Drying time and Conditions

First time drying and have done lots of research but everybody has a preferred method. Many people say 10-14 days at around 65F and 60% RH. My gals have been hanging by individual branch (not whole plant) for 11 days inside the tent. Temps were 65-68F and RH was 58-61% controlled by inkbird with humidifier, dehumidifier, and air conditioner. Had a fan blowing below the plants in the tent for the first and second day. I was worried it was too much air flow so I replaced the fan with a much smaller fan on day 3 and pointed it at the floor. Had the exhaust running on lowest setting in the tent with the carbon filter still on.

The fresh cut and hung plants did not smell good after the first couple days. I guess it was the hay smell people describe. At this point the GSC is starting to smell “peppery” which is what the GSC terpes should smell like. The hay smell is reduced, but still smells floral. Like a bouquet a flowers. The stems do not snap. Well not really with an audible snap. They sort of fold without the audible snap. Even the smaller ones do not really have an audible snap. The larger buds feel dry on the outside. Some of the larfy stuff from the bottom of the plant (now hanging near top of tent) doesn’t feel as dry as the colas.

I plan on trimming then putting in mason jars to cure. Should I wait another two days or trim and jar today. I can wait longer but, those these are the most convenient days for me considering my work schedule this week. I can let them stay in that tent for two more weeks if it will help. I’m not sure how they should smell when I trim them. Can they hang too long in these conditions? Or will drying switch and become curing while still hanging at 65F 60%RH

Thanks
-Sniffer

When the main stems bend, but don't snap, and you can hear crackling from inside, you're ready to trim those buds and jar them.

Tripping With Rocks said:

When the main stems bend, but don't snap, and you can hear crackling from inside, you're ready to trim those buds and jar them.

Click to expand...

so the smaller ones should be snapping but not breaking and the bigger ones should be bending with “crackling” but not quite snapping, and def not breaking?

Lol - the subjectivity of the sounds of drying cannabis plant. Not sure I ever thought I’d have such a conversation.

thank you

The smaller stems may or may not snap.

I always wait a day or two after trimming before jarring

GlueSniffer said:

Lol - the subjectivity of the sounds of drying cannabis plant. Not sure I ever thought I’d have such a conversation.

thank you

Click to expand...

Hahah you haven't been here long have you?

Bud moisture content for $800 Alex.

Well I might have over done the dry. I was bending the stems between the main cola and the 2nd bud on the stem. Or between the 2nd bud and the 3rd bud. No audible sound on any till yestetday. It kinda folded with a crunch. Not really a snap or crack. Then I grabbed the main stem (near where the base of the plant was) and it snapped off like a pretzel.

Anyway I trimmed and jarred the plant with the smaller nugs and tossed in a little hygrometer. They felt dry. The hygrometer said 50 when I put it in and it started to drop right away. I added some of those 62% two way moisture packs.

Should I open the jars briefly every 12 hours even if the RH in the jars doesn’t rise much?

I would wait to put the boveda packs into the jars until after you've been burping the jars for a couple of weeks. You also want to burp them more often than twice a day at this point. Aim for 4-6.

You gonna regret putting your weed in a jar so soon.

First i will guess the bud will blow away almost anything around still. Very dry is not the worst outcome by far. If its overdried, you may want to add the packs or even a more aggressive method to add moisture (i.e. old school).

I much prefer Boost over Boveda now. Neither will moisten it quickly. But once you get it where you want it, the packs are great stabilizers.

When drying, i have found 60 to 65f, and 65% humidity to be a good rough target. I actually believe its better to start at 70% or 72%, and gradually ease it down to 65% or even 60% over a few weeks. The real key imo is minimal air movement...just enough to remove the excess humidity.

No humidifier imo either. The inkbird should trigger only when it gets too high, on as low an exhaust setting as possible that is just capable of lowering the humidity...just barely. Then it stops, waits until the trigger hits and seeps out that excess. The time between cycles grows over a day or 2, i lower the target humidity by a point or 2. Then repeat.

