Hi everyone,

Well after over 3 months of labour, love and hours spent looking after my babies, not to mention the £500+ i've spent on equipment. The day i've been waiting for is nearly here, most of my crop of Skunk Red Hair will get the chop tomorrow.

Plants have been fed plain PH adjusted water for 2 weeks, and the mojority of the buds look more than ready for harvest. There has been a mass of secondary bud growth over the past 3 weeks so have decided to harvest the top 50% of the plants first.

Will try my hardest to get my mates Digi camera again to take some pics.

Just a few questions that may help me along:

How long after harvest should my buds be trimmed? (got some bubblebags)

Is drying in a 1.5x2x4foot cardboard box a good idea? gonna put some holes in for fresh air.

Will the fact that they have been fed no nutes for 2 weeks affect the secondary bud growth? (seems ok at the mo)

How long after dring do the buds need to be cured to get maximum taste, potency etc?


God i can't wait. i'm like a kid a christmas , god knows what i'm gonna be like watching em dry for 2 weeks.

And finally thanks to everyone who helped me along the way, your advice have proved very helpfull.

fo' sho'.

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How long after harvest should my buds be trimmed? (got some bubblebags)

how long? depends. some people trim them right away, other people leave them on so the buds dry slower and trim them after 2 or 3 days. depends on you. if you have bubblebags then it'll be easier to trim the leaves when they're freshly cut than when they're withered and sticking to the buds.

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Is drying in a 1.5x2x4foot cardboard box a good idea?

very good idea, but forget the holes and just open the boxes every day to check the buds. don't place them in the boxes more than one layer deep and turn them when you check them to even out drying a bit.

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Will the fact that they have been fed no nutes for 2 weeks affect the secondary bud growth?

no, there'll still be trace elements of everything in your growing medium. plain water just dilutes the nutrients already in the system and helps flush them out.

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How long after dring do the buds need to be cured to get maximum taste, potency etc?

one, two weeks, maybe. you'll know when they're done if you check them frequently. the longer the cure the better the weed though.

Trimming is down to preference. Personally, I trim all the leaves off as soon as the plant comes down, because I find them much easier to cut while they are still firm and full of water. I find that if you wait until they are dry, they wither up and stick to the buds.

I am not too sure about the cardboard box tho mate. Your buds need air movement while they are drying, or you run the risk of mold (and to get bud rot at such a late stage is heartbreaking).
My personal method is to run lines along a spare bedroom, or in my growroom if I do not have another going straight in, and hang them up there, with a circulation fan running on the floor to keep the air moving. They also have to be kept in the dark, as light degrades the THC.

So, cut the branches off the plants, trim the leaves up, and then hang the branches on lines, or clothes airers. If the room is warm, the buds might look crispy, but will get all soggy when you put them in bags. Wait until the stalk has dried out and gone brittle - then you can cut the buds off the stalk. I then leave them another 3 - 4 days in brown paper bags to finish drying (do not use white ones, because of the bleach in the paper)

At this point, your buds can be smoked. Curing is a matter of taste and (im)patience. I find that it takes up to 2 more months before the buds are at their optimum level - but this is only cos I have some left over at that time. In truth, I start smoking them as soon as they are dry, because after all that time, I usually can't wait (prob best to jsut take a couple of buds out to smoke while the rest is curing) Another week or so will not hurt them though - just remember to open your container once a day and move the buds around (and take a gooooood long sniff of them....mmmmmmm), to let any moisture left in them evaporate off.

Keep an eye out for white or brown patches, or a musty smell - thats budrot - if you get it, remove the affected buds, spread the rest out on newspaper, let some sunlight on them (light kills mold) and pray.
For christs sake, do not smoke any of the moldy ones, or let anyone else smoke them.

Good luck matey, and enjoy the fruits of your labour

Cheers lads,

I'm determined to be patient, i've waiting this long so another month or so ain't gonna kill me, not one of my mates will be trying my bud until i'm happy its really ready, so I will def be curing.

couple more questions, i think i'm gonna make my bubblehash with fresh trim, so how long should I freeze before putting it in the bubblebags?

Also my buds turned out to be more popcorn buds rather than a "trunchun" on a stick, will this lower the drying time?

Hopefully if all goes well, can sit on the garden on sunday and smoke some lovely bubble mmmm!

yeah, they will dry quicker if they are smaller. I do not envy your trimming though. Its going to take you fecking ages. Quick hint for trimming - get some sheets of coarse sandpaper, and when your scissors get gummed up with the resin, scrape the worst off, and then make lots of little cuts in the sandpaper to sharpen the scissors back up again.

As for the bubble hash - not sure whats the best way of doing it. I have only done it once, and I dried my leaves out first, then froze them for a couple of days. I have heard some people say to freeze it for 24 hrs while the leaf is still wet, and then use it. The trichomes loose their adhesive quality when they are frozen and fall off the leaves, so as long as you leave it for 24 hrs in the freezer, you should be ok

hiya SB

GRAB that digi cam,.....i wanna see your bounty!!

welldone fella....

BB

I'm working on it mate,

Would buy my own but my work have put a program on my lap top stopping me installing any new hardware.

Here's a pic from about 21 days into 12/12 tho,

best way to make hash with the bubblebags is to dry trim for 2 or 3 days then freeze it for 24 hours and then go for it.

if you don't dry it out, you get chlorophyll mixed in with the water which turns it green no matter how pure it is.

and, yusss... it will reduce drying time if you don't have the buds that i get ( ) because there's less to dry.

yet i'd recommend leaving it on the plant/branch for drying because then you can gauge how dried it is inside the buds by testing how dry the medium sized stems are. when they crack and pressing the bud reveals the smallest amount of moisture, they're ready for curing.

ahh, and yeah - make sure the buds are as dry as they can be without being like matchwood before you go anywhere near plastic/glass for curing. check on them twice a day during curing, smelling for any mould or just smelling for fun.

Stupid question but is there such a thing as overdrying ?

Detoxed

yes, when you leave the buds to dry too long and they have no moisture to cure in the jars.

Hi everyone,

Just to let you know that harvest day went very well, I harvested about 2/3rds of my bud, and I'd say there should be anything between 4-6oz dried, and also got the rest of my plants to harvest.

As for the bubblehash, well it did work. I ended up with 2.2gram of different grades, all of it except the 73 bag turned out very green, (only dried leaves for 24 hours). That being said, it didn't seem to affect the potency, me and a mate had a session on it in the sun yesturday afternoon, boy was we stonned

Have taked some pics and will post as soon I have them on a CD.

Thanks for your help everyone

yeah, gotta say that all it does if you don't dry the skuff is make it look green... doesn't stop it bubbling or blowing the top of your head off.

Next dumb question : such a thing as being too patient and waiting too long for harvest ? and when would you know for sure you better harvest now ?

Detoxed

well, yeah, cause the plants will just dry out and hibernate past a certain point. harvest should be dependent on strain, you know? when it's ready it's ready sorta thing.

look for some pics online.