How to Cure Your Medicinal Plants Buds?
Your buds are ready for harvest, yet your job as a grower is not quite over yet. You still need to put your newly harvested buds through the medicinal plants curing process.
In order to ensure the best quality for your freshly harvested buds, you must prepare your buds with a process known as curing, which involves drying your buds slowly in a controlled environment, then keeping buds in glass jars over the course of a few weeks to let certain natural plant processes occur. The drying/curing process causes buds to smell better and for effects to feel more potent. It also reduces harshness.
Benefits to Properly Curing medicinal plants
Drying and curing your harvest will bring a ton of benefits. These include:
- Improving taste
- Smoothing buds (less coughing)
- Decreasing the chances of anxiety or paranoia
- Reducing risk of mold
Curing medicinal plants traditionally starts right after cutting down your plant. For a medium to big size commercial production, we recommend about 6 people working when harvesting and hanging buds for drying. Two people should be used for cutting down the plants, three people finalizing the trim, and one person hanging the buds on the drying lines. You will want to minimize the time your buds are sitting in your bins.
The person cutting the plant should cut if off directly at the root ball while the person finalizing the trim should cut off all the extra leaves. Cutting off most of the leaves and branches will speed up the drying process. Bonus: Less leaves will make your buds less harsh.
How to cure buds
STEP 1
To begin the process, you’ll need to prepare your flowers accordingly. If you dried your buds individually, you’re good to go. If you elected to dry them by the branch, then you’ll need to get trimming. Separate each bud and rid them of sugar leaves.
STEP 2
Next, you’ll need to place your stash into airtight containers. Mason jars provide a sturdy option and allow growers to easily monitor their buds throughout the process.
Place the buds loosely into the container and fill to 75% capacity. It’s important to leave room for air. Now is a good time to test if your stash is dry enough for curing. Give the jars a gentle shake. If your buds rattle around the glass freely, then continue with the next steps. If they begin to clump together, this is a sign the exterior is still too wet and further drying is required.
STEP 3
Apply the lids to your jars and place them in a cool and dark location to protect against the threats mentioned above. Ideally, place them in a cupboard or other storage room that maintains a temperature of 21°C and a relative humidity of 60–65% within the jars. The only way to accurately measure this is to add a small hygrometer (a device that measures humidity) to each jar.
STEP 4
During the first couple of days, you’ll need to check on your buds around twice per day. Inspect them through the glass and keep a careful eye on any mould formation. You’ll also need to open the lids for a couple of minutes each time you check to allow for fresh air exchange. Keep an eye on your hygrometers. If the reading displays 60–65% humidity, continue as normal. If things are getting too wet, leave the lids off the jars for around 3 hours to let excess moisture escape. If humidity is too low, leave the lids on for longer periods without breathing sessions. If you still don’t notice any increase in humidity, place a small humidity pack inside the affected jars.
STEP 5
Continue to open the jars once per day over the next 2 weeks while taking appropriate measures to maintain optimal humidity. After 3 weeks, your buds will be well cured and ready to smoke up. However, the more patient smokers out there will receive the best rewards. Your flowers will continue to increase in quality for up to 6 months of curing.
How do I best store my buds once they are dried and cured?
Once you’ve finished your cure, you can keep your bud in the same jars, in a cool, dark, and dry place. You no longer need to check on your buds as frequently, so make sure to keep your jars well-sealed to prevent your flowers from drying out too much. If you have a lot of medicinal plants, consider investing in humidity packs/medicinal plants storage kit or something similar to keep your flowers fresh over long periods of time.
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