Usually I don't hang them so they touch, but the plants were so tall with long internodes and I was running out of room so I had to pack 8 rods into the space. The flowers dried in about 5 days and cured perfectly in 6 weeks (1 qt jars). I usually trim all the fan leaves from the colas before hanging but I got an out of town assignment call and had to leave the next day. Incredibly bad timing so I got them cut and hung and had a friend come by each day and move the rods around to aide in air circulation. I also left the exhaust fan on which drew an almost imperceptible movement of air in and out of the room. I'll never want to do that again but sometimes you just have to improvise! Result_ nice frosty, very dense and sticky buds, supper smooth. A little luck never hurts!