Curing the Buds

Io thnk you can get by without them. But if you don’t mind spending couple bucks on the hygrometers pretty much fool proof.

Also, i typically try to jar my buds by size for consistency. Bigger buds together smaller buds together. But if you notice your smaller buds are low right away, sit them up and drop a couple of bigger more dense buds with them. The more dense buds will hold a little more moisture in the center, and almost act like a humidity pack to the smaller more dry buds. Not sure about you, but super dry here this time of year.

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Sorry @MT3, caught up at the moment.

I’ll read it alil later

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Agreed, i never take stems to a full break. The times that i have the flower was to dry.

After the bud has reached a point where im positive it won’t mold (there should still be moisture in the bud at the time its transferred to the jar, it’s just a very small amount), i only burp two or three times a week like Bogleg. I’m not saying this is the best way but what i will say is i personally don’t really notice a difference in bud quality burping every single day, compared to every couple of days.

Me too, and this is how I’m able to track quality differences in curing. I do observe small and subtle differences through time but for me, if you throw it in the jar and burp every several days after its dry, it’s hard to f*** up.

For me, this most difficult thing to overcome is drying to fast. I’ve gotten to much airflow before with humidity at 45%. Now 45% humidity with normal air flow ain by to bad, but i had the “fans a blowin’” And on the third day every stem on almost a pound of bud would break if you looked at it wrong.

So this is tdubwillys opinion only:

Curing is extremely important but hard to f*** up, so my focus is never to have a “good cure”, that will almost undoubtedly happen on it’s own if you put it in the jar at the right level of dryness.
Drying, although not as important to taste and bud quality is easy for me to f*** up, so that’s where i put my focus and efforts.

If You can get it into the jar at the perfect dryness, then you can try all different kind of curing techniques and it will taste great.

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This was a “golden” tip @dbrn32. I jarred some larfy bud (last nite) I had under-dried slightly and the hygrometer read 71% this morning. The smell was like fresh cut grass, so I spread the buds out on a sheet of newspaper and letting them air out until lunch, then I’ll re-jar and see where they are after work this evening.

I may be wrong, but I rather have them a bit moist and adjust like this as opposed to having them TOO dry and going backwards. Obviously not too wet to develop mold but I think that’s what burping helps with anyway. BUT I have picked up a tip that a fresh green MJ leaf placed in a jar with over dry weed can help to perk it back up and moisten lightly.

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I feel like @TDubWilly said it pretty well. As long as you don’t let dry too long, you’ll end up in pretty good shape.

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And there’s even methods to bring the bud back from that :wink:

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@TDubWilly, I just had the chance to read your post and appreciate the insightful feedback that you, @dbrn32 and @Bogleg shared with me as harvest approaches.

My grandfather (and generations before him) raised tobacco on our family farm, and often told me that the whole season of growing boiled down to the art of drying and curing. He said that drying and curing is “the money”. I find a similar parallel with MJ.

I did a practice run with some larfy buds just to clean the plant up some and to test my drying technique. I knew the buds were still a bit moist as the stem will bend and stay bent, but there is no real crispy snap to the break. Basically still a tad bit pliable, I jarred the buds with a hygrometer and it read 71%. NOW I can relate the feel of the stem and bud with the moisture level she reads. I’ll probably go a bit more dry with the big buds, but not to the point it snaps like a dry twig.

Collectively, your posts are confidence builders for me as the time is right around the corner for my first indoor harvest. I’ll post my pics again for you to see, and I know @dbrn32 saw this on my journal post over on the lab side. Thank you again!

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Happy to help - I look forward to seeing the metrics of your success when it’s all jarred up. :slight_smile:

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Your mentorship has been exceptional from day one, kind sir. Your guidance has been a huge factor in my first grow!!

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If you have the means and the time, I would suggest you sign up for Bergman’s Lab. I think you’d find it worth it.

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I’m there on the Lab forum, same name. In fact, I bought the full Lab Package and studied every word of every module. Then, as I entered each phase of plant development, I went back and reviewed that appropriate module as a refresher. Robert’s suggestion to try a natural plant first grow is why I did a natural, but then I had to lollypop the plant to allow air flow under her canopy. I had no idea this WW-P would be so big and full taking up the whole tent…LOL.

Of course each grower and leader has their own unique way of approaching farming, and I usually glean a tip here and a tip there…then I put them all together for a plan that works for me.

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Hahah - well that shows you much of a stoner I am, because I had no clue you were in the Lab too… I keep the tabs for both forums open next to each other, so sometimes I am not even sure which forum I am posting on. Heh. Apologies!

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smoking-a-joint-smiley-emoticon

All good! Enjoy!!

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I have tried with success to bring crispy dry bud back to life by putting a fresh MJ leaf in the container. The moisture from the leaf helped refresh the bud.

Any other tips or tricks worth mentioning to bring over dry bud back to a good RH% ?

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That’s the main way, higher humidity boveda packs might help but i have never used above a 62

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For overly dry buds, orange peels seem to work for me. I’ve even opened the jar and added water drops and this will work also.Not much water, though, and it shouldn’t take too long for the humidity level to rise, so keep your meter inside and check it often.

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The 62% Boost packs are the ones I bought, @TDubWilly. I have my larf bud test batch at 62% based on daily readings from the hygrometer. I have been burping the jar daily now (first week), so going into next week I may start burping with less frequency.

Since I have the bud at 62% consistently for the last several days, should I go ahead and drop in the Boost pack? Remove the hygrometer? I got good experience for the way bud should “feel” at 62%, so this was a darn good training exercise with larf before I get into the good stuff.

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I’m not the one to ask that Cuz i don’t use a hygrometer… is a boost pack a boveda?

@Bogleg @dbrn32

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Yup, works same way.

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I wouldn’t yet. You actually want rh a little lower. I think you’re bud is considered fully cured around 55% rh. You don’t neccesarily have to wait til its that low, but I’d let it get below 60 anyway.

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