Drying Questions

Hi all, I cut up my girls and hung them upside down inside the grow box. They are totally dark, they have two 16w fans that move the air inside but do not point directly at the flowers but move them slightly, maybe the air bounces off the wall but it is really delicate the jet, the extractor set to minimum to remove stagnant air and the dehumidifier set to keep the humidity at 55% even if the percentage fluctuates between 45 and 55 with a temperature of 71 ° F.
In the past I never dried trying to keep the ideal temperature or humidity and the result was that after 6/7 days (depending on the season) my tops were already dry and this time I wanted to aim to do everything meticulously and try to get at least 10/12 days of drying. Do you think I should increase the humidity? Or what do you suggest to do for a perfect drying? Thank you guys in advance.

You seem to have a good idea of what to do. Your drying apparatus is more sophisticated than mine. I aim for about 62 to 65% humidity when fully cured and in closed up jars. Why not just decide on your course of action this time, and next time you dry, try another humidity level, and see which you prefer?

simpleleaf said:

You seem to have a good idea of what to do. Your drying apparatus is more sophisticated than mine. I aim for about 62 to 65% humidity when fully cured and in closed up jars. Why not just decide on your course of action this time, and next time you dry, try another humidity level, and see which you prefer?

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+1

Stocazzed024 said:

Hi all, I cut up my girls and hung them upside down inside the grow box. They are totally dark, they have two 16w fans that move the air inside but do not point directly at the flowers but move them slightly, maybe the air bounces off the wall but it is really delicate the jet, the extractor set to minimum to remove stagnant air and the dehumidifier set to keep the humidity at 55% even if the percentage fluctuates between 45 and 55 with a temperature of 71 ° F.
In the past I never dried trying to keep the ideal temperature or humidity and the result was that after 6/7 days (depending on the season) my tops were already dry and this time I wanted to aim to do everything meticulously and try to get at least 10/12 days of drying. Do you think I should increase the humidity? Or what do you suggest to do for a perfect drying? Thank you guys in advance.
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Temperatures are way too high and RH is way too low to get a proper prolonged dry out of those conditions. IMO there's no need for the fans either. The exhaust fan should be more than enough to circulate any stagnant air out of there.

With the current temps, RH, and two fans running combined with single branches hanging I'd expect them to be dry before 7 days.

I hang my plants whole with some fans removed. 60F and 60%RH is ideal.

simpleleaf said:

You seem to have a good idea of what to do. Your drying apparatus is more sophisticated than mine. I aim for about 62 to 65% humidity when fully cured and in closed up jars. Why not just decide on your course of action this time, and next time you dry, try another humidity level, and see which you prefer?

Click to expand...

You're right but I really wanted to perfect this step this time because last time my babies after drying tasted just like chlorophyll... as I said before it depends on the season, especially hot, but sometimes they dry too fast and it's really hard to remove that smell with curing.

twentyeight.threefive said:

Temperatures are way too high and RH is way too low to get a proper prolonged dry out of those conditions. IMO there's no need for the fans either. The exhaust fan should be more than enough to circulate any stagnant air out of there.

With the current temps, RH, and two fans running combined with single branches hanging I'd expect them to be dry before 7 days.

I hang my plants whole with some fans removed. 60F and 60%RH is ideal.

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I usually trimmed them totally wet and at least this time I left some leaves and trimming for later but it was definitely better to leave a little more... I lowered the temperature to 64°f but as soon as I unplugged the dehumidifier the humidity went up to 55% and then stopped at 50% and I don't even understand why I'm there when the rest of the house has a humidity of 67% on average. I unplugged all the fans and tonight I'm going to try to plug in the steam cooler and try to get it up to 60. Thank you very much I got an idea for next time!

concur on the 60F and 60% goal. I typically dont get it that cold, but usually 62-74F at 60% is where its at for the first week. wet trimmed placed into drying nets hung in a 2x2 tent with filterless booster fan hooked to a variac exhausting out of the top at 90v. jostle the nugs in the nets daily, keep even layer across net. after a week or so flowers may be ready for paper bags, then i drop RH to 55%. nugs should feel dry on outside and not stick together. but there is still moisture inside we want to pull out, slowly. paper bags help do this.

after 2-3 days in the bags flowers may have a more familiar feel and should smell earthy and/or fragrant. now we are ready for burping in appropriately sized container. hygrometer helps here. burp several times per day for first couple days then less so after that. once RH stabilizes inside the container 58-60% without rising, its ok to keep sealed.

takes about 2 weeks. buds are smokable after about a week, but may not have much flavor yet

Lose the fans before it’s too late