Ultimate Guide On How to Dry Weed

After you harvest your buds, your job is still not done. It's time to dry and later cure your weed. By doing so, we reduce the moisture inside the buds, break down chlorophyll, increase the potency of our buds and improve their smell and most importantly, taste. Therefore knowing how to dry weed is extremely important and we're going to explain to you how to do it step by step.

1. Trim Your Buds

Before you start drying weed it's important you trim your buds by cutting off all the fan and sugar leaves. This is called wet trimming.

Tip: sugar leaves are called sugar because of white coating of trichomes so don't throw them away. They contain cannabinoids and can be therefore used to make edibles.

 
You can also decide for a dry trimming. Meaning, before drying you trim only big fan leaves, hang buds on drying line and trim the rest once they're dry. However, this makes trimming more challenging since the sugar leaves get curled in toward the bud. But when you have a big harvest and you're in a hurry, dry trimming is the only solution.

2. Dry Your Buds

It's always the best idea to hang the buds upside down, but you can also place them on a rack with netting or wire mesh if hanging isn't possible. In both cases, there's a good airflow, which reduces the chance of mold contamination and results in completely dry buds. It's also important that there's enough space between each drying plant.
Dry your buds in dark room with a temperature between 20-22°C and optimal humidity of 50%. Use air conditioner, dehumidifier, humidifier, and heater to ensure these conditions.
Now you wait.
It's crucial you stay patient. The drying process can be sped up but don't do it since it can drastically affect the quality of the harvest. Dry for approximately 5-7 days and check your buds regularly. When they can be easily snapped with fingers, that's an indication that the drying process is done. If you can bend them, this means that there's still moisture inside the buds and that they're not completely dry.

 3. Store Your Buds

Once your buds dry out, you need to store them. Airtight glass jars will be perfect for that however, its size varies based on your harvest. Make sure you fill only 3/4 of the jar, so you leave some room for air conditioning. Read more tips on how to store your weed.

4. Cure Your Buds

Lastly comes the curing process. What curing does, is that it makes the smoke smoother and taste better. To properly cure your buds, open jar with weed once or twice a day and leave it open for 10-20 minutes. Also, shake the jar to redistribute buds. This will allow the air to exchange and the excess water to leave the buds.
If they seem too wet, put them out of a jar for an hour or so, so the water can evaporate and that mold doesn't develop. Also, check your buds for signs of mold and remove those parts since they can contaminate other buds.
Do this on a daily basis for a week or two. Later, you can do this less often.
You should cure your buds for at least 4 weeks, but it's even better if you cure them for 6-8 weeks. However, it's impossible to determine exactly how much time will it take for your buds to cure, but keep in mind that the longer you wait, the better buds.
To know how far in the process your buds are, take small samples regularly and try them out. Without a doubt, you'll know when your buds will be perfectly cured and then you will be able to finally enjoy what you put your energy into.

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