Hey what’s going on everyone? I have a question regarding humidity during curing. I trimmed up my first run the other day and got it into Mason jars, but the humidity in the jars is below 60%. while drying, I tried to snap a smaller stem but they still seemed on the wet side, so I’m kind of shocked that it’s reading low. Should I add a boveda pack asap? The hydrometers are reading like 58-60%. I managed to survive a spider mite outbreak and I’m just hoping I don’t screw the cure up.
Thanks!
I wouldn’t trust a hygrometer to cure when I can touch and smell. If you want to use one, calibrate it.
https://youtu.be/AI9jC_wXd1k
The stems pliability says a lot.
Dry feeling buds will pull moisture from the pliable stem. Gotta remove the stem when it and the buds are dry. Growers never want to jar bud with stem, especially when the bud is dry and the stem is flexible. This is how bud is ruined.
I could have elaborated, sorry.
The pliability of them stem is a good way to tell there’s still moisture present.
I snap off all the buds as I’m trimming with the idea of exchanging air, not releasing moisture when curing in jars.
Maybe it’s from living on such a dry environment, but I can smell the moisture in the drying tent. I’m not even touching the plants until 14 days a use up a week to trim; jarring at the end of the 3rd week.
At this stage of my growing level I am at the point where I’m learning the art of the long cure. Smoke it while I’ve got it, but there’s a lot to keep curing. There’s definitely more to learn and the recent drying questions you’ve answered and corrected on have been a big help @Mystro
60-65% humidity is ideal when curing in jars. Open them up if you get above or add leafs/stalks if it gets low to get moisture back in there.
Boveda packs will work too
60-65% RH can easily cause mold. Those packs are for when you open your jar in an environment that has too low humidity so the bud doesn’t turn to dust after you seal it. 50% humidity is the perfect humidity to store dried bud. Lower than 40% will turn to dust. Higher than 60% and you have a soft bud with too much moisture that could mold.
You dry the bud and cure the trichomes. We don’t cure bud. This seems to be confusing for even experienced growers. Bud must be properly dried to breakdown chlorophyll. During this process of drying the flower, the trichome’s waxy shell hardens to protect the oils inside. This hardening of the trichome cuticle is all we want as far as curing is concerned. You want to keep temps low during this process to slow the chemistry inside the trichome down. We want the trichomes to be “mature” when we chop, but after the chop we want to “freeze time” as the interactions between the oils inside the trichome will continue to degrade to trichome. Drying and curing properly takes about a month, at least. First two weeks should be about 60% RH. Third week 55%, Fourth week 50%. After a month, the bud is ready to jar. No stem should be put in a jar. Remove all buds from their stem. 60% is not low enough humidity to store cannabis. You will have issues removing moisture from lumber especially. You can very easily neglect all the important variables reading general advice online. Bud density and stem thickness for example.
As always, respect for the knowledge JMystro! I’m curious what your thoughts are around week 3 & 4 of your process taking place in something like what is described in this video —> https://youtu.be/Jho0qeTUZnA ? I was going to hook up the air pump to a humidity controller to dial in the RH of the bucket.
My plan was to hang dry the first 2 weeks at 55-60% RH then trim buds into the “cure bucket” to bring the RH down to 50-55% for 2 weeks.. Hopefully they will stabilize at about 55% RH after 2 weeks and can be placed in jars with a 58% Boveda for longer term storage… I’m sure I’ll be harvesting more than I can smoke for the next 6-8 months, so that’s the timeframe I’m thinking of in terms of “long term”.
I’d love to hear any feedback from those with more experience, as this will be my first time drying/curing with a decent environment (60’s Temp and 50-60 RH).
#growerslove
Drying the bud should be done fairly slow and at a low temperature. Slowly removing moisture allows time for molecules like chlorophyll to be broken down and eliminate the hay smell and taste. Neutralizing the chlorophyll is how we get clean burning bud with most of the flavor coming from the trichomes. Darkness is a must. No light.
Week 1 – 60F with 60% RH.
Week 2 – 55-60F with 55% RH.
Week 3 – 50-55F with 50% RH. You can cut the buds off their stems at this point.
Week 4 – 50F with 45-50% RH. Trichomes are cured and bud is ready to seal.
Long term storage. 36-40F, place bud in container in a room with around 40% RH. Seal. Humidity packs can be added if your environment calls for them. My house stays 50% RH so I don’t have a need for them. If I was in CO or the desert with 10% humidity. My containers would have humidity packs. I live in the humid south so I don’t bring bud outside. lol
So the boveda 62% packs can cause mold? Just trying to iron out the details, I’m in week 2 of my first dry/cure. Got the info I posted above from Rasta Jeff’s podcast.
Your environment causes mold, not a humidity pack. They’re designed to hold or release moisture. They’re a helpful tool when conditions are not reasonable. If you can finish drying your bud around 50% RH, you have no need for humidity packs. If you take your jar of bud into harsh environments, then add a pack for protection. Too high or too low and the pack can help adjust. They don’t dry bud or cure trichomes. That is done before you seal the flowers. If and when I seal my flowers long term, it’s done in a room with at most 40% humidity.
Thanks for clearing that up👍
Your environment is your humidity so if a boveda pack either raises or lowers humidity then it is raising or lowering your environment. Not sure how in theory you plan on maintaining moisture levels in trichs to cure when you are drying your buds to 50%. Every single bit of research points to storing your buds at 59- 63% humidity so not sure where your 40% number is coming from. That is way skewed from the norm.