A four-tier hanging mesh rack for the stage where most of a harvest is won or lost. Mesh on every side keeps air moving around the buds so they dry evenly instead of sweating in a pile, and each tier has its own zip so you can turn the harvest without unloading the rack. It collapses flat into its own logo-printed storage bag between grows.
Drying is where a harvest is won or lost
Twelve weeks of growing can be undone in ten days. Dried too fast, flower keeps its chlorophyll, smells of cut grass and burns harsh. Dried too slowly, or with buds pressed against each other, and mould runs through the middle of a cola where nothing is visible until it is broken open. Air on every side is what prevents the second problem, and it is the reason a mesh rack exists.
Loading the tiers
Buds go on in a single layer, not touching each other. A tier filled deep will sweat underneath whatever the room is doing. Turn everything once a day so nothing dries flat on one side, and reach each level through its own zip rather than lifting the rack down, which is where buds get knocked and trichomes get lost.
Room conditions and how long it takes
Around 18 to 20 degrees Celsius and close to 60 percent relative humidity, in the dark, with air moving in the room but never blowing directly at the rack. A fan pointed at the buds dries the outside while the inside stays wet. Under those conditions a harvest usually takes seven to fourteen days, and it is ready when a small stem snaps cleanly instead of bending.
From dry to cured
Drying makes flower storable and curing is what makes it good. Move it into airtight jars filled to about three quarters, and open them for a few minutes each day through the first week so trapped moisture escapes. Two to four weeks of that is where the harshness leaves and the aroma arrives.
