Beginner - Struggling with Cure Process

So they’ve only been in the jar for a week?

 

Keep trying. My first grow was wildly successful, almost 2 pounds of pot. But it smelled like hay. In retrospect, I did a ton of stuff wrong. Nutes too strong. Knee jerk fucking around with the res when I probably didn’t need to. Over reacting to minor shit, regular noob stuff. I dried in the open, and it got a little dry a bit quickly.

The second grow went much better. This time I used the ghetto paper bag dry method and did a better job managing the rH. And the grow itself was much more laid back. Added a UVA lamp for taste and smell. Still got a faint hay smell and middling quality, but I was on the right track.

Week 3 of flower on the third grow now. I think each grow gets a little better and at some point it gets easy. Got my fingers crossed that I see an even bigger improvement this time. This time I did a proper job of removing the larf as it was coming in, so fewer but bigger and better formed buds.

Put cheap little hygrometers in the jars so you can tell if they need to be burped or not.

 

This will eliminate the guesswork.

 

I haven’t had good luck drying in the open. Ideal drying environment is black, about 75F / 55 rh with a fan blowing around but not on. Deviate from those parameters and the results really suffer.

The last grow I lined the bottom of a large paper bag with a single layer of bud, dropped in the hygrometer, and let them sit still in the tent for a week with a fan blowing around the closed bags. Check on them occasionally and flip them over, if the humidity exceeds 55, leave them open for a bit, otherwise just reseal. After a week I jar them and include a hygrometer in the jar, you can get a dozen for cheap.

Still far from perfect, but such better results the last time with the bags. I think the 7 days after the cut makes or breaks the grow.

The weed from my first grow ended up being not that great, and it was expensive too, considering the start up cost. But it still got me plenty high and headed into the second grow. Hoping it gets a little better every time.

 

I have to disagree with the above poster - 55% is too dry and out of the cure zone.
Follow this chart for a perfect cure. Good luck.

 

Haha! 60-65% ok, I would have thought that sounded too high but I guess not. I get paranoid about mold, but maybe this adjustment will help me to perfect my drying game for my third harvest. Thank you!

 

My grow is So Calif and between the temps and the very low humidity it's very easy to over dry.. Even a single day to long on the line can ruin it all..
To keep the wife happy all my work is restricted to the garage so I get to be inventive at times.. If you search long enough you'll come across the 777 of curing .. This being the 7 days @ 70 degrees @ 70% humidity.. Works well if you have a temp and humidity controlled room.. We don't so we use jars to achieve the same ends..

While I started in jars this soon proved impractical trying to unscrew all the jars over and over.. Some trial and error later I worked out a method to limit exposure to our stone dry air and still get things done in a timely way..

I take the plant a branch at a time and trim close while seconds off the living plant.. All the leafs are standing tall and you don't get a better shot at trimming.. Hang..
http://forum.grasscity.com/uploads/m...1393031894.jpg

Depending on temp and humidity this stage can take from 24 hours to a week.. just hung bud is dead limp to the touch after 12 hours or so.... When the buds start to stiffen when slightly compressed I remove from the branches..
http://forum.grasscity.com/uploads/m...1393031909.jpg

And the buds get placed in cut down paper shopping bags about 3 inches tall..
http://forum.grasscity.com/uploads/m...1393031922.jpg

Next I place the bags in a air snug-tight container.. Mostly I use either an Ice Chest or a New unused Trash Can.. I try and size the container to the load.. You don't want 1 bag of buds in a trash can..
While I did use several hygrometers early on for this stage I've since found I can do it all just by feel now.. Leave bags in can till limp to the touch again.. This first day that won't take very long. a couple of hours... Once limp remove from container and set bags out till stiff when compressed slightly.. I'll flip the contents of the bags to a third bag to get the lowest buds up on top.. I'll continue this rotation of the bags into and out of the container gradually spending less and less time exposed.. the last few days the bags will only be out an hour or so.. This takes me about 7 days..
This is where I do use the Hygrometers.. The can is now acting like a large jar.. Your best readings come in the morning after the can has had 12 hours or more to stabilize and will tell you how much exposure your product will need that day.. Combined with a hygrometer telling me what is outside helps..
http://forum.grasscity.com/uploads/m...1381192804.jpg

A full can requiring a single meter as well as being able to get the product in and out rapidly made this a much more practical way at least in the extremely dry SW USA..

Once the can has reached 65% and 7 to 10 days have elapsed It gets jarred in Half Gallon mason jars with a 62% Boveda 60 gram and I'm done.. 60 days minimum cure time for me.. Longer is better but you'll have a very respectable smoke in 2 months..
http://forum.grasscity.com/uploads/m...1393296931.jpg


Caution this may get you a large container of mold in a less dry area.. Just what I've worked out in my smoking hot and extremely dry garage..

