Raiven's 1st Indoor Grow - THC Bomb Auto - 2014

[Raiven]

Bravo, and, may I be the first to congratulate you for your first homegrown smoke!!! You're a grower now It only gets better from here.

Thank you so much SG!!!! That really means alot...
I really want to delve into the growing Grower Culture and really be a part of it...
I havent felt this good about doing something in a long time...

I cant wait to see what the future holds! Cannabis Cup here I come!! hahahahaha

 

[Antics]

Wait as long as you can. Rushing the dry/cure reduces the quality drastically.

Remember, if you wanted to smoke dirt weed, you'd just buy it off any old Joe selling it. But you chose to smoke higher quality, more enjoyable Cannabis, which is why you wanted to grow your own.

But a rushed dry and cure, can have you smoking lower quality than even dirt weed.

 

[Raiven]

Wait as long as you can. Rushing the dry/cure reduces the quality drastically.

Remember, if you wanted to smoke dirt weed, you'd just buy it off any old Joe selling it. But you chose to smoke higher quality, more enjoyable Cannabis, which is why you wanted to grow your own.

But a rushed dry and cure, can have you smoking lower quality than even dirt weed.

I agree with your comment 100% Antics...
I am definitely not going to rush anything...
The small pre-mature buds I took off the plants were just trimmings basically to "weed out" if you will the small growth on the bottom and focus the energy of the plant to the tops for the remainder of the bud cycle...
I figured instead of just throwing it away I would dry it for a few days and try it out...

When the real harvest comes I plan on doing one week air drying and one week curing in jars...
I have read so many ways and time durations that people use for their drying/curing process...Not really sure what to do except try it and see right??

Thoughts???

 

[Raiven]

ZONING OUT in my home studio working on a set list during the first trial taste of my FIRST home grow...

 

[brightlight]

Hey DJ Raiven. About the drying. Without telling you what to do here are a few thoughts:

Agree with hanging but the temps outside & inside where you hang will tell you how long to do it. On big outdoor plants I hang ~5-7 days. On last inside crop it was July so only 3 days as temps were hot plus my inside buds seemed to have less residual moisture. When spongy I go to next step.

I use 2ndary dry inside folded paper bag or box, like a shoe box. Not airtight is best. Open regularly & close back up. If you try this additional, you will probably continue to do it. Impacts flavors as straight to jars may leave excess moisture in a closed environment.

Then go to jars.

Importantly through all of this, try to keep it out of direct light as much as possible.

 

[Raiven]

Hey DJ Raiven. About the drying. Without telling you what to do here are a few thoughts:

Agree with hanging but the temps outside & inside where you hang will tell you how long to do it. On big outdoor plants I hang ~5-7 days. On last inside crop it was July so only 3 days as temps were hot plus my inside buds seemed to have less residual moisture. When spongy I go to next step.

I use 2ndary dry inside folded paper bag or box, like a shoe box. Not airtight is best. Open regularly & close back up. If you try this additional, you will probably continue to do it. Impacts flavors as straight to jars may leave excess moisture in a closed environment.

Then go to jars.

Importantly through all of this, try to keep it out of direct light as much as possible.

Hey BL!!! Thank you for the tips!! Like I stated before there is just sooooo much info about drying out there that I took what I read and came up with my own "method" (even though I havent tried it yet truly)...

I will def give your ideas a shot and see what happens...

Oh, and Im no DJ hahahaha...I dont use "discs" LoL...
I consider myself an artist I suppose hahaha...MPC Pro!!!

 

[PeeJay]

Bright's method sounds great. Most folks use the test of if the stem snaps it's dry and ready to go into jars. I like the way Bright lets it get basically dry and then eases it to the correct moisture level in a box or bag. Smart stuff.

A couple of things to keep in mind, there is no set time that it takes the smoke to dry. It depends on the humidity, and how long it was since the plant was last watered before harvest.

I like to keep the Boveda 62% humidipacks in my jars. They are inexpensive and do a great job of keeping stored smoke at the correct moisture level. If you put the nugs in the jar while they're a little too moist the humidipacks will suck up the extra moisture. In my dry environment they work the other way over time, releasing moisture to keep my nugs from getting too dry.

 

[Raiven]

Bright's method sounds great. Most folks use the test of if the stem snaps it's dry and ready to go into jars. I like the way Bright lets it get basically dry and then eases it to the correct moisture level in a box or bag. Smart stuff.

A couple of things to keep in mind, there is no set time that it takes the smoke to dry. It depends on the humidity, and how long it was since the plant was last watered before harvest.

