Craft curing of Cannabis
Ideally you would like to achieve about 65 degrees and 65% humidity. At this rate you are able to slowly draw out any liquid from plant material. If this is done too fast you get a harsh smoke and lose a lot of your terpene profile and get a hay smell to your cannabis. After all the hard work you've put into growing your cannabis , please do yourself a favor and baby this curing process.
DRY CLIMATE CURING
If you are in a dry climate you may need to attempt to add humidity to your curing area (room, tent, etc). This can be done by humidifiers or simply by adding watered soil pots. In a dry environment I recommend a whole plant hang as to not dry too quickly. I do this by chopping down the plant at base and hanging in the grow tent I used to flower in. Maybe if humidity is holding anywhere near 60% I will take off fan leaves about 3 days into cure. After about a week the buds should be pretty dry. Your looking for some spongy texture still..Not brittle. At this point I do a dry trim on the buds and put them in curing buckets or large tupperware tubs with humidity gauges in them. I will add Bovida packs to help. If humidity under 60% leave closed and let curing happen. If over 65% you may want to leave lid cracked open and keep an eye on it. Open tubs once or twice a day to allow air exchange. Opening less after one week. After one week you are hopefully maintaining 60 to 65% humidity and this is the CURE ZONE. Your cannabis at this point is ready to smoke. Or you can keep in a dark place in Mason Jars or Smell proof bags.
HUMID ENVIRONMENT CURING
As I mentioned above about 60% humidity is ideal. At this point you may want to cut each branch and remove fan leaves and cure whole buds on branches. If you are still too humid, You may need to do a wet trim and leave on branches to dry or cut off whole buds and use a drying rack (careful of flat spots, turning buds often). Your goal is to try to dry over 7 to 10 days. No shorter.. No longer. After drying time is complete repeat steps above to finish curing in tubs, jars,bags or tupperware. After a week of burping this should be ready to smoke.
If you are a grower who likes to do a wet trim and fast dying. Please consider this method of slow drying and proper curing. I think you will enjoy the smoke a lot more. Either way you shake it...Congratulations On growing you own.
