Too dry, too wet

[GrowerForOne]

Hey CannaFam - Need to vent. I posted this to Instagram, but people tend to just click the likes and not read the post LOL

So, I can understand that the first grow can be pretty difficult with a lot of ups and downs, but damn! This grow has taken a turn I didn’t see coming at all. I don’t count the last few months as a waste or wasteful in any shape or form because I have learned soooooo much, but I’m not feeling all that cool about the prospects of this first harvest. I hope they can be salvaged.

So I cut the Bum Wine and the Northern Cheese Haze last week and put them in the other chamber of my grow cabinet to dry. They reeked and lit up my bedroom pretty good, but other than that, I figured all was well. I surmised that the intake fan provided enough air circulation and the humidity levels were, at least what I thought, were good. What I didn’t realize, or at least what I think contributed to the fiasco, was my exhaust and proximity to the light. Even though little to no light gets to the other side, the temps from the light probably do affect the temperature on the other side, a factor that I never considered until I looked at just how bad a condition the buds were in. And with the exhaust, I think it killed the humidity - I didn’t place a hygrometer over there to monitor. Just a couple of mistakes in a very long list of them.

Anyway, I opened the chamber yesterday to check them out and the Bum Wine looked “off.” I took it down and, no shit, it was like Thanos had snapped his fingers; everything nearly crumpled to dust. The buds were very light, really airy with no heaviness or density at all, and they were crispy. I’m talking crispy. Colonel Sanders KFC Extra Crispy. If I weren’t high at the time I probably would’ve cried LOL! But, if there was any silver lining, they still smelled AMAZING!!

After a bit of research, I found a trick about cottonballs and tin foil so I went ahead and jarred them for cure. There were only a handful of nugs to do anything with but what the hell, right? I’m thinking they may be a bit too far gone, but I’ve come this far with them, might as well see it to the end, right?

And if that wasn’t bad enough, then I had to go to the other end of the spectrum. I go to check out the Haze and it’s looking ok, nothing like the Bum Wine. I start trimming leaves and after a while, I start smelling something funny. Now, it’d been raining earlier and I had heard the lawn care folks out too, but I didn’t think they’d been cutting grass or anything. So I smelled my shears and there it was; my buds smelled like wet grass. I instantly knew that I’d cut them too early , even though the trichomes looked like they were ready. The outsides of the buds were slightly crisp (which is good), but the interior of the stems weren’t. So with great reluctance and sadness (after taking another bong rip to drown my sorrows), I finished those up and jarred them as well, but they’re nothing but grassy smelling buds. I burped them this morning and they smelled just awful. I don’t think that ever goes away does it?

From the start, I wasn’t expecting a yield of any size really due to the small pots but to have damn near nothing is a bit disheartening. All in all, I don’t think any of this harvest is good for any smoking, sadly, but are they still viable for edibles, tinctures or anything like that?

Thanks for any tips, suggestions, words of condolence or just plain pity

 

[Mr. Krip]

OK...So you need to learn about drying and curing and I wouldn't stop at the info I'm about to give you!

First, when you harvest you want to hang the plant or colas until the outsides are dry and when you bend the stems, it "snaps" but does not break in two pieces (just kinks with a snap).

This typically takes 4-9 days, or so, depending on your climate & humidity.

The buds will feel like you've overdried them, at this point, but the insides still hold a lot of moisture.

You're then going to put them in jars with a small hygrometer for the cure. If, the RH measures above 70%, you need to take them out of the jars and let them air out some more (in paper bags, cardboard box, drying rack, for example) and try again later.

When you first jar the buds, they will still have that "fresh grass" smell and, again, feel very dry. That all gets corrected with the cure.

So, assuming the buds are now below 70% RH, you're going to open the jars for about 10 minutes or so a few times per day for the first few days or so, then twice per day for a few days, then less frequently. This process is called "burping".

What's happening is that, even though the buds feel very dry when you put them in the jar, once they're in the sealed jar, the buds "sweat" and release the moisture inside the buds, so, after an hour, or so in the jar, the buds will feel moist again (which mean, your initial buds may have been fine!). By burping, you allow the outsides to dry back out. When you reseal, it causes the buds to sweat out more moisture.

By repeating this process, you'll eventually stabilize at 62% RH at which point the buds can be stored long-term.

The goal is to SLOWLY cause the RH in the jars to come down from around 70% to that 62% number. As long as the RH is above 55% the buds will continue to cure. As they cure, the flavors & potency will improve and it will lose the "chlorophyl" smell and get that "dankness" back.

I also recommend you checkout the "low & slow" method:

DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

I hope that helps!

 

[Emilya Green]

I will add that once you get down to that 55 RH value, no power on heaven or earth can restart the curing process. If you dried too quickly and got down to that point without sitting and curing, curing is over.

 

[GrowerForOne]

@Mr. Krip @Emilya THANK YOU!! I read a ton on all this but you all explained some things in a way the other information didn’t quite put it.