After months of meticulously caring for your cannabis plants, it’s time to harvest those valuable buds. And as satisfying as it is to trim the branches of a healthy cannabis plant covered in crystals, you’ve only crossed one milestone in the flower’s journey.
Now it’s time to ensure your hard work is properly preserved. This allows cannabis manufacturers and dispensaries to receive their buds at full weight, potency, and uncontaminated.
Fortunately, humans have become masters in the art of food and herb preservation. We’ve learned how to preserve fruit for future consumption and transportation. And we’ve figured out how to dry herbs such as cannabis so we can enjoy their aromas and medicinal benefits long after you’ve harvested those buds.
Why is drying weed important?
Many expert growers who produce high-potency cannabis point to the drying and curing process as their secret sauce. Even with great genetics and proper cultivation, drying and curing often make the difference between mediocre and award-winning buds.
Curing helps preserve weed so it can be stored for extended periods, up to two years in proper environmental conditions. At harvest, your buds contain excess moisture that creates the perfect environment for mould to grow. Curing your buds eliminates excess moisture, which provides a smoother smoke and reduces the chance of mouldy weed while allowing your stored bud to last a lot longer.
Being patient while drying and curing also preserve the terpene composition of your flower. Terpenes, the compounds responsible for the bud’s flavour and aroma, are fragile and degrade at temperatures as low as 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 Celsius). Taking the time to dry and cure your buds slowly, rather than in an oven or microwave, retains these terpenes and delivers the best result in terms of aroma and flavour.
Proper drying and curing also boost the potency of your weed. THC, when exposed to light and air, slowly degrades into cannabinol (CBN), a cannabinoid with one-quarter the potency of THC. Lower temperatures and less exposure to light and air prevent the degradation of THC, making for a more potent experience when it’s finally time to smoke.
Although you can freeze-dry, oven-bake, dehydrate, dry-ice cure or even water cure your cannabis, the best product comes from patience and a watchful eye.
What is the best temperature and humidity to dry weed?
The best way to dry your weed is to do it as slowly as possible in a controlled humidity environment. Your target humidity level should be 50%. You can maintain humidity levels using humidifiers, dehumidifiers, or a humidity control attached to an exhaust fan.
The best temperature to dry marijuana is 68°F to 70°F, around room temperature. Cooler temps = slower dry times. Avoid overly warm, humid conditions.
Your goal is to dry the weed as slowly as possible to just the right level of dryness. You can expect to lose about 3/4 of the weight of freshly cut buds as the water dries out.
Drying weed at optimal humidity and temperature levels will ensure a slow dry. It is important to dry as slowly as possible because if you dry too quickly the bud colour, taste, and smell will be negatively affected and you risk over-drying your buds as well.
How To Dry Your Weed For Best Results
1) Harvest Your Weed And Trim The Leaves
The first step in the process is to harvest your marijuana plant at just the right time — not too early, and not too late. This helps to maximize the growth and development of the trichomes (the glands that produce THC, CBD, CBN, CBG, and all the other groovy cannabinoids).
Once you’ve cut down your pot plant, separate the buds from the main stem and trim off any leaves that protrude from the flowers.
This is an important step in drying weed so we’ll take a bit of time to go into detail about how best to trim your cannabis flowers.
Trim All You Can Before Drying Weed
Marijuana ready to be dried
As we discussed in the previous section, curing weed correctly improves the flavors, aromas, experience, and effects of the finished product.
But the efficacy of the drying process depends, in large part, on how thorough you are trimming the leaves after harvest.
Every part of the pot plant contains chlorophyll, but the leaves contain more than the buds.
Leftover chlorophyll is largely responsible for the harshness and hack-inducing feelings you get after a deep inhale from a bong or blunt.
The drying process gets rid of the majority of the chlorophyll in the buds, but leftover leaves will still retain enough to make you cough like you’ve been pepper-sprayed.
Trim all you can before drying weed. Here’s what you’ll need:
Pruning snips
Pruning shears (yes, snips and shears are different)
Disposable rubber gloves (thin latex medical gloves, not the thick dishwashing gloves)
Three trays or cookie sheets (one for the cut branch, one for the trimmings, and one for your finished bud)
Rubbing alcohol (for cleaning)
Rag (for cleaning)
And here’s how to trim your bud right every time.
A. Find A Weed-Trimming Area
You’re going to need a lot of room, so clear off the kitchen table or set up a folding table in front of the TV.
Depending on how many pot plants you have, you’re going to be trimming for quite a while, so get a comfy chair or make a nest on the sofa.
We also recommend arranging for some type of entertainment because the trimming process can get extremely boring really quickly if you don’t have something to distract you once in a while.
