no mention anywhere of % weight change per day of curing?

i appreciate the concern and will take note : ) but now we have to do a test comparing paper vs oven bags


what i forgot to say was to hang each plant from it's own hanging scale and then we can see the weight change immediately from chop. i googled as many forums i could on the topic of drying in very low humidity climates and in some cases after hanging for a few days the plants were bagged


my question is after reading this article, because when the hallway smell had left, that could be what he is talking about that those more volatile and delicate terpenes evaporate quickest and in commercially grown weed they can never be saved due to the processing requirements of large amounts and also the health requirements to radiate weed to a certain standard which can only be achieved by drying the buds



i dunno i only usually get legal weed now and my best memories of the dankest and most wonderfully aromatic and flavourfull weed come from the 90's and early 00's

maybe radiate isn't the word but whatever testing they do

what i think i am saying is the best metric to go by would be weight starting from chop like if hanging each plant from it's own hanging scale. one could figure out a percentage on a phenotype basis of how much weight should be lost before trimming and bagging


in normal environments without climate control there is no telling how the humidity levels will be at the time of harvest, so just waiting on a number to be reached makes sense and avoids all guessing



some times the humidity will be low and the process will be quicker and sometimes it will be high and the process slower, but with that number in mind it would be as simple as just trimming each plant when it hits that number


next year i will maybe try and see when the mites/bugs leave, yet before the dank smell goes for time to bag

Ideally, you want temps between 65-75 degrees and humidity between 50-60%. dry about 5-7 days until you can pop nugs off the stem but they are still somewhat spongey. If you let the humidity go too low you burn off lots of terps/flavors. The same goes for temperature being too high. This is easily controlled with a dehum and a humidifier. It also sounds like you should look into mite eradication unless you want to smoke their eggs/droppings and webs.

humidity vs time? the burning off so to speak is the same process just sped up no?

phunkeeboodah said:

humidity vs time? the burning off so to speak is the same process just sped up no?

Click to expand...

No, when terpenes are exposed to such low humidity they disappear and do not return. Otherwise people would just crank their dehums and get product ready super quickly. The slow even drying process yields the best results regarding flavor and smoke.

and what would prevent the loss of terpenes in such low humidity while the plants are still in the ground? if those terpenes were even present at all in such low humidity?

This only applies to the drying process, low humidity during the grow is ok. When you cut them down is when these rules matter. When the plant isnt drying it retains tons of fluid and moisture in its vascular material. When its chopped all that moisture is leaving.

Canna-bill said:

People are just pointing out you are taking a massive risk that your beautiful buds will get mouldy and turn to mush inside the plastic bags because they weren't completely dry putting them in. You may get away with it this time but it is generally bad practice to do this.

If you really have to bag the buds up that soon after harvest, paper bags would have been a better option. In a well ventilated room, buds will take at least 7days to be dry enough to put into bags.

Click to expand...

^^ that there ^^

Switcher56 said:

^^ that there ^^

Click to expand...

I used to put everything in paper bags. Had a mentor tell me it actually reduces flavor. Did a blind taste test of 5 strains for 5 people. Two samples of each, blind, only i knew which was which. Everyone preferred the sample that went from the line straight to bag. I havent looked back in years. I just dry at 72 degrees and at 60% humidity for a week. Right to the bag(ovenbag/plastic). Burp once or twice. Done deal.

We will serve no wine before its time! There are no shortcuts to good weed.

We will serve no wine before its time! There are no shortcuts to good weed.

IMHO, and I said it all before, there is no one size fits all, just like everyone's own environment is unique. Although your plant is a "weed" you have to adapt to its idiosyncrasies, not the other way around. She will tell you when she is not happy or comfortable, just like a baby does when it needs its diaper changed., or fed.

I have several books on the subject. I know this book is met with a certain amount of controversy here. Why? I do not know. I don't play politics. All I know is IMHO this book should have been called, "growing cannabis for dummies"



I have others as well and, of course there are specialized books etc... OTOH, everything you wanted or needed to know but were afraid to asked is contained herein. To include but not limited to a great section on deficiencies. It covers from soaking beans to harvest/post harvest.

This volume lays the foundation IMHO, for further specialized research on any given cannabis topic, should you be so inclined. So... what's the best method for drying (1st step) and curing (the vital 2nd step). The one that works for you, in your environment.

I have been manifolding/mainlining all my grows, the last 2 and this one. Come harvest time, I simply cut off the main tops (8 per plant) and hang in the flower tent (I'm vegging in the veg tent). I do not believe in hanging the whole plant, it doesn't serve any useful purpose and slows done the drying process significantly AFAIC.

