Hydrolife Magazine August/September 2016 (Canadian 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 favourite technique
for producing the most flavourful 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. 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.
10
grow. heal. live. enjoy.
myhydrolife.ca