Fall Harvest: 4 Ways Proper Drying and Curing Improves Your Homegrown Cannabis
Fall Harvest: 4 Ways Proper Drying and Curing Improves Your Homegrown Cannabis
If this is your first season cultivating homegrown cannabis, you’ve come to realize that growing great plants takes a lot of hard work and skill! Sure, it’s easy to grow sub-par, grassy tasting low-grade cannabis, but for really great tasting and potent flowers? That’s another story!
So, you’ve nurtured your plants, taken care of all their needs for the last several months, battled pests and mildew and now you’re finally ready to harvest and trim those buds. Although you may be tempted to take shortcuts when it comes to drying and curing, your patience has some big payoffs.
Drying your cannabis naturally in a controlled environment and then taking time to properly cure it, will bring out the best in your bounty. You should aim to cure your dried cannabis for a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks for best results and to preserve all those delicious terpenes and cannabinoids you worked so hard to cultivate.
Here are four ways proper drying and curing improves your homegrown cannabis:
- Improved Flavor. You can tell improperly dried and cured cannabis by taste alone. You won’t be able to taste anything besides a grassy flavor, like hay or lawn trimmings. Drying and curing breaks down elements like chlorophyll allowing the true flavor of the strain to shine through. If you really want to taste the strain, you must thoroughly dry and cure your buds.
- Improved potency. Not only will your cannabis taste bad, it won’t be near as potent as it could be. During the curing process, your flowers will continue to convert THCA into THC. Rapid or improper drying and curing halts this process creating buds of a lower potency.
- Reduced contamination risk. Ensuring your cannabis is properly dried before storing vastly reduces the risk of mold and mildew ruining your precious buds. When curing, don’t skip steps. Make sure fresh air is introduced and moist air released regularly during the process.
- Smoother smoke. Improperly dried cannabis creates a harsh smoke that can easily irritate your mouth, throat and lungs. The time provided by drying and curing reduces this harshness so your homegrown is as smooth and mellow as any professional cultivator’s.
The outdoor growing season may be done, but you can cultivate indoors at any time! Stop in and get advice, information and healthy, hearty clones from our experienced garden department staff. New clones arriving regularly!