Hi GC, So I'm curing my 2nd harvest, I vegged this plant for 2 months, LST'd, topped and fed correctly. Flushed for a week. It is a bubba kush plant btw. I live in a very dry environment, and after 2 days in "hanging" they have decreased at least 30-40% in size. They also became very dry, so I put them in jars, where they regained some moisture. My last harves shrunk so much the buds looked so small and just not what I would have expected from what my plant looked like. I assumed this was my error in curing. any advice? I dont is to happen again. Thanks all, everything is appreciated
they usually lose up to 75% of their mass. drying too fast like that will cause the smoke to be a little harsh. if they regain moisture, let them dry more. if you leave them locked up moist, they will mold quick.
i usually let mine hang a min of 7 days... they will feel very very dry but it pulls a little bit of moister out of the stems.... unless you have a bunch of popcorn nugs 2 days and jar might give u a bit of mold.
depending on humidity, it will depend on how long to hang before curing. I hang mine until it feels crispy, but not so much that the stems will snap if bent. I put it in jars then and keep checking them for moisture. NOt much you're going to be able to do about how small they get after drying though, that I know of.
There's no wrong way, until you're not happy with it… but there are ways that make you more (and more) happy with your own product. Myself, I use a drying rack, and have for the past couple years. I like being able to remove the wood before the flower dries too much. But I used the hang-from-stem method for years, here's my method: Hang until stems make a slight snap sound when bent (not snaps in two), then put the product into brown paper bags and fold tight on top with a clip. This allows for the remaining moisture to equalize inside, while the paper absorbs any excess moisture. And checking jars (burping/breathing) is critical. Most ruined smoke is wet, not dry. … again my problem with this method was the amount of loss breaking-down the flowers dry, this handling process lost a lot of keif imho. You said this was vegged for 2 months, how long did you flower? I'm assuming you brought it to full cycle… the plant in the pic looks to be about 3 weeks into flowering, yes? a Kush plant inside should take 7-9 weeks flower time (approximate, tricomes dictate).
I flowered for 9 weeks until the trics were cloudy and amber - the plant in the pic is only my sig, not the actual plant. But thank you for your advice i will be trying you method soon.
Put a hygrometer in the jar... If the RH is 55% or less you dried too long. In general you want 60-65% unless you are storing for a long time.