Please explain the harvesting and curing process

[giutax]

Hi. I was wondering if anyone could explain the whole process from start to finish. This is going to be my first harvest and don't want to mess this up. Thanks for the help.

[dash]

http://www.1stmarijuanagrowerspage.com/how-to-grow-marijuana.html#c20

that should explain a lot

[rangerdanger]

Ok, you've done your best and grown buds and now you are ready for the next step.
Before I start I clear off a table, and I'm gonna harvest a lot I'll invite friends over for a manicure party, which is sorta like a quilting bee but with dope.

Part I Harvesting:
I find it easier to cut branches off a standing plant, so I never cut the plant itself down when I harvest.
I transport the branches to the table in plastic trash bags. Around the table are supermarket-type paper bags.
We get like an assembly-line going. Person A. will cut the buds off the branches. Person B. will remove the fans leaves. The branches and fan leaves go in the first bag for composting.
Person C. will remove the medium leaves. They go in bag 2 for cooking.
We take off the fan & medium leaves with our hands. Out come the scissors.
The smallest leaves we remove go into a third bag, for oil/hash.
I like to manicure down to nice trim buds, leaving the tiny sparkly leaves still on, all the other leaves are removed.
Manicuring Tip: When manicuring good weed, your hands will soon cake up with resin and become useless claw-like appendages. Here's a great way to remove this: Some folks can rub their hands together to make finger hash. I've never been able to do this. I use a small sprayer bottle filled with olive/vegatable oil. I spray my hands, rub them together to get most of the resin off, then use Dawn dishwahing soap to take off the oil.

Part II Drying:
What you want is to dry slowly so the buds smoke cool, but not so slowly that they get moldy. Lots of people hang their buds to dry. I did that for 25 years then a friend turned me onto a better way.
Get some supermarket-type paper bags; the slightly heavy-duty ones with the paper handles work best.
I fill the bags 1/3 full of buds, then crimp the top. I keep them in a well-ventilated room.
Everyday I open the bags and very gently "comb" the buds with my fingers, turning/mixing them up for even drying. The buds next to the bag dry faster than the buds in the center. This also allows me to judge when they're dry enough for curing.
How long this takes is dependant on ambient humidity. With low humidity it might take as little as 5 days, high humidity might take 10 or 11 (or more).
You NEVER want to dry until they're "crispy". You want to get them to the point of a humidor cigar, still a bit moist--barely dry enough to smoke in a pipe.

Part III The Cure:
Gently take the buds out of the bags and place them into sealable containers. Some folks use Mason/canning jars. I like to use empty 1-gal. plastic containers I get from the local deli/fast food place. They used to contain condiments like mayo, relish, etc.
Close tightly and keep in a cool dark place.
EVERYDAY I open the jars. I leave the top off for about 10 minutes. Then I reseal.
The min. time for the curing process should be about 2 weeks--the longer the better.
When the buds are dry enough for the stems to bend slightly before breaking I tighten the lid and put them into storage until I need them, although I open the jars every 2 or so weeks just to check that they aren't molding.

Notes:
The reason I bag dry--it allows the buds to dry evenly at the proper rate. And the buds, in contact with other buds, allows ferementing to begin (which is good). Bag drying allows you to get a head start on curing
Also, when you hang dry, the outer part of the buds get crispy-dry while the stem still contains lots of moisture. If you put them into jars in this condition you'll end up with a gooey moldy mess.
And, hang drying is soooo conspicious and takes up a lot of room.

Why cure?
If you've smoked quick-dried, uncured weed (and what grower hasn't?) you know it smokes harsh, burns hot, and tastes like hay.
Slow-dryed/cured weed smokes cooler, tastes and smells better, and is approx. 30% more potent than flash-dried/uncured weed.

Warning:
If at anytime during the drying/curing process you detect an ammonia (dirty diaper) odor, IMMEDIENTLY remove the buds and dry them on a table-top (or hang dry). I've never heard of this happening but it may happen if you live in an area of super-high humidity.

