You've done all the work of growing your plants to their maximum potential,Ā don't throw it away because of a bad cure!
Curing is too often an overlooked step in the growing process. After putting in all that work it's easy to think you've done the heavy lifting, now you just trim it, bag it and it's good to go.
But a bad cure can totally ruin your harvest. All those terpenes you worked to breed can fade away, the tastes can deteriorate and even the appearance of your crop can suffer from a bad cure.
Luckily a great cure just takes a little more time and patience for incredible results.
Drying is NOT Curing
It is important first to point this out: Drying and curing are not the same thing!
When you first cut down your plants, it's necessary that they are properly driedĀ before you begin curing them. This can be done with a simple hang-dry, and you can begin curing after drying for 5-10 days depending on how much moisture is in your plants.
Storing and Curing Your Harvest
After your plants are dried enough while still retaining some extra moisture, you can move them into their storage containers that will also be used to cure them. There's a few options when it comes to storage.
The most common storage method people use is plastic bags like True Liberty Turkey Bags. They are stronger than your traditional plastic bags to keep air out, but since the bags are clear you still have to deal with light hitting your plants which can impact your cure.
That's why we recommend using either tinted or dark glass jars, or stainless steel storage containers like the CVault Humidity Curing Storage Container. These stainless steel containers even come with a special compartment for a humidity pack like BovedaĀ which is the next essential component to a great cure.
Humidity and Burping
After drying your plants and moving them to their storage containers they should still have a decent bit of moisture in them. You don't want an overly dry end product.
This is why humidity is one of the most important aspects of curing. You want to maintain between 60% and 65% humidity throughout your curing process so your harvest doesn't dry out too quickly, which is where Boveda packs come in.
Once you get your humidity right you need to burp your containers. It is basically what it sounds like, you're opening the containers daily and letting them get some fresh air for about 15 minutes. You can also "burp" your jars like a baby and gently bounce them to shake the flowers around.
Doing this allows air to hit your flowers, slowly drying the outside while drawing more moisture from inside. Burping your flowers for two weeks in their storage containers with proper humidity will result in an excellent cure.