So I just finished reading a few more articles/forums about drying and curing MMJ....and more and more people are suggesting that you should not trim any buds or even fan leaves at all until the buds are completely dried...

I usually have trimmed them before hanging, as I have found it much easier to manicure the buds before the leaves dry up and curl up into and onto the buds...on the few occasions that I did not trim before hanging, it was extremely difficult to trim them.

Is this why I have had the "green/homegrown" smell and/or taste on occasion? Even some seed breeders are recommending this process for harvesting and drying....

What do you all recommend?

Thanks
ICB

Curt, I too have read/read/read and read. Who knows?

When I grew outdoors as a younger man, I would harvest whole plants and hang them where the root ball was about a foot above the rest of the plant. Let dry a few days, and as the fan leaves begin to turn cut it into branches and remove the fan leaf's and any leaf with over three blades.
Hang to dry those three blade leafs and at that point put them in a large plastic leaf bag and seal for 24 +/- hrs.

Remove and hang and then repeat the above until the bud's spring back to the touch, not breaking up at all.
I would then put them in .5 gallon hermetically sealed jars for at least a month, burping at least every other day, you will be able to tell by the feel and smell how often you need to burp.
When I reach my desired texture and fragrance I remove the individual buds from the stems and packed them back into the jars. I would burp them every few months after that, when they lasted that long, LOL

I will probably do that with this grow also, only when I store I will vacuum seal the jars.

Just my thoughts on the subject.

Peace out,

GR

I think it's really more personal preference. When using mechanical trimmers (like the bowl trimmers) many recommend trimming wet. The biggest thing is not drying too much or too fast and a good cure.

hey ICB,

from what I have read, the homegrown smell is from chlorophyll. too much of it I think.

which is why some/alot will keep plants in the dark for the last few days before harvest and then harvest before the lights come on. no light= no chlorphyll

urban legend? scientific fact? some idea a stoner came up with?

i've always cut the plants right above the netpot and hang 'em high for 3 to 5 days normally. then the trimming. if you get a good pair of trimming scissors, it does make it easier to get all the curled up leaves that are a pain in the arse. as I'm using up the buds, i'll hand pick the few sugar leaves that i missed and put them aside. when you get enough, roll a big fatty or make butter with it, etc.

RKY

Thanks SME, RKY and GR!

I appreciate the quick responses and advice as always. When I take your words, and combine it together with personal experience and everything I've read, it all begins to come together into a cohesive pattern.

It seems that slow, methodical drying is indeed the most important aspect...it helps the plant to naturally remove the chlorophyll and sugars, (as it uses all remaining nutrients to stay alive), as well as further developing turpenes...too wet and you get mold, dry too quickly and the chlorophyll and sugars will remain, leaving you with a harsh smoke, and a nasty homegrown taste and smell.

It makes sense that by leaving the leaves on you slow the drying process down, but you may increase the risk of mold with excess moisture...so RH and air movement is critical.

I also think that a "middle ground" by trimming and hanging while still attached to the stalks/stems makes sense as the plants can still draw from nutrients stored there...but you need to be careful again about too low an RH and too much air movement, so you prevent drying too quickly.

I am hoping I will be ok when my CVault storage containers arrive tomorrow/Saturday...I'm hoping that the slow, controlled moisture removal and long term management of the water content will certainly help to attain the desired outcome!!

Thanks again as always!!
ICB

Hi all,

Time for my weekly update. Coming down to the wire here. Having already harvested the white rhino and the CBD critical mass, I've started the flush for Blueberry and Northern Light Blue this morning!! I expect to flush again Thursday, and harvest them this coming weekend.

Amber trichomes visible on both, and the blueberry is so very heavy, she is listing to one side this morning. NLB has some amazing dark blues and purples...early mornings are particularly fragrant!!

Here are a few pics...






The leaves are discolored, some are yellowed, some have spots, and some got really dark green and felt burned..I think I damaged them with some PH issues, and too much food right when I started feeding them. Well, lessons learned for next time!

Thanks for all the good words and advice throughout this process folks, I really really appreciate it! I plan to dry, cure and sample by the holidays to see what works the best for my back pain before I plan my next grow...

I will post harvest pics next week!

Any and all feedback welcomed as always!

ICB

ItsCurtisBaby wrote:I am hoping I will be ok when my CVault storage containers arrive tomorrow/Saturday...I'm hoping that the slow, controlled moisture removal and long term management of the water content will certainly help to attain the desired outcome!!

I think the key there is to do a little drying before they even go in but since the boveda packs both absorb and release moisture you don't have to be quite as precise. You still don't want to cut/trim and pack in the cvault, wet, without some drying, even though they do absorb.

Thanks SME! Welcome back...glad to hear things worked out well for you...best of luck with your continued recovery!

So, the CVaults are great...I had read reviews about not curing too quickly as well...even in their literature, they mention not storing "wet tobacco/herb products"...makes sense to dry as much as "normal" first.

One thing I have noticed...after one week in mason jars, I had some nice odors developing when I opened the jars for their daily "burp"...Since moving them into the CVault, I opened them a couple of times, and have absolutely ZERO odor coming out...they simply have no odor at all...not green, not hay, not MJ, nothing at all. Not sure if this is normal?? Didn't think the Boveda packs absorbed any odors....

I cut and hung the NLB and the Blueberry yesterday...Once they dry out, I will post a few pics and dry weight before I cure.

Two initial observations...The top buds were very dense and heavy, I am impressed with this light! The lower buds were not as impressive on all but the CBD critical mass, (which may have been somewhat genetics related)...so your recommendation about more, shorter plants is right on!

Also, I think putting the UV light on early was a mistake. They all had significant white crystals after 4-5 weeks...and they all but disappeared by the time I harvested them! Next grow, I will wait for the last 4 weeks.

Thanks again! ICB

Hey ICB

nice lookin ladies there! a job well done! do you feel like you should be handing out cigars?

i am curious about your last statement: what do you mean there were no crystals when you harvested? all of those last pix looked really frosted up.

from what i know, the more UV the better. the plants put on sunscreen (trichs) to protect itself from the UV. i was actually going to add more UV for the next grow.

do you have any before and after pix that you could put up to show what you are talking about?
RKY

Hey Rky!

Yeah, I'm pretty happy and a little proud of the results from my first official garden. I invested a lot of time,(102 days from seed to final harvest..and still counting as I move into cure), moderate effort, made quite a few mistakes but learned a heck of a lot. Looking forward to 5 weeks or so for sample time!!

So I dug out some pics to try to show you what I meant by my comments in regards to the "frostiness" of the flowers. Initially, the entire flower, bud and leaves, were literally covered in white.

One month ago:




By the time I harvested, the leaves were bare, and only the buds had visible trichomes.
At harvest:


So yes, the buds themselves still had significant trichomes on them, and I may have let the NLB and Blueberry go a little too far, and I had health issues which may have caused this too...but it just seems to me that all the girls were literally covered in white initially...and it just faded away...maybe this is just the way it is supposed to be?

Love some feedback on my evaluation here, I am just a newbie who had some pretty good luck, and am planning for my next garden as we speak!!

Thanks guys!
ICB