In general, the drying stage takes about 7–12 days, depending on the above factors. During this time, your buds will lose a lot of water, meaning they'll shrink in size and lose a lot of weight, too.
The drying and curing phase after harvest allows the buds to fully develop in taste, aroma, and potency. However, it also gives the buds time to become more firmly packed and tight.
It's way too dry. If it stays compressed and feels like a fresh plant, it's too moist. Ideally, a well-cured bud should bounce back like memory foam.
From its harvest state it will lose 75% of its weight in water drying out. 4oz wet will equal one dried every time.
Dry & Cure Your Buds. Proper drying and curing after harvest can help buds become slightly more dense, while also adding to better taste, smell, potency and bag appeal.
If you over-dry your cannabis, it'll be more likely to go moldy, so it's important to monitor the drying process closely. If your buds are too dry, they'll be more likely to crumble when you try to break them up for smoking, so it's important to take them out of the drying chamber before they become too dry.
To some degree, more light translates to fatter buds and higher yields (you'll need to pay attention to the distance between your grow light and plants or your plant may suffer from light burn). Increasing light intensity is the most effective way to fatten up buds.
When Do I Know My Buds Are Properly Dried And Ready To Cure? There's a simple test to know if your buds are dry: Simply take a small branch and try to bend it. If it snaps, your buds are dry and you're ready to move on to the curing process. If they bend, your buds need a little longer to dry.
The last three weeks is when your buds can actually gain the most weight – that is if you feed them Overdrive®. After your peak bloom phase, your plants enter their late bloom phase (the precise timing and length of which depends on the strain of cannabis you're growing).
Lack of light is perhaps the most common reason that cannabis produces fluffy, light buds. You may have noticed the lower, puny 'popcorn' bud sites that form below the main canopy. Often these buds are discarded by growers allowing the plant to focus biochemical energy on the main blooms.
Depending on the specific mass and profile of the flowers, the drying process generally takes three to four weeks. For both marijuana and hemp producers of smokable flower, the curing process is an important postharvest step that provides additional value in the quality of the resulting product.
The older the plant grows, the more these trichomes will begin to change color, beginning as clear, then becoming cloudy or milky, then eventually turning amber. Most growers wait to harvest until the majority of their trichomes look milky, with a small percentage (20-30%) looking amber.
The telltale sign of harvest-ready weed is when the hairs of the plant, or pistils, have fully darkened and curled in. If your buds are looking thick and dense, but there are still some straight white pistils, it's not time yet. However, opinions on harvest time vary.
Light is perhaps the most important factor in achieving dense buds. It's needed by plants to conduct photosynthesis, create vital sugars, and grow. However, not any old lights will do. Plants need optimal intensity and the right spectrum of light to put out plump, resinous flowers.
Week 7: The calyxes in the seven-week varieties swell to near bursting as THC is produced in the glands. At the end of the week they will be ready. The trichomes stand more erect and the caps swell with newly produced resin. At the end of the week the flowers reach the peak zone.
If you grow strains with an average flowering time, the majority of bud development will occur by the 6th week of bloom. In the last two weeks, the buds will mostly be ripening and not really growing much more in size. At this point, the previously white pistils on the buds will now slowly turn amber-brown.
Increasing the amount of CO₂ in your grow room can help you grow bigger, denser buds. By doing so, you'll help plants photosynthesise faster and encourage them to take up more nutrients and water.
At the time of processing, sticky cannabis buds, as opposed to overly dry flowers, are an indicator of strong, high-quality marijuana that is ready to be consumed. If cured cannabis from a dispensary or elsewhere is sticky to the touch, it's likely the cannabis is more expensive and contains more THC.
While not mandatory, it's definitely a good idea to wash cannabis flower buds that were grown outside. The process reduces outdoor air pollutants that may have accumulated on the buds such as dirt, dust, pollen, toxic wildfire ash, caterpillar poop, insects, bird debris, and other particulate matter.
Topping to increase the number of colas
Prune to clear off dead leaves to help your plants focus their energy on the live parts of the plant. Prune large leaves which get in the way of light reaching the colas. Topping is a form of pruning and involves pruning off the branch tip of the main cola.
When plants are so leafy that air and light can't get through the plant, the buds don't get as dense as they could. These plants are too leafy for the flowering stage. Buds won't fatten far into the plant, and won't be as dense as they could be.
Removing the moisture brings the buds to the highest of their THC yield. Try keeping your buds in a glass jar for a week and see if you notice the difference. Also, get one of these Boveda humidity-absorbing packs that can also help you keep a crisp bud!
Once you have set your plants up to dry the next step is to wait. Depending on the strain, it takes 3 to 10 days for your plants to be optimally dried. We know it is hard! You can tell they are ready when the outside of the buds feels dry to the touch.
At the absolute minimum, you should wait until 50% of the trichomes are cloudy and 50% of the hairs have changed color. Again — do not harvest if fewer than 50% of the trichomes have turned milky. And do not harvest if fewer than 50% of the pistils have turned brown/orange.
You will know that your plant is ready to be harvested when the colors of the pistils on cola buds turn from white to reddish orange and the trichome heads turn from transparent to milky to opaque and finally amber. The amber color indicates a higher CBD to THC cannabinoid ratio in its resin.