I can’t dry or cure properly

[Ducky1]

3 grows now over the space of a couple years ranging from a couple ounce grow to 10+ And have never been able to dry/cure properly.

l harvested one batch a month or so ago, cut the stalks and hung them by that for a few days, it didn’t seem to dry very quick then stunk of hay, thinking it was drying too slow I put the heating on in the room to 20 degrees then the buds went crispy very quick, put them in a jar to cure them and there’s no flavour, taste, smell or high to them.

I have just harvested another batch 3-4 days ago. Having failed the first method I instead put all my buds in a drying net, the smaller buds have crisped up way too fast and have no smell to them, the larger buds have a terp smell to them and are pretty wet still. They were hanging in 20 degrees in a room with lots of air circulating around and it was about 50 humidity. I’ve been thinking they’re supposed to stay around 60-65% so have instead put them in a spare tent and sprayed water around the tent to raise it to 65% humidity. What am I doing wrong? I’ve had problems attempting grows since April last year.....2 months ago was the first batch I got right through until harvest But the drying process failed for me. Now I’m on a fresh harvest after a few days cut and I can feel the drying/curing process slipping out of my grasp and failing once more. Can someone please help me out I’ve spent so much money, time and effort on something that has given me nothing back except stress and a broken bank and at this point I feel even though I’ve successfully trimmed all the buds off I’m going to have a failed harvest.

what are my options here? Grab the small crispy buds and put them in a jar as soon as possible and just try to ensure the bigger buds have a 60-65% room humidity? Please help me save this.

 

[TysonOG]

As far as right now, I would put the smaller buds in a jar and monitor them.
For the future, I've switched to drying in a fridge. You don't have to worry about temp or humidity or airflow, and the terps stay put. The smell quality of my buds increased 50% at least. Takes longer to dry though, 10-20 days depending how much you put in there.

 

[Emilya Green]

it takes a while to get the buds down into the curing range while closed up in a jar overnight... but it must be done to get the cure accomplished.
I have product that I moved to jars at 69-70% several weeks ago, and still are not properly in the curing range. The batches that get up above 80 after sitting for a while get laid out to dry again for short periods of time, and then put back into the jar to see where it settles at. I have a meter in each jar, and I open each for several periods of time each morning and evening to let out the excess moisture and try to get that batch settled in at no higher than 65. I take my time and try not to hurry this process, because once you go below 65, you can never go back up. I try to slowly and surely get my product to settle in at 65, and then I stop burping more than once a day, and if it creeps back over 65... and I keep working it by aggressively burping till it does. I have product in jars right now that I have been working to get into this curing window for a month or more. Be patient, and keep working it. Once you finally can get settled into the curing range, or at least while burping you can get it to rise up and down within the curing range for several hours each day by opening and closing the lid, it can start to actually cure even though the average RH of the jar is above the range. Each day you hold the product in the curing range, it will get better and better. There are no real shortcuts to doing this right. You can quick dry your buds down into the curing range somewhere, but if you have taken out too much moisture the cure will not be able to be sustained for very long before the moisture falls below 59% and curing stops. I find I get a much much better long term cure and ultimately much much better pot, by being very patient in these last stages of drying, and not rushing to the cure. Once you are below 80% the chance of mold is greatly diminished, so you have plenty of time to do this right. I would estimate that on this last batch, so far, I have 60 hours of time in burping, just to get the RH down from 80 to the curing range.... and I am not done yet.

 

[Pat Puffer]

Don't give up. There is a ton of sincere help pouring in here for all of us.

 

[Rexer]

You've gotten some great advice above! The low and slow using the fridge is straightforward and gets great results.
If a fridge isn't an option
How To Cure Your Marijuana Crop
is a great article that breaks down the curing rather well (was what made the most sense to me).

Em is totally right- the slower you go, the better the results.

Do you have access to a frost free fridge to cure in?

 

[AdaminCO]

3 grows now over the space of a couple years ranging from a couple ounce grow to 10+ And have never been able to dry/cure properly.

l harvested one batch a month or so ago, cut the stalks and hung them by that for a few days, it didn’t seem to dry very quick then stunk of hay, thinking it was drying too slow I put the heating on in the room to 20 degrees then the buds went crispy very quick, put them in a jar to cure them and there’s no flavour, taste, smell or high to them.

I have just harvested another batch 3-4 days ago. Having failed the first method I instead put all my buds in a drying net, the smaller buds have crisped up way too fast and have no smell to them, the larger buds have a terp smell to them and are pretty wet still. They were hanging in 20 degrees in a room with lots of air circulating around and it was about 50 humidity. I’ve been thinking they’re supposed to stay around 60-65% so have instead put them in a spare tent and sprayed water around the tent to raise it to 65% humidity. What am I doing wrong? I’ve had problems attempting grows since April last year.....2 months ago was the first batch I got right through until harvest But the drying process failed for me. Now I’m on a fresh harvest after a few days cut and I can feel the drying/curing process slipping out of my grasp and failing once more. Can someone please help me out I’ve spent so much money, time and effort on something that has given me nothing back except stress and a broken bank and at this point I feel even though I’ve successfully trimmed all the buds off I’m going to have a failed harvest.

what are my options here? Grab the small crispy buds and put them in a jar as soon as possible and just try to ensure the bigger buds have a 60-65% room humidity? Please help me save this.

Read my write ups in my signature. @InTheShed taught me a fail proof way to cure. I recommend getting the Bovida packets.

 

[Ghostwriter31]

3 grows now over the space of a couple years ranging from a couple ounce grow to 10+ And have never been able to dry/cure properly.

l harvested one batch a month or so ago, cut the stalks and hung them by that for a few days, it didn’t seem to dry very quick then stunk of hay, thinking it was drying too slow I put the heating on in the room to 20 degrees then the buds went crispy very quick, put them in a jar to cure them and there’s no flavour, taste, smell or high to them.

I have just harvested another batch 3-4 days ago. Having failed the first method I instead put all my buds in a drying net, the smaller buds have crisped up way too fast and have no smell to them, the larger buds have a terp smell to them and are pretty wet still. They were hanging in 20 degrees in a room with lots of air circulating around and it was about 50 humidity. I’ve been thinking they’re supposed to stay around 60-65% so have instead put them in a spare tent and sprayed water around the tent to raise it to 65% humidity. What am I doing wrong? I’ve had problems attempting grows since April last year.....2 months ago was the first batch I got right through until harvest But the drying process failed for me. Now I’m on a fresh harvest after a few days cut and I can feel the drying/curing process slipping out of my grasp and failing once more. Can someone please help me out I’ve spent so much money, time and effort on something that has given me nothing back except stress and a broken bank and at this point I feel even though I’ve successfully trimmed all the buds off I’m going to have a failed harvest.

what are my options here? Grab the small crispy buds and put them in a jar as soon as possible and just try to ensure the bigger buds have a 60-65% room humidity? Please help me save this.

I don’t know the answer but possibly you are letting your weed age too long while alive . Trichs are over done maybe ?
ive been reading a lot about drying in the frig. Have you explored that route

 

[Bill284]

3 grows now over the space of a couple years ranging from a couple ounce grow to 10+ And have never been able to dry/cure properly.

l harvested one batch a month or so ago, cut the stalks and hung them by that for a few days, it didn’t seem to dry very quick then stunk of hay, thinking it was drying too slow I put the heating on in the room to 20 degrees then the buds went crispy very quick, put them in a jar to cure them and there’s no flavour, taste, smell or high to them.

I have just harvested another batch 3-4 days ago. Having failed the first method I instead put all my buds in a drying net, the smaller buds have crisped up way too fast and have no smell to them, the larger buds have a terp smell to them and are pretty wet still. They were hanging in 20 degrees in a room with lots of air circulating around and it was about 50 humidity. I’ve been thinking they’re supposed to stay around 60-65% so have instead put them in a spare tent and sprayed water around the tent to raise it to 65% humidity. What am I doing wrong? I’ve had problems attempting grows since April last year.....2 months ago was the first batch I got right through until harvest But the drying process failed for me. Now I’m on a fresh harvest after a few days cut and I can feel the drying/curing process slipping out of my grasp and failing once more. Can someone please help me out I’ve spent so much money, time and effort on something that has given me nothing back except stress and a broken bank and at this point I feel even though I’ve successfully trimmed all the buds off I’m going to have a failed harvest.

what are my options here? Grab the small crispy buds and put them in a jar as soon as possible and just try to ensure the bigger buds have a 60-65% room humidity? Please help me save this.

