Attempt to Achieve Post-Harvest Success
Cannabis harvest pruning and drying, cultivation enterprises must cure, package, and store their product.
Here’s a quick rundown of each phase, as well as some pointers for success:
Curing
Curing is a way of bringing out the distinct flavors and fragrances of cannabis. It can also improve the smokability of the finished product. As opposed to drying, which focuses on the fast removal of moisture from the plant, curing is more concerned with the delayed alteration of substances within the flower.
Cannabis, like cured tobacco or aged wine, can improve with age—but only under the correct conditions.
Curing is typically performed in a sealed container periodically “burped” by hand or de-gassed using automated equipment. Cannabis permits CO2 and wet air to escape from the curing container as the chlorophyll within the dry bloom progressively degrades. This process should occur in a cool, dark, and somewhat dry environment, with temperatures in the mid-60s Fahrenheit and humidity levels between 55 and 65 percent.
The majority of farmers think that the longer the cure, the better. But how far is too far? As with most things cannabis, there are differing and passionate viewpoints.
Some cannabis connoisseurs believe that a six-month cure is the best option. Although this is true, logistically, commercial operators find it impossible to accommodate this time range with each harvest.
It’s challenging to juggle available space and storing many batches of cannabis over the course of six months.
For one thing, most operators do not want to wait 180 days for revenue after spending 120 days growing the crop. They want their money as quickly as possible.
In addition, a lot can happen in six months. If the individual in charge of the process is inexperienced and circumstances are not adequately controlled, the extra time spent curing will not benefit – and may even harm – the final product.
A six-month cure is not a possibility for most commercial producers. Two to four weeks is more attainable. This quicker treatment creates a balance between quality, storage logistics, and revenue.
Keep the following tips in mind while choosing a curing container:
• Stay away from plastic buckets. They are not as airtight as you may believe, and they can harm the aroma of your cannabis.
• Glass jars are effective, but only on a small scale. Burping hundreds of glass jars might be difficult.
• Use metal containers with airtight covers. They’re simple to use and stack well for long-term curing or storage.
Packaging
Nitrogen gas is a popular method of packaging dried cannabis. Nitrogen gas substitutes oxygen, which helps to postpone the deterioration process. cannabis is useful for packaging into retail-ready, sealed one-eighth or quarter-ounce containers. These are usually white-labeled before being delivered or stored.
Another popular method is to vacuum seal cannabis. This technique, like nitrogen, prevents decomposition by reducing the amount of oxygen in the bag. The average bag holds roughly 2 pounds of stuff, and the idea is to remove enough air without crushing it.
Bags of vacuum-sealed cannabis are small and compact, making them ideal for stacking, storing in bins, or filing on shelves like library books. Vacuum sealing allows more product to be moved in a given space while also protecting it from crushing harm.
Vacuum sealing is perfect for storing cannabis for brief periods of time, such as when a grower is awaiting the results of a laboratory test before selling.
Keeping dried cannabis flowers
In theory, nitrogen and vacuum sealing can enable cannabis blossoms to be preserved for an extended period of time. Still, cannabis should not be stored for more than six months under any circumstances. The longer the dry flower stays after harvest, the more mistakes can occur.
Mold is the most dangerous concern, as it can permanently alter the smell and flavor of your goods. The hue of dry cannabis flowers varies over time. Experienced consumers understand that cannabis that has been cured for a long time loses most of its green tint, but inexperienced consumers may be put off by brown weed.
However, in other cases, operators may be required to store their goods for several months. For example, a producer may desire to store their product to sell when there is a higher demand. Holding on to the fall harvest until winter, when supplies are few, may benefit the gardener.
Conclusion
The essentials for success are the same regardless of the curing, packaging, or storing method: remove oxygen and store it in sealed containers in a dark, cold, and fairly dry space.
However, if you are producing cannabis flowers and are unable to sell them after a few weeks of completion, your attention should not be on the storage method; rather, it should be on why you cannot sell what you create.
Whether it’s because of quality difficulties, poor genetics, or a lack of demand, you could be better off examining the fundamental cause of the need to store rather than figuring out the best way to maintain it.
Remember that the greatest producers with desired genetics in the hottest market do not have this issue. Their product is sold out before it has had a chance to dry.
This should be the ultimate goal of any farming company. If you’re juggling stuff to make room for the next harvest because the last one is still in your vault, you’ve got a bigger problem than long-term storage.…