curing is absolutely NOT necessary. but I HIGHLY recommend it.
If possible, take a certain amount from every harvest to cure for 3+ months.
After I get my shit up and running I'm probably going to be curing all my buds for 3 months and just have a cycle of curing/growing.
you might find reading this a couple times through will help you.
Drying and Curing Marijuana Buds, how to dry weed and cure cannabis buds