How to Cure Cannabis (Dry Trimming)

This is for curing step by step if you are dry trimming, if you don’t know the difference between wet trimming and dry trimming, dry trimming takes place after you have had your plants hanging for around 10-14 days. For more on the differences between wet trimming and dry trimming, check out our video the Differences Between Wet Trimming and Dry Trimming. Now let’s get into How to Cure Cannabis, when dry trimming.

Step 1: Hang your plants

Hang your plants upside down (for about 10-14 days at 60-70 degrees with 50-60% humidity), hanging your cannabis upside down will keep the moisture going to your buds from your stalks and stems, it also makes it easier to hang from the stalks when your plant is upside down. The lower your temperature is the longer your cure will be this can be a good thing, if you have enough dehumidification to carry the extra water molecules out of the air. Think about it like this, your going to bring wet cannabis into a closed but ventilated room to slowly dry, the more pounds you bring into that same room is also going to increase the moisture level. If you turn your heat way up you will dry your cannabis quicker but you can burn up some of your terpenes and trichomes that burn off at the lowest temperatures in the process. If your humidity goes through the roof and you can’t remove the extra moisture out of the air your cannabis will dry too slow, and you will risk molds and bacteria growing. Therefore, it is important to regulate the temperature and humidity properly during this step. Now another thing to consider is the type of climate you live in, this will better prepare you for what’s expected for your climate. If you live in a hot dry climate then you’re probably going to have a harder time keeping the cannabis from getting too hot or drying too fast, so invest more into your air conditioning or swamp coolers for your drying room if you have not already. Whereas if you live in a place with a mild temperature, and a lot of moisture like the pacific northwest then your going to have a harder time keeping the humidity levels low enough to fight off mold and bacteria from growing on your buds, so invest in the proper dehumidifier for your size of operation.

Step 2: Remove the Water Leaves (Optional but highly suggested)

Once you have your plant upside down, we suggest you remove your fan leaves at this point, this is optional as some growers leave them on. Your plant will dry quicker and will be much easier to trim after it has been hanging if you pluck the fan leaves out while it’s still wet. These fan leaves are the ones with the exposed stems that do not hold as much trichomes, if you are unsure which ones are the fan leaves. They are also commonly called water leaves as well, but fan leaves and water leaves are the same. They have a harsher flavor though which is another one of the reasons why most growers like to pluck them out instead of leaving them in to be trimmed.

Step 3: Bend stems over until they make a snapping sound

Your cannabis will be done hanging when the small stems to the bud’s snap when they are bent over. Again, this will be after about (10-14 days at 60-70 degrees and 50-60% humidity.)

Step 4: Put your cannabis in a jar or container

It’s time to put your cannabis in a container to finish the curing process now. You can finish curing your cannabis in several different containers, mason jars are a favorite of many small growers as they are the most air tight. Most commercial growers use containers like the 27-gallon totes because that many mason jars would be overwhelming, there are also alternatives like the Cvault which is a stainless-steel curing container that comes with a 2-way humidity pack to make sure that your cannabis stays at its ideal relative humidity, sold at Harvest Helper. Store the buds and cure them at this point with the sugar leaves still wrapped on the outside of them. Do not over pack your container that you are curing in you need to leave room for the off gassing, and bud rotating  room on the next step.  

Step 5: Burp your buds

Now you’re ready to burp your buds, this means your going to open your cannabis containers (for about 15 or 20 minutes a few times a day for about 7-10 days) when you do this, it’s important to rotate your cannabis around so the buds on the bottom become the buds on top, this will allow them to dry and off gas evenly). By the end of this step, you will want your leaves to be dry enough to flake off on the outside of the bud, but still retain some moisture in the bud. You can also check this by running your finger with a nitrile glove on the outside of the bud to see if the leaves flake off or not. You can squeeze the bud to feel if there is still moisture inside of it. Another more exact way to test your buds moisture is with a moisture meter (sold at Harvest Helper). You want a reading of between about (10-17% on your flower or buds, ideally more towards the lower end of this range around 12-13%) before you start trimming. You can now trim your buds up to several months later if you keep your relative humidity around 62% inside where your cannabis is stored. This last-minute trim job also produces a great smell for your cannabis.

Step 6: Buck your buds/ de-boning

Bucking your buds is the next step after you have finished hanging your cannabis cut the stems close to the bottom of the buds.

Step 7: Trim your buds

At this point your cannabis should be ready to dry trim or go into storage until you are ready to trim. (make sure product is stable and off gassing is complete before long storage periods. Enjoy