Your Specific Grow Your Specific Methods for Drying
To anyone that has read anything that I have written concerning growing, you know how I’m going to start this. It’s the entire basis of my consultancy – it’s going to be plant and grow specific. No two plants are alike, nor are any two grows, and because of that there is not going to be a definitive guide that will apply to every single plant ever grown. But after growing for so many years, I can tell you the methods to implement to put you in the best position possible to dry properly.
It’s also worth mentioning that you can grow your cannabis perfectly for the entire vegetative and flower stages, and if you do not dry and cure properly (curing will be the topic of my next blog post), you can screw up a good six months’ worth of work. You see, bud or flower is not done until it is dried and cured, not even close.
A lot of novice growers – myself included when I started – can’t wrap their heads around that fact because drying and curing is a process that takes a few weeks, tops; and after growing for months on end, you’re ready to burn! So people get impatient and they rush through this part, and that is the worst thing you can do. It’s worth mentioning at this juncture that this is the fundamental difference between commercially grown cannabis in the US and homegrown, which I’ve written about – specifically just rushing through the entire grow and dry/cure process and not taking your time.
Preparing for the Process of Drying Actually Starts When You Are Still in the Flower Stage
How can the flower stage affect the drying stage? Well, it can in a number of ways. First, how dry are you letting your pots get before pulling your plants? This will be one factor of many that will determine how long the plants will take to dry. The wetter your pots when you pull your plants, the longer your plants will take to dry, as the plants will contain more moisture if they were being watered all the way up until the end of the plants’ lives.
Are you using CO2, and how good is your airflow and circulation? In my experience, CO2 implementation and proper airflow will make for denser buds and therefore take a longer time to dry, as opposed to wispier buds that will dry out much quicker.
Humidity / Airflow in the Drying Tent / Temperature
This is where we are going to get into the implementable details. Going back to the beginning of this post, this will still be dependent on the specific plants, but after doing this for so long, I think certain metrics are pretty consistent across the board. Other things will also affect this, like the climate in which you are growing. If you are growing indoors, you may be thinking, “Well, that shouldn’t matter for me.” Well, you may be surprised. For instance, growing in Colorado, even indoors, I oftentimes had to implement a humidifier in my drying tent. This sounds very counterintuitive, I know, but in CO, where relative humidity is often 10–25%, if you do not implement more moisture to your drying area, the plants can dry out too quickly. Now that I am in IL, I never have to implement a humidifier into my drying tent or grow, only a dehumidifier.
These Are the Metrics I Like for IL Drying
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50% humidity
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Passive airflow, but constant airflow at least for the first few days (very plant specific)
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High 60s Fahrenheit to about 70 degrees
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Pitch-black area – or close to it
I like to put my plants in a grow tent that I previously used for growing (I build out all of my grow areas now to save money and customize my space for my grow) and will use a carbon filter fan to create a passive air vacuum, opening the flaps at the bottom of my grow tent to bring in cooler airflow. This will ensure you do not get mold but will also ensure you are not over-drying by placing fans directly on plants – a practice I constantly saw in commercial grows I worked at, and it drove me crazy.
The time it will take your plants to finish drying is going to be plant specific, not strain specific, but rather the actual plant. But as an example, let’s use my last harvest metrics. I ran the passive airflow for 4–5 days, then once I was confident I was out of the mold window (determining this takes practice), I turned the fan off entirely and let the plants dry for another 7 days just hanging upside down. This will allow for slower drying and better terpene preservation. After that, usually they were ready to start trimming.
Should You Hang Your Plants Still Intact or Cut the Plants Apart to Hang?
I always dry the plants completely intact. It does take longer, so this goes back to personal preference, but I believe (for whatever reason) that you will get a better product by hanging up the entire plant. Again, taking your time is always my personal preference.
Flower Density
This is huge. A plant that has much denser buds will take longer than one with wispier nugs, so always keep that in mind. If you grew your plants properly, you should have denser flower.
Personal Preference – Applies More to Curing Than Drying
Some people like drier buds, and some people like more moisture when they are consuming cannabis, so this does come down to personal preference. I personally like a lil’ sticky icky, so I err on the side of a little more moisture. The moisture content will also affect the terpene profile, significantly actually. Again, choose the smell you like; the nose knows. Over time, you will notice terpene profiles changing.
Stems Snapping
This is actually a very good method for determining whether your plants have been thoroughly dried. If your stems are snapping when you bend them, it’s probably a good time to start trimming. Now there is a caveat to this advice. Very small stems will snap much quicker than thicker stems, so you could technically start trimming the smaller buds first. This makes sense since those smaller buds are typically wispier, so going back to what I described earlier, they are most likely to dry quicker. So if time is of the essence, or you just want to get to burning, this is a good way to get some buds in a jar earlier for curing.
The Only Way to Know for Sure Is to Implement Clones
I’ve mentioned clones before. For consistency’s sake, clones will give you the closest thing to an exact science when it comes to drying and curing, since you’ve grown the plants before. As long as you are taking proper notes – I always implement a grow log – you can go back to those logs for the exact metrics to implement for your grow and drying/curing station.
Conclusion
I’m going to go back to where we started, as I oftentimes do. This – like just about everything in growing – again is going to be plant and grow specific. Any and all advice given in these grow posts will be general guidelines and need to be amended based on the specific variables that you have to deal with. And as I mention on my homepage, growing effectively is all about the hacks. You have to use what you can afford, what you can find, what your climate will allow for, etc. Book a consult with me today to learn the hacks that are pertinent to your specific situation. One Love.
Related Articles:
When to Harvest for Greatest Yield and Highest Quality
Why are my Cannabis Leaves Turning Yellow? A Common Issue
Beginner Growers Don’t Need More Information – They Need Better Direction (Indoor Cannabis Guide)
The Top Items New Growers Spend Too Much Money On
