Mr. Spacely
New Member
Mr. Spacely here,
I am somewhat of a newbie but I've had my go around a few times. The end result has always been fantastic but not quite up to the standard I want to be. Fluffy, slightly crispy, slightly hay smelling bud. The better i got the better it was, more dense buds, more potent smell.. but i want the highest quality possible, super dense buds, awesome aromas, great flavor, and not crispy but completely dry and properly cured. I was able to improve the cure greatly by buying a hygrometer that fits in the mason jars and really dialing down the drying/curing process.
One thing i didn't find a handy secret for harvest, i have looked and looked but could not find many threads on the actual harvest. I'll type up what i've been doing and if everyone wants to share their method or tips to improve final bud quality through harvesting techniques, please do!
I only have one plant at a time so it seemed easiest to just plan a big portion of my manicure when i harvest. Since i LST there's been many cola buds and other smaller type of colas with longer stems. I'll chop each of the stems at their base and trim the leaf as close to the buds as possible. I collect all the sugar leaf for cooking oil and some of the more scraggly buds for hemp oil to have on hand should it ever be needed. The brownies from last harvest's cooking oil just completely messes me up so i'm thinking i want to make hash out of the sugar leaf this time, maybe edibles just aren't for me.
Each of the the stems gets tied up with string to hang in a closet, in the dark with RH 40% 70 degrees F and some direct airflow. (I think this is why the buds have been a little crispy but i don't want them to mold and have read there should be some airflow). It only takes 2-3 days before the outside of the bud is dry to the touch but a little spongy inside. I'll then cut all the buds up individually and pack into mason jars with the hygrometer. There is great info somewhere on this forum on how to cure with a hygrometer but basically the cure zone is 55-60% humidity. I think this made mine a little dry so next time i'm going to try to get there a little slower and keep it 60-65% for a little longer.
Now i know for a fact my method is not perfect, its not fantastic, and might not even be great, but so far its been a good effective way to completely dry and cure some smokeable bud. Most importantly, its been something i can build upon. That's something i try to do every grow, build upon and improve one thing in each aspect of growing. For my next grow please help me improve my harvest!
I have read that it is better to chop down the whole plant and hang it as a whole. This lets the moisture out from the stem a lot slower as opposed to a quick dry and some of the cells actually locking in moisture and chlorophyll and other shhhtuff that we don't want staying in there. Can anyone attest to this?
I've read that in between moving from hang dry to the jars its a great time to drop buds on a screen or mirror to catch kief that would otherwise just be stuck to the inside of the mason jars. My last harvest i thought about this and my bud is just too dry to do it i think. Too many hairs and dried up leave and other plant particles would flake onto the mirror if i drop them. Does anyone else do this? I hear you can get a great amount of kief doing this... but does dropping it maybe just take kief away that you would otherwise be smoking had the bud not been dropped? I dunno.
Today i read that if you manicure close enough it can prevent the need for a flush. The less leaf particle smoked the less you'd taste any buildup of nutrient in the leaves. Then instead of giving the plant no nutrition for the last two critical weeks of her life you could feed her, and probably backing off nutrient levels enough to simulate the end of her life but not enough to stress her. Possibly extend the dark period incrementally throughout the last few weeks (and maybe total darkness a few last days???) to encourage that last trichome production? If you could still feed the plants nutrients increasing dark period might not be as stressful and in the end less stress is more yield.
Just some ideas i had bouncing, or floating, around in my head for the night. I look forward to any and all feedback comments or criticisms.
Night errbody
Mr. Spacely
I am somewhat of a newbie but I've had my go around a few times. The end result has always been fantastic but not quite up to the standard I want to be. Fluffy, slightly crispy, slightly hay smelling bud. The better i got the better it was, more dense buds, more potent smell.. but i want the highest quality possible, super dense buds, awesome aromas, great flavor, and not crispy but completely dry and properly cured. I was able to improve the cure greatly by buying a hygrometer that fits in the mason jars and really dialing down the drying/curing process.
One thing i didn't find a handy secret for harvest, i have looked and looked but could not find many threads on the actual harvest. I'll type up what i've been doing and if everyone wants to share their method or tips to improve final bud quality through harvesting techniques, please do!
I only have one plant at a time so it seemed easiest to just plan a big portion of my manicure when i harvest. Since i LST there's been many cola buds and other smaller type of colas with longer stems. I'll chop each of the stems at their base and trim the leaf as close to the buds as possible. I collect all the sugar leaf for cooking oil and some of the more scraggly buds for hemp oil to have on hand should it ever be needed. The brownies from last harvest's cooking oil just completely messes me up so i'm thinking i want to make hash out of the sugar leaf this time, maybe edibles just aren't for me.
Each of the the stems gets tied up with string to hang in a closet, in the dark with RH 40% 70 degrees F and some direct airflow. (I think this is why the buds have been a little crispy but i don't want them to mold and have read there should be some airflow). It only takes 2-3 days before the outside of the bud is dry to the touch but a little spongy inside. I'll then cut all the buds up individually and pack into mason jars with the hygrometer. There is great info somewhere on this forum on how to cure with a hygrometer but basically the cure zone is 55-60% humidity. I think this made mine a little dry so next time i'm going to try to get there a little slower and keep it 60-65% for a little longer.
Now i know for a fact my method is not perfect, its not fantastic, and might not even be great, but so far its been a good effective way to completely dry and cure some smokeable bud. Most importantly, its been something i can build upon. That's something i try to do every grow, build upon and improve one thing in each aspect of growing. For my next grow please help me improve my harvest!
I have read that it is better to chop down the whole plant and hang it as a whole. This lets the moisture out from the stem a lot slower as opposed to a quick dry and some of the cells actually locking in moisture and chlorophyll and other shhhtuff that we don't want staying in there. Can anyone attest to this?
I've read that in between moving from hang dry to the jars its a great time to drop buds on a screen or mirror to catch kief that would otherwise just be stuck to the inside of the mason jars. My last harvest i thought about this and my bud is just too dry to do it i think. Too many hairs and dried up leave and other plant particles would flake onto the mirror if i drop them. Does anyone else do this? I hear you can get a great amount of kief doing this... but does dropping it maybe just take kief away that you would otherwise be smoking had the bud not been dropped? I dunno.
Today i read that if you manicure close enough it can prevent the need for a flush. The less leaf particle smoked the less you'd taste any buildup of nutrient in the leaves. Then instead of giving the plant no nutrition for the last two critical weeks of her life you could feed her, and probably backing off nutrient levels enough to simulate the end of her life but not enough to stress her. Possibly extend the dark period incrementally throughout the last few weeks (and maybe total darkness a few last days???) to encourage that last trichome production? If you could still feed the plants nutrients increasing dark period might not be as stressful and in the end less stress is more yield.
Just some ideas i had bouncing, or floating, around in my head for the night. I look forward to any and all feedback comments or criticisms.
Night errbody
Mr. Spacely
