Advice + Rep - Michigan Basement Drying - Low Humidity

Hey friends,

So here is my dilemma. I'm not a newbie and not a pro, and just recently received my medical card from the state. So I just chopped my first legal crop, and this is the first time I've had to work in a basement. As many northerners can attest this time of year, humidity is incredibly low - my readings range from 15-29% over a 24 hour period.

In previous runs, I've usually let them hang for 5-7 days before beginning the curing process. I'm afraid that may be a little too much now because of the humidity. I clipped a single bud to test run before chopping the crop, and after 4 days it was quite dry, maybe too dry.

I'm looking for any advice or suggestions from friends that deal with similar drying environments. I prefer my buds sticky with higher moisture levels, but obviously don't want to jump the gun and ruin the crop. I prefer to cure before the typical "wait until the stem completely snaps" and then cure for a longer period, making sure to rotate and burp the jars. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Many thanks!

Hello, I'm a fellow michigan patient.

I am also battling the same humidity issues as you! It's great for my flower room, I bought a humidifier for my veg, but I got a big girl coming down sunday and I have only 1 closet to dry that shit in, and its about 20%-30% rh.

From what knowledge I've accumulated, it is important to slowly dry the bud, and then slowly cure it, paying very close attention to humidty levels. In your basement, your going to have to raise that humidity 20-30% to keep it around 50% for a solid weeks dry. The problem I see you may encounter, is that raising the humidity + drying wet bud in a basement = mold party, although maybe your basement is finished and nice. Anyways, heres what you need to do, in your drying area, add a fan for circulation (not directly on the buds) and add a bowl of water directly under the fan so it blows over the surface of the water. This will add moisture to the air. You can play with the fan setting, amt of water in the bowl, until you can control the humidity and keep it as constant as possible around 50%. This should produce a nice week long dry, when you can start jarring them after that.

Good luck, I will keep you informed with my progress starting sunday about battling the same michigan issue.

I really think you will be fine, I would not circulate to much air through there. Its low, yes, but if you can dry them slow enough you should still be able to dissipate the chlorophyll. Whats your temps like?

upperline said:

Thanks for the suggestion Dan! Good luck and keep me posted

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Ok so I chopped one of my plants tonight. I cleaned out and sterilized the closet i'm using. I hung the buds up after and set my fan in there, it was 68F and 45% humidity. Conditions were perfect.

I just got home and checked the RH dropped to like 38% since the buds lost some moisture. I just turned the fan down a notch and added a bowl of water in front of it, I will report back if I have success or not. So far so good though, hoping for a nice slow dry and cure.

Thanks for the update Dan. My temps swing quite a bit down there - typically ranging from 58-79 degrees per 24 hours. Hopefully I have some luck working in a less thank ideal environment. Guess I'll have to wait and see.....

upperline said:

Thanks for the update Dan. My temps swing quite a bit down there - typically ranging from 58-79 degrees per 24 hours. Hopefully I have some luck working in a less thank ideal environment. Guess I'll have to wait and see.....

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Hmm, I'm not too sure what temperature fluctuations present in drying conditions. I doubt it would help mold thrive, as I believe it would want a stable temperature. I would research the possible consequences, or put a small space heater on low setting on a timer at night to keep it rather constant.

So here's my update. It is day 2 of drying. I put a bowl with perlite/water in front of the fan last night, hoping to see the humidity rise back to 50%. I didn't have enough heat coming from the bowl/fan so the water wouldn't evaporate well. RH was at 35% this morning.

So I just made a trip to lowes, looking for a digital hygrostat humidifier (a controllable one where I could set it to 50% rh and it will maintain). They had a nice unit, pretty large though, for $70. I was about to buy it until I noticed some smaller ultrasonics with a dial. It was $40 and I bought it because the dial allows me to adjust the humidity. I put it in my dry closet when I got home, turned the dial a slight bit to add just a bit of moisture. The humidity has been at constant 50% for an hour now and everything seems to be going good.

dan2581 said:

Hmm, I'm not too sure what temperature fluctuations present in drying conditions. I doubt it would help mold thrive, as I believe it would want a stable temperature. I would research the possible consequences, or put a small space heater on low setting on a timer at night to keep it rather constant.

So here's my update. It is day 2 of drying. I put a bowl with perlite/water in front of the fan last night, hoping to see the humidity rise back to 50%. I didn't have enough heat coming from the bowl/fan so the water wouldn't evaporate well. RH was at 35% this morning.

So I just made a trip to lowes, looking for a digital hygrostat humidifier (a controllable one where I could set it to 50% rh and it will maintain). They had a nice unit, pretty large though, for $70. I was about to buy it until I noticed some smaller ultrasonics with a dial. It was $40 and I bought it because the dial allows me to adjust the humidity. I put it in my dry closet when I got home, turned the dial a slight bit to add just a bit of moisture. The humidity has been at constant 50% for an hour now and everything seems to be going good.

Click to expand...

think u could link that humidifier?