Humidity & Drying

[Garrfield]

Hi people

just harvested 5 days ago and they have been hung up in a tent with 5” carbon filter 2 oscillating fans 2 intakes & also a dehumidifier but I’m still sat at 69-70% humidity. The outside on the large buds seem crispy but still slightly spongey. Smaller buds don’t feel crispy at all yet.
I have bought mason jars for the curing and I have a hygrometer to go inside the jars. I have turned the meter on and it’s reading 69% before I even add any bud. I took some bud out and put it in the jar and it went up to 75%.
also I have another tent which I’m growing a couple auto flowers with pretty much same set up as the drying tent. (4” carbon filter/big oscillating fan/2x intakes and NO dehumidifier) and that’s sitting nicely at 55% I’m majorly confused. Does anybody have any ideas or tips for why the RH in my grow is fine with similar set up but not in the drying tent and also what I could do with my jars as they are high Humidity before adding bud.
Thanks

 

[oill]

Hi people

just harvested 5 days ago and they have been hung up in a tent with 5” carbon filter 2 oscillating fans 2 intakes & also a dehumidifier but I’m still sat at 69-70% humidity. The outside on the large buds seem crispy but still slightly spongey. Smaller buds don’t feel crispy at all yet.
I have bought mason jars for the curing and I have a hygrometer to go inside the jars. I have turned the meter on and it’s reading 69% before I even add any bud. I took some bud out and put it in the jar and it went up to 75%.
also I have another tent which I’m growing a couple auto flowers with pretty much same set up as the drying tent. (4” carbon filter/big oscillating fan/2x intakes and NO dehumidifier) and that’s sitting nicely at 55% I’m majorly confused. Does anybody have any ideas or tips for why the RH in my grow is fine with similar set up but not in the drying tent and also what I could do with my jars as they are high Humidity before adding bud.
Thanks

What is the outside rh where you are?
If your pulling more air in and its higher rh then this might be the problem.
It might just be the plants raising the rh.

I find it better to dry in a sealed room and use a dehumidifier so I know exactly i can run it a 55%rh and I dry in about 12 days... perfect

 

[Garrfield]

yeh my humidity here is like 65% at the moment. But still can’t figure out why one tent with the dehumidifier is higher in RH than the one without.

 

[oill]

yeh my humidity here is like 65% at the moment. But still can’t figure out why one tent with the dehumidifier is higher in RH than the one without.

Are the intakes coming from a different place?

If u have a dehumidifier why do u need the intake and exhaust?

 

[Garrfield]

Are the intakes coming from a different place?

If u have a dehumidifier why do u need the intake and exhaust?

Erm I’m not sure haha. I thought I would have to have clean air coming in getting circulated and leaving ?
Well different sides of the room yeh but same cellar.

 

[oill]

Erm I’m not sure haha. I thought I would have to have clean air coming in getting circulated and leaving ?
Well different sides of the room yeh but same cellar.

Sounds like a lot of wasted electricity to me...

Seal the tent and run the dehumidifier inside... have a fan to circulate the air... but not on the plants directly.

Then when the stems are close to snapping bud before they do cut all the bids off into one large plastic container to slow down the dry. Put your meter in there...if its above a 62 then leave the box open for a few hours... then close and the rh will raise again... and repeat... this is called sweating. Tring to get a consistent water content.

When you get a balanced 62 for a while then move to glass jars and store with boveda.

 

[Garrfield]

Sounds like a lot of wasted electricity to me...

Seal the tent and run the dehumidifier inside... have a fan to circulate the air... but not on the plants directly.

Then when the stems are close to snapping bud before they do cut all the bids off into one large plastic container to slow down the dry. Put your meter in there...if its above a 62 then leave the box open for a few hours... then close and the rh will raise again... and repeat... this is called sweating. Tring to get a consistent water content.

When you get a balanced 62 for a while then move to glass jars and store with boveda.

Will the smell be ok if I close it up and just run dehumidifier

 

[2Hearts]

Dont fuck with humidity, bud dries in many different climatesxall the same.

You need to hang it till its all dry not spongy or whatever just dry. At first when dry it will be a little green tasting butvthat will go away if you leavecit to hang another week.

Jarring is never needed and you need dry tasty bud to jar not just dried shit tasting stuff and some dream boveda does the rest of the work for you.

The old pros hung for two weeks, you will see it written in between the rest of the ways dreamt up along the way. To start with you need to learn to hang for two weeks and observe the changes.

When its hung long enough its ready to go, smoke that shit jar whats left. Humidity isnt a factor it will dry if you leave it alone just needs small bit of air flow so moisture from the bud can find its way into other air and not stagnate and build like it will in a sealed box.

Otger ways mean your going to be back or googling why your byd wasnt that great.

 

[70's natureboy]

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't jar all that weed (it will most likely be still wet). Save out a couple nice buds and put them on a shelf or on your night stand for 3 weeks and don't touch it. Then in 3 weeks you will at least have a couple good buds to smoke and taste the fruits of your labor.

 

[Twohearted]

To address one comment, buds will absolutely dry at different rates in different RH. It is not the same at all as 2hearts suggested. If the RH is 70% where you live, and 40% where I live and there are not efforts to control the RH the buds drying in 40% RH will dry much faster, definitely less than two weeks. This is not bro science, just normal science, lower RH will always equal a faster dry.

I dry in a similar set up to yours. Your RH is so much higher in the drying tent because of all the wet plants that are giving off moisture. During the grow most of the RH added to the room will come from moisture in your growing medium, but in the drying tent it's coming from the plants. It sounds like you are doing fine to me, maybe turn you de-humidifier down a little more, 70% is a bit high and could lead to mold in some of the larger flowers. Keep an eye on it, but you should see the RH in your tent start to drop as the flowers dry out more.

