First harvest now learning how to dry

s4cruiser

s4cruiser

Well-Known Member
Chopped all 8 of my autos today and hung them to start drying. These are 11.5 weeks and some were more ready than others but I didn’t want to deal with a partial harvest and also ready to start a new grow, learning from my mistakes (nuclear charging my layered soil medium and too low ph based on my pen drifting out of calibration for whatever reason!

I decided to hang the plants whole in hopes of a slower dry. Temps in the tents are 67-68* with RH of 55-62% (it waffles a bit based on my rooms mini split and dehumidifier cycling.

I have extraction fans in both tents pulling in air from a lower vent and also have a small clip on fan oscillating at the bottom of the tent.

Any tips / things to monitor, change, etc. is much appreciated!

0FE58E2E-22E3-4E9A-A44B-4EF2AF7F6B4F.jpegDCCCBAC3-6578-49D7-97FD-23E2A34460C8.jpeg911F9677-C016-4BD0-AD05-792E74B1D3B7.jpegEEB17EA1-CF35-407D-901A-D3EBBE677C64.jpegF7A0B813-76BC-4768-B978-4C5FE9CBAFED.jpeg8C3205E1-2D4D-4252-9628-164A3C8B7508.jpeg
 
Last edited:
PopAndSonGrows

PopAndSonGrows

Well-Known Member
BRAVO on a fine first harvest, looks really damn respectable.

Your drying conditions are absolutely ideal. ..the standard is 60 degrees F and 60% Humidity, but close enough is close enough. Hell, i just dried a plant at an average 74 degrees roughly 50% RH and it still came out great.
 
HydroKid239

HydroKid239

Well-Known Member
Nice job for a first timer! I seen one that could have probably used another week or 2, but as you said.. it’s time to go & reset.
As others have already said.. the environment sounds pretty solid. Just be sure to let them go. If you can keep the temp & humidity there.. maybe even hit 62-65F. Just leave them be & come back in 14 days. Autos usually put out small plants, but overly large buds sometimes. Takes a while to get dried right.
 
BrassNwood

BrassNwood

Well-Known Member
Trim that while it is seconds after cutting when all the leaves are standing tall and easy to mow off the lumber. Once sticking to the buds the dried crumbed leaves are stuck for good. If you cut carefully, they all have a built-in hook.

Dried below 55% it will never cure. Snapping stems is way to dry IME. 777 is the golden spot to dry. 70 degrees. 70% humidity for 7 days.

Hang only until the smallest popcorn start to firm back up. Strip buds from branches and cut into thumb sized nugs.
1686227548932.png

1686227587260.png

Place the buds in cut down doubled paper shopping bags.

1686227654357.png

Out during the day and stacked in closed new trash cans overnight. Drying to fast is your enemy. I don't have a space to hang and control humidity for the amount I grow so controlling the speed of the dry took some outside the box thinking.
Flip the contents to another empty bag twice a day, dig in and stir the contents when you walk past to insure an even dry of all the material. As the days pass the buds will need less and less time exposed. Crunchy feeling = Back in the can... Feels wet like a limp dishrag = More time exposed.

At the end of 7 to 10 days the buds are correctly dried to the optimum humidity of 65 to 62% and can be sealed in jars with no burping required as they were already dried to exactly where they needed to be. Venting will only change humidity and we don't want that.

1686228088545.png

I keep a large 60 gram size, 62% Boveda humidity pack in each 1/2-gallon jar as insurance but it really isn't absolutely needed.

Local humidity here runs 40 to 60% but at fall harvest can drop into single numbers and ruin a hanging harvest in just hours.
Dry to fast = stinks like mowed lawn clippings... Dry to deep = no cure, smokes like swallowing a flaming sword.

How I eventually learned to slow the dry and get my weed to smell like it should when the jar is opened. I'd say the first 5 grows I totally trashed the buds by screwing up one way or another. Always to fast a dry or to deep.

#1 lesson = You can always dry more tomorrow but once over dry you are stuck with it. All the attempts at re-hydration will fail and it will always smell and taste of your failure.

Goodluck with your first go.
 
Last edited:
PopAndSonGrows

PopAndSonGrows

Well-Known Member
BrassNwood said:
Trim that while it is seconds after cutting when all the leaves are standing tall and easy to mow off the lumber. Once sticking to the buds the dried crumbed leaves are stuck for good. If you cut carefully, they all have a built-in hook.

Dried below 55% it will never cure. Snapping stems is way to dry IME. 777 is the golden spot to dry. 70 degrees. 70% humidity for 7 days.

Hang only until the smallest popcorn start to firm back up. Strip buds from branches and cut into thumb sized nugs.
View attachment 5297776

View attachment 5297777

Place the buds in cut down doubled paper shopping bags.

View attachment 5297778

Out during the day and stacked in closed new trash cans overnight. Drying to fast is your enemy. I don't have a space to hang and control humidity for the amount I grow so controlling the speed of the dry took some outside the box thinking.
Flip the contents to another empty bag twice a day, dig in and stir the contents when you walk past to insure an even dry of all the material. As the days pass the buds will need less and less time exposed. Crunchy feeling = Back in the can... Feels wet like a limp dishrag = More time exposed.

At the end of 7 to 10 days the buds are correctly dried to the optimum humidity of 65 to 62% and can be sealed in jars with no burping required as they were already dried to exactly where they needed to be. Venting will only change humidity and we don't want that.

View attachment 5297779

I keep a large 60 gram size, 62% Boveda humidity pack in each 1/2-gallon jar as insurance but it really isn't absolutely needed.

Local humidity here runs 40 to 60% but at fall harvest can drop into single numbers and ruin a hanging harvest in just hours.
Dry to fast = stinks like mowed lawn clippings... Dry to deep = no cure, smokes like swallowing a flaming sword.

