A perfect cure every time

[simon]

Hi guys!

I recently chopped some Easyryder and dried them 4-5 days inside the grow chamber above the lights. They felt quite dry, so I put them into jars together with a hygrometer. But the RH never goes above 45%. Have I dried them too long?

Anyways, I let them sit in the jars for 3 days. Opened them yesterday and it smelled very funky.... Not very nice actually. But the smoke was good and potent as hell though!

Any ideas for what I can do? Do I need to open the jars every day to let in fresh air?

Best I can tell from the pics, the stems still look green. If they are, the odds are that your harvest is not overdried. I would, however, caution against fully relying on the numbers, as I have not tested the model you're using and cannot be sure of its readings.

Just harvested an OG kush today and plan on testing this method of curing out. I love how it takes out the guess work. The only question I have is for some reason some of my buds already felt dry on the plant before I harvested. I just dont want to wait too long to put them in the jars. Here is a diary of my grow and some pics of the harvest https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=3476839#post3476839

Some strains do feel drier than others. The growing conditions influence that, as well. You can rest assured that the flowers are indeed wet, as are the stems.

Simon

 

[Cannalicious]

Dear Simon,

Once again I have to thank you.

My second grow is coming in, but I still have meds left from my first grow. I decided to bring some to the dispensary I used to purchase my meds.

I brought Utopia Haze and LSD to bring hoping to get a better price than most strains due to the THC content and the fact that they are both cannabis cup winners.

The owner cracked a bud open and the only thing he said was "nice cure" and "smells great."

He didn't care about the strains though. He told me his dispensary advertises 30+ strains to choose from. He offered me a lower price/qp than I would accept for the bud. I declined and then he said, "that's a standing offer for any strain you grow as long as it's cured like that."

And I asked, "even Big Bud?"

And he said "Big Bud sells great. Young patients love the site of the big buds, but no one grows it anymore."

So, I guess I should buy some seeds. I have about a 2 plant surplus right now. I used to grow this strain in the early nineties and the difference in yield should make up for the lower purchase price.

Thanks again. I, too, would add this as a favorite thread, but I don't know how to do that.

 

[simon]

Cannalicious, that's really great to hear.

Re: pruning, etc - I started an Ice clone. Once it is rooted and established in its pot, I'll start a thread detailing the process and post a link. Thanks for the interest.

Simon

 

[barth]

Order one of these off of ebay. Should get it any day. I just harvested my Super Lemon Haze. Should get my Hygrometer just in time.

 

[Slimm]

Hi guys!

I recently chopped some Easyryder and dried them 4-5 days inside the grow chamber above the lights. They felt quite dry, so I put them into jars together with a hygrometer. But the RH never goes above 45%. Have I dried them too long?

Anyways, I let them sit in the jars for 3 days. Opened them yesterday and it smelled very funky.... Not very nice actually. But the smoke was good and potent as hell though!

Any ideas for what I can do? Do I need to open the jars every day to let in fresh air?

Those buds in the jar are still green. Did you hang dry them with the lights on? I have heard that they need to be kept dark.

 

[growclean]

Simon, maybe I missed this but when is the appropriate time to trim the buds off the stems? The last plant that we harvested, we followed these directions, and have now been in the low 60's RH for the last couple of weeks. Today, we finally trimmed the buds off the stems and packed them a little tighter in the jars. Truly, the stuff smells bad right now. Mostly hay/grass type. Is this from having in on the stems too long? We have never left the stems in the jar before this time, always trimmed them straight into them after hang drying.

 

[simon]

Simon, maybe I missed this but when is the appropriate time to trim the buds off the stems? The last plant that we harvested, we followed these directions, and have now been in the low 60's RH for the last couple of weeks. Today, we finally trimmed the buds off the stems and packed them a little tighter in the jars. Truly, the stuff smells bad right now. Mostly hay/grass type. Is this from having in on the stems too long? We have never left the stems in the jar before this time, always trimmed them straight into them after hang drying.

Trimming the buds off the branches shouldn't have this effect, as the moisture is hopefully equalized between the two with everything curing at the same rate. The only thing I can think of is the exposure of surfaces that didn't see air, and as such didn't have the chlorophyll leached as much as the other flowers.

Simon

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

Those buds in the jar are still green. Did you hang dry them with the lights on? I have heard that they need to be kept dark.

What color should they be?

 

[slowandeasy]

Hi guys!

I recently chopped some Easyryder and dried them 4-5 days inside the grow chamber above the lights. They felt quite dry, so I put them into jars together with a hygrometer. But the RH never goes above 45%. Have I dried them too long?

Anyways, I let them sit in the jars for 3 days. Opened them yesterday and it smelled very funky.... Not very nice actually. But the smoke was good and potent as hell though!

Any ideas for what I can do? Do I need to open the jars every day to let in fresh air?

