Hi can anyone help me with my confusion around the difference between curing and drying.
Ive only ever pulled my plants out at harvest time roots and all shook off excess soil from the roots and hung them upside down til they dry in a warm dry environment.
Reading Roberts info on havest time the curing and drying didn’t seem clear.
So ive come to the forum for support.
Cheers
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Let me see if I can help
That right there is drying. After drying is curing, and what that does is make the bud stable for being kept for long periods of time without the bud spoiling as well as helping the taste of the bud being smoked. Now you don’t need to cure your bud after dying, you just have to be careful with your bud when it comes to mold or fungi.
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So what suggestions for curing do you have or any one else reading this.
Funny cause when i read Roberts info i thought i was reading that its cured first.
Well there you go.
Cheers
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The drying process is what gets your buds to the point of being smoked. Too wet and it won’t burn. Too dry and it burns too fast. Your looking to try and dry until you reach a humidity level of 58-62%. Once you’re there you’re in the cure zone. Curing is what helps bring out the aromas, flavors and increases potency.
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Thats awesome information what method of curing do you use?
After drying I put mine in mason jars. I burp the jars a couple times a day for about 3 weeks. This allows the moisture to escape the jar. After I get the moisture stable I will leave them closed. The longer I can keep out of the jars the better the results. I also add inexpensive hygrometers to the jars so I have a better understanding of the humidity in the jar. They are not necessary but make me feel better. Oh yea, keep them in the dark also.
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I would remove the root ball at the stem base before drying.
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Thanks for that. Ill be a pro in no time with all you helpful people out there
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I use two methods of curing. Dry cure which most of us do, this starts with the chop and hang to dry. From there where it’s nice feeling we jar and burp for a few weeks till the humidity stabilizes. After that I’ll jar for 0-2 months for flavor. Then a humidity pack till gone.
I also water cure, there instead of hanging to dry I chop and jar right away. Then fill the jar with clean distilled water and change the water for a few weeks (first few days I change it every 4 to 6 hours) till the smell has pretty much washed out. Then I dry and cure as with dry cure.
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Thanks for that info bubble head really helpful.
Cheers
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I chop, trim, then hang to dry. I have a gentle breeze circulating in the same area and hang a hygrometer with them. After a week I pop them into mason jars and keep an eye on them. If the humidity climbs above 63-64% I open the jar, move the buds around and let them breathe. The humidity drops and I repeat the process until the humidity stops climbing. You can actually see the humidity slowing and stabilizing. I use these, they’re great as you can monitor everything from the house. I have one in the tent, 1 in the drying area and 1 in my big jar curing.
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Great info thanks
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Wait, what?
Thats a new one for me.
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Thanks dark illusions all information greatly recieved.
Cheers
@Drinkslinger ya not as many people seem to do it. I don’t do whole crop just small section of a plant. Like this run I did a quarter of the buds into water. At least once a day I change the water. After a week its usually pretty clear water in and out, but the first few days, especially if you didn’t flush before chop, the water will be amber and cloudy. Some time after the color goes the smell will start to reduce greatly, so most times I jar in water for 10-14 days depending on how often I was changing the water in the jar. The smoke from this bud will not be as smelly but will be powerful. More stuff from inside the bud is leeched out too leaving the bud more compact. Some trichromes are knocked off but nothing too horrible if your not mixing it like a drink. So its stealth weed, and it’s a smooth slower burn I find too. Just no where near as tasty as a good dry cure. Once your done with water works I dry it out usually 2-3 days on a nonstick oven rack on parchment paper to get any of the good stuff the falls off. Then jar and treat like the rest of the plant.
Make sure you have really really cleaned the bottle out all the way before reuse. I used pasta sauce glass jars for my project. Well one jar wasn’t as clean as the others but we switched the jar after the first water change and the overall product was not affected.
I have been putting in the humidity pack before curing.
am I doing the curing wrong? my humidity is all over the place after storing
@Royc the humidity in the jar should increase each day after jarring and depending on ambient humidity it could take 2-3 weeks before you stop burping I do 30 minute sessions 1 to 2 times a day. Then you can pop your pack in or I prefer to age still more before adding the pack as I think it does effect the flavor at least in the bud that touches it if you add too soon.
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You received some overall good advice on drying and curing. They are not the same and there are a few caveats with this to help. The reason to cure is to store for long term, improve the quality of the flower and lastly improve potency. Some of this needs to be done prior to harvest like an extended flush and darkness prior to harvest. I would not be keeping the root mass on the plant as it may contribute harsh salts to the finished flower. Washing flower in peroxide can produce a finished product that remains green and fresh longer than otherwise and minimizes white powdery mildew (which I submit is present in most grows but we don’t see it). Freezing the cured flower in a non frost free freezer will allow you to keep it that way for years. Frost free is bad due to temperatures cycling up and down which breaks THC down into CBN.
Some plants don’t need much to get to cure and others take forever. A lot of it has to do with the nutrient load, the media, the length of flush (if any) etc.
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Been awesome all the feedback including yours thank you so much every one. 
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Dont know much about prior flushing or complete darkness or washing flowers with peroxide.
I will be cutting the roots off from what i learned from everyone on here.
Cheers
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