Being an excellent cannabis grower involves plenty of duties to get the perfect harvest. Ensuring the best results requires knowing all the stages of hemp growth, harvesting, and storage. To collect the highest-quality yield, one must mind the vital signs like fan leaf color change, bud morphology, or trichome gland color. Correct storage includes strict with factors like temperature, humidity, or light and finding the correct packaging for items. But between these two stages, there are other essentials like weed drying and curing processes.
After cutting down and collecting cannabis plants, following the dry and cure stages is crucial because a lot may happen to the hemp crop if it is not dried and cured correctly. Whenever you live in Canada quality marijuana seeds are available for buying online and starting your growth. So, when the harvest is done, you must be armed with practical tips about drying and curing before arranging storage for your weed. Follow the guide’s directions passage by passage to get acquainted with the process peculiarities, necessary materials, and helpful process rules. It can help make your homegrown cannabis harvest the best it can ever be.
Reasons for Proper Drying
Why is drying that important? Every grower must dry plants after collecting them to preserve hemp’s color, vibrancy, and potency. Correct hanging also prevents the flattening or misshaping of the buds. The drying process reduces the moisture content from of the plant’s outer layer to 10—15 percent, depending on the final crispness. Evenly and properly drying hemp excludes flavor and fragrance loss, uneven burn, mildew, or mold growth.
Drying Step
You first need to know how long it takes to dry cannabis. Proper drying requires between 2 and 7 days. Keep in mind that when you have done wet trimming, you need less time for this step because most of the hemp material is already trimmed off. Dry trimming is considered the better way, despite needing more time and labor.
Room Setting Up
Three main factors that make for a good drying room are darkness, humidity, and temperature. The humidity range must be between 55 and 65 percent, and the temperature level must be between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or 21 degrees Celsius. Be sure your chosen place is not prone to massive humidity and temperature fluctuations. Also, it is required to keep the space dark, as the UV rays may disrupt the process and degrade your weed.
When arranging the space, you may need the following equipment:
- drying line or rack to hang hemp;
- air-conditioner and dehumidifier (optional);
- small fan for regulating air circulation;
- hygrometer to control humidity and temperature.
If the equipment and environment mentioned are prepared, then proceed with the hanging.
Hanging
To get the best results, follow the steps below:
- Cut the plant into branches or at the base.
- Hang it upside down on a line.
- Control the humidity and temperature levels every day.
- If you can already snap the plant slightly, take it off and cut it into smaller pieces.
- Put your hemp into a container and tightly seal it with the lid. For the first couple of days, rotate the weed and filter out the damp air to let the fresh one come inside.
- Prepare containers for curing cannabis.
Drying without Hanging
This part is helpful for those who have chosen wet trimming. Since you will have too many separated buds, you need a flat rack to put them on. They are round with mesh layers for airflow.
After two days of hanging, one should check buds and branches, whether done dry or wet trimming. If the stem snaps, then the buds are completely dry. If they don’t, leave hemp until the next day.
Importance of Curing
The curing process is like aging wine. It allows your marijuana to develop a full spectrum of aroma and flavor intensity while decreasing the THC element level in favor of the CBN. When drying, you work with moisture on the plant’s surface, but at that stage, you manipulate it deep within. A correct cure allows storing hemp for long periods without worrying about mold growth, terpene degradation, or cannabinoid degradation. You can store well-cured cannabis for up to 2 years without much loss of its qualities.
Curing Process
Prepare an airtight container and place trimmed buds inside. Avoid crushing, tightly pressing, or compacting them. Choose a glass jar, wide-mouth quart, metal, wood, or ceramic vessel as packaging options, and do not use plastic bags due to oxygen exposure.
One should stash the packaged weed in a dark place, keeping the temperature close to 64 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity range at 50 percent. The process lasts between 4 and 8 weeks. You must open the container daily for the first two weeks to keep the fresh oxygen inside. Then you will need to open the packages with hemp every 2 or 3 days. The key is to keep the process moving at a gradual pace.
Summarizing
Curing and drying, in the same way as harvesting or trimming, are essential for getting the best quality marijuana. One must pay attention to those steps. Be sure you have the required equipment and have arranged proper conditions for excellent drying and curing. Checking the weed is mentioned in the above prompts.