So my plant seems to be ready much sooner than I thought. I have a few questions regarding drying and curing as I cannot find solid answers…
Drying
Ideally I want to harvest only the part of the plant that is ready, my problem is I would have to dry in the tent with the lights on…is this ok? If not, I’ll cut the whole plant.
What is the nominal day and night temps and humidity for drying?
Curing
I read after drying to place in a mason jar and burp it. I have #62 boveda packs…do they go in right away with my curing weed, or do they go in after it’s been in the jar for a period of time?
The generally held belief is that you want to dry it gradually until the stems snap when you break them. But that really depends on your relative humidity. If it’s higher than 62%, the stems may never get there! If it’s really low, they may dry in just a few days but the insides of the buds will still be wet. You may need to dry it in a sealed tent with some humidity control so it gradually gets uniformly that dry and no more.
Most mason jar users dry it and then put trimmed buds in jars with the lids on. They burp them every couple of days by taking the lid off for 10 minutes. After a week or two, they put a Boveda pack in and stop burping. Let it sit in the dark for a month at least before smoking.
Cut some early samples and hang them on a wire coat hanger in a box. That will keep humidity in. I just did that a week ago. The samples were awesome so I cut the whole plant down and now it’s hanging upside down in a box. My tents are too full of plants to use.
You do not want to dry in the same tent you are growing, lights degrade thc pretty quick when not attached to the plant, which it is recommended to dry with the lights off. You could definitely harvest parts of it at a time. But I would highly recommend finding a different spot to dry them.
I converted a shower into my dry room. Also due to humidity here, my buds dont completely dry by hanging. I place in paper bag & check with hygrometer.
temps right now are pretty mild. I live in the mid west and it tends to get hot and extremely humid. so 90F and 60-70% humidity is fairly common in the summer if not higher.
I would say around 70F and 50% humidity would be the perfect temp for a drying room. If need be yea you can throw a dehu in there. set it for around 60% and check how they are daily.
I think rh 40-50 is ideal for drying. Temps shouldn’t be over 75 degrees. I don’t really monitor that or drying time. I just check by touch daily. Once they get close. I finish process in jars.
My drying room has a temp of 70F & humidity of 50%, with an oscillating fan on low. When I hang my trimmed plants up on hangers, I dry for 2-3 days hanging, then put the buds in a box for another 2+ days with a small hygrometer. Once the hygrometer says 64-65, I put the buds in jars with that same hygrometer; burp 2x a day for a week or 2, then 1x a day for a week or 2. Once the humidity in the jars is safely at 61-62, you can stop burping as regularly.
Mold and rot is definitely a concern while drying, which is why you want some air movement, just not over the buds. I’m sure you could get away with none in a smaller room. Also with lower temps (70) than say 80-85 and 50-60% humidity mold will not develop as easy.
