How to Dry and Cure Weed After Harvest Without Ruining It

To dry cannabis after harvest, hang the branches in a dark room at around 15-20 °C (59-68 °F) and 45-55% humidity with gentle airflow for roughly 7 to 12 days, until small stems snap instead of bend. Then you cure the buds in airtight jars for at least two weeks. Freshly harvested weed holds a lot of excess moisture, and it has to come out slowly before you can really enjoy your buds.

For your buds to become the best version of themselves, they need to dry in a dark room for about a week. The longer you let them dry, the better. Good things take time.

Learning how to dry and cure buds does several important jobs that ultimately improve the quality of your flower and extend its shelf life. That said, a few factors will affect how long your buds take to dry:

-The size of the buds

-How the plants were trimmed

-The temperature, humidity and airflow in your drying room

But did you know that drying buds and curing flower are two different things?

What's the difference between drying and curing weed?

• Drying, as the name says, means pulling the excess moisture out of fresh buds so they can be smoked or vaped properly.

• Curing, on the other hand, means storing the dried buds in closed containers for a set period. This is what develops their flavor and aroma.

A slow dry goes a long way toward helping your cannabis keep a broader, fuller terpene profile. Drying for longer also cuts the harshness you feel when you smoke, so if you want strong, tasty buds, patience is the move.

For a top-notch final product, plan on a drying time of about 7 to 12 days. As the wet buds lose water and start to dry, they gradually shrink and lose weight.

How to dry weed: step by step

Initial dry:

Start by cutting the branches into 30-40 cm (12-16 in) sections and stripping off the unwanted leaves. Then hang them from a wire or a piece of string. You can cut and hang whole plants or individual branches, and you can even trim the flowers before drying them.

Humidity and temperature:

This part is crucial. The room should sit between 15 and 20 °C (59-68 °F), with humidity between 45 and 55%. You'll also want a fan to keep the air moving gently so it doesn't go stale. Ideally, have a dehumidifier or some other way to control moisture.

Jarring:

Once you've trimmed the buds and taken them off the branches, put them in an airtight container. Pack them loosely, without squashing them.

Sealing:

Finally, seal the containers and stash them somewhere cool and dark. During the first week, open them a couple of times a day to let the buds breathe (growers call this “burping”).

By weeks 2-3, your weed will be cured enough to give you seriously good quality. Let it go to weeks 4 to 8 and the cure gets even better.

How to prevent mold while drying cannabis

The easiest way to keep mold off your plants while they dry is to make sure air can move freely around them on every side. For best results, hang the branches upside down from a string or a hanger. It's also important that the buds are spread out properly and don't touch each other or any other surface.

If you live somewhere very dry, consider leaving more leaves on during the dry. That slows the process down a bit. By the same logic, if you live in a humid region, trim the buds almost bare to speed up drying (and keep mold and bacteria from setting in).

The one thing you absolutely have to cut off is the big fan leaves. If you used training techniques like lollipopping or defoliation, you'll have less work to do come harvest time.

As for stems, keep in mind that big branches take longer to dry than smaller branches or individual buds. The longer the stem, the slower it dries.

The best and worst conditions for drying buds

Never use heat to speed-dry your flower, no matter how impatient you are. That means no microwaves, ovens, hair dryers or anything else you might be tempted to try. Your weed will taste terrible and smell worse, and plenty of smokers say harsh, heat-dried bud gives them a headache, paranoia or both.

A dehumidifier or AC is fine, but avoid pointing a fan at your buds unless it's absolutely necessary, and even then go easy. If you do use a fan, let the air circulate around the buds, not straight at them. The sweet spot for drying cannabis is around 21 °C (70 °F) and 50% humidity.

How to tell when your cannabis buds are dry enough

A simple, reliable way to tell whether your buds are dry is to grab a small stem and try to bend it. If it snaps, your buds are ready to move on to the curing process.

Cannabis generally needs to cure for a few weeks, though some growers prefer to go longer. It's entirely up to you and what you plan to do with your harvest. You can get decent buds without curing them, but most growers agree that if you want truly top-shelf flower, curing is a must.

How do you cure weed?

If you wet-trimmed your buds, they're ready to cure as soon as they're dry. If you'd rather dry-trim, do your trimming before you move on to curing.

Once your buds are dry and trimmed, put them in large wide-mouth glass jars (mason jars work perfectly). Fill each jar about three-quarters full, leaving room for extra air and cutting the risk of mold wrecking your harvest. Store the full jars somewhere dry and dark (like a kitchen cabinet) and check on your buds at least once a day for two weeks.

Each time you check, leave the jars open for a bit to let the air exchange, and inspect every bud for mold. If you find one that's infected, pull it out of the jar right away so the fungus doesn't spread.

This routine clears excess moisture out of the jars and lets fresh air reach the buds. After two weeks you can start enjoying your harvest, but the longer you wait, the better it gets.

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