So lets say that you have individual branches hanging with the fan leaves and most other leaves trimed off. How much shrinkage will you have after this?. I have searched the threads and havnt seen an answer to this. Thanks..
It partly depends on how dense and well filled out your buds were to begin with. A premature harvest will shrink more than a nice ripe plant. But expect them to shrink at least by half. If you have a cola that's the size of your wrist, after shrinking it will be a couple fingers thick. Or if the cola is at thick as a soda can, it will come out more the size around of a ritz cracker.
I always work on about 1/4 or 25%, it's best to over guess- estimate, but it comes out about right depending on time of year...for me anyways peace "V"
to question further, I would like to know after full drying how much they would shrink in the curing process, actual weight
Weight shouldn't change in the cure; most of the water is gone and that's what causes the fluctuations. It would be miniscule if the buds do drop weight during the cure, as you let moisture out through the burp.
I would like to say that I think the drying temp/humidity greatly effects shrinkage. It won't effect final dry weight however. But I am only comparing to buds I quick dry in warmer dryer areas to buds I give the full treatment to.