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We're giving the remaining chlorophyll time to break down preventing harshness and that mowed lawn stink of dried to fast weed.. Living in a very low humidity zone this showed up in my grow right off the bat with grassy smelling weed that smoked like liquid fire.. All that work down the drain..
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I just posted this on another thread so I'll cross post it here for your enjoyment..
leagalAlaska, on 17 Nov 2015 - 08:13 AM, said:
< blockquote class="ipsBlockquote built" data-author="leagalAlaska" data-time="1447776815" data-cid="22166544"><cite class="ipb" style="display: none;" contenteditable="false">leagalAlaska, on 17 Nov 2015 - 08:13 AM, said:</cite>Over the last year or so I've had few successful harvests. I'm really working on my cure. It's really dry where I live in Alaska. The moisture just isn't in the air. I purchased a small humidifier to try to raise humidity in my drying room. I read that a dry should take 7-10 days. Usually mine are crispy with stems snapping in as low as 3-5. Then I move to mason jars, I burp them regularly about once a day for 5-10 minutes. No one has ever complained about my buds, most say it's the smoothest they have had and great flavor. I think I still need to get it better though. Is it drying too fast? And is it affecting the cure?

Also I always do a wet trim because I fine it to be the best way to trim. Down side to that is it dries faster, the more materiel I have the slower it dries. Any advice welcome!

< /blockquote> Your up against the same wall I was here in Southern California.. We get a local wind condition called a Santa Ana that blasts super dry desert air over the basin and out to sea.. The humidity drops into the single numbers and it was turning all my great smelling harvests to grassy smelling shit for the most part.. Even extended time in jars wasn't helping.. It took me a while but I did figure it out and your on the right track.. Slow dry was the key I needed..
I wet trim as it's the best way to get all the crap off with every leaf standing tall.. Even a few minutes wait and they wilt more then I like.. So keep on trimming just seconds off the living plant.. It's the hang you have to shorten to just a day or 2.. I hang till the pop corn stiffens up.. Not the stem the Buds.. Play squeeze the Charmin with it and do NOT let it get to dry..
Think of it like cooking meat.. To done is just that and you can't un-cook that lovely steak.. Can't un-dry that cannabis either.. Below 55 % humidity all curing process stop and won't restart.. It's a one time deal with no do-overs..

My dirty hippy trim as my friend TTS calls it.. I'm old and don't have the hand for endless trimming and I'll hash 90% of it anyhow..

hot dry garage hang only until the small stuff stiffens up.. 1 or 2 days most of the time but it can go longer if the humidity is high..

While it's still on the very wet side I'll either glove and yank strip or snip off all the buds with grape scissors..
It all gets placed in cut down paper shopping bags.. This lets me move it rapidly back and forth between the cans I use to slow the dry and the top of the washer and dryer I use during the day..
The humidity jumped back up and this group spent about a day on the screen to firm up..

After just about 6 hours it went back in the bags and in the can for the night.. I bought a couple of new trash cans for this and I try and size the can to the load.. I have an Ice Chest I use for smaller runs..


I use several humidity gauges as they tend to be wildly off .. 2 or 3 of them and average the read..
I'll either dig in and fluff the buds up by hand or dump them into another bag to keep things stirred up and drying evenly

Your target is 65% after about 7 days.. Then I pack in 1/2 gallon mason jars with a 60 gram size.. 62 % humidity.. Boveda pack..
And your done.. It's perfectly dried to the exactly cure range and the Boveda packs insure it stays on the mark.. No need to play the open and burp game with the jars..

Just what I've worked out here on the Brass Pharm.. Your local conditions may need to tweak this as no two zones dry alike.. Shopping bags and Trash cans FTMFW.. Sorry but it did take a while and I plain ruined a ton of smoke figuring it out..
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Copied from elsewhere. Growing and dry-cure in the smoking hot and dry Southwest taught me many brutal lessons on what NOT to do more then anything else.

Think of drying Cannabis like cooking a very expensive hunk of Prime Beef. You only get one shot at cooking it to medium rare. A few minutes to long and it's suddenly WELL DONE. and there is no coming back from that. Can't un-cook meat and you can't un-dry cannabis.
Once dried to far it just is. Done, Finished, No do overs.

Ask on anything that isn't perfectly clear.

BNW

 

Cure takes weeks man I do a 45 day cure then the rest of harvest continues to cure as its stored. Your prob looking at 3-4 weeks before ya smell a difference.