I like to keep the Boveda 62% humidipacks in my jars. They are inexpensive and do a great job of keeping stored smoke at the correct moisture level. If you put the nugs in the jar while they're a little too moist the humidipacks will suck up the extra moisture. In my dry environment they work the other way over time, releasing moisture to keep my nugs from getting too dry.

I agree...I read about using boxes or paper bags before jars as well...
Overwhelming info when youve never done it before...Where to start which methods to use etc...

I am going to try and combine all of it together along with the "snap" test and hopefully achieve perfectly dry bud!!

 

[brightlight]

Thanks for the video Raiven. Really enjoyed it. Shit, you're talented! Sorry about calling you a DJ, I just saw the console but don't know jack. How did you learn that, keyboard background? Yeah, of course I saw the HSO tee shirt, hahaha.

HSO has some great looking strains. My 1st HSO is Emdog in my current indoor run. Since you're a musician, you might like that Emdog is by B Real (aka Dr. Greenthumb, his breeder handle) of Cypress Hill. Check out Emdog baby pic in journal.

The 2nd dry/cure step is something that was told me to try some time ago. Sounded good so I tried it, liked it, & kept doing it. DJ Short (original Blueberry breeder) writes of it in his book too.

Thanks to 420 I learned of Boveda 62's & bought some. Like PeeJay mentioned I use in final jar but also used them in the bag/box 2nd step this summer to prevent too rapid drying. It was hotter than hell at the time.

 

[Antics]

There's no right or wrong way (excluding just using hot air/forced air), or time to really dry/cure your buds. Every bud is different, weight, density, size, moisture content, etc.. And every environment is different, air temps, air flow, humidity, etc.. so to just use a blanket statement and say "oh it will take x days to dry and x days to cure" would be incorrect.

I've had small buds dried in 3-4 days, and cured for a week, and ended up decently smooth, BUT not the best I could have done.

The stem snap is a good indicator of dryness, but how you dry is up to you really. open air, bags, boxes.. there's a ton of ways to do it, and they've all worked out well for different growers.

 

[KingJohnC]

Congratulations on your harvest!

 

[Raiven]

Thanks for the video Raiven. Really enjoyed it. Shit, you're talented! Sorry about calling you a DJ, I just saw the console but don't know jack. How did you learn that, keyboard background? Yeah, of course I saw the HSO tee shirt, hahaha.

Im glad you enjoyed the video BL and those who checked it out...I really appreciate the love!! And there is no need for apologies hahaha I make that correction to everyone LoL...I make the distinction because locally when people think I am a DJ they think I can take requests and make shout outs and all that ... When in reality my machines (MPC2500) can only hold samples and I arrange them in a SET that I play ... I do not use computers or anything like that LIVE so I cannot do the typical DJ things...

Surprisingly enough I have never had ANY training on musical instruments my whole life!! I can still only play a few chords on the guitar and piano hahahaha... I always loved music, starting about 6 years ago making instrumentals on the computer then found these lovely machines I can perform on live...

Glad you noticed the shirt!!! It was part of a shipment of souvenirs from Attitude Seed Bank...

HSO has some great looking strains. My 1st HSO is Emdog in my current indoor run. Since you're a musician, you might like that Emdog is by B Real (aka Dr. Greenthumb, his breeder handle) of Cypress Hill. Check out Emdog baby pic in journal.

I havent goten any strains from HSO yet but I def want to look into what they have...I remember Cypress from being in the MethodMan RedMan movie How High and knew they had an affinity for the plant but I did not know B was a breeder and Emdog was his!! That is a nice fact-oid...

The 2nd dry/cure step is something that was told me to try some time ago. Sounded good so I tried it, liked it, & kept doing it. DJ Short (original Blueberry breeder) writes of it in his book too.

I am going to follow your footsteps so to speak and try out these methods being gifted to me from all the knowledgeable folks here and see how it goes down...No time to experiment like now with my FIRST EVER crop about to be done and with all the mistakes and changes Ive made over the last 3 months to this crop I would rather figure out what works and or doesnt work on these plants than on a future perfect crop...

Thanks to 420 I learned of Boveda 62's & bought some. Like PeeJay mentioned I use in final jar but also used them in the bag/box 2nd step this summer to prevent too rapid drying. It was hotter than hell at the time.

I definitely think I am going to invest in some of these...The last thing I need or want is something to go wrong in the drying phase after all those months of work...

 

[Raiven]

Congratulations on your harvest!

Thanks so much KJC that really means alot!!
Soon will be the final harvest of this first ever grow along with smoke report...

Stay tuned!!

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks for sharing your grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

In the future, whenever you complete a journal, please use the Report Post feature found at the bottom left of every post, so we can be alerted to move it for you.

Hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.