im harvesting 5 plants today, on December 23rd... On January 4th I am leaving on vacation for 1 week. So, I have 7 days for drying and 4 days of curing before I need to leave, what do I do for the time I am on vacation? I cure using mason jars, burping them once a day, but stince I will be away I am afraid of leaving the buds in mason jars cuz without burping they might get mold. Is there a slow cure I could do when I am away, maybe leave them in paper bags until I come back? What would you do if you were in my situation? also, I usually dry by hanging the buds on stems in a cardboard box, is it a big deal if I don't hang the stems but just lay them inside the closed cardboard box/
Not sure off the top of my head what you can do? How long are you going to be gone. A couple of days and you might not have a problem. A week and you could run into issues. I would have this moved to the harvesting and curing section and see if you get any suggestions over there.
You should PM one of the mods. They can move it for you. If you repost, just make sure you delete this post. Good luck.
i'd dry them as well as possible, like cut em off the stems and big branches, leaving on no more than an inch of branch at the base... then trim all leaves well, bind the buds up on strings and hang em (cool, dark place with mild ventilation, nothing blowing at them directly) for a week at least, cure them for 4 days, burping twice daily... also it's way better to use one or two jars too many, layering the bud in loosely than to sqeeze the bud in which helps mold. then when u leave for vacation, dump them all out, inspect and refill... then leave the jars open a crack, allowing them to breathe... when you come back, inspect em, dump em all out, re-fill and re-seal them and you should be fine and able to continue the cure or just smoke it... and of course, always where you handle bud you wanna store for a longer time, use clean materials and wash your hands well if the bud gets too dry over that week (i think too moist will be more of an issue) just put them in the jars together with some fresher bud for example, leave that in there for an hour or two, remove and seal overnight... the next day the moisture is well spread (works with lots of plant material apart from fresher buds... such as fan-leaves, apple slices, etc... just don't leave it in too long...) good luck and happy holidays
you can try the paper bag idea in this thread to dry them out faster, http://forum.grasscity.com/harvesting-processing/424138-simple-harvest-cure-step-step.html then when your off on your vacation you could maybe put them in jars, but instead of covering it with a lid you could put like a screen on to help let the moisture escape gradually. i think it should be fine even if they do over dry, you can put a orange peel when you get back to help rehydrate them. Good luck
thanks for the advice, i really appreciate it. is it ok if my house gets mad cold when i'm away, like 40F?
so, after drying for 7 days (temp:50F, humidity: 40%) by hanging all stems inside cardboard boxes, today when i put all the weed into mason jars i realized that it has really over dried. Another noob mistake. So now, with vacation approaching in 4 days i'm thinking I will just leave the weed in the mason jars shut. Do you think I will get mold? Any advice at this point?
id just suspend operations and throw all the bud into the freezer, that way you can finish drying and properly cure the buds to ensure no mold
finish drying? My buds are over dried at this point, they do not need any more drying time. The only thing they need now is to be re moisturized with some fruit peels but in 4 days im out on vacation for a week. so, i can put all the mason jars in the freezer, but what will that do?
DONT PUT FRUIT PEELS IN YOUR WEED! Put your shit in jars and go on vacation, when you come back you will be suprised to see that there is moisture again. I dry my weed until it FEELS over dry every time. After a couple days in jars the moisture that is held in the stems will seep into the flowers. DONT ADD OUTSIDE MOISTURE TO YOUR GRIP, you will ruin it.
ChochMachio, thanks man, I hope you are right. So, I started curing yesterday but i shouldn't open the jars until I come back from vacation in 11 days?
Open them once a day until you go on vacation. Re-arrange them daily and check for mold. You will be alright dude. Even if you do end up on the dry side, it is better than the wet side. Outside moisture will SEVERELY reduce potency.
so i have been curing them daily, taking them out and burping them for 1 hour. Now, on Monday I am leaving for 7 days and I need to decide should i: 1. keep the jars closed for 7 days? 2. have a friend come and open them once during my vaca? 3. keep the jars slightly open (maybe with a screen on top) for 7 days? What would you do?
as long as there isnt any moisture in the jar just leave them closed. Unless you want your friend pinching your shit! HAHA!
yea, the bud is pretty dry but I guess not over dried as previously stated. I think it will be fine for a week in jars. There is no moisture forming on the grass.
Yeah second, that. Are these the same buds you were having the dilemma over waiting to get amber trichs or pulling with to stop the encroachment of yellow dieing leaves? Would love to see what some of that bud ended up looking like, dried and cured as I have a plant that's very close to what yours looked like. respect.