Curing crispy critters

Hey everyone, just had a question about curing. I've hung my plants in the upside down fashion for 7 days with humidity at constant 40% and now the leaves are crunchy/crispy like and now i'm afraid that they are too dry now. I've put everything in mason jars yesterday and checked on them today and they;re still crispy with a strong acidy smell. I've heard of putting an orange peel in the jars to rehydrate but am cautious to do so because of a mold issue developing. I've thought of spraying a little water on em to rehydrate but I don't know, I don't want to ruin my precious herb. Is it too late now to do a proper cure?

I'de say it's too late to "properly" cure them, yes.

If you fear mold will start to grow do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT mist your bud in the jar. That WILL cause mold to grow fast, without question. And the worst part is you won't see it coming.

Putting an orange peel in each jar would be your best bet at this point. Just keep an eye on it. If you see the orange peel starting to dry up or become deformed, remove it and put another one in there. :) This will help add a LITTLE humidity to the jar which will gradually increase the moisture in the buds and leaves.

The best way to ensure you don't get mold is to keep the jars in a cool dark area.

When you do properly hang them and are ready to "properly" cure your buds, I swear by the refrigerator method. It almost always works out perfectly! Just make sure the temp settings are not too cold, place your jar/s in the fruits/vegetable compartments. Only remove the cannabis from the fridge when you are ready to smoke it. Meaning, only take out what you're going to smoke for that day, or week, which ever you prefer...

This also increases the moisture in the buds dramatically. What happens is basic science, when you remove them from the fridge to smoke it, it will warm up and moisture will form on it a little and the buds will absorb it. You won't notice it visually, but you can feel it and taste it. If you could wiegh it, it adds wieght too and it really makes a BIG difference in how the bud smokes. (I did it)

So, basic rule of thumb - To avoid mold, keep jars in COOL dark places. Not FREEZING, but nice and cool.

When you hang them, you shouldn't allow the leaves to become crispy to the point where they crumble when touched. The humidity was very low too. With relative humidity levels of 40% you should've only hung them for at the most 5 days, then put them in jars. So remember, lower humidity, less days hanging. Now even when the humidity is high, you don't want to leave them hanging for more than 7-8 days, it's pointless.

So, basic rule of thumb - Watch the humidity. Anything under 50% relative should be hung to dry no more than 5 days. Anything over 50% relative should have at least 7 days but no more than 8...

This is what I found to work out best for me through my experience. Hope this helps.

Goodluck man!

Got any pictures of your grow?

Thanks for the reply but damn I was hoping to cure these babies. Probably won't do the orange peel thing, do worried i'll screw that up too. I'll definaltely will try your method next time I grow. These were female ICE seeds grown in soil over 3 400watt lights using FoxFarm nutes. This was my first "serious" grow. Here's some pics you might enjoy:D Peace.

I remember seeing your pictures before. Awesome grow! Looks like you had a very promising outcome too!

Just because you dried the buds out a little doesn't mean you have to scrap the curing proccess...

I'de still put them in jars. You might need some slightly larger jars...I prefer to chop my bud down into chunks that fit into jars that are a little bit larger than Gerber baby food jars. This makes it a lot easier to work with. Especially if you're curing in a refrigerator... But if you got the room larger jars work just as good.

Remember, the longer they sit in the jars, the better they'll taste. It won't really affect THC levels but it will seemingly increase the affects of euphoric satisfaction...(I like to cure for at least 3-5 weeks.)

PS- In a couple of those images it appears that the leaves are wet. Did you mist your plants?

I've read on here that you can also add chunks of the bigger stems instead of orange peels. This is on the theory that the fat stems are not completely dry obviously....

:jointsmile: Bree

Dude, im so baked right now...just lit up one of the buds....good obersation about the misting, actually i was trying to foiler feed with magnesium (thought i had a mag def problem, eventually just gave up on the problem as it never really caused substanial problems) I found myself growing this grow being overly parnoid and i believe i wigged out too much to make it perfect. Althought the buds turned out well, i believe next grow i wont sweat it so much and just enjoy the grow. Also security has been a big issue as these babies reeked like you wound't believe, I started to believe that my neighbors were sniffing in the air around my house and shit....maybe that's the mary jane speaking again:stoned:

However growing as been such a rewarding experience so far, sharing killer homegrown buds with friends (our dealer rarely gets anything real tasty) and watching the herb grow into beautil ladies (i actually got a little sad chopping down:( lol

This forum has provided tons of info on growing and has been a blessing to me 10 fold or should i say 10 pounds!! :smokin: