For many growers, harvest time is the best time of the year. The time has finally come to harvest the fruits you have worked so hard to cultivate and pamper. In fact this time of year can be crucial in your crop and drying can be a critical step as a poor drying process can completely spoil even the best quality buds.

So arm yourself with patience because drying can be very slow but you will see that the reward will be worth it.

During the drying period, the buds should reduce their amount of water from 75% to 15 or 10% and this can take up to 20 days.  For drying, you will need a space that meets certain conditions:

• Ventilation: the space needs an air renewal. When using fans, you can ensure continuous ventilation and you can even speed up the process, but be careful that drying too quickly can alter the taste of your plants.
• Humidity: Try to maintain relative humidity around 60% for the first 7 days. If you find it difficult to maintain humidity at this level you can use an air extractor with an active carbon filter to extract the humid air.
• Temperature: The ideal is to keep it above 20ºC during the first 3 days and between 15 and 18ºC the rest of the time. Remember to avoid sudden changes in temperature that could negatively affect the quality of your buds.
  
• Light: THC degrades with light so the “drying room” must remain dark.
• Smells: plants smell a lot during the drying process so choose a discreet site or get products for the treatment of odours.

How do I know when it’s dry enough?

The drying process will last at least 10 – 14 days. An easy way to tell if the plant is dry enough is to bend a branch. If it cracks, it is dry. If it bends and returns to its shape, it will need more time to dry. It is important that your plant does not dry out too quickly because during drying not only does water evaporate, but also chlorophyll or other pigments from the plant. If the flower dries too quickly, these pigments will not have time to evaporate and this will affect the final taste.

How do I dry my plants?

It is normal to cut the branches and hang them upside down. For that you can use one of our clotheslines. Another way is to cut it and leave the branches in a drying mesh. With this method you will save space. 

And you, how do you dry your plants? Do you have any tricks you want to share? We read you in comments!