Chlorophyll question

Just curious question here but if you allow the plant to fade naturally at the end of cycle, wouldn't that significantly lower the level of chlorophyll allowing for a better tasting more smooth end product after the cure? And possibly shorten the cure time? Just thoughts. I'm sure there is SOOOO much more to it.

Possible. I've lost plants in the bush, then found them when replanting. A few were sundried and immediately smokable, major loss of terps, but enjoyable and stony. Others rotted with rain.
What you are envisioning used to or maybe still happens in the Kif mountains and valley. They let the plants dry in the fields, then harvest and make hash. Not processed flower though.
We're not concerned about chlorophyll per se. More concerned about the nitrogen in plant matter, which affects tastes, burn and oxidation ( how fast it turns brown as it ages). Lesser concern with phos and potash. Thats why its recommended to flush. The cure is just decarboxylation, off gassing, that's why we burp the bags or jars.

Chlorophyll and sugars degrade by biological action during the curing process, and burping helps release the off-gassed N. I'm going to disagree with flushing, it does nothing to help the end product.

Phytoplankton said:

Chlorophyll and sugars degrade by biological action during the curing process, and burping helps release the off-gassed N. I'm going to disagree with flushing, it does nothing to help the end product.

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So basically everything that would happen naturally while still growing can happen during curing process? I don't flush either I guess that is considered allowing to grow naturally. Lol I feed up until I chop because I was to maximize the growth of the plant it's whole life.

Senescence. This will most certainly result in a smoother end product with better flavor and smoke.

You can force senescence by flushing plain water for the last 7-10 days before harvest by inducing stress or just wait for it to happen. I notice if you wait for a heavy senescence on some strains the plant will be overripe though, like where all the trichomes are dark orange heads. Not good, that's when THC converts to CBN. Unless you like super red eyes and feeling tired/hungry/slow.

The trick to the best quality at the end IMO is strip all big fan leaves off, chop branches into like 8-12" lengths and hang on clothes hangers upside down in a pitch black room that is kept as close to 60 F and 60% RH as possible. Once the stems snap instead of bend like straws (10-14 days depending) I will then buck all the buds off the branches into a big gasket storage tote with added shipping wrap around any air cracks and I begin burping, once my cure seems good I dry trim the flowers and package for storage and further cure.

You really don't want to store weed in clear packaging either, or in an area where temperature is changing a lot if you plan to actually store it away and cure it longer than a few weeks.

Somewhat Unrelated vent: I noticed the problem with the illegal weed in Michigan is these people don't know shit about curing weed and just hang the whole plants on vertically hung trellis netting in the same room they grew the weed in with other plants still growing, 1000W HPS shining on the plants and dry hot air. Once the stuffs dry they use a machine to strip the buds off the branches, then they run it through huge commercial trimmer machines that use vacuums to suck all the sugar leaves, trichomes and hairs off the buds, package and sell, no cure. That's why their shitty pounds of weed only cost $800-900.

calvin.m16 said:

Senescence. This will most certainly result in a smoother end product with better flavor and smoke.

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Just curious, what do you base that on? You don't smoke the fan leaves, and if the buds/sugar leaves start yellowing or browning you're probably losing potency, and it's an open invitation to bud rot. Within a day or two of chopping there's very little active transport going on in the plant's circulatory system. There's been studies on flushed vs unflushed plants and there is literally no difference in the chemical make-up of flushed vs unflushed buds (as analyzed by a Mass Spectrometer), and, in fact, in blind taste tests most people preferred the taste of unflushed bud.

Absolutely, during cure you want it cool, R/H in the 60 range, and DARK, low and slow. The enemies of THC (and terpenes) are heat and light. I personally like to leave the fan leaves on when curing, it slows the curing process, but that's a personal choice and there's really no right or wrong. I would strip the fan leaves if there was any indication of mold/rot during the grow.