I normally grow IAW my VPD chart that I have posted in the past. Some folks say it's accuracy isn't quite there. Well it's better than winging it. It doesn't matter what chart you use, providing you apply the same methods going in as you have done in the past and, adjusting (slightly as req'd) for a given strain, if required.

Who gives a damn about 1/100 accuracy (0.01). The particular chart shows were your plants prefer to be at, during the various stages of their cycle. The only chart I have come across that has that. I had a bunch, reviewed them all (most avail), and chose the best one (for me).

During the last 4 weeks or so, I set my tent for 75 deg F and 55% (via the extraction process (exhaust) and changing the setpoint on my RH controller). During the drying phase my tent is set at ambient temp 68/70 and 60% <--- low and slow, with only 2 circ fans running . IMO and IME the more uniformly you reduce the moisture content of your bud, the less burping required during curing. It takes me a week to 10 days to past the snap test, then they are jarred with a 62% Boveda pack @ (8g/oz) with a hygro in the jar to monitor.

I have since moved to drying baskets, as I don't give a damn about bag appeal (re: flat spots (as everything gets ground up into pills)) and it makes it easier to judge where I am at in the drying process much easier, as your harvest is ready for jarring once it's at 20% of harvested weight, verified with several snap tests. Sometimes one or more plants aren't ready for jarring and sometimes one will be. When they are ready they get jarred.

The odd bud that becomes detached during the wet trimming process, or small buds on the main cola, go to a paper bag. That's for sampling. Even I get impatient LOL.

In the beginning, I used to burp my jars multiple times a day. Not any more. I may burp once a day at best and sometimes even every 2nd day. I always burp 'em once a week (minimum) for a month. After that I burp 'em monthly. My jars maintain 58-60% thereafter. Each jar has its own individual hygrometer. If I doubt a jar (for some reason), I'll select a jar wihich I have deemed as stable (previous grow) and place that hygro in the jar to say what it reads. The hygro that was in that jar will replace the "test hygro". If they both read the same value as their kin, that jar is set aside because it requires periodic attention, whereas the rest are contained in the main storage.

That is what I do.

There are many "advanced methods" discussed on here. In my most humble opinion, "don't try this at home kids" <--- LOL until, you have mastered the basic drying/curing process.

for the OP (excerpts from your linked article)

Recently, while visiting a friend, I was handed a beautiful cannabis bud. It was covered with glistening resin glands—densely covered in them, actually. The aroma was robust and very pleasant; the bud was not overly moist nor even close to being overdried. It was, in fact, perfect in all aspects

The only “flaw,” if you want to call it that, was that the bud was not a product of the regulated commercial industry. Rather, it hailed from a grower who maintains six plants at his home (the legal allowable limit in this person’s jurisdiction). This limited canopy allows the grower to give special attention to every aspect of the small garden, including, and most importantly, to the drying and curing of the final product.

For starters... the reason commercial weed (where legal) is garbage it's because the churn and burn. Add to that that the buds are trimmed via machine and all exterior/surface trichomes are non existent. The trim containing TONS of trichs winds up as extract. I'm a novice at this but, I grow better weed than what is offered @ NSLC.

Of course, many other factors contribute to and influence the quality of dried and cured cannabis, beginning the moment of harvest. I’ve seen uneducated growers, who did not appreciate the nuances and delicate qualities of cannabis, take a “dry it fast, so we can sell it fast” attitude.

Others may try to dry the plants harvested on Friday alongside the harvested plants from Thursday, next to the plants from Wednesday, etc. In those situations, the released moisture from Friday’s plants gets absorbed by drier plants harvested the prior Wednesday. I also have seen drying rooms with sealed environments that only employ heaters and dehumidifiers, which makes it difficult to truly control the environment; the ability to intake fresh air and exhaust heat and moisture is also a must to properly and evenly dry large amounts of cannabis.

Some commercial producers quick-dry their cannabis to avoid any chance of fungal or microbial growth. Contamination was a problem for the cannabis industry, especially in the earlier years of legalization. A lot of early-legalization cannabis was dried and cured the same way it had been for decades, and the moisture levels of cannabis submitted for testing also was as it was for decades, but that same moisture level now often results in unacceptable levels of detectable contaminants. I suspect that after failing testing, some growers chose to simply overdry the cannabis rapidly to minimize the risk of infection.

A craft farmer obviously has much more control over small batches, which can simply be picked up and moved to any preferred environment, be it warmer or cooler, more humid or less humid, or more airflow or less airflow. Many craft growers, like other commercial growers, constantly monitor the state of their products and environments; however, it is much easier and more common for a craft grower to also treat each bud as an entity in itself—meaning large buds can be treated differently, and separately, from small ones.

