The summer heat did everything but kill my Green Crack plant… Unfortunately, I was the one who had to finish her off 
Ended up smoking her, but I harvested really early so it was pretty bad (one of my worst grows).
Probably going to avoid growing during the summer next year lol.
…So the majority of my mono-terps flew into my neighbors & passing cars. 
Outdoor in a hot & dry 
climate… not much I can do about that(on the cheap).
Which raises a weird/curious experiment/question… compare the same clone in my outdoor/excess light but shit RH, to one flowered under my shit indoor light but better temp/RH… 
hmmm… weeeeeeeiiiird… 
Why are you drying for three weeks? Drying shouldn’t take more than 5 days.
Curing should be 10-30d afterwards.
Drying:
1 - 5 d @
T = 68F
RH = 55%
Curing:
10-30d @
T = 65-70F
RH = 50-55%
WTF.
More like 5 months…
[smh]
No idea where this came from, but this is just wrong.
You aren’t doing it right then. We are talking moisture content. If you can’t take care of that in less than a week, you have some severe process issues.
It’s always the people who don’t know what they’re talking about that try to teach the rest. Sigh. There’s more than one way to skin a cat so to speak. Keep an open mind or you wont learn much.
I prefer a slow dry myself.
It was a hot summer! I had to move my plants at one point in the summer to get afternoon shade. I kept them at about 6 hours full sun. They used tons of water too.
Yeah, I’m not sure this is accurate. Obviously after 5 days the outside of my bud wasn’t wet, but lots of water still in the stems. I would assume it’s also based on how dense the bud is and whether you are drying an entire plant or just stems etc… too
I’ve been told by a few pros now not to cure until the buds literally snap off the stem with no stringing to ensure they are dry and don’t mold in the jars while curing. The quicker drying in the heat I did before wasn’t working at all. This slower dry time can’t hurt.
Get this. Was just out doing some yardwork, went over to the pile of brush where I threw a bunch of “overflow” about a month go.
I examined the bud. No visible mold or any mold smell. Still relatively moist. And, it smells absolutely delicious. Better than what I have currently curing. Hmmm.
Who knew. 
p.s. don’t actually try this. Not approved 
Sounds like you should practice what you preach.
Experience doesn’t trump science.
Sounds like you accidentally COB cured it. 
Yeah, don’t know. I’ll have to look into the COB cure you’ve noted. I did bud wash everything when I took the plants down. Doesn’t look like any sort of fermentation that I’ve ever seen. Still bright green as though they were just cut. Wouldn’t know that they’ve been sitting outside if I didn’t know they were sitting outside. Pretty cool, though.
Magic. Or, zombies.
Hey @cannacrab, sorry fot the message without context. I see that it could soud offensive. Here is a bit more context.
Not everyone can control the environment, and will not always be possible to dry in less than 5 days. Also some buds are huge. You need to dry until the plants are ready to cure. Be it 5 or 10 days.
This is the reason why I oposed the fixed “up to 5 days” information. Hopefully this clear up
thw things a bit. I not wanted to create heated discussions.
But one thing really raised my curiosity:
Every good article that I found back on the day about drying/curing explained that slow drying is beneficial as it already removes a good portion of clorophyl, and that the curing process starts during the drying process.
Could you please point out the scientific paper, as I agree with you that experience does not trump science, where we can learn that is wastefull/wrong to dry the cannabis slowly (more than 5 days) ?
I am always eager to learn new things, and would be
really nice to confirm this !
Thanks and sorry for any misunderstanding.
i have been, it seems pretty cool. We are big fans of fermentation in this household. We ferment cabbage, pickles, beets, sourdough, apples (whole, sliced, and juiced), barley & hops, sugar & yeast nutrients (for further processing…), carrots & peppers, grapes, soy beans, honey, fireweed (into tea) and probably some i’m forgetting. So it seems only natural to ferment some cannabis, right? If I get a good haul out of the haze tent, i’ll definitely cob some of it, for shits & giggles if nothing else.
PS there is a thread on another forum about “malawi cob sure”, that’s the one i’m thinking about. That’s gotta get some flavour into the buds.
I use my camera phone on zoom and move it real close almost macro. use it all the time no readers needed
Keep growing till you find some stank weed you like and grow another pack out and clone all of em’ if its super stinky it don’t matter much how it dries imo
I think the long slow dry in a cool environment is better if possible because it allows the water to leave and the terpenes to stay. Amount of days you dry depends on harvest and the million other factors that are always brought up. Temp/room humidity/room size/amount of buds/size and density of those buds/even the bud structure… Indicas with tight bud formations probably take longer than a loose and airy sativa. Can go on and on. I’m glad that we figured out the terpenes begin to evaporate at 70f and evaporate rapidly around 100f because that’s the whole point of this particular discussion. It’s happened to me and left me completely puzzled as well. Now we all know 
days don’t really matter temp and rh are the driving forces we need to control to have great smelling harvests
A balancing act.
Genetics
Temperature
Humidity
Light spectrum
Time
Density
Vapor pressures / airflow
Vapor barriers (e.g. cuticle)
Mold spore load
Personal likes
etc etc
We can quantify some of these through analysis - science. Others, we simply cannot due to the complexity of the variables, cost, or our individual level of understanding (e.g. every situation differs) - experience. And, for that matter, there are the personal preferences.
For the items that are quantifiable, we can always look towards science, starting with experience, to help guide us in the generation of theories and experiments. If the science doesn’t match the experience, then we have some 'splaining to do. That’s all we can hope for. While we may argue on some things, and sometimes anger ourselves and each other, hopefully in the end we’ll all gain a better understanding. I know I get ideas, some correct/some out-in-space, from these discussions daily. That’s the great thing about these types of discussions and problems as long as we can keep them semi-respectful.
For instance, we could cure at 90% RH 75F for six months if we know the spore load is zero or somehow suppressed. Might be a crap result or maybe not. Might smell like poop or might smell like sunshine (maybe someone likes the smell of poop, too). The results, particularly if we can back it with the science, moves us forward.
Even though I don’t think we’ve solved the ops problem (if anything made it more confusing). But, thanks to @Meesh for the opportunity to get us thinking more about this.
Was feeling a bit philosophical this morning. 
It works for me @Northern_Loki
It’s all good @sk1 I just prefer to minimize exposure to photo and chemical oxidation. When you are talking removal of moisture from something organic it shouldn’t take more than a few days to accomplish if you aren’t slowing it down in some way. You can slow it down, but you ultimately are making your potency less stable from oxidation from prolonged exposure to the air (refreshed air. unless you chose a desiccant then you can dry as long as you want provided you don’t mold) will also degrade the terpenes. THCA and CBDA have to breakdown to THC and CBD as well, but I prefer curing and heat to accomplish that since I am not going to be eating buds.
edit: refreshed air will keep terpenes transporting off of the bud as well. all that to say, you guys have got me interested in desiccant drying instead of traditional.