Order, Paypal & even more secure payment options!
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