So, how can a large-scale producer replicate the conditions of a home grower or craft producer that produces small batches of plants? It will require the replication of ideal drying and curing conditions on a grand scale with no shortcuts and complete attention to every detail en masse. This will also give a strategic advantage to large-scale producers who adopt these small-batch techniques to minimize terpene loss and improve moisture content.

So, what are these techniques? For starters, cultivators could and should sort cannabis flowers by size. Drying and curing large and small buds in separate bins would allow post-harvest specialists to monitor and treat each bin as its own entity and deliver to it exactly what it needs in terms of dry/cure time. Whether by machine or by employees, sorting buds by size should be a top consideration in the post-harvest process.

Also, cultivars should be dried and cured separately as, based on my experience, they can dry at different rates; and plants harvested on different days should be kept in different rooms to avoid having the evaporated moisture rehydrate drier batches. Small-batch drying methods require significant compartmentalization to be successful. Having multiple (smaller) dedicated drying areas that can constantly be fine-tuned is critical to achieve this level of terpene and moisture-content quality.

Properly sealed glass containers are the best—although more costly—option to retain both moisture and terpene content. Dark or colored glass is better than clear, as UV rays from sunlight can cause terpene degradation.

My jars are kept at ambient temp in a filing cabinet!

That is what I got from that article. Where do oven bags (turkey bags) come from? IMHO, you have to comprehend what you are reading and apply it to your grow.

thanks for the responses and the info! i love jorges videos and want another ultimate grow dvd btw


i think i am getting the slow dry thing with the oven bags and keeping an eye on them. what i see though is because i grow outdoors once a year (on the balcony), and live in a cold climate that slows plant processes down in the last crucial weeks of flowering, and, then immediately goes to low humidity at time of harvest, i believe that in this special circumstance, where cannabis is growing in a non ideal environment, the window for when to trim and bag is smaller


and since i believe the relation between humidity and the drying/off gassing process is basically fixed assuming temperature is within a logical range, then i would also believe using weight as a guide will be the easiest way to know, which, next year i will consider trying if i can find hanging scales. then after that i can know the exact time to bag based on my preference no matter what the environmental conditions



so i guess two things i am figuring out, slow drying in a partially sealed container/bag ie something that is not air tight and using weight change to observe curing stage, and, using weight change to determine ideal time to trim/bag in an unpredictable and low humidity drying environment

No mention of important things on internet pot forums because internet pot growers don't care about real science. Don't get me wrong they worship the concept of numbers and grow dogma, but in the same way church goers do, not out of any logic or understanding.

Hydro loses more weight, lower brix. How dry was it at harvest? RH is relative to temperature and indicates nothing about moisture content without other variables. Growing pot is all about understanding variables. Better to get a feel for what you're doing (and accept the outcome when you don't, rather than patting yourself on the back for following internet grow forum dogma) than to focus on charts graphs and all the other numerics that are actively ruining Cannabis standards nationwide.

2 days is not nearly enough drying time especially for untrimmed whole plant hanging. Even green trimmed, nugged and racked small buds 2 days isn't possible unless heat and dry humidity are off the charts.
I think you are confusing drying and curing. They are separate process's. Drying you generally end up with 1/5 the weight you started with. It is now completely dry and curing comes next.
You are on the path to mold right now unless somehow your buds are truly dry which I highly doubt. Cardboard boxes work good for a slow dry when your bud is close, you could try that to start but any musky odor or if you can stick your hand in and feel any heat you need to get it on screens.
Buds always loose there odor 24 to 48 hrs in. They come back and change through time. They usually loose and regain there odor another couple times through the drying process.
I hang my plants for 3 to 4 weeks before I start to cure and they go through many changes through that time. You can't loose terpenes unless you cook them with heat.

phunkeeboodah said:

thanks for the responses and the info! i love jorges videos and want another ultimate grow dvd btw

i think i am getting the slow dry thing with the oven bags and keeping an eye on them. what i see though is because i grow outdoors once a year (on the balcony), and live in a cold climate that slows plant processes down in the last crucial weeks of flowering, and, then immediately goes to low humidity at time of harvest, i believe that in this special circumstance, where cannabis is growing in a non ideal environment, the window for when to trim and bag is smaller.

and since i believe the relation between humidity and the drying/off gassing process is basically fixed assuming temperature is within a logical range, then i would also believe using weight as a guide will be the easiest way to know, which, next year i will consider trying if i can find hanging scales. then after that i can know the exact time to bag based on my preference no matter what the environmental conditions

so i guess two things i am figuring out, slow drying in a partially sealed container/bag ie something that is not air tight and using weight change to observe curing stage, and, using weight change to determine ideal time to trim/bag in an unpredictable and low humidity drying environment

Click to expand...

