If you’ve ever successfully gone about marijuana cultivation only to watch your precious buds waste away before your very eyes…well, let’s just say you are far from in the minority. The problem being that so many growers initially underestimate the importance of how to dry marijuana in accordance with a strict set of rules and guidelines. They assume that given the fact that they have been so successful with their growing efforts, surely the drying process must be fool-proof…right?
Wrong, and many a fool it has claimed and will continue to claim for all time!
When you harvest your buds, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they don’t exactly look like the buds you’d pick up from a decent dealer. As such, it’s you yourself that needs to take the responsibility of transforming them from their current guise into that of the kind of buds you’ll be both proud of and blown away by.
Which begs the question – how to get it right?
Why Dry Your Weed?
Well, first of all it is a good idea to acknowledge exactly why it is that drying weed is important in the first place. The idea is that at the time in the plant’s life cycle when the production of resin and cannabinoids comes to an end, you are effectively looking to preserve its potency. If you don’t take action, potency will continue to decrease and weaken the quality of your buds.
Then of course there’s the fact that drying the buds also results in a product that is much easier to smoke and burns as evenly as possible. You are effectively looking to eliminate as much water as possible from the plant, while holding on to everything in there that’s of value. While there’s much to be said for what takes place during the growing process, the way you go about drying your buds can and will have a spectacular difference on the quality of the product produced. If there’s too much water , it isn’t going to be of good smoking value. Not only this, but smoking buds prematurely having run out of patience will also make it extremely difficult to get high.
Patience is a virtue – words that were never truer than in the instance of cannabis cultivation!
How to Dry Marijuana Buds Outdoors
There may be several approaches taken when deciding how to dry marijuana, but it cannot be stressed enough how important patience is. As it is the case with so many things in life, the most effective and safe approach to drying cannabis buds is also the most time consuming. But if you do it slowly, you will do it right. If you are looking for a final result that tastes, smells and hits like a dream, it’s the only way to go.
In this is basically the approach that involves hanging your buds upside down in a place that is secure, drafty and dark. Constant air circulation is of the utmost importance in order to prevent mould, while the temperature needs to be kept in the region of 18°C. It’s important to consider exactly how strong the smell will be when deciding on where to hang your buds safely. A cupboard, wardrobe or even a garden shed can make for the perfect drying location, just as long as the conditions are ideal. If you are concerned about the overly powerful fragrance, you might want to think about installing a carbon filter.
Ensure Good Air Circulation
More often than not, ensuring good air circulation means placing a simple fan in wherever it is you have chosen to dry your buds. In addition, do not make the mistake of clustering too many of your buds together during the drying process, for the simple reason that if any of your plants succumb to mould, this will make it far easier for it to jump from one to the next. Humidity must be kept in the region of 30% and no more – fans and good air circulation also playing an important role in humidity management.
This is by far the best way to dry buds properly and is also the easiest. Just one word of caution however – don’t fall into the trap of assuming that you can speed things up a little bit by exposing your plants to direct sunlight, should this be an option. All this will do is destroy the texture of your buds and have a detrimental effect on their colour, potency and general appeal when smoked.
Give it about two weeks and you should be ready to go.
How to Quick-Dry Marijuana
If you absolutely cannot wait as long as this and insist on trying your hand at something of an expedited drying method…well, first of all don’t be surprised if it doesn’t quite go to plan. It’s certainly possible, that you take a number of risks in doing so.
When it comes to quick-drying marijuana, the most sensible approach (if you can call it that) is to follow the exact same process as mentioned above, only in this instance increasing the ambient temperature to around 32° C. This will mean bringing an electric heater into the drying environment, while at the same time paying much closer attention to air quality and humidity. In this instance, it is usually fine to cluster the buds much more closely together, which will usually result in the overall drying time being halved.
Once again though, it is highly recommended that you take your time with the slower drying method if possible.
Quick Dry Marijuana in the Oven
Last but not least, you may have heard that it is possible to dry buds extremely quickly in the oven – something which is technically true. However, get it even slightly wrong and you’ll absolutely annihilate your entire crop. Not only this, but drying in the oven will almost always result in a final product that is less tasty, less attractive and considerably harsher to smoke.
If you do insist on taking this ultra-fast approach to drying – which isn’t highly recommended – it’s a case of effectively baking your buds at a temperature of around 66° C for 10 minutes. Proceed with caution and be sure to test the method on just a handful of small buds to start with, just to see whether or not your oven quite literally roasts them into kingdom come.
