At this point, you have spent at least 10 weeks lovingly caring for your crop and are now ready to harvest. What you may not know is that what happens over the next 2 weeks can ruin an otherwise amazing harvest. I recommend that you put just as much thought into drying and curing as you did into cultivating your medical marijuana. Here’s what you need to know.
The point of drying and curing your precious medicine is to ensure that the cannabinoids are preserved for as long as possible. By reducing the moisture content microbial activity is nearly eliminated. If done correctly, cannabis can last 6 months or more in storage with little change in cannabinoid content.
Drying:
Ideal Temperature: 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ideal Relative humidity (Rh): 40-50%
Total Darkness
Stay within these ‘cool and dry’ parameters, add a fan to circulate the air, and you’ll do just fine. No need to point the fan at the drying cannabis, just keep the air moving. The idea at this point is to remove 75%-80% of the moisture in the cannabis over the course of 7-10 days. Go too fast and your cannabis will be harsh, go too slow and you risk molds and mildews. Darkness is important to reduce chloroplast activity/density (which affects flavor) as well.
While some cultivators will have dedicated drying rooms, others will choose to simply turn their lights off in the grow room and do the drying in the same place. Others still build their own DIY Drying Cabinets. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you hang the whole plant upside down, right side up, or whatever – just keep the the environmental parameters right and everything else will take care of itself.
When your stems audibly crack and cleanly break, it’ll be time to trim the buds.
Trimming:
I do not recommend ‘wet trimming’ your medicine. You can, and many do, but from a scientific standpoint your trichomes are much more fragile when fresh and fully hydrated. The drying process also dries the trichomes and partially hardens the resins. This makes them more durable and less fragile.
Remove as much leaf and stem as you desire, as gently as possible. Remember, we’re preparing for storage here. Imagine handling a bag of apples when you get home from the store. As you put them away you drop one of the floor. Although you can’t see the bruise right away, how long do you think that apple will last compared to the others? Your buds are much the same; bruising those trichomes can set off a chain reaction and seriously reduce the quality, especially over time. I’m sure to consume those accidental drops first, before they spoil.
Tip: Get a good pair of scissors, you’ll thank me for it and so will your hands.
Curing/Storing:
Ideal Temperature: 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ideal Relative humidity (Rh): 62%
Total Darkness
Air Tight
The idea behind curing is to allow the moisture content to become evenly distributed throughout the buds. After drying is complete, the insides of those buds will be much more moist than the outside (which should be a little too crisp). If left in this condition, the inside risks spoilage.
Buy a case of (12) wide-mouth canning jars and lids. Keep the box as it will make a good storage compartment that is mostly light tight (you still want to keep things dark during curing and storage as well). Carefully fill the jars to about 80% full and seal the jars.
Sniff testing: Some call it ‘burping,’ but if your drying process was thorough, you shouldn’t need to let any air out of / into the jar. However, it is probably a good idea to open these jars once a day, for the first few days, and sniff them. If you smell hay, grass, or other off-putting odors you should leave your jars open for the rest of the day in a cool, dry room. This probably means that you have too much moisture. When jars have passed three days of sniff tests, you are probably in the clear. If jars need more than a week of attention due to undesirable odors, you should dry the cannabis more completely next time.
Wait two weeks [if you can] and enjoy!
NOTE: Some folks have had really good luck with “humidity packets” that seem to take some guesswork out of the process once you’ve put your cannabis in the jars and sealed them.
Conditions that cause cannabis spoilage:
- Oxidation (keep it air tight)
- Heat/freezing (keep it cool)
- Light/UV (keep it dark)
- Time (don’t keep it too long (6 months))
Go now, prepare those fine cannabis buds for consumption. Feel free to leave your own tips in the comments.
Happy Harvests!
— The Lit Farmer —