Sorry good buddy. You are mixing apples and oranges and we ain't making fruit cocktail here. Drying is a process, it takes a week to 10 days depending on environmental conditions. Then the curing process starts and that is a minimum of 1 month, the longer the better within reason, as THC will degrade over time.

Your title was misleading wrt weighing. If you want to go by weight, as someone else referred to here, dry weight is roughly 1/5 of harvest weight or 20%. You are using but a single factor to judge the outcome?

MindEater said:

No mention of important things on internet pot forums because internet pot growers don't care about real science. Don't get me wrong they worship the concept of numbers and grow dogma, but in the same way church goers do, not out of any logic or understanding.

Hydro loses more weight, lower brix. How dry was it at harvest? RH is relative to temperature and indicates nothing about moisture content without other variables. Growing pot is all about understanding variables. Better to get a feel for what you're doing (and accept the outcome when you don't, rather than patting yourself on the back for following internet grow forum dogma) than to focus on charts graphs and all the other numerics that are actively ruining Cannabis standards nationwide.

Click to expand...

Great outdoors said:

2 days is not nearly enough drying time especially for untrimmed whole plant hanging. Even green trimmed, nugged and racked small buds 2 days isn't possible unless heat and dry humidity are off the charts.

I think you are confusing drying and curing. They are separate process's. Drying you generally end up with 1/5 the weight you started with. It is now completely dry and curing comes next.

You are on the path to mold right now unless somehow your buds are truly dry which I highly doubt. Cardboard boxes work good for a slow dry when your bud is close, you could try that to start but any musky odor or if you can stick your hand in and feel any heat you need to get it on screens.

Buds always loose there odor 24 to 48 hrs in. They come back and change through time. They usually loose and regain there odor another couple times through the drying process.

I hang my plants for 3 to 4 weeks before I start to cure and they go through many changes through that time. You can't loose terpenes unless you cook them with heat.

Click to expand...

If you had a drying room that could be kept at 60 degrees humidity could you just leave the buds hanging in there to cure for a month or two and skip the jarring entirely?

thedudefresco said:

If you had a drying room that could be kept at 60 degrees humidity could you just leave the buds hanging in there to cure for a month or two and skip the jarring entirely?

Click to expand...

buds in contact with oxygen causes degradation of the THC.

Switcher56 said:

buds in contact with oxygen causes degradation of the THC.

Click to expand...

ah got it. thanks.

This makes me wonder about the sweet spot for drying, then.

If a longer dry is best, how long is too long?

What is the sweet spot when it comes to the amt of time your buds are exposed to oxygen?

Edit: wonder if anyone has a chart where some bud was measured for thc degradation over time in presence of oxygen. That would be interesting.

@MindEater: that is avatar worthy and something i am guilty of, see there i go again d'oh. like when people post pics of perfectly ripe buds on reddit and the response is always a resounding, 'needs 4 more weeks'. like it is a good thing to offer help but some of the wisdom has been taken out of context and then become bible and in the 'world in the palm of everyones hands' smartphone era the endorphin rush of just saying anything 'relevant' in the moment takes over, er something


also don't talk about mites on reddit lol, any mite means you must throw out the crop, as is the usual fear mongering response. people said my buds needed way more time than they did, and saw the mite damage i posted and told me the plants wouldn't make it lol. turns out the mite migration was one of the signals that the plants were ready to bag...


...and that is exactly the conventional wisdom i guess i am refuting. when the end of flowering is just too cold to ripen the buds to their fullest potential(although the purdy colours and again the false information about what those colours mean), and the humidity drops to 20% and below in time for harvest, this is an exception to the rule and why yes indeed these buds were ready to trim and bag at 60-77 hours from chop. the pictures also show how the buds shrunk and got lighter after one week in the bags



i realize now why people have tried many strains in these colder climates and many ended the same way, because no matter their flowering time they all go into slow motion at the end when they still need to be chugging along. so to me i realize now this is not an ideal climate for most strains and in particular here where i live would mean plants need to finish by mid september


@Great outdoor: when talking about getting the smell back, that is good news. it is that loss of smell after two days that had me worried, but the plants dry trimmed easily even though the petioles were still wet. again, my experience has me knowing that not only were the buds ready for trimming and curing but i could even have gone a bit sooner, which i am going to try next year if only with a few branches


and for weighing next year i will use this to get an idea of how much weight will be lost between chop and bagging. and since this oven bag curing is coming along nice (see picture) i will also have an idea by this years experience when the weight loss will level off, as they are still losing about 1.1% per day

forgot the link


https://www.amazon.ca/Mandalaa-Dura...+scale+digital&qid=1603280266&s=sports&sr=1-5