Hello all,
I’m a very new “grower”, I currently have 5 bag seed plants flowering. This is my second time growing from seed. My first attempt was a single plant, I’m thinking sativa, it grew in my vegetable garden in my front yard. I messed A TON up with that plant and still had smokable bud. My current girls are in pots, moveable and in the backyard now. I live in a very hot and humid location, very easy to grow outdoor, but now I’m lost on how to dry it!! My first grow smelled like cut grass, I’ve read now that I didn’t dry/cure long enough. Do I trim and separate for a better dry, do I hang full tree? I’ve seen some stuff about freeze-dry, paper bags, even biting the bullet and letting the sun do some drying. Living in the Everglades makes for some not so discussed drying does and don’ts. Any advice or experience is appreciated.
Those aren’t finished, could use more fade in the leaves (yellowing). To get a more accurate harvest time get a jewelers loupe or high powered magnifying glass then examine the trichomes on the buds from top to bottom, not the sugar leaves. I used to love the old OG, they would respond to bagseed posts but now it seems like everyone weed snobs and if you not growing from some breeder they pay your post no attention. I’m a bagseed grower myself. It’s all the same, bagseed usually better than that other stuff but whatever. I’ll help you whenever you need it. I learned myself from the old OG back in '04. I could use some help myself with a pest problem but because I’m growing bagseed my post getting ignored like yours was. Go figure 
You wanna dry indoors, in a cool dark place for 8-14 days (depending on size of plant, stem should snap once dry). Slow dry is the way. Hang the entire plant for a slow dry. A fan circulating air is also helpful but don’t keep it blowing directly on the plant. Then jar up for a few days and you’re all done, shouldn’t be any hay smell or taste.
Dry indoors, here the humidity is too high to dry outside. Down here right next to you!
I’m not harvesting yet, just wanting to get an idea before I mess this beautiful plant up. I’m looking at 40-60x magnifying glasses for sure. I had to chop my small dense plant yesterday because I found a small batch of mold, so I’m using it as a tester for drying. I currently have it drying in my closet, top shelf, on a pie pan that I glued plant mesh to, so it basically floating. I’ll get a picture when I’m done at the dentist. I did wet trim the buds as well. This is a trial and error plant now
That’s my plan today
Try and avoid wet trimming. Plants tend to be more green and hay smelling vs dry trim
My first plant, I hung full plant in garage and it was crispy in 2 days, knew I wasn’t doing that again. I knew last year was a record heat, but I think this year is going to blow that out of the water.
When I first started I read the same. Long dry is key. But really, you need a long dry in the correct environment. You may need to proper gear to do it(either a humidifier or dehumidifier). Some folks swear but 60f 60%RH for 16 days. I like to shoot for at 58%rh and 10 days. I can only get my space as low as 75f so i have to live with that part.
But yeah. Don’t for get about the RH of your drying area. It’s important not to speed dry your stuff, or you get that hay/grass smell
Thank you! I trimmed just longer sugar leafs. So don’t trim anything? I’m going to get pictures shortly of what I’ve got drying. It’ll be a good laugh and many reasons to call me names lol
Ouch! Yeah I have to use a dehu set to 55ish. I also use a tent to dry in. I think your more fermenting than curing at the 100 degree temps (90rh) we have here!!!
I run a dehumidifier in my bedroom, and I am drying in my closet in my room. Home temp is 76 degrees and a dehu in every room. Just small ones, they ain’t sucking the room dry
You should be in decent shape with those numbers. But you may need a tent and exhaust to put the hanging plants in. It’s easier to get very slow airflow(ac infinity set on 1) and if it dries too fast you can turn the fan off for a few hrs.
Lol, no need for names haha. Yea, when you cut the leaves you will have green bleed and chlorophyll bruising and plants can and will dry faster with foliage take off. Dont even take fan leaves off. The longer it takes to dry the better, thats why whole plant hangs are recomended. When you cut leaves juices leak and cause a faster dry period and chlorophyll can get locked in because of fast dry. Chlorophyll takes longer to degrade than the plant takes to dry and cutting off leaves speeds up the drying process and those leaves will have a very distinct green smell that converts to a hay smell. A much longer cure is needed for chlorophyll to degrade if we t trimming is done
This is the loupe I bought and it works great to see the stages progress through clear, cloudy, white and amber trichomes.
A room inside kept around 70 degrees, a tent inside the room, exhaust fan in that tent set to keep humidity around 60rh. That’s about the basics that have worked for me.
Hang the whole plant, takes about a week, stems will snap/pop. From there I do a trim, pop off the buds, into grove bags.
this worked for me with really good results, but results may vary and keep in mind this is NOT a whole plant yeilding 90 gs or something.
I cut the main cola off ( to let the lower seeded bud finish ) and rinsed it off with water. I then hung upside down in the dark ( did not check room temp or RH ) for 3 days.
I then put it in a box and into the fridge for about 24 hrs and I pulled it out and put into a jar
Shes 55 percent RH rn and slowly but surely rising. Smells are just about exactly like when she was growing. Very happy.
This worked for me , but would highly recommend this method for tester buds. No doubt. But a whole plant? Id probably try a mix of Logans and mine together. Since I cant control the environment unless its in the fridge
Don’t overthink it. You’re not entering a cup, so you don’t need a high tech precision process.
Hang to dry somewhere with plenty of airflow and exchange. Removing fan leaves early is helpful for reducing moisture retention, which might be nessessary in your environment.
When the stem becomes rigid and you can snap it with a resounding “crack” trim to your liking and jar or Grove bag them. Hygrometers come in handy here, but you’ll learn how tell if they’re dried to your liking over time.
Or… if you have the money, you can spend about $300 to build a refrigerated dryer out of a wine cooler.
Dry trim is better than wet but you’re still learning so it’s ok. Rh is important but I never check it, like I said a dry cool environment and you’ll be fine. Don’t have to overthink it.
I live in a hot humid place too, it’s late autumn here now so the temps and humidity aren’t too bad. I’ve just harvested my first bagseed plant. I gave it a light trim and then cut the buds off into a brown paper grocery bag and put this in the corner of my grow space. It’s not getting direct light but a fan blows back and forth over the top of the bag to give a bit of air circulation. I weigh the bag each day, it gets lighter as it dries out. I’ll put it all in a jar with a mini hygrometer when it stops losing weight and then burp the jars if the humidity in the jar rises. Probably not the best way to do it (better methods above) but it works and it keeps the smell in check as my grow space is vented out through a filter.
@BeTheLight what’s the reason for rinsing in water before drying?