Finally:
Some people say "hey dude I can't wait 3 weeks to smoke my pot."
Me too.
So when I finish manicuring I always set some buds aside, about 3 weeks worth. I let them dry on a table-top (1--2 days) or in a drawer (2--3 days) so I have something to smoke in the meantime.

Give this method a try, and much thanks to Herr Baron for telling me about it.

P.S. Start preparing your buds while they're still growing. Make sure to use plain water only during the last 10--14 days before harvest. This removes the nasty fertilizer taste.

[Smokey_McPot_420]

Ranger, when you put the manicured, dried buds into the gallon container how much do you put into it. do you fill it 1/3 of the way same as the bag or is it different?

[giutax]

What are the fan and medium leaves leaves? Or is just the size of the leaves?

[rangerdanger]

I usually fill the curing containers about 1/3 full.
It also helps if at several times during the curing process you VERY GENTLY pour the buds out, mix 'em up and then re-load.

[fishheadbob]

Ranger...When you get a large high quality harvest, and everything has been cured, what do you do for long term storage? I've just been wrapping everything well and airtight then freezing it. I know some major cigar junkies with several large humidors. When they get onto a big stash of cigars and the humidors are full they drag out the Coleman type coolers. They run a hygrometer and use a sponge to keep their humidity around 65 to 70 degrees. Your opinions please.

[toon949]

yeah....what about that for a large amount?

after drying/curing:
is freezing ok??
what about vacuum packing then freezing?
what about vacuum packing then the shelf?

what about a humidor? you can get a mid size one for $100

thanks

[rangerdanger]

Don't freeze your pot.
Each plant cell contains moisture. When moisture is frozen it expands, and this will rupture the plant cells and make your weed taste crummy.
Once my pot is dried & cured, I store it in 1 gal. containers, the same ones I cure the weed in (see initial post). I loosely fill the containers approx. 2/3 full and write on them what strain is inside.
The pot should be stored at the same moisture level as a fine cigar. The stems should bend slightly before breaking.
Pot in this condition can be stored for years in peak condition. Be sure though the weed isn't too moist. That can ruin your buds.

Don't use vacuum packing. Ever seen the infomercial for those seal-a-meal things? They out a alum. can in the bag and suck out all the air and what happens? The cans collapse. Vacuum sealing will crush your buds.

You want to store your weed in air-tight containers.

I store my weed in 1 gal. plastic containers and then every night or 2 open it long enouigh to take out a nug and pop it into a shot glass, the use scissors to get it into smoking consistency. That way you don't lose any trike's.

The fan leaves are the biggest leaves.

P.S. You MUST MUST MUST open the containers daily when curing. If you miss just 1 or 2 days you can ruin your pot. It can get moldy.
Like most things, it takes practice to get it down perfect.

[†ù®Ké¥ š†ûƒƒïñg]

What is that ammonia smell?A friend of mine had a guy willign to sel him some marijuana at 100 dollars for 2 Oz. When he got the shit it smells like piss and burnt hot and tasted nasty.


How bads the smell from drying? I have my own place but, I have alot of people coming in an out of my house. Some of which I don't want to know I have marijuana dryingn my house. I don't want them walkingnto my room or by the closet and be like " That smells familar"

[T.H. Cammo]

That ammonia smell is the result of storing the buds (in closed up containers) before they are dry enough. Anaerobic bacteria keep working on the overly moist bud tissue.

Some say to "open-air" dry it out till it's really dry and smoke it anyway. Some say it's dangerous - thow it away. I won't advise on that one. I got some like that about 20 years ago. Besides smelling like an old wet diaper it was soft and fragile to the touch and it was kind of "pasty" and pale looking. Of course, we dried it out and smoked it anyway - it still tasted like shit and wasn't vary potent. Same kind a deal that you got - quite a bit for real cheap.

[jniggs]

this place makes me sick... crawling with pigs. yes pigs, you. pot doesnt make u dumb, it makes you smart. and ive figured out some of you are pigs.