How I eventually learned to slow the dry and get my weed to smell like it should when the jar is opened. I'd say the first 5 grows I totally trashed the buds by screwing up one way or another. Always to fast a dry or to deep.

#1 lesson = You can always dry more tomorrow but once over dry you are stuck with it. All the attempts at re-hydration will fail and it will always smell and taste of your failure.

Goodluck with your first go.
Click to expand...
Wrong about drying below 55%. Where i live is dry, I'm lucky to get my drying conditions above 50% with a humidifier. My weed cures just fine.

You give a lot of decent info, but that right there, you weren't correct, just sayin.
 
A

ALPHA.GanjaGuy

Well-Known Member
@BrassNwood was saying if the flower is dried to below 55%.. You can dry at below 50% but you want to get your flower curing before it gets below 55%

It's a sentiment quoted in our most popular curing thread; " Below 55% RH - the RH is too low for the curing process to take place. The product starts to feel brittle. Once you've hit this point, nothing will make it better. Adding moisture won't restart the curing process; it will just make the product wet. If you measure a RH below 55% don't panic. Read below: "

A perfect cure every time

This method is particularly effective for folks who are starting out, those looking to maximize quality in a shorter period of time, and folks who's like to produce a connoisseur-quality product each and every time with no guesswork involved. It's a very simple and effective process: Cut...
www.rollitup.org
 
BrassNwood

BrassNwood

Well-Known Member
Southern California gets a fall weather condition called a "Santa Ana Wind" when stone dry desert air is blasted over the entire basin and out to sea pulling the humidity into single numbers for days and even weeks at a time. It never fails I have most of my fall harvest just trimmed up nice and hung that it hits and I have to scramble to get it all stripped from the branches and under cover before it is ruined. I've lived here for 65 years, and it never fails to try and screw my dry. This works anywhere with low humidity and your trouble is drying to fast.

I was already growing outside off season and those sets drying in mid 60s humidity were coming out fine with great smelling weed when the jars were opened but that damned low humidity in the fall was killing me with Hay stinking weed, and I was banging my head in frustration before I zeroed in on just what the issue was and how best to control it given local conditions and my working space. Slow dry was the key I'd needed to find.

When humidity is 8% and you couldn't get back to the hanging plants for 3 hours and when you did it was all crunchy, crumble to dust when touched dry. Yes, we did re-hydrate and got it back from crumble to dust state, but it never recovered any flavor or smell. It was trashed.

4 harvests per year for the last 12 years so over 40 harvests and yes drying below 55% absolutely stops the stops the still functioning biological activity the cure depends on. It might be my extreme low humidity that shows it up so well but if I screw it up and dry to deep even 1 day during that week of slow dry there is no recovery. I either get it right or it is substandard. No do-over possible.

Squeeze the Charmin. I do it all by feel now and have for years.
 
G

grayeyes

Well-Known Member
I agree with Brass about 85-90%. I never dry until the stems snap. This is subtle curing; it is an art. You want the stems to be decisively bendy but not to full snap. Kinda almost. I started using paper bags which is old school and will work. I now use those gallon plastic sealing bags from the grocery. They close out moisture or lack of to the point where they slow stuff down. Glass which is more expensive operates the same way.

The overdry thing can be overcome. What you do is get those cotton balls from the local drug store. Take one of those and spray it with a water bottle sprayer. You don't want wet but damp. Once you have a damp ball put it in the container you are using but away from your buds and seal it. After 8 or so hours check it. If your stuff is still crispy leave the ball in there a while longer and check again in another 8 hours. Keep going until you get back to where you think it should be. I don't use devices just by feel.

I mostly vape now and enjoy not coughing. I have found that just damper than weed to roll into a joint is ideal for vaping. The terps come through much brighter and the thc is right there.
 
s4cruiser

s4cruiser

Well-Known Member
It’s been a challenge to keep the humidity up to 60%, which is very unusual for my location in June. It’s just been so dry over the past few days with RH values during the day around 30%. Running a humidifier constantly and I’m still topping out at 55%ish during the day. I’m sure in a couple days I’ll be running the dehumidifier constantly, thats life in these parts!

While waiting for weed to dry, I smoked this instead…

FAF2B4F4-B094-4CF1-AAFF-43102BB5F13B.jpegF97A1719-6814-4929-B6F0-35C699AB88A1.jpeg
 
s4cruiser

s4cruiser

Well-Known Member
It’s been ~5 days hanging so far and the stems still have a lot of bend to them and no where near any ‘snap’. Most buds are also still fairly spongy feeling and not crisp or crinkly at all.

Assume the above is all good and means I’ve got a good slow dry going thus far? LITFA and carryon?
 
s4cruiser

s4cruiser

Well-Known Member
Still so f’ing dry here, argh! Got two humidifiers going in my office.

Decided to go ahead and trim the two solo cup plants this evening. They have been in mason jags for an hour or so and the hydrometers are at 53% currently. Will see what they read in the morning but i might be at a spot where trimming and jarring the rest of my plants is needed?
 
s4cruiser

s4cruiser

Well-Known Member
Put boveda 62s in the jars to bring the humidity up.

Trimmed the smallest of my six plants this evening. Little over 1.5 ounces…some of the buds were kinda larfy but frosty! Took me 2 hours to trim…hand trimming sucks! I ordered an EZtrim trim pen but it won’t be here till Saturday and by then everything will be trimmed already.

69CF8025-DEC8-4CFC-9BE3-D837C7F93895.jpegCBB6FA3C-40FF-4EC6-9E4B-B8993A1686AF.jpeg74FD2CE3-D054-4D96-A6FA-703B0E418973.jpegDE66F9EB-F692-4271-9F1A-427BE9A503F3.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top