Also jar curing does make a difference in both the flavor, smoothness and potency of your smoke. But to 2Hearts point if you were able to dry for about 2 weeks in a RH of 55-60% it would produce about the same results as a jar cure. The key here is to never let the RH of the flowers drop below 55% RH. At a RH of 55% or higher the flowers in some ways are still alive, they are breaking down chlorophyl and the resin glands will also continue to mature, although slower, as the plant cures. I have heard some people say that this process goes on for up to 3 months if the flowers are properly stored, but I have not noticed much change in flavor or potency after 3-4 weeks in most cases.

Happy growing!

 

[ColoradoHighGrower]

^^this

 

[2Hearts]

I agree low rh will speed drying but by such a small amount its not really noticable much. Temperature has a much greater effect on drying speed and that is what i hope mist start understanding.

The cure is not stopped until bud moisture level reaches zero, bacteria abd enzyme breakdown can happen lower than most think and the old time farmers got amazing cures at low humidities.

Like to target that broscience, most comes from new growers not the long history before.

To address one comment, buds will absolutely dry at different rates in different RH. It is not the same at all as 2hearts suggested. If the RH is 70% where you live, and 40% where I live and there are not efforts to control the RH the buds drying in 40% RH will dry much faster, definitely less than two weeks. This is not bro science, just normal science, lower RH will always equal a faster dry.

I dry in a similar set up to yours. Your RH is so much higher in the drying tent because of all the wet plants that are giving off moisture. During the grow most of the RH added to the room will come from moisture in your growing medium, but in the drying tent it's coming from the plants. It sounds like you are doing fine to me, maybe turn you de-humidifier down a little more, 70% is a bit high and could lead to mold in some of the larger flowers. Keep an eye on it, but you should see the RH in your tent start to drop as the flowers dry out more.

Also jar curing does make a difference in both the flavor, smoothness and potency of your smoke. But to 2Hearts point if you were able to dry for about 2 weeks in a RH of 55-60% it would produce about the same results as a jar cure. The key here is to never let the RH of the flowers drop below 55% RH. At a RH of 55% or higher the flowers in some ways are still alive, they are breaking down chlorophyl and the resin glands will also continue to mature, although slower, as the plant cures. I have heard some people say that this process goes on for up to 3 months if the flowers are properly stored, but I have not noticed much change in flavor or potency after 3-4 weeks in most cases.

Happy growing!

 

[2Hearts]

Kind of seeing a user name trademark dispute happening!

To address one comment, buds will absolutely dry at different rates in different RH. It is not the same at all as 2hearts suggested. If the RH is 70% where you live, and 40% where I live and there are not efforts to control the RH the buds drying in 40% RH will dry much faster, definitely less than two weeks. This is not bro science, just normal science, lower RH will always equal a faster dry.

I dry in a similar set up to yours. Your RH is so much higher in the drying tent because of all the wet plants that are giving off moisture. During the grow most of the RH added to the room will come from moisture in your growing medium, but in the drying tent it's coming from the plants. It sounds like you are doing fine to me, maybe turn you de-humidifier down a little more, 70% is a bit high and could lead to mold in some of the larger flowers. Keep an eye on it, but you should see the RH in your tent start to drop as the flowers dry out more.

Also jar curing does make a difference in both the flavor, smoothness and potency of your smoke. But to 2Hearts point if you were able to dry for about 2 weeks in a RH of 55-60% it would produce about the same results as a jar cure. The key here is to never let the RH of the flowers drop below 55% RH. At a RH of 55% or higher the flowers in some ways are still alive, they are breaking down chlorophyl and the resin glands will also continue to mature, although slower, as the plant cures. I have heard some people say that this process goes on for up to 3 months if the flowers are properly stored, but I have not noticed much change in flavor or potency after 3-4 weeks in most cases.

Happy growing!

 

[Garrfield]

To address one comment, buds will absolutely dry at different rates in different RH. It is not the same at all as 2hearts suggested. If the RH is 70% where you live, and 40% where I live and there are not efforts to control the RH the buds drying in 40% RH will dry much faster, definitely less than two weeks. This is not bro science, just normal science, lower RH will always equal a faster dry.

I dry in a similar set up to yours. Your RH is so much higher in the drying tent because of all the wet plants that are giving off moisture. During the grow most of the RH added to the room will come from moisture in your growing medium, but in the drying tent it's coming from the plants. It sounds like you are doing fine to me, maybe turn you de-humidifier down a little more, 70% is a bit high and could lead to mold in some of the larger flowers. Keep an eye on it, but you should see the RH in your tent start to drop as the flowers dry out more.

Also jar curing does make a difference in both the flavor, smoothness and potency of your smoke. But to 2Hearts point if you were able to dry for about 2 weeks in a RH of 55-60% it would produce about the same results as a jar cure. The key here is to never let the RH of the flowers drop below 55% RH. At a RH of 55% or higher the flowers in some ways are still alive, they are breaking down chlorophyl and the resin glands will also continue to mature, although slower, as the plant cures. I have heard some people say that this process goes on for up to 3 months if the flowers are properly stored, but I have not noticed much change in flavor or potency after 3-4 weeks in most cases.

Happy growing!

Your advice is very much appreciated. My dehumidifier is on to bring it down and is struggling at that so I don’t think turning that off is a good idea. Would I be ok closing the tent up with a small oscillating fan + dehumidifier + carbon filter for the smell, I say this because pulling air in from outside is making the RH jump.