I do believe a slow dry is excellent, but it is also quite variable in how long it can take. I dont have a goal of 2 weeks. If its 4 or 5 days, that can be GREAT. As can 2 weeks. Too much emphasis is put on S L O W dry. Imo, that really means not 1 or 2 days! Or thr microwave. Or the oven, lol.

Dont fear high humidity to start. I would guess your target humidity is way to low to start. Think about a wet bud...getting it to 58% temporarily in a reasonable size space is pretty hard to do. 70% actually takes a bit for the first few days. Have that exhaust run so slow it barely can do it. It will be a whole different result next time!

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

I had the inkbird set to 60%, with Humidifier turning on at 58.5% and dehumidifier turning on at 63% RH. 6" exhaust fan constantly running on minimum setting in a 2x2 tent. The dehumidifier didn't really turn on much. After I took a shower it would kick on, but I would usually turn up the exhaust fan speed after a shower to get it back down to 60% rapidly. The humidifier would kick on every few minutes.

I think the first couple days the air flow was too strong. I didn't point the fan at the hanging plants. It blew under them, but in a 2x2 perhaps it was still too much. And on one rainy day, I turned up the exhaust for a while when the dehumidifier was struggling and fell asleep. I feel my temps and RH were pretty good. So it was too much air movement, too much time, or both.

Is it possible that I had the humidity too low during the last few weeks before harvest. I was striving to keep RH below 40%, but maybe 40% is an old school idea in a new world of VPD? Actually VPD chart is telling me 40% RH is on the kind of high side when my lights are out late in flower. Not sure how important VPD is during lights out. Lights out air temp was around 68F and leaf temp was about 66F (during lights out). Dimlux chart says can go as low as 25% RH.

Anyway you grow and you learn. See I learned two things my first grow.
1.) Give more Cal Mag Earlier
2.) Don't dry so much.

GlueSniffer said:

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

I had the inkbird set to 60%, with Humidifier turning on at 58.5% and dehumidifier turning on at 63% RH. 6" exhaust fan constantly running on minimum setting in a 2x2 tent. The dehumidifier didn't really turn on much. After I took a shower it would kick on, but I would usually turn up the exhaust fan speed after a shower to get it back down to 60% rapidly. The humidifier would kick on every few minutes.

I think the first couple days the air flow was too strong. I didn't point the fan at the hanging plants. It blew under them, but in a 2x2 perhaps it was still too much. And on one rainy day, I turned up the exhaust for a while when the dehumidifier was struggling and fell asleep. I feel my temps and RH were pretty good. So it was too much air movement, too much time, or both.

Is it possible that I had the humidity too low during the last few weeks before harvest. I was striving to keep RH below 40%, but maybe 40% is an old school idea in a new world of VPD? Actually VPD chart is telling me 40% RH is on the kind of high side when my lights are out late in flower. Not sure how important VPD is during lights out. Lights out air temp was around 68F and leaf temp was about 66F (during lights out). Dimlux chart says can go as low as 25% RH.

Anyway you grow and you learn. See I learned two things my first grow.
1.) Give more Cal Mag Earlier
2.) Don't dry so much.

Click to expand...

Do you have any stems left over? You can throw a couple stems into the jars. That will redistribute some moisture from stems back to the buds to help rehydrate your bud.

Wizzlebiz said:

Do you have any stems left over? You can throw a couple stems into the jars. That will redistribute some moisture from stems back to the buds to help rehydrate your bud.

Click to expand...

What I did was remove the nugs from the jars and put them in large bowls. I put the bowls back in the tent with the humidifier (with RO water) turned up to 65% RH. I left for about a day, periodically shaking and flipping the nugs. Then I jarred them back up while inside the tent. Trying to seal the jars with the more humid air tent air inside. Placed 62%packs in the jars and burped a few times a day. Came come from work today and hygrometers were reading between 56 and 60% RH inside the jars. So the moisture content seems to be better, but I’m still worried that the buds won’t cure right after being dried too much. The flavor is my favorite part of the flower,.... ok, my second favorite part after the medicinal properties. They smell alright now, but sometimes smell vs taste can be two different things. Just had some lemon tree that smelled amazing but tasted like burnt ashes.