Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Drying and Curing Cannabis

If you’re someone who likes to dry and harvest plants, you’ve probably looked at cannabis buds. If you’re someone who already does enjoy growing homegrown Kush, one of the big things that you must do, is to make sure that it’s cured and dried. Here, you’ll learn a little bit about this. 

What is it and Do I need to Do It? 

This is basically literally drying out your buds to reduce the moisture to make smoking and vaporizing easier. Curing is where you put the buds in containers for up to 2 weeks, offering better aroma and flavor as they start to mature. 

You may wonder if you need to do this. Well drying is something that’s good if you want to improve the shelf life and the quality of products. That’s because, cannabis buds which are freshly harvested have moisture in them, and you need to eliminate this moisture before you start to smoke. That’s because fresh buds definitely are a bit harsher on the flavor, and if you take out the moisture, it reduces the amount of harshness, and it also offer s a better terpene profile. The second reason is because fungi love those places, so by drying this, you do reduce the chances of this hitting your stash, causing mold to form. 



By letting these dry, it reduces this up to 15%, removing water from the layers of the buds. 

Curing is basically super imperative to do too, since it helps keep the weed fresh for a long time.  that’s because when you do harvest the buds, they’re filled with various starches and sugar, which bacteria and enzymes feed on, and that impacts the smoke that you have. 



How it’s done 

The best way to do this is to trim the buds either wet or dry. You can do this after you dry or cure them. it’s best to trim the buds when they’re wet, much more precise, and so that there isn’t any agitation when you handle these buds.  This is something that also takes a lot of buds to the top shelf options, which make it really good for those interested in really taking their cannabis cultivation to the next level. 

So how it’s done is simple.  you want to make sure that they’re dried after harvested, and you want to ensure that they dry on every single side so that it’s got an even smoke to it.  What you do is you harvest them, put them on wire racks or string these, and if you decide to use wired racks, ensure that you flip these so that they aren’t flat on one singular side. 



As for the humidity levels, keep it moderate, up to 55%, since this of course will help to ensure that there is moisture, but not so much that it will waterlog the buds. To cure them, once they’ve been fully dried, you want to take the buds and place these bad boys in a container which is airtight from there you can let this sit on the shelf, but only if you’re someone who is going to use this down the road. 

If you dry and cure the buds, it’ll help with the flavor profile. This is how a lot of the big dispensaries do this, and it’s something that can definitely be worth looking into if you’re a cannabis fanatic. Through this, you’ll also be able to really get the full benefits that are there, and also create a product that’s top shelf right from the comfort of your home, which is always a good thing.