Don’t know if this is normal. When I first cut my buds from branches they were huge. I put them to hang dry in AC and I anticipated water loss but damn this much? My green nuggets don’t look the same sometimes it smells like dry leaf tea then when u fiddle with it you smell the real thing. I am on my 3rd day and the branches still hasn’t snapped but the buds just look different color please let me know. Would love to know when Could/should I start curing or is that process simultaneous.
@Hellraiser @Myfriendis410
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Yeah that’s normal, they do shrink down quite a bit and you lose about 80% of the weight. Wait til the thin stems are a bit snappy then chop the buds off and put into an air-tight container with a hygrometer and slowly dry them down to 60-62RH by opening the containe for a while every day and letting moisture out.
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Thanks so much for this; questions
- So my buds look fine?
- What’s most important is the crystals/thc resin and not the actual size of the bud?
Drying should not be done quickly: 7 to 10 days to dry, if you dry to ‘stem snap’ you went too far. I get to where I’m thinking they’re close and put ALL of the flower in a clear plastic locking-lid tote with a hygrometer over night. If it reads high (hopefully) then I take the lid off and blow air across the top of the tote all day and repeat. Once I get close to my 62% target it goes into jars with Boveda packs for finishing.
You can also use brown paper bags to slow down the drying process.
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Okay great thank you, I understand all of what you are saying. I haven’t had the snap yet, it’s still “foldy”. I just was unsure of the appearance since it looked loose compared to the beginning of drying. So I wasn’t sure if mine looked right given that I am on day 3. So does it look right?
Like @Hellraiser said: you’re gonna lose 80% of the flower mass to evaporation. If the plants were flowered under adequate lighting it will just fall to genetics: Indica-heavy cultivars will tend to denser nugs than Sativa.
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Thanks I actually just looked that up and concluded that genetics have a big part to play. Which brings me back to my confirmation that the person whom I got the plant from has been misinformed about the genetics. I was under the impression that it would look one way since they said it was a particular strain. Oh well I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and experiment going forward.
I always vacuum pack mine in mason jars and Boveda as well. You can open the jars and take whatever you want out and reuse the lid and vacuum it back down. Your advise is spot on.
Best possible place for long term storage is in a non frost free freezer. I’m smoking flower I put down in 2018 and it’s as fresh as when it went in.
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I think you and I, are at the same in our harvest.
I’m very new to this level of growing.
I let mine dry for 7 days then put in mason jar.
And i have more still growing.
Did i do right putting it in jars.
I don’t need to screw up now!!!
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High,
Buds look okay to me… keep burping them jars when you are curing them. I do it a couple times a day and that seems to work well for me. Also keep an eye out for mold. To wet to early will cause some difficulties. It surely takes practice and patience and confirmation!
I love growing marijuana!
Ger
Are you putting your bud in jars in the freezer or Ziplocks? And why would it be different in a freezer that frosts vs a frost free? Like if your weed is sealed would it matter?
And like I wanna make dry sift, can I use any freezer? Or dose it need to be frost free or frosty?
Frost free has timed intervals where temps rise above freezing. This cycling up and down degrades THC into CBN which is generally not a good thing.
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oh I didnt know that? So if I want to freeze my cannabis before I dry screen it can I just chuck it in my deep freeze?
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I’ve got flower in the freezer from September 2018 and it’s as nice as the day it went in.
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My plan is to take all of my herb and dry sift every bit of it except the main colas of each plant. I wanna take a big assed empty Carlo Rossi wine bottle and some of that plastic turkey wrap? The heat proof stuff… fill the bottle with boiling water and roll rhe resin into traditional temple balls.
Ive always been a big fan of hash, but the west coast is not a place to get it. I suppose I could buy some mail ordered cheap assed hash, but why? When I can make some killer hash?
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That is very interesting. I never knew that. 
I watched a special on how they make hash in Morocco. That’s the way they make their hash dry sifting. Old school tried and true.
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yes the main difference is they use a bowl with silk stretched over it. They place the herb on the silk and cover it with a tarp and secure that. The beat it with sticks and collect the kief from the bowl.
We westerners use screens stretched onto frames. We bounce the material and collect, then crush and bounce, then collect, then card and collect.
Check out bubblemans dry sift videos.
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Could you imagine beating fields of buds into a silk screen for days upon days? Soooo high🤪