How To Dry and Cure Weed

There is literally nothing at all that gives a Cannabis Cultivator happiness other than a good, healthy yield. Right? 

Cultivators love the overwhelming feeling that gardening gives them after battling with all the related issues. Not to forget, the cultivator not only has to take care of the crops before harvesting or something but even after that. A long process is followed even after the harvest so that one can smoke them. Drying and Curing are the two things that cultivators must lay emphasis on once the harvest is done.

A lot of Cannabis Cultivators do not actually understand drying and curing the yield. Regardless of whether you grew a really beautiful flower with a perplexing terpene profile, you can lose this quality if you don’t dry and cure your Weed rightly!

We are sure you are now eager to jump on the process of How to Dry and Cure Weed. Right? Hence, without any further adieu, let’s get started.

How to Dry and Cure Weed?

Drying Process: Even though you may think your work is done after you harvest your Weed, jokes on you. After your cannabis plants have completely grown and harvested, the time has come to dry your reap. Let’s face it, smoking wet weed is not really an option. Smoking weed that is too dry isn’t that relishing as well. That is the reason the after-care, drying, and curing processes are this important.

How to Set Up a Weed Drying Room?

Things You Will Need To Build A Drying Room:

  • Fan
  • Hygrometer
  • Dehumidifier
  • Drying Rack
  • Air Conditioner

Keep the harvested marijuana in the darkroom with the temperature set around 60-70°F and humidity between 55-65%. A hygrometer will help you to keep a track of these numbers.

Add a fan for ensuring a proper air circulation, and you may have to add a dehumidifier or AC too. If it is taking too long for your buds to dry in your space, you may have to modify the temperature or humidity to help speed the drying process.

When you are dry trimming the cannabis, you can hang harvested yield upside down on a drying rack—it keeps buds from getting straightened or deformed as they dry. Likewise, keep buds connected with branches to help make a uniform, slow dry.

While dry trimming, check your drying branches after they have been hanging for three days. You can know if your Weed is properly dried when the stem snaps if you bend the branches along with the bud. 

And in case the branches don’t snap, dry them for around 3 to 7 days. 

PS: You can also dry your Weed without using a drying rack. Let us guide you on how you can do it. 

When trimming wet marijuana, you will need a flat rack—you will have heaps of trimmed buds, so you might not be able to hang them. It is exactly when FlatRacks come in handy. Flat racks are round with layers of mesh and are suitable for a proper airflow. 

Examine wet-trimmed buds drying in the flat rack after 2 or 3 days by giving them a little squish. If they are still super wet, let them dry for a few days and check again later.

Now, give yourself a huge round of applause since you have successfully learned how to dry your Weed properly.

Curing Process: Now that your Weed has dried up properly, it will have a slight aroma and taste to it. No, it would not be the same as the strong order and taste like the one you might experience in the initial days of the harvest. Where some would assume this lack of smell for granted and begin smoking the homegrown Weed from this stage, others go above and beyond to retain the fragrance of their painstakingly grown cannabis. This stage is called ‘curing.’

Curing can also be compared to the aging process that is involved in making wine and cheese. But, instead of the fermentation process that is involved in wine and cheese, humidity is very well focused on while curing Weed. 

Even though most of the moisture might have evaporated by now and left the cannabis during the drying process, there might still be some moisture left in the Weed. By keeping your Weed in air-tight glass containers, you stay away from that the bloom dries out excessively quickly, and terpenes (sweet-smelling parts in the Weed) evaporate. It will leave you with a musky, funky-smelling weed that everyone hates.

How to Cure Weed?

Things you will need to cure Weed:

  • Air-tight Jars
  • Hygrometer

While curing cannabis, it needs to be done in a room or space that has a steady temperature and humidity; wet basements or hot, damp attics are not suitable. The space needs to maintain the room temperature and not be excessively humid.

Light can end up degrading the terpenes, so it is ideal to have the option to turn the lights off in the space or have the option to cover the containers, so light doesn’t leak in.

Place the dry and trimmed buds into an air-tight container or jar. Usually, people use a mason jar or something, but you can also use jars made of ceramic, metal, or wood. 

Plastic jars or bags are not recommended for curing as they are not impenetrable to oxygen and can also degrade the Weed when they interact with certain terpenes. 

Pack buds loosely in the air-tight jars without stuffing or smashing them. Seal the containers securely and store them in a cool, dry, dark place.

In less than no time, you will notice that the buds get somewhat softer as moisture from the center of the buds rehydrates the outer portions. And in case this does not happen, it indicates that your marijuana is over-dried.

Ensure that the humidity level inside the jar is around 55 to 60 percent. 

The next step after this is to burp your Weed. Seal the jars overnight and check them the following day. If buds are excessively wet, leave the cover off for a few hours or an entire day before resealing. Redo this process until they are ready—give them a gentle crush to test softness and moisture content. Again, the hygrometer is your best friend here.

During the first week of the curing process, paying little heed to moisture level, open the containers more than once per day for a few minutes—this is known as “burping.” It permits moisture to get away and recharges the oxygen inside the container.

In case you smell ammonia when you open the container, it implies the buds are not dry enough, and anaerobic organisms are devouring them, which will prompt rotten, spoiled cannabis. Leave the lid of the container open for a few hours or a day and reseal them the next day. 

After the first week, you just need to burp the containers once at regular intervals.

After two to four weeks, open your container, your cannabis needs to be amply cured to give a quality experience. A few people like to cure for four to eight weeks, and people also like curing it for six months or more. Lastly, it is all up to you on how do you prefer it. If you are somewhat confused, you can always play with the curing time.

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