Need help changing my drying process

When I dry I cut the plant at the base and hang it upside down in my grow tent. I leave everything on the plant. If a plant doesn’t look like it has enough open areas to allow air to flow through it I will take off branches and hang them separately to keep them spaced out. This keeps mold from occurring.

The reason I leave everything on the plant is because during winter I get relative humidity values of 20% to 30%.

I put a humidifier in the tent that is on 24/7. An oscillating fan blows directly over the humidifier to disperse the humid air. I don't allow this fan to blow directly on the buds. I do not like the mist to come into direct contact with the buds either (hence the fan). I have a Titan humidity controller hooked up to my exhaust fan. If the humidity ever goes above 70% the fan will kick on until the humidity lowers. I’ve been able to get a nice slow dry while maintaining humidity between 65% and 70%, takes about 7 or 8 days (See photo).

Now things have changed and I want to trim the plant before I dry. A buddy of mine uses a manual bud trimmer. You put the bud inside and rotate a crank and the buds come out pretty good. Even the popcorn buds which I would normally turn into hash (because they take too long to manicure) come out good. I was pretty impressed with it. So I plan on buying one of these trimmers. The problem is that you have to put them in wet before you dry. And I have never manicured then dried. I’ll need to get a drying screen but I have no idea what conditions I should be aiming for. Long story short, I'm going from a dry trim to a wet trim and I am pretty ignant.

After I trim the buds wet and put them on the drying screen….

1. What temperature range and humidity range should I be aiming for? I can keep it from 40% to 80% with a 5% variance.

2. How many days at said humidity should I dry before they go into curing jars?

3. Do you use fans on the drying rack? I currently only use a fan to disperse the air coming out of the humidifier.

4. Any downsides to trimming while wet?

5. Since I’m taking off the stems before they go into the trimmer I can’t exactly do the snap test. Is there another method to tell when it’s ready to cure?

6. Is there anything in my current setup or planned setup that is concerning?

Thanks in advance. I hope to get some good wisdom. Peace…

anyone?

I can't help you with the best method of drying but I can tell you that you should trim dry. Trimming wet causes a lot of clorophyl to release, especially in a trimmer machine. Not a huge deal to some, especially if your not extracting it.
Chlorophyll tastes like spinache and is green. It will ruin your the color and taste of many extractions

hey bro, It depends on alot of factors- specifically how much air flow and the size of the buds.
Trial and error is your best friend. Start the humidity at 55-60 imo. Not under 50 it will dry to fast. 7-8 days is about perfect drying time before you jar and cure, but 4 is enough and you should be ok as long as 9 or 10.
they should dry faster in the racks than when they are on the full plants with leaves and all, but it will depend on how full each shelf or layer is and how much airflow is in there (and the humidity).
Keep air moving around the drying area but as you said no air flow directly on the buds.
As for jarring, you want the buds to start to get crisp on the outsides. This can range from seeming super crisp (overdry) to to wet (squishy). In my experience if you can smoke a sample and it burns somewhat reasonable it is ok to jar. You will know when they are too wet to jar, it is pretty obvious imo. they still hold that chem clorophyll smell and are very wet to the touch.
You also know if they are too dry they will crumble. Once their too dry the cure is somewhat hopeless, although I have had perfectly good bud that tastes damn good with almost no cure (just a slow dry)... all in the genetics. Plus if you think about it, a really slow dry would count as a cure kinda. I think curing is 55%-70% humidity (in the jars, the buds humidity)
Curing is a touching thing man, use what you already know and figure out your space, every space is different