[jniggs]

and i dont mean to polute this sticky with my knowledge, but trust me, i looked up some people's previous posts and this place is crawling with them, some of you have shared alot of info w/ them that u wouldnt have if u knew they were cops.

[T.H. Cammo]

Sounds like someone has the old "Rectal Cranium Inversion Syndrom"!!!

[jniggs]

hah yeah... very paranoid last night. sorry guys :) ignore those posts from me...

[Boscher]

What is that ammonia smell?A friend of mine had a guy willign to sel him some marijuana at 100 dollars for 2 Oz. When he got the shit it smells like piss and burnt hot and tasted nasty.

Probably because its two ounces for 100 bucks. I'd just roll blunts with it after i grinded it all up.

[mokie48116@yahoo.com]

The best remedy for buds that smell like cat pi$$? Take the buds and put them in a cooler, cover the buds with water (weigh them down with a brick or somethin'), change the water everyday for 5-7 days...the moldy taste will wash out and leave you with bud that doesn't taste so bad, just be careful when you re-dry the bud, as you can get them moldy again, make sure they are mostly dry before you put them up in jars the cure...I have used this method and gotten good results...

Peace...j.b.

[Effex]

Wouldn't that just promote mold/bacteria growth even more? You would also be diluting the THC content by soaking them in water one would think.

[lune]

^It's called water curing. Sort of a last resort for if you get mold, it destroys the taste of the herb. On the plus side, if you water cure you don't have to flush the plants, you can keep feeding them all the way up to when you chop them.

And people, please don't buy moldy herb, and def don't smoke it. It's a good way to put yourself in the hospital.

[Superpimp]

^It's called water curing. Sort of a last resort for if you get mold, it destroys the taste of the herb. On the plus side, if you water cure you don't have to flush the plants, you can keep feeding them all the way up to when you chop them.

And people, please don't buy moldy herb, and def don't smoke it. It's a good way to put yourself in the hospital.
he speaks the truth, i got me a killer lung infection from moldy buds...uber harsh to even smoke now :( and that was forever agow....

[mokie48116@yahoo.com]

Mold/fungus uses an anaerobic process to live, so the 7-day water cure will rid you of the mold, due to its dieing and being washed away. It does also remove the chemicals that are left in the plant when it is chopped. If you use organics (mostly supplied by worm castings, bat guano and fish emulsions) the usual 7-14 day flush of plants is mostly unnecessary. Unfortunately, the water cure also removes some of the terpines and other things that make it taste good. It does not affect the potency much tho.

Peace...j.b.

[dimples74]

View topic - Simple Growing for Dummies (or newbies) || Weed Farmer - Cannabis Culture Forum (http://www.weedfarmer.com/BB/viewtopic.php?t=4739)


This should help u out alot!

[Clockwork_007]

Hey everyone. I just want to make sure I have this process down completely and tightly....for the sake of simplicity, I'm using the "hang dry" method. Sure it's more obvious but that isn't an issue for me and I'm just too afraid of mold to use the afore described paper bag trick.

1.) cut stems from main stalk of plant
2.) prune leaves off stem, leaving only buds.
3.) hang buds upside down in well ventilated area, preferably with the use of a floor fan or some other ventilation device.
4.) let buds hang until the stem is dry enough that it can be snapped in half.
5.) Remove buds from stem, placing in a mason jar or other closed container. DO NOT PACK IN, ONLY GENTLY FILL.
6.) Leave in container, opening once a day for 15 minutes to allow air to exchange in the jar. If desired, CAREFULLY remove buds and re-arrange before placing lid back on jar. Continue opening the jar on a daily basis. Recommended minimum cure time is 2 weeks, but longer is better.

So how did I do? hahaha. Thanks for the input guys. I'm no professional, but everybody needs a hoby, right? :-)

- J.D

[Naturalhi]

The stems don't have to snap in half, they only need to make a cracking noise, or 50% humidity!

[julia123]

View topic - Simple Growing for Dummies (or newbies) || Weed Farmer - Cannabis Culture Forum (http://www.weedfarmer.com/BB/viewtopic.php?t=4739)


This should help u out alot!


Thank you.