quick drying buds using silica gel packs

Hi guys...

I got a question concerning quick drying newly harvested buds... like, i only got a week an a half max after harvest time to dry and cure my buds... i heard one way to dry them quickly is to add a couple silica gel packs in the mason jar along with the buds for a couple days... compared to the other 'quick dry' solutions this one sounds like the most efficient... have you guys ever tried this? do you recommend it or have any other suggestions?

I am a bit nervous about this process...

thanks for your input =):stoned:

never tried it but silica gel does remove moisture

thats an interesting idea....

i guess you wont know till you try it.

two issues spring to mind for consideration,

1. the purpose of curing is to "sweat" the buds so there is even hydration throughout the plant matter.... maybe it will leave more moisture in the center of the bud than on the outside, therefore defeating the purpose of curing?

2.you would probably need some physical barrier between the gel-pack and the bud, as the sillica is toxic and its usually in porous paper sachets, maybe placing the gel pack in an open ended cigarett wrapper in the jar would solve this.

I use silica AKA dessicant to dry my mushrooms with and ive used it once to quick dry some samples so i could let the rest cure.


Get a container that is going to let you fit all your buds in, your goign to need about half of the container left open, so adjust for that.

Take some fine mesh, fine enough so your buds/dessicant doesnt fall through, and secure a layer about an inch above the bottom of the container. fill this layer with dessicant. Take another layer of mesh and secure it above the dessicant. Place your buds on this layer and seal up the container.

Few days they will be bone brittle dry and the bottom of the container will be filled with water. The dessicant pulls the water down. Works fine, makes buds brittle and the hit is kind of harsh but I like it alooooot better than microwave or brown bag for quick dry samples.

You can buy dessicant in the raw form without the stupid packets at home depot/hardware stores/boating stores....

Let me know what you think...

hey... i dont live in the US - so finding silica gel here is like impossible! I had to get the little sachets from ebay.. real fast as im about to harvest soon -- i figure those ll do the trick... im thinkin i ll leave them in for a day or so and see how they turn out and then maybe let them dry "au natural" after the inital dry with the silicagel... i ll let you know how they turned out.

thanks for your input tho:dance:

Sounds interesting. Let us know how it works. I've never tried silica, just use old-fashioned air, but I don't see any reason why silica wouldn't help speed it up.

don't get in a hurry ... slow drying and curing is what separates the top-quality smoke from street-weed ... growing pot is not for impatient people ... :smokin:

You can not hurry a slow process. The end product will suffer. But remember a slow air movemtent, to prevent mold. Then you have curing time , thats even slower. Relax