Need a drying tutorial

[guerrillabalconygrower]

I have a BB Kush in bloom and hopefully I should be able to take it to harvest soon.
Problem is, I don’t have a drying “room” per se and my DIY grow tent is vegging a few plants so isn’t dark. Avg ambient temp is 90 F and RH is 50-60.

What would be the best drying method given my circumstances? A step by step “for dummies” guide would be highly appreciated!

 

[garybo]

Roger that

 

[guerrillabalconygrower]

To dry your buds, you first need to trim them. Doing so removes excess plant material from your nugs, making drying much faster. It also improves the quality of your weed since you’re removing plant material that’s harsh to smoke. Personally, I trim the plant while she is still in the bucket she grew in.

Hanging your buds:
After trimming them, you will need to hang buds up to dry. You can hang them in the open air or in a controlled environment. But, it is best to dry weed indoors as opposed to outdoors. This is mainly because you must maintain a certain temperature and humidity level.

The optimal temperature for your drying room should be between 65-75°F (or 18-23°C). In terms of humidity, maintain 45-55% humidity.

After a week of drying, the surface of your buds should have the texture of popcorn. If you feel any wetness in the bud, let it hang another day or so. The wetness needs to be absorbed by the bud.

Monitor humidity: The process of curing cannabis differs from drying.​

While drying can only take up to a week to finish, the curing process can take up to two or even four. This is because curing marijuana is also a way to preserve it.

The humidity level is one of the most important things to keep in mind when you cure marijuana. Your room would need to maintain a humidity of 58-65%. This is why drying your buds is important. It prevents the likelihood of mold appearing on your weed as they cure.

Place in mason jars
When choosing a container to cure your buds, nothing can beat mason jars. Not only are they airtight, but since it’s glass, they won’t affect the taste of your buds, unlike plastic containers.

Burp and sweat
Another thing to remember when curing your marijuana is to ‘burp’ your mason jars. As your buds cure, moisture begins to build up within the containers.

This can be a problem since it could lead to mold appearing. To remove the moisture, you need to open the jars occasionally.

• The curing process is a two-step. It involves an initial drying period, followed by an extended drying period. The length of this process is up to you, with many suggesting that the longer the process is, the better.
• The initial drying period usually takes about a week, after which you cure for 2 weeks to six months. Two to four weeks is recommended (at a minimum).
• The drying process can be done in the open air, whereas the curing process is done in a closed environment.

Both drying and curing can increase the smell and bring out the subtle flavors of your buds, indicating the greater involvement of terpenes.

Curing affects the smell of fresh marijuana by breaking down chlorophyll, removing the noticeable taste of hay or grass.

If you grew a strain that is known to cause anxiety or coughing, the process of curing could also reduce this effect.
The best way to experience the difference is to cure some of your grow and compare it to freshly harvested buds.

To optimally cure weed, you should carefully trim your harvest based on your environment, slow dry your buds in the open air, then continue drying in quart-sized glass mason jars.

The room temperature should be around 70°F (21°C), with 50% humidity during the drying process and 58-65% Humidity, while curing in the jars.

That's it, sounds simple, doesn't it?.

By the way, the above was cut and pasted from an article I copied from the net.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

garybo

Mentioned upfront that I don’t have the luxury of a drying room or a dark tent. This general tutorial won’t help my specific case

 

[Roy Growin]

It is possible to dry your buds in a cardboard box lined with paper, gently turning every day or two
If the paper gets damp, change it
To dry slowly leave in a cool dark space; if you want to hurry it up a bit place it somewhere warm for a few hours to sweat it
When yo do final trim/take buds off the stem, leave in the box for 24/48hrs until the cut is dry
Then it's ready for the jar/burping mentioned above
Hope that helps

 

[Chuckeye]

I've used the box method and it works, I monitor my rh with a hygrometer.

Depending on the size of your harvest you can build a simple frame to hang the branches and cover it with a tarp. A low cfm fan circulating air helps too.

More info in the link in my signature...

Cheers

 

[7Dust2]

Non technical way . Dry it slow as possible so the TRIs on the flower do not burst. And dry up. But burn slow enough to not burn up so fast. .
And doesn't matter how u do it just keep that in mind for best smoke possible

 

[SmokingWings]

What would be the best drying method given my circumstances? A step by step “for dummies” guide would be highly appreciated!

For the first year or so after basic trimming of excess leaf material I would put the buds into a brown paper bag. The bag was placed in an out of the way place. Checked it every day and after about 10 to as many as 20 days it was dry enough and I would then place the harvest in the canning jars to start a curing process.

If trying this then I recommend checking the progress every day after the first week. I kept the buds on the stick which slowed down the process because of the moisture trapped in those stems but slower is better. Going to fast leaves less room to recover from letting the plant material get too dry.

I could check my records for when I started to switch over to the "low and slow dry in a refrigerator" but it had to have been a year and half or so after I started. Dry in paper bags in the fridge and then cure in the jars in a closest or out of the way spot that does not get light and high temperatures.

 

[guerrillabalconygrower]

Are the trichomes too underdeveloped and they don't have the "Mushroom" heads yet or do I have a terrible USB Microscope? (or both?)

 

[SmokingWings]

Are the trichomes too underdeveloped and they don't have the "Mushroom" heads yet or do I have a terrible USB Microscope? (or both?)

I don't know about the microscope but I do see the start of the Mushrooms in both photos. The pictures do look like they are of the stigma or pistils on the flower.

I go by the way the trichomes look on the entire bud including the sugar leaves. Do you have a photo of the bud available?

 

[guerrillabalconygrower]

Pleas don’t judge the qty and size. I’m just about happy that it survived and is in bloom

 

[SmokingWings]

The usual minimum time in flower is 8 weeks from when the pistils started to show. Based on the first photo I am thinking another 4 weeks at least. Any longer after that is up to you.

I write down the date I put the plants in the flowering tent. I allow one week for the transition from growing hormones to flowering hormones and then start my count down.

No matter what, the reference date that it went into the tent is written down. No guessing or wondering later on.

 

[guerrillabalconygrower]

The usual minimum time in flower is 8 weeks from when the pistils started to show. Based on the first photo I am thinking another 4 weeks at least. Any longer after that is up to you.

This is an Autoflower that's already 3+ months old. Pistils started showing by 20th Oct. Bud sites set in by 20th Nov. Timeline is completely skewed on this one :-/