Guerilla drying

So drying indoors is out of the question.

My goal is to dry and cure everything on site, which happens to be far from anything else. I'm basically limited to what I can haul in and out by kayak.

Out on the river, it tends to get real foggy at night...to the point you can feel it when you breathe in. That's where a lot of my mold issues have come from this year.

I've had about a month to experiment post harvest with mold issues on my earliest flowering girls...tried lots of different drying techniques that don't involve electricity with more failures than successes. (thank god for BHO haha) and now comes the moment of truth, lol..I have a lot more bud than I planned on pulling off this year, like 3-4x, and no place to dry it inside without running a huge risk of someone catching on.

My plan for mold free drying this year:

Put up a tent or a couple of smaller tents. Immediately after harvest and trimming the fan leaves, dip each plant in a solution of Serenade (I've already done this with no noticeable taste or smell whatsoever after a couple of days drying). Have a battery bank running 6-7 tent fans. Cut colas down into smaller buds, place them on drying racks in front of the fans. Run a couple of small propane heaters in the tent to accelerate drying and push moisture outside of the tent. After they're dried, put them into 5 gallon buckets to begin curing.

Wish me luck and any suggestions are welcome!

I've put alot of thought into this as well but I think there are a few flaws in your plans, I would't use a tent with heaters in side because you risk drying your buds out too fast and ruining them, also you risk a fire which would lead people to your crop if it hasn't burned already, third the humiditiy will be through the roof in a tent, I would use a tarp on the top and sides and keep two ends open with fans pushing air through, I'm hoping to pull one plant two weeksearly if any are ready and try this. GL!

Also, Im sure you plan to do this already but ensure you trim all buds well and cut into smaller pieces to avoid mold.

Yeah i already almost caught my canoe on fire with my propane camping heater in my garage...don't ask...but point taken! lol Anyways I like your idea of using the tarp above..my only fear is the creeping fog getting under then tarp to envelope the vulnerable nugs and let the mold settle and infect..the tent fans would help circulate air but maybe a heat source beneath the plants would dry the air above better.

I'm talking about being close to scientific..make a sturdy platform to stand the heater on, strap it to where it won't move, allow the tarps to act as an overhead umbrella and heat trap..(gray mold will not form above about 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit)..try setting the tarp or tent up in different ways and use a thermometer to take different readings until you get things configured to where the tarp or whatever stays a consistent temperature and take into consideration the daily temp swings..

Ya, well I'm going to document and take pictures of my findings this year because this question is asked every year but there are not many pics or results shown. I suggest you do the same so we can determine the best outdoor drying route, another option I'm toying with is one of those hanging laundry things with multiple mesh shelves, cutting the buds up small and trimming completely and hanging in a tree with shade for light and lots of wind.

gee whiz equitable trust, it's hard to imagine that building a platform and setting up an intricate drying system in the backcountry is easier than bringing yer crop to town to dry! but I don't know yer circumstances. is there any way you can go uphill, away from the river? gaining just a little elevation could get you out of that fog. I like the idea of the propane heaters and futzing around with the tarp until you can find a good temp/humidity situation - it is true that mold won't grow at 90-100 but that is too high a drying temp - you want it closer to 70 or less. but the humidity is the real killer - you want that around 50 or a little less. dipping the plants in serenade is not something I've heard of - I'm sorry but it sounds gross! that stuff reeks and it's hard to imagine it wouldn't taint the buds - do you majorly water it down? hey good luck with your drying and congratulations on your grow

hoonry said:

gee whiz equitable trust, it's hard to imagine that building a platform and setting up an intricate drying system in the backcountry is easier than bringing yer crop to town to dry! but I don't know yer circumstances. is there any way you can go uphill, away from the river? gaining just a little elevation could get you out of that fog. I like the idea of the propane heaters and futzing around with the tarp until you can find a good temp/humidity situation - it is true that mold won't grow at 90-100 but that is too high a drying temp - you want it closer to 70 or less. but the humidity is the real killer - you want that around 50 or a little less. dipping the plants in serenade is not something I've heard of - I'm sorry but it sounds gross! that stuff reeks and it's hard to imagine it wouldn't taint the buds - do you majorly water it down? hey good luck with your drying and congratulations on your grow

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Supposedly the Serenade is good to apply up to day of harvest as stated on the bottle and backed by different studies I read...the application could also be accomplished by foliar spray directly prior to chop but as far as the smell, that goes away pretty quickly, really a few hours and it's gone completely. I think some of those "Dri It" moisture absorber buckets would be great to keep humidity down in the tent and eliminate the need for heat..I will likely be taking your thought and moving the drying site away from the river to hopefully escape the creeping fog that rolls over my gardens every night. Thanks for the kind words.

Most molds will cease growth and die at 120 farenheit but alot need upwards of 200 farenheit, I routinely sterilize or kill bacteria plate at work daily and we use an autoclave set to 220 farenheit. Cheers.