Slower is always better minimal air circulation in a cool dark spot. Even a closet can be used in a pinch.But cool dark and not too humid is what you need . And like Adam said get some bodivas for your jars.

 

[Ducky1]

Thank you for the responses guys. I’m limited on space in the house. The only space I have in the house is the spare bedroom, the spare bedroom has a small tent for seedlings and a large tent for larger plants.

Currently they’re in the large tent and I have sprayed water around to keep the humidity at about 60-70, I will keep this going for the next week or two and hopefully this drys them correctly prior to curing them.

in regards to boveda packs I can’t use these unless the nugs are in a jar right? There’s no point in me throwing a load of these boveda packs in the tent is there?

 

[AdaminCO]

Thank you for the responses guys. I’m limited on space in the house. The only space I have in the house is the spare bedroom, the spare bedroom has a small tent for seedlings and a large tent for larger plants.

Currently they’re in the large tent and I have sprayed water around to keep the humidity at about 60-70, I will keep this going for the next week or two and hopefully this drys them correctly prior to curing them.

in regards to boveda packs I can’t use these unless the nugs are in a jar right? There’s no point in me throwing a load of these boveda packs in the tent is there?

No, thats for when you jar it, but they will regulate you rH as you're still burping the jars a curing.

Did you read my process?

 

[AdaminCO]

No, thats for when you jar it, but they will regulate you rH as you're still burping the jars a curing.

Did you read my process?

Ideally you want them to hang for 5-7 days, or when the average size branch snaps, but doesn’t break when you bend it.

I started putting the buds in oven bags to burp, because burping 15 jars twice a days sucks. When they get to 62%, I jar them with Boveda 62 and a small hydrometer. Depending on how they feel, I might keep burping once a day for another week or so

IntheShed says:

I burp twice a day for a week and then once a day for a week. This is after hanging for as close to a week as I can get given the ambient RH. If I have to jar them earlier, then the twice a day burping gets extended.

So basically I'm not sealing them up until three weeks after chop day.

Burping serves a couple of purposes. First is that it steadily lowers the humidity in the buds down where we want it (some folks like 62, some like 58). At the same time, you are airing out the jars during the start of the cure so there will be fresh oxygen in there for the bacteria that are munching down the chlorophyll. They're not anaerobic so they need oxygen.

If you had a room that was always 62% RH with cool temps, you could hang your buds in there forever. But since hardly anyone does, we burp down to 62% and jar when the bulk of the chlorophyll is gone.

Bovedas are for long term storage, so don't add them to the jars until the jars are already in the low 60s and you're ready to seal them up. They're an insurance policy.

 

[Ducky1]

Also forgot to ask. The small buds that are dried up now am I just removing those and putting them in a jar or shall I keep them in the drying net too?

 

[Ducky1]

No, thats for when you jar it, but they will regulate you rH as you're still burping the jars a curing.

Did you read my process?

Yeah but I haven’t got enough room in my house to do this, all I have in the spare room is 2 tents. One is a 1x1 and has a Wilma system inside it and the other is 2 foot by 2 foot I think. There’s no more space inside that room as it’s a box room

 

[Ducky1]

Ideally you want them to hang for 5-7 days, or when the average size branch snaps, but doesn’t break when you bend it.

I started putting the buds in oven bags to burp, because burping 15 jars twice a days sucks. When they get to 62%, I jar them with Boveda 62 and a small hydrometer. Depending on how they feel, I might keep burping once a day for another week or so

IntheShed says:

I burp twice a day for a week and then once a day for a week. This is after hanging for as close to a week as I can get given the ambient RH. If I have to jar them earlier, then the twice a day burping gets extended.

So basically I'm not sealing them up until three weeks after chop day.