We like sticking in one of our favorite stoner movies because we’ve seen them so often that we don’t have to pay complete attention to what’s going on.
If you’ve got all day, try binge-watching Survivor, Stranger Things (Netflix and chill), or some other intriguing show. Just try not to get distracted and forget to focus on the weed at hand.
B. Set Up Some Ventilation
Trimming weed will dank up the room you’re working in, so it’s a smart idea to crack a window, run an exhaust fan, or set up a carbon scrubber (a sploof for your whole house) to reduce the tell-tale marijuana smell that will surely get everywhere.
Of course, this is completely optional, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.
C. Gloves For The Win
This step is also optional — but highly recommended. Trimming weed is a sticky job, and resin will get everywhere. If you don’t want to wash your hands every five minutes throughout the process, keep a box of disposable latex gloves nearby.
If you opt for the ungloved route, be sure to have plenty of rubbing alcohol on hand to cut the sticky icky off your digits. Trust us, soap and water don’t cut it.
One of the nice things about using gloves is that when they get too sticky to work with, you can trade them in for a fresh pair.
When you do, set the old pair in a bowl or at the corner of your tray. Then, when you’re finished trimming, see if you can extract any of the sticky icky off the surface of the gloves.
Why would you want to go to all that trouble? Because that stuff is basically hash and will make a nice addition to your next smoke sesh.
Try using your fingers to roll the resin off the gloves into little balls (this is the hand-rolling method that canna-enthusiasts have used for thousands of years to make hashish).
For more advice on how to make hash at home, check out this article from the HMJ blog: How To Make Hash: The Complete Guide.
D. Remove A Branch From The Plant
Remove a branch from your pot plant and lay it on one of the cookie trays. Some of the branches will be pretty thick so scissors won’t do.
We recommend buying a sturdy pair of pruning shears that you use exclusively for trimming weed.
Shears are made for cutting thick branches and stems and differ from snips which are made for cutting leaf stems and small-diameter plant matter.
E. Remove The Fan Leaves
You should be able to identify the fan leaves without too much difficulty — they look like every picture you’ve ever seen of a marijuana leaf.
If you’re still confused, keep this in mind: fan leaves grow out of the buds at the ends of the branches. The easiest way to remove the fan leaves is by hand.
Grip the fan leaf at the base of the stem near the branch, apply a bit of pressure, and the leaf should snap right off (latex gloves come in really handy here because your fingers are going to come in contact with a lot of sticky resin).
Don’t discard the fan leaves just yet — they’ve still got their uses. Just pile them on one of the empty cookie trays for now and we’ll get back to them later.
F. Snip The Sugar Leaves
After you remove the fan leaves, you’ll be able to see smaller leaves sticking out of the bud. Typically, just the tips of those leaves will emerge from the bud and you won’t be able to see (or get ahold of) the stems.
This is where your smaller pruning snips come into play.
With snips in hand, cut the sugar leaves so that they’re flush with the bud itself. Do your clipping over the cookie tray that’s already holding your fan leaves.
Remember, you can use all this plant matter later while you’re waiting for your harvest to be ready for consumption.
If your snips get too sticky to use while you’re trimming weed, scrape off as much of the resin as possible and save it for later. Then clean the blades with rubbing alcohol and a rag.
G. Repeat
Place the finished branch on the third cookie sheet, and go back to your plant (with shears in hand) for a new piece to trim.
Return to step one and repeat the process until you’ve removed all the branches from your pot plant and trimmed all the leaves from your buds.
2) Hang Your Weed Up To Dry
Got an empty closet with a clothes rod? You’re ready to hang your weed up to dry. If you don’t have an empty closet, don’t worry. Even two hooks and some string will work.
It really doesn’t matter what you use to hang your weed as long as you control the environment around the buds.
The optimal drying environment for your marijuana is:
70 degrees Fahrenheit
50 percent humidity
Depending on where you live and the conditions in your grow area, you may need an air conditioner, an evaporative cooler, a dehumidifier, a humidifier, and/or a heater.
Adjust the environment to meet those conditions, and then leave your weed hanging for a week. You’ll know your pot is ready for the next step with the buds feel dry to the touch and the smaller stems snap instead of bend.
3) Transfer The Buds To Jars
The best storage containers for curing weed are wide-mouth canning jars (e.g., Mason, Ball, etc.). You will need lids for the curing process, so be sure you’ve got some on hand before you begin.
Loosely fill the jars about three-quarters full and screw on the lids. When you shake the jars, the buds should move around. If they don’t, you’ve packed it too tight.
Conclusion
If you do something above, it will ensure your cannabis will last longer and taste richer.