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What is your biggest question about growing cannabis?

Tight Colas? been growing for a while and have read a lot about it but I dont seem to get the buds/colars to be as compact as seen in photos, I'm outdoor growing, following all the generally recommended fertilizing, watering, pruning, etc, so what is the main ingredient to tighten up the colas, if there is?
 
Genetics.
The only way to get buds that look like the ones in pictures is go find the person who took the picture and get a hook-up.
And Photoshop.
 
Outdoors you'll be lucky to get tight and dense buds. You need the climate dialed in to achieve that which means consistent day time temps of around 68⁰F to 72⁰F in the last 3 to 4 weeks of flower. The hotter your ambient the lighter your buds as the plant does this to keep temps in the bud at the ideal level for seed growth. Temps inside buds of a day are always higher than ambient as they get very little air changeover when they are dense.
 
Genetics! Try something like Exotic Genetics Greasy Grapes, the children from her are making nice hard buds even with the 100*-110* temps and high humidity I have outside. Cant weight for the 8 Ball Kush to finish to see how her buds do.
 
Thanks Lazee! These Critical Autos must be a sativa like the Durban Poison fems I grew the same time as you. If it makes me as nervous as the DP, it's going in the trash too. I need something that'll put me down (in that good way). Finishing up these autos with the Jack Herrer photos in a month. Hoping they don't take forever too. Got some OG varieties next. hoping one of them will do me right.
 
Does genetics cover every strain outdoors? The last 2 years I’ve had at least one plant (of 5 plants grown each year) that were (last year) / are very big and tight buds- huge, in fact. I’m new at growing (thinking I’ve been very lucky so far) and don’t know all I need to yet. So this open / tight outside bud thing is new to me. I live on the Western Slope of Colorado where the weather can (did this & last year) hit 106, for a week or three. But my buds on one plant are tighter as any I’ve seen. Are some strains exceptions to that rule?
Tried to upload a pic but couldn’t. Will do on the pic page.
 

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Im setting up for harvesting in a couple days. Do I really need desiccant packs with the weed in my curing jars? I have some food grade ones but they dont specify what humidity they keep the environment at. ive been keeping a couple in my jars to completely dry them out before using. Wouldnt that be enough?
 
You do not put silica gel packs in your cannabis. There are 62% humidity packs available to use.
You do not need them but your target is around that and should be monitored with hygrometers
 
>You do not put silica gel packs in your cannabis. There are 62% humidity packs available to use.
You do not need them but your target is around that and should be monitored with hygrometer

I do have hygrometers in my jars right now they say 57% at 72.7 degrees. I figure that will adjust to around the temp and humidity when i actually put the buds in and store them, no?

​
 
You need to create a place that is cool and dark. If you're doing it in your tent then you want to create those conditions. Ideal temp/hum for dry and cure is 60/60.

Terps start to evaporate at 72*.
 
Atriax said:
>You do not put silica gel packs in your cannabis. There are 62% humidity packs available to use.
You do not need them but your target is around that and should be monitored with hygrometer

I do have hygrometers in my jars right now they say 57% at 72.7 degrees. I figure that will adjust to around the temp and humidity when i actually put the buds in and store them, no?

​
Click to expand...

>You need to create a place that is cool and dark. If you're doing it in your tent then you want to create those conditions. Ideal temp/hum for dry and cure is 60/60.

Terps start to evaporate at 72*.

​Ok so suppose I do this. I take the plants out of the tent then set up a humidifier inside the tent to try and create the 60/60 environment while im cutting down the plant. I'm assuming during the drying period im also not using my exhaust fan? then once thats achieved I dry like normal, then trim and put the buds in the jars, then store them in the tent. Also wouldnt the presence of the buds in the jar and the jar being in a dark place adjust the jars internal environment to where i want it?
 
Here's how I do it. Timeline will depend on how big your plant is. This all happens in an environment as close to 60/60 as I can get it. Air movement is critical to keep mold from forming. No direct air on plants. Set up your circulating fan to create a swirl of air in the tent so that air is constantly moving across the flower but not directly at it. Exhaust fan should also be on to move the moisture evaporating from the plants out of the tent.

I cut the whole plant down and hang the plant in the tent upside down. After it's been hanging for a few days I remove all water leaves. After a few more days it should be dry enough to be able to break down the branches from the main stem. I hang the branches and check flowers daily for dryness. I want them slightly crispy but squishy. This means outer portion of the flower is dry and inside is wet. Once they hit this level I remove the flowers from the branches, trim them and put them into jars. I check them the next day and the dry outer part will rehydrate pulling moisture from the center of the flower. If they're too wet still I'll lay them out on a dry screen and let the outside of the flower dry again. Once they're dry I put them back in the jar and check again the next day to see how wet they are. If they're not too wet I leave them in the jar and start burping twice a day the first week and, depending on how dry they are I reduce the burping to once a day. After a couple of weeks they should be at correct dryness. I continue burping for another couple weeks to let them cure and bring out the taste and aroma.