Burping serves a couple of purposes. First is that it steadily lowers the humidity in the buds down where we want it (some folks like 62, some like 58). At the same time, you are airing out the jars during the start of the cure so there will be fresh oxygen in there for the bacteria that are munching down the chlorophyll. They're not anaerobic so they need oxygen.

If you had a room that was always 62% RH with cool temps, you could hang your buds in there forever. But since hardly anyone does, we burp down to 62% and jar when the bulk of the chlorophyll is gone.

Bovedas are for long term storage, so don't add them to the jars until the jars are already in the low 60s and you're ready to seal them up. They're an insurance policy.

The main problem with what I have right now is I’ve cut them into separate buds to put in a hanging/drying net so I haven’t got any branches, my main issue after that is for my next harvest I’m finding it difficult to find space in the house to hang them up whilst keeping the right RH and room temperature. That being said I also don’t have a spare fridge, I mean I could get a fridge and put in the shed which would be my next best option I believe as I just don’t have any space in the house to hang these buds if I’m trying to run things like clockwork. Effectively I have 2 tents, one for seedlings and one for larger plants, the plan is to keep that on a constant rotation of when I harvest the plants from the big tent the plants from the small tent will be transferred into the big tent. However it seems like I may have to keep that big tent empty for 2 weeks after harvest to dry the buds instead.

edit : apologies for the mass amounts of edits, lots of spelling mistakes and poor grammar/wording

 

[AdaminCO]

I was referring to the 5-7 day hang point.
You said "keep this going for the next week or two and hopefully this drys them correctly prior to curing them".
You probably won't get that long of a hang, so use the snap method. I'd be weary about spraying water as it will cause mold. 65F 65% are good numbers to be around.

 

[AdaminCO]

The main problem with what I have right now is I’ve cut them into separate buds to put in a hanging/drying net so I haven’t got any branches, my main issue after that is for my next harvest I’m finding it difficult to find space in the house to hang them up whilst keeping the right RH and room temperature. That being said I also don’t have a spare fridge, I mean I could get a fridge and put in the shed which would be my next best option I believe as I just don’t have any space in the house to hang these buds if I’m trying to run things like clockwork. Effectively I have 2 tents, one for seedlings and one for larger plants, the plan is to keep that on a constant rotation of when I harvest the plants from the big tent the plants from the small tent will be transferred into the big tent. However it seems like I may have to keep that big tent empty for 2 weeks after harvest to dry the buds instead.

edit : apologies for the mass amounts of edits, lots of spelling mistakes and poor grammar/wording

I honestly would put forth more effort into getting a better setup for drying and curing. What's the point of growing it, if you can't cure it properly? Doesn't seem worth the hassle.

 

[Ducky1]

I was referring to the 5-7 day hang point.
You said "keep this going for the next week or two and hopefully this drys them correctly prior to curing them".
You probably won't get that long of a hang, so use the snap method. I'd be weary about spraying water as it will cause mold. 65F 65% are good numbers to be around.

As of now I have the buds in a drying/hanging net in the large tent and have sprayed a bit of water around the tent to keep RH up. I haven’t got any branches to snap as it’s just all buds instead as I have not hung them I’ve just cut buds and put them into the net instead.

 

[Ducky1]

I honestly would put forth more effort into getting a better setup for drying and curing. What's the point of growing it, if you can't cure it properly? Doesn't seem worth the hassle.

I think I thought I had everything dialled in and didn’t take into account a correct drying/curing method aswell as everything else, I’m still pretty new to this and this is my first successful harvest since April last year, had a lot of issues and just haven’t got it down correctly yet. Hopefully with time and experience I can get this down.

 

[Bill284]

Thank you for the responses guys. I’m limited on space in the house. The only space I have in the house is the spare bedroom, the spare bedroom has a small tent for seedlings and a large tent for larger plants.

Currently they’re in the large tent and I have sprayed water around to keep the humidity at about 60-70, I will keep this going for the next week or two and hopefully this drys them correctly prior to curing them.

in regards to boveda packs I can’t use these unless the nugs are in a jar right? There’s no point in me throwing a load of these boveda packs in the tent is there?

JARS please read Adams thread on curing.

 

[Bill284]

JARS