Harvest - Cut - Hang - what can or should be done?

[Vitreous]

Hello Everyone.
Last week I harvested a nice hearty crop, and this was my 6th successful grow. I seem to have trouble, or maybe not...when I cut my plants down and hang to dry for the recommended dry time 3 to 7 days.
Mine always get super dry on day 2. so I trim them up and get them into curing, usually the humidity sets around 65-70, like boy is this cutting it close or what. If I hung it for a 3rd day, the plants would never reach 65 in jars!
Do I live in a very dry climate? YES!
Are my plants hanging in cool dark place? YES!
Do I have a small light circulatory fan blowing? YES!
Is the fan blowing directly at the plants? NO!

Does anyone else find they have a similar situation???

Although, the end result after a few weeks of curing,..speaks that It is not a problem to hang dry so quickly. But I think it is way to quick, and I ask myself "should the plants be hanging longer"? So I would like to attract some knowledge y'all have out there! I need some input!!!

[dontknownuttin]

I live in the desert so I suffer the same problem.

[kingfish]

I live in what is considered "High Dessert". My RH right now is 22%. When I harvest I cut all the colas, trim all the leaves and hang them upside down. It takes mine about a week to a week and a half to dry enough to put in a jar. The way I test them is: If the big stems kink but not snap when you bend them and the small stems actually snap. Then they are ready to jar. You still have to burp the jars once or twice before they are save to store. I also have a fan circulating the air. They are drying in a room that is pretty much undisturbed. Like I said before, I have stored weed up to two years with no decrease in potency or taste.

[wayno]

Are you flushing your plants a cpl weeks before harvest?

[kingfish]

Two weeks before harvest I give them nothing but water. So no I don't flush.

[OzBud]

I'd say the cure is more important than the dry. If they're dry enough to put in jars safely then do so. They can't cure properly if they're over dried.

[kingfish]

Agree 100%

[Beach_Town_Brit]

It gets pretty dry here some of the year and my buds are sometimes dry in 3 days. Sounds like you're doing everything right to me given your situation, and as OzBud points out the cure's the thing.

Does it slow things down at all to turn off the fan? With that lack of humidity I'd imagine mold isn't so much of a risk.

Do you cut stems or hang the whole plant? Maybe hanging the whole plant (after trimming) all together would slow things down.

Or a humidifier running distilled water maybe.

[Vitreous]

Thanks OzBud and BeachTown!
The fan I use is so small, you can barely feel it move air! But I still feel the air should move around at least a little! I normally hang by the full length of stem, and they are usually seriously thick. the stems are never snappy, but the buds are awfully dry. Almost crumble under a pinch.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

I never get my small stems to the snapping stage either but I'm plenty happy with my cure -- my last Super Skunk harvest just hit its 4 weeks of cure and I got to dose a friend for his birthday -- potency confirmed

[Vitreous]

CHEERS to that BeachTown!

[Weed Pharma]

I needed to slow the drying process down on my current harvest, so I hung the entire plant upside down-in a dark/ dry and cool closet- with only the fan leaves trimmed.
I will see how that went in about a week, when I return!

[kingfish]

Never mind.

[Weed Pharma]

It was perfect upon return, after hanging 12 days!

[Vitreous]

That is excellent, weedpharma, the only thing I believe your going to hate about it, is now trimming the buds down, very tedious!

[PuravidaC]

In my area humidity can get in the 80's in the Summer and in the 20's during the Winter, so that has an effect on drying times. My first harvest was dry to touch in two days but stems did not snap. I was worried about overdrying so I jarred and burped often. Buds clumped together so I spread buds out and aired dried for another day and all went well. I do use humidity packs for long term storage. Still have buds from that harvest and 1 1/2 years later all good! GWE suggests leaving sugar leaves on to slow down drying, makes final trim a bit harder and I have heard leaving more of main stems can help too.

[Weed Pharma]

I considered pulling the plant, roots and all- place roots in a trash bag before hanging. I've never tried it before.

[PuravidaC]

I have heard of using paper bags but not plastic. I would worry about too much moisture trapped in a plastic bag. I have limited experience with curing but like OzBud said, curing is more important than drying. So I would follow GWE's guidelines on curing and not worry too much how long it takes buds to dry enough to start curing. Good luck!

[Vitreous]

I have had the same issue in other grows, where the buds seemed ready to jar, but after doing so, they would clump up even at 65 humidity!

[Potted]

Just burp jars twice a day, I like to turn jars upside down and shake a little bit after each burp it keeps buds from sticking to the jar. I burp them for about two weeks.then once or twice a week. Just my .02$