5 Tactics To Dry & Cure Cannabis Without Hay Smell

After dedicating your time to growing and cultivating your cannabis, the hay smell in the air can create frustration. Instead of giving up, learn five tactics to avoid the hay smell by drying and curing cannabis properly.

Dry Buds Until Bud Stems Snap

If you place cannabis into jars before they can fully dry, buds will become musty. There are two ways to test buds for complete dryness: the buds can pop off the stem without creating strings, and trim stems snap off instead of bending. If you use scissors to cleanly cut the buds off due to stringy bits in the stem, they have too much moisture inside and need further drying time.

What do you mean...bud stems? It's important to specify as its a common beginner mistake to bend or break the main branch or sub branches even. The bud branches are only the small branches that typically only have buds on them. You have the main branch and off that is the sub and off both of them is the bud. This is the size of stem that your typically pulling out of your flowers. Hope that helps. If you have questions come through the shop and we can show your first hand.

Air Dry in Cool Spaces

One way to dry your harvest for good-smelling cannabis is by cutting off individual branches and hanging them upside down in a lightly ventilated space. Ideally, temperatures should reside between 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit while drying. However, if your drying space is consistently warm, keep temperatures under 70 degrees Fahrenheit while air-drying in a gently ventilated area.

Use Jars or Grove Bags To Monitor Bud Humidity

Ideally, humidity for buds should remain around 62 percent or lower. However, when preventing the hay smell, one tactic for drying and curing cannabis is to keep the environment under 60 percent RH. Musty odors can result from bacteria or mold growth, so ensure your buds don’t sit in overly wet jars or moist areas.

Air Dry in a Cardboard Box or Paper Bag

Airing cannabis in a paper bag or cardboard box is a suitable method, especially if you don’t have access to a dryer or a cool, ventilated space. Cardboard boxes and paper bags are optimal drying environments, especially with gentle air movement surrounding them. It’s best to hang your cannabis buds upside down from within the box, similar to a drying chamber. Additionally, don’t allow the buds to touch each other.

At Shore Grow, we offer helpful cannabis growing supplies and nutrient additives for bountiful harvests. We are a Fish Head Farms distributor focused on bringing the popular Fish Sh!t organic soil conditioner to cannabis growers’ doors. If you want to try our products, reach out to us today for more information.