Hydrolife Magazine August/September 2016 (USA Edition)

ask kyle
Q
What
Photo by Kyle Kushman.
are your top recommendations for drying the most fragrant buds?
I don’t want to compromise quality at this stage in the game!
a
I want to start by saying
that drying and curing are
two distinct and separate
processes. Flowers must
be properly dried before
you can begin to cure them. Curing is
much more difficult and requires some
trial and error before you can achieve
a true cure. Experience will be your
best teacher.
In contrast, properly drying your bud is
a fairly straightforward process but you
must pay close attention to get it right.
What follows is my favorite technique
for producing the most flavorful buds
with all the qualities I desire when
smoking flowers.
Plants should be hung upside down
on a line, whole and intact, for five to
10 days. How long they need to hang
will depend on flower size and density.
Ambient temperature and humidity also
greatly affect drying times. Higher temperatures
and low humidity will hasten
drying, so you want to be able to control
the environment. For this reason, many
people use their growroom for drying.
Kyle Kushman is an internationally renowned marijuana
cultivator whose collaborations have earned 13 Medical Cannabis
Cup awards, including three US Cannabis Cups for Best Flowers. As
the creator of Vegamatrix, the only line of vegan and organic nutrients
designed for growing cannabis, Kyle continues to make advances for
people who want to cultivate the purest, cleanest medicine possible.
Do you have a question for Kyle?
Email editor@myhydrolife.com to get an answer.
The optimal humidity level to begin drying
is 50-55 per cent. After three to five
days you can lower the dehumidifier to
45-50 per cent. The optimal temperature
for drying is 70-72°F. Better a little cooler
than a little warmer.
You don’t want your dehumidifiers to
suck moisture from the plants. You only
want to remove the excess humidity
from the room, allowing the plants to
dry out naturally. You also don’t want
fans blow-drying your flowers either.
Just a little circulation in the room is all
you need. Quick drying causes harshness
in the smoke. Hanging whole
plants upside down forces a slower and
more even drying over the entire plant.
Moisture within the branches leach
water into the flowers until the capillaries
begin to harden. The plant’s tips
harden first, cutting off moisture from
the top buds, while the smallest buds
at the bottom of the plant will continue
to receive small amounts of water. This
technique ensures all the buds are
crispy and ready to be trimmed on the
same day. There is much debate over
the choice between trimming wet or dry;
that is, either to trim the leaf from the
buds right when you harvest, or wait
until the flowers are dried.
Oxidation, a fancy word describing the
evaporation of essential oils, is what
happens when you put dozens of scissor
gashes in fresh flowers. Once the flowers
have dried out, the capillaries that transport
water through the plant have also
dried out. The same concept of capillary
action applies here. The more access
points you create for air, the quicker the
plant will dry out. If your goal is smokability
and the tastiest flowers, then you
absolutely want to hang your plants
whole and trim after the bud is mostly
dry.
During the drying process, avoid
squeezing the flowers. Check the stems
daily and monitor the level of dryness.
When they begin to stiffen you may start
to check the dryness of the flowers. They
should be crispy on the outside and
you’ll start to be able to separate the
flowers from the stem by hand. Take into
consideration you will need time to chop
the plants up and remove the flowers.
Leave enough moisture in the flowers to
make it through trimming. I like to call
this bucking the flowers.
I’ve dried many crops with no controls
at all. Northern California is pretty
hospitable. The main killer of great bud
is low humidity and high heat. Make the
best of every situation by being vigilant.
Take it down before it is bone dry so you
never find yourself in the awful situation
of trying to rehydrate cannabis that has
been over dried.
20
grow. heal. live. enjoy.
myhydrolife.com