Buds are always too dry. Why?

I’ve tried drying above a light in a tent that was running a flower cycle before, thinking that 12 hours of heat wouldn’t make a big difference—but I was wrong. The result was dried-out buds that lost their stickiness and smelled more like hay than the fruity terps they should have had. The issue is that even though your lights might not seem too hot, heat naturally rises, and the top of the tent ends up being much warmer and drier than you’d want for a proper cure. For sticky, flavorful buds, you want to dry in a dark environment with controlled temperature and humidity. The ideal range is around 60°F-65°F (15°C-18°C) with 55-60% RH. If your buds are drying too fast—like in just five days—then chances are the environment is too warm and dry. You can slow things down by keeping the tent cooler and slightly more humid, which helps preserve terpenes and prevents the buds from getting crispy on the outside before they’re properly dried inside. Instead of waiting for the stems to snap, try feeling the smaller branches—they should bend with a bit of resistance before snapping. This usually means the outside is dry enough to jar, but the inside still has enough moisture to cure slowly without over-drying. If the buds feel dry but the stems are still too bendy, it’s a sign you need a little more drying time. Moving forward, I’d avoid drying near the lights and aim for a more controlled dry in a dark, cool space. That should help you keep those buds sticky and packed with flavor!

I'm gonna share with you my personal opinion here... The dry is the single most important step in any grow. The dry is a one way road, contrary to what many will tell you. I never use two way humidity packs, as the research isn't there yet for that application IMO. I've also never seen anyone fix a bad dry and still have flower I'd even consider to use by combusting... The dry involves chlorophyll breaking down (off-gassing or degassing; leading to the hay smell a good drying tent may have in the early days) and the breakdown of sugars (not tasty/harsh). A good dry is the best way to bridge into a good cure. A good dry has your bud tasting the best it will likely taste within 2-3 weeks of cure IME. If you are drying that quick, you are 100% going to have a hay-like smell of chlorophyll which is unfortunately locked in the flower for the moment. A long and proper cure is about your best bet for remediating that flower (on the order of 2-3 months if not longer). If they don't have much smell anymore you could water-cure these, as the water solubility can be exploited of the nasty sugars and chlorophyll. The resulting dried flower is smooth as day but loses essentially all terps. This path is still viable though considering a water cure is on the order of days, then you revisit the dry (much quicker than crossing fingers on a 3 month cure). In the future, a dedicated dry space really is key. Dry rooms and cure rooms are some of the most expensive places in commercial facilities for a reason. I personally use a dedicated tent with a discoball motor (1-2 RPM) rotating the crop, ambient airflow from a clip fan, forced air through a carbon filter into the dry tent, and a CloudForge T3 with a smart controller. The implementation varies across seasons but it is likely very cold where you are. In that case mine usually looks like driving everything in the tent (minimum the T3) off a minimum RH target, usually 55% or so for me provides room for the flowers to give off humidity that impacts the room and still stay below 60% ambiently. And on the snap, that has always had me right. As long as your buds are dense they'll protect the terp content all the way until the snap. In the jar, the moisture content of the flower itself reaches equilibrium (not just the flower with the room) which usually results in the inner flower moisture becoming equal to the outer flower moisture on the flower again.