Last Friday, Kevin Jodrey of Humboldt Patient Resource Center (possibly the oldest dispensary in the US) taught the very first class at 707 Cannabis College.  The Class’s theme was ‘You can’t Turn Straw into Gold but You can Turn Gold into Straw.  Jodrey and Joey Burger of Trim Scene Solutions offered a class packed with information on everything from proper fertilizing techniques to machines that can help a marijuana grower.

I can’t possibly relate everything in the class but thought I would  do a quick recap.

First of all the processing room needs to be clean.  No molds and no pet hair, etc.

Cut everything as gently as possible and be sanitary.

Touch as little as possible— which is why a green manicure is often (though not always best.)

If you are wet/green processing, make sure a crew is scheduled so that the plant is dealt with while the leaves are still turgid. Put in racks and lightly move to keep from having a flat area or hang on stem to dry.

The dry process has more leeway.  Hang with all the leaves then process taking off the sun leaves at the same time to minimize handling.  Your crew can come when you have time.

Put in a room that you can control the heat (72 -75 degrees).

When drying, don’t overheat the product or you will cook off the aromatic oils.

If you don’t heat enough though, your weed will have a damp musty smell.

Keep the room at 40-60% humidity.  Allow it to fluctuate throughout a 24 day but not below 40% or you’re cooking off the oils and the stem is still wet—this produces a bud that is crumbly and cheap.  Remember, the turpins are crucial because they make the product taste better.

Drying probably take 5-7 days.

According to Jodrey, “In a perfect world, I like to take [the buds] outside, put ‘em on a rack, and let the sun hit ‘em for about 40 minutes before they get put away because the sun kicks the shit out of any bacterias that might be present.”

Use turkey bags during your holding process until you know it is dry and stable.  Remember the outside may feel dry but the stems can be wet so “pulse the pot.”  Get it dry, then close it up and let the moisture redistribute. Then reopen and let dry again. Repeating until stable. (6-8 weeks of gently processing produces a cure that is optimum but a decent product can be produced in a week.)

Put the buds in some form of storage.  Turkey bags breath and they are the industry standard but some people like to put the pounds in glass or seal them using nitrogen. Trim Scene had some nice drying racks and sealing machines.

So there are some tips on how to keep your gold glorious from a man with over 30 years of experience. Feel free to add some tips of your own.

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