Growing 1 Marijuana Plant (Just For Fun!)

Part III: Drying the Colas, Trimming Your Bud, and Curing the Weed

You’re almost there. Here’s where it is important to pay close attention to the marijuana cultivation process. A lot can go wrong during drying and curing. Mold can grow and completely ruin your crop. Your cannabis can become too dry and then you’ll have to rehydrate it, only leading to more work. But if you follow this simple guide, it’s likely that you’ll be able to avoid the common issues that can occur during drying and curing.

Drying the Colas:

Hopefully you found a nice open space to hang your branches. The best method is to simply string up some clothesline and place your branches along this string upside down from the ceiling. In a well ventilated room, this will allow the drying process to occur quite naturally.

You may want to de-leaf some of the large fan leaves to make this process a little more organized. You want your bud to dry slowly at first. Some people try to quick dry their weed, bud this usually results in a disaster- marijuana that doesn’t taste good, is too dry, and definitely could have been improved upon. The slow drying process takes 3-7 days typically, but can take longer.

If you live in an area with high humidity, you may want to place a small fan near your buds, to increase ventilation and aid with the drying process, otherwise you’ll end up with wet and soggy buds still after a week has passed. Be weary with using a fan and only use this drying aid if the area you live in is truly humid, otherwise your weed might dry out. Check your buds everyday during the drying process to ensure all is happening smoothly. When the branches feel dry, the small stems can snap but the larger stems bend, it’s time to begin trimming.

Trimming Your Crop:

The basics: trim away everything that’s not bud. What this means? Pull away the big tall water leaves, snip away stems, trim down the frosty sugar leaves a little. You want to get your buds off all the stems and then it’s best to finish off your nuggets. This makes the process smooth and easier to manage because it can become a lot, especially if you have a large crop. Look to the base of your buds and snip away crow’s feet (the little branches that split into two, they literally look like crow’s feet). Your nuggets can be as trimmed down as you like, some prefer a leafier bud, while others want a bud that’s well trimmed. Usually in dispensaries they are selling a very clean nugget.

Curing the Marijuana:

There are many different ways that cannabis cultivators cure weed and many new methods are being developed on a regular basis. Curing is a controlling of humidity surrounding the marijuana, and can create a truly phenomenal final product. Here, we’ll explain a basic way to cure your tasty crop.

You’ll need some 1 quart size wide-mouthed mason jars for this process. Get your trimmed nuggets and place them in the jars until each mason jar is around 75 percent full of weed, or you run out of herb. The buds should not clump together in the jars and should be able to move around freely when you shake them. If they are sticking, they need to be dried longer and are not ready to cure yet.

Check on your pot every day, or even better more than once a day during the first few weeks of the curing process. Keep the lids of the jars tight, except for when you let the buds air out just for a few moments once a day, maybe more. Simply open the jars and close them. It’s that simple. This will be the routine for the first and second week of your curing process. You want your buds to remain neutral, not too moist but not crunchy either.

Once the buds begin staying in the right moisture level, known as the curezone, you will only need to check on them once a week and open up the containers then to let the herb air out. You can end this curing process after 3 weeks, or even up to 6 months. After a month, just open up the jars only once a month. When you believe your bud is ready, it’s the perfect time to try your finished product and finally enjoy the hard work you’ve put forth over the last few months.

Although many benefits exist from marijuana, there are still some detrimental effects. The consumer or cultivator is solely responsible for his or her own affiliation and consumption of marijuana.

Didn’t get to read the first part of this 3 part serious, jump to it here: Growing 1 Marijuana Plant (Just for Fun!) – Part 1

Want to jump to the second part of this 3 part serious, jump to it here: Growing 1 Marijuana Plant (Just for Fun!) – Part 2