Some people like to remove and the branches from the main stem while the plant is still in the pot. Your flowers will dry a little faster this way and it'll be a little easier to manage but, IMO, it can dry too quickly if you aren't on top of it and the result will be hayish tasting weed.
 
I dried my last harvest too fast and too dry.

I had to over dry it as I could only burp very occasionally but I really took away from the quality drying it too fast.

It was my first go using an environmentally controlled grow room and I'm sure I had way too much air flow..

The first crop was hit hard by mold and was harvested 3 to 4 weeks too early but what was save was just air dried in low tem high humidity room and its effects were of better quality I guess. 1 jar of about 14 was absolutely stellar. Only good jars in this grow, not great, nothing stellar.

It's good though in a way that it comes on slow and you can build on it nicely. Old skool.
 
Atriax said:
>You need to create a place that is cool and dark. If you're doing it in your tent then you want to create those conditions. Ideal temp/hum for dry and cure is 60/60.

Terps start to evaporate at 72*.

​Ok so suppose I do this. I take the plants out of the tent then set up a humidifier inside the tent to try and create the 60/60 environment while im cutting down the plant. I'm assuming during the drying period im also not using my exhaust fan? then once thats achieved I dry like normal, then trim and put the buds in the jars, then store them in the tent. Also wouldnt the presence of the buds in the jar and the jar being in a dark place adjust the jars internal environment to where i want it?
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My gawd would i like to see this oh so fantastic plant that's taken up so much space in this section. All these make believe possible scenarios and what ifs. You must lay awake thinking about a dooms day. Just friggin get it done nothing is perfect showoff grows without fuk ups.
 
Don't make so much out of it. You cut them in whatever environment they are in, and adjust the tent back to have higher humidity so plants dry slowly. I used my tent last time and put my exhaust on very low and an indirect fan on low for airflow.

Rootsruler has great advice. The more plant you hang the slower it will dry. When the nugs snap off easily without leaving any string they are ready for jars. You can snap some smaller ones and find bigger ones might need more drying. I feel if they get too dry too fast its too late. If you need to add moisture to your buds a wet paper towel with pure water is better than trying to use those 62% boveda packs imo. They work ok to keep nugs at 62% if moist but I feel they do affect flavor if you try to rehydrate with them. If cured correctly the cannabis ends up at 62 by itself :)
 
>
Don't make so much out of it. You cut them in whatever environment they are in, and adjust the tent back to have higher humidity so plants dry slowly. I used my tent last time and put my exhaust on very low and an indirect fan on low for airflow.

Rootsruler has great advice. The more plant you hang the slower it will dry. When the nugs snap off easily without leaving any string they are ready for jars. You can snap some smaller ones and find bigger ones might need more drying. I feel if they get too dry too fast its too late. If you need to add moisture to your buds a wet paper towel with pure water is better than trying to use those 62% boveda packs imo. They work ok to keep nugs at 62% if moist but I feel they do affect flavor if you try to rehydrate with them. If cured correctly the cannabis ends up at 62 by itself :)

​youre right i am overplanning this. This is my first grow and ive never harvested dried or cured so im planning down to the nth degree to make sure i get it right the first time
 
"youre right i am overplanning this. This is my first grow and ive never harvested dried or cured so im planning down to the nth degree to make sure i get it right the first time"

Murphy is watching you intently, chill out before he smacks you down.
 
Atriax said:
>
Don't make so much out of it. You cut them in whatever environment they are in, and adjust the tent back to have higher humidity so plants dry slowly. I used my tent last time and put my exhaust on very low and an indirect fan on low for airflow.

Rootsruler has great advice. The more plant you hang the slower it will dry. When the nugs snap off easily without leaving any string they are ready for jars. You can snap some smaller ones and find bigger ones might need more drying. I feel if they get too dry too fast its too late. If you need to add moisture to your buds a wet paper towel with pure water is better than trying to use those 62% boveda packs imo. They work ok to keep nugs at 62% if moist but I feel they do affect flavor if you try to rehydrate with them. If cured correctly the cannabis ends up at 62 by itself :)

​youre right i am overplanning this. This is my first grow and ive never harvested dried or cured so im planning down to the nth degree to make sure i get it right the first time
Click to expand...

I don't see it as overthinking it at all. I also sometimes ask a ton of questions to the point of being annoying but, at the end of the day, I'm prepared for whatever scenario jumps up at me. It's your grow. Manage your product the way you see fit. It can be annoying to some that see the answer as obvious but they have years of experience under their belts so to them it's automatic.

Dry and cure is a blend of science and art. You can learn all the science to it but it's going to take a few runs for you to really get the hang of it. Just learn all you can and observe so that your next runs will be better.

I believe dry and cure is just as important as the cultivation part.
 
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