Light degrades THC, so always dry your stash in Complete darkness and also store it in the dark. Drying too fast will make your buds more harsh and will not cure right. But atleast you wont get mold. Good luck.

 

[dodo5678]

outstanding thread simon. been looking for something like this for a long time. can't wait to try it out in a few weeks.

major respect & thank you for sharing,
-dodo

 

[dodo5678]

I was just checking out the reviews for the Caliber III on Amazon, and a lot of them were questioning the accuracy. How many of you guys are checking your meters against a calibration product?

was reading the reviews on amazon too just when i began reading this thread and had the same concerns. read all the way through the thread and didn't see a response to this cats question.

people on amazon were saying that some units would read --% after a few weeks, others making comment about the accuracy being way off, even in comparison to consecutive units they purchased at the same time.

a few of you commented about purchasing the caliber III from amazon recently, anyone experience similar issues?

thanks again all,
-dodo

 

[GrnMtnGrwr]

was reading the reviews on amazon too just when i began reading this thread and had the same concerns. read all the way through the thread and didn't see a response to this cats question.

people on amazon were saying that some units would read --% after a few weeks, others making comment about the accuracy being way off, even in comparison to consecutive units they purchased at the same time.

a few of you commented about purchasing the caliber III from amazon recently, anyone experience similar issues?

thanks again all,
-dodo

I'm curious about this as well... planning on purchasing a few in the next week or two.

 

[bcell]

I have a few hygrometers and the caliber III I just purchased is within a point or 2 of the others. I do not believe it needs to be super accurate for curing herb.

 

[NicholasSmokes]

Truly, the stuff smells bad right now. Mostly hay/grass type.

I had this problem with my most recent harvest which I trimmed with a Spinpro. It smelled like fresh cut lawn grass. The grass smell faded within a week and it smelled like good weed after less than two weeks of curing.

 

[simon]

I have a few hygrometers and the caliber III I just purchased is within a point or 2 of the others. I do not believe it needs to be super accurate for curing herb.

You're right; the hygrometers don't have to be 100% accurate. They just need to be very close. That's why the small Ebay digital hygrometers can be an excellent value, though I'd still suggest having a Caliber for reference. My fear is that some folks will begin using any number of hygrometers to gauge their harvests, and (IME) many can show an erroneous reading.

Simon

 

[SupraSPL]

I accumulated a few hygros over the years and when I put them in the same jar they consistently read 3% difference. As Simon said if you have a good one for reference you could probably use the cheapos.

Simon I noticed in your first post you said that if you overdry them and try to rehydrate that will it won't restart a cure. What is the theory behind that? I had the same problem as an earlier poster mentioned. I hung them for 3 or 4 days and when they went into the jar it read 43% RH (small-medium buds small stems). I let it sit for 24 hours in the jar and still read 43%. So I decided to give rehydration a try anyway. I breathed out through my nose into the jar and the RH jumped to 80%. I capped it and within 60 minutes it dropped back to 50%. I did it a few more times and eventually got the RH stabilized at 60-63%.

It has been a few weeks and so far so good. I'll let you know how it turns out but to be honest I don't know what a good cure is supposed to be like, so I don't really have anything to compare it to lol.

 

[dodo5678]

I have a few hygrometers and the caliber III I just purchased is within a point or 2 of the others. I do not believe it needs to be super accurate for curing herb.

You're right; the hygrometers don't have to be 100% accurate. They just need to be very close. That's why the small Ebay digital hygrometers can be an excellent value, though I'd still suggest having a Caliber for reference. My fear is that some folks will begin using any number of hygrometers to gauge their harvests, and (IME) many can show an erroneous reading.

Simon

thanks guys. ya, i'm cool with a point or two for sure, but i'm more referring to the people who said 4 or 6 points off. others saying 10! then there were people that were not getting readings at all just after a few weeks. then could not return the item 'cause it was past amazon's return period.

one person even went as far to say "I did noticed that almost all the high-star reviews were in or before the first half of 2009, and all the low-star started in 2nd half of 2009". looks like those bled over into the early part of 2010 too.

whatever the issue is i'm just trying to get a bead on if it's been corrected by now. i guess i'll just cowboy up, grab a couple and see for myself. i'll be sure to share my findings.

-dodo

 

[chemman14]

about how long do you guys usually hang your plants? 2-3 days? I dont want them to get too dry (this is my first ever grow)

 

[dodo5678]

about how long do you guys usually hang your plants? 2-3 days? I dont want them to get too dry (this is my first ever grow)

depends on where you live and what your climate is. what i understand from reading the thread is that you could take some of the product and put it in the jar with the hygrometer, close it up, wait a while and see what the reading is. if you're 70+ RH, it's too wet and you need to wait longer. otherwise party on garth!

-dodo

 

[SupraSPL]

Also the size of the buds affects how fast they dry.