After you have carefully nurtured and cared for your plants, the decisive moment arrives: the harvest. But your plants' journey doesn't end there! The drying process is crucial to ensure that your end product is of the best quality. So let's take a closer look at how to properly dry your cannabis to guarantee optimal quality and a unique smoking experience!
1. why drying is so important
Drying is considered the most important post-harvest process as it significantly affects the quality of your cannabis (Challa et al., 2020). Freshly harvested cannabis contains around 80% water, which has several disadvantages (Yoon et al., 2024).
Without proper drying, your weed will not only become harsher to smoke, but also more susceptible to mold and loss of potency. Proper drying optimizes the taste, aroma, potency of your buds and facilitates long-term storage (Yoon et al., 2024).
2. what the difference is between drying vs. curing
Drying and curing are two essential steps after the cannabis harvest that are often confused, but have different objectives:
- Drying: As the name suggests, the purpose of drying is to reduce the moisture in your fresh flowers so that they become smokable.
- Curing: The long-term storage of your buds in airtight containers to improve flavor and potency.
3. step-by-step guide to drying cannabis
1. harvest plants- Remove large leaves: Carefully cut off the flowery tips of the plant and remove the large leaves on the stem that have no trichomes. This improves air circulation and reduces the risk of mold.
2. select drying method
- Hang drying: The classic method for even drying. Hang the plants upside down in a dark, well-ventilated room (Uziel et al., 2024). Make sure that the flowers do not touch each other to avoid mold growth. PSA grow box is also suitable for drying your flowers. You can find the right accessories at grow-shop24.de.
- Sieve dryingPlace the cut buds on drying sieves. This method is faster, as a larger surface area is available for drying, but according to Uziel et al. (2024) it can lead to uneven drying.
3. monitor room conditions
- Ventilation: Make sure the room is well ventilated to prevent mold growth.
- Temperature & humidity: Keep the temperature at around 18-21°C and a relatively high humidity of 50-55% (Yoon et al., 2024). A room that is too humid can cause mold, while a room that is too dry will dry out the cannabis too quickly and reduce its quality.
- Darkness: Keep the room dark to prevent light from breaking down the cannabinoids and terpenes.
4. speed up the drying process (not a must!)
- Fans, heaters & dehumidifiers: These devices can help speed up the drying process (Uziel et al., 2024) if necessary. However, be careful not to overdo these aids to ensure even drying. This can lead to hard, scratchy and unflavored cannabis.
5. complete the drying process
- Duration: The drying process usually takes between 5 and 14 days, some even speak of 10 to 20 days. This should take place in well-ventilated rooms with controlled temperature and humidity (Uziel et al., 2024). In any case, the following applies here: Don't rush things, strength lies in rest.
- Check buds: Your buds are ready when the right texture and crispness is achieved (Uziel et al., 2024). In other words, when they are dry but not brittle. They should still be easy to bend without breaking.
- After drying, remove excess leaves from the flowers. This improves the taste, aroma and appearance. However, if trichomes are present, these leaves can be cooked or processed in other ways.
4. conclusion
Drying cannabis is an important step that you shouldn't skip if you want to enjoy high-quality, potent and mold-free cannabis. By creating the right conditions and carefully monitoring the process, you can ensure that your cannabis reaches the best possible quality.
Good luck with your harvest and subsequent drying!
Want to plan your next harvest? Then take a look at our high-quality cannabis seeds from Bud Voyage for your future projects! Or start directly with one of our cannabis cuttings if you are very impatient.
5. bibliography
Challa, S. K. R., Misra, N. N., & Martynenko, A. (2020). Drying of cannabis-state
of the practices and future needs. Drying Technology, 39(14), 2055-2064. https://doi.org/10.1080/07373937.2020.1752230
Uziel, A., Milay, L., Procaccia, S., Cohen, R., Burstein, A., Sulimani, L., Shreiber-
Livne, I., Lewitus, D., & Meiri, D. (2024). Solid-state microwave drying for medical cannabis inflorescences: a rapid and controlled alternative to traditional drying. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, 9(1), 397-408. https://doi.org/10.1089/can.2022.0051
Yoon, H. I., Lee, S. H., Ryu, D., Choi, H., Park, S. H., Jung, J. H., Kim, H., & Yang,
J. (2024). Non-destructive assessment of cannabis quality during drying process using hyperspectral imaging and machine learning. Frontiers in Plant Science, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1365298