Questions about drying and curing

this is my first plant harvest. I am looking for advice on drying basics, and when to Jar. I harvested a Northern Lights auto and a Amnesia Haze auto. My yield should be a quarter lb.

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Ideally you will want to try to get rh near to 60% as possible while drying. If you can get temperatures into the 60’s you will get a nice slow dry. As far as when to jar, I will check stems and wait until they bend, not break. Once they bend and not immediately snap back is a indication you are in the window to put in jars. If you want to go high tech you can get a moisture meter that measures moisture in wood, at a home improvement store and check moisture content in buds. Ideally when moisture content gets to 10-12 % they are ready to jar. Once they are jarred up its best to get small hydrometers to put in jar to measure rh levels. 58-62 % is the rh level you want while curing.

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BTW, Welcome to ILGM forum. :slightly_smiling_face::+1:

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thanks so much. Another experienced grower to me the same about rh to 60%. Please could you educate me on the changing smells as the breakdown process occurs in the closet. My bathroom has reaked of pot smell for 2 days now. Does this smell change to hay and then back to a pot smell?

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Many times if they dry to quickly they will get that hay smell. Usually if rh is in the proper range while in jar the hay smell dissipates and goes back to the original smell, but not always. There’s a lot of factors at play, RH, temperatures, and genetics. Mainly try to get the drying environment dialed-in, easier said than done :slightly_smiling_face::+1:

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A lot of it comes down to personal preference. I used to wet trim, and then hang all the branches up for drying. On a few occasions the drying went a little too quickly and I ended up with that hay smell you’re talking about. After some research, I decided to try dry trimming. I read that it’s far less likely to dry too quickly if you leave the entire plant intact and hang it instead of cutting the branches off. That worked much better for me, so I’ve been doing it that way for a couple of years now.

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Yeah, I actually prefer wet, mainly because I personally think it’s easier, than dry. But I do agree that you can get a slower dry by not only hanging branches, hanging entire plant can even give you a better result. :slightly_smiling_face::+1:

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@Bulldognuts, trimming is the ONLY part of what we do that I really don’t enjoy, wet or dry. I absolutely love every other aspect of growing, but I dread the usual 36 hour marathon of trimming!

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I will recommend using a trim tray whether you go wet or dry (I much prefer dry)
I have this one
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DPW7FYF/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=9238b831ffd14c17c8e49e796abd69b9&hsa_cr_id=6261201680901&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=23505a89-df51-49bd-b8b9-8c04d79fd11f&pd_rd_w=0PRSy&pd_rd_wg=f1GAk&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_lsi4d_asin_0_title
I don’t know where this went before I started using it


Many around here prefer Trim bin

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Yep, I have 2 similar trim bins. Use them regardless of wet or dry :+1:

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Temp and humidity look good. I don’t see a fan? Air circulation is critical in achieving an even dry. It’s kinda like convection oven concept but for curing buds. You don’t wanna blow the fan directly towards them you just want something in that area to move the air

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And check out the trans-humidity bags. My first run at it - but so far really like the ease of use. Online cigar shops have them for 1/3 the price of some weed shops that I have seen. Exotic Gelato fem RDWC - #51 by IKnowURider

very observant. the small fan is 3 feet down and pointed at a side wall going up. using a diffuser in the bathroom helps me to maintain good rh in the closet.

ill check into it thx

have you ever cultivated a plant like this Blueberry Auto? After a few hours of the shell coming off, I thought this seedling looked strange. Whorled Phyllotaxy ?