I am a non-comercial grower that only grow for my own use and pleasure. It is illegal to grow where I’m at so you have to be careful and a bit stealthy. If i grow a few plants one year the yield should last me a very long time - like years. So the question of preserving the harvest has arisen.
Not long ago I smoked a bud from 2019 - and it was still good. So, how do I preserve the buds? Well, since the active inexpediences in MJ are all chemicals and hopefully y’all remember something from Chemistry class in high school?
Chemical substances are broken down by light, heat and oxygen. If you can remove those all chemical processes grind to a halt or at least slows down considerably.
So i pack my harvest in very small packs, about seven grams (0,25 oz) and use a vacuum packer to remove just about all air and seal the little bag. Then I toss all these little bags in a bigger ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer.
In this way I only have to open a tiny 0,25 oz bag (letting in oxygen) at the time. The rest remains without oxygen, in the dark and cold freezer.
The only downside is that after a while the buds become kind of freeze dried but that only makes it real easy to grind .
For me this means I don’t have subject myself to the risk of growing every year. Sure, it is fun to grow, I love it. But the legal aspect is a serious downside…
When mine is done curing and RH is stable at 60% - I put them in mason jars and use a Foodsaver to vacuum seal the jars. I store those in a cool, dark, dry place.
Don’t directly vacuum seal weed all the way. It will crush it into bricks that are as hard as a rock. I found out the hard way. lol.
I’m in an illegal state too. Growing is charged as distribution in my state and they weight the whole plant, roots and all for the various quantity thresholds.
Center disk? One that breathes? This is useful for mushroom growing, but not for long-term storage. I use straight up metal mason lids with no venting. I’ve been doing it for years and have never had one pop.
The vacuum packer I referred to is a Food saver. But I do not have a problem with the buds being compressed. Once I run them through the grinder it is all the same. OK, it might not look as good as a bud stored in a mason jar, I’ll give you that. But removing the oxygen to a very high degree that lets me store it for years is worth the trade off.
But I’m not pushing my way as the only way or even the best way. Whatever works for you is good. In my situation where growing is a risky activity, well then growing every 3-5 years is worth a few trade off’s.
I’d love to grow a few strains every year out in the open. But in my country that’s just not going to happen anytime soon. I’m not in the States, hence the occasional grammatical and spellling error.
This year I’m growing Purple Queen Auto, Sweet Skunk Auto, Special Kush1 and some old Pure Haze Auto seeds of my own production from five years back. This might sound like a lot but the Purple and the Skunk are minute, so small. But are flowering very well. With my low consumption rate they + the Haze will keep me until next year. If I get the non-auto Special Kush1 to flower, well then I’m set for at least two or three years.
Storing in the freezer is what I do but you need to use a non frost-free freezer to avoid temp swings during defrost. This degrades THC into CBN over time.
Mason jars are a better container for two reasons: it prevents mechanical damage to the flower (knocking trichomes off) and maintains a sealed environment for your flower. Vacuum bags won’t prevent O from getting to the inside of the bag but glass will.
When i lived in Anchorage Alaska in 1988 everyone was growing it seemed like. They grew them right on thier front porches. But, to make a lo g story short. Evertime i would visit a dealer that grew thier own, they would pull it out of their freezers in quarter pound zip lock baggies wrapped in cellphone and pull me out an ounce. So, i say, freezer, keep it frozen. Mason jars are the best way for long term though. I used to purchase Mendo Bud and it would be sealed up in mason jars and it was great smoke too…
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