Drying under low RH conditions - ideas?

[AKgramma]

Every time I try to dry my harvests hanging them in a closet, they dry too fast and too much,in just 2 days, and have to be rehydrated. I have been cutting the plants down to smaller branches and hanging those.

I once had a 2' x 2' cardboard moving box, all outfitted with strings and such, but it, too, dried the buds way too fast and too far. I disassembled it because it was not worth the floor space it was taking up.

Next time, should I just hang the whole plant, minus the fan leaves? Or should I cut as usual and dry them in the refrigerator?

 

[Tead]

I wonder if a wet rag in a bowl at the bottom of your drying chamber would help? Seems really simplistic, but sometimes the best things are simple.
Have you been monitoring the RH in the chamber at all? That seems to be the next logical step.

 

[Twox]

I also suffer fron low rh and i used a big storage tub with a lid to dry in. I made cuts around the lip of the tub and ran strings across the top to hang my buds. I started drying with the lid a little bit open but after a day or two I put the lid on and my rh skyrockets. Definetly helps keep the moisture in your drying chamber and I would open a couple times a day to check there progress... Any drying chamber that was sealed would work. No fans and no air extraction will keep them moist longer.

 

[AKgramma]

I wonder if a wet rag in a bowl at the bottom of your drying chamber would help? Seems really simplistic, but sometimes the best things are simple.
Have you been monitoring the RH in the chamber at all? That seems to be the next logical step.

since I only harvest one plant at a time, I can use one of my larger plastic storage bins, which I have in abundance here. If I mount a screen inside one, I can do what TWOX suggested. Plenty of room for the hygrometer. And yes, I do monitor the RH from seed through cure.

 

[electro gypsy]

I work with a wide range of RH. When it's low I reduce the amount of cut points. Less wet trim and leave fans on. If RH is high then I do just the opposite.
Never fails though.. I almost always end up with some stuff too dry during low RH due to the fact I can't trim fast enough while it's high
About an hour locked in the bathroom with the fans off after a hot shower will get it back to workable condition. Once you get it jarred up the Boveda 62 packs are awesome.

 

[TheFertilizer]

What's the downside to drying too fast? I have always just hung them in the corner of a room and my RH stays in the 20-40% range. Never really noticed it drying too fast, but I don't ever dry large amounts and I always leave them on the main stem just cutting fan leaves off. I have a small screen that hangs in the corner too that I put stray buds on and never notice them get too dry either though.

 

[AKgramma]

Maybe I should leave them on the plant and just hang it upside down in a tall waste bin. Without the fan leaves, of course. How do you rehydrate them to 62% before you jar them? I just mist them and close the container till they aren't so crunchy-dry.

 

[TheFertilizer]

Maybe I should leave them on the plant and just hang it upside down in a tall waste bin. Without the fan leaves, of course. How do you rehydrate them to 62% before you jar them? I just mist them and close the container till they aren't so crunchy-dry.

I hang then upside down and wait until their stems snap, inside the bud not the main stem.

Then I snip them off and put them into paper bags overnight until the sugar leaves get nice and crispy. Manicure and jar them up as usual.

Then every couple hours, turn the jars over and see if the buds fall loosely. If they clump together in like one or two big masses, take them out and put them in a paper bag again.

Once they're dry enough to fall loosely (some might still get stuck together since it's sticky, just as long as it's mostly a loose mass, you'll see the difference) you just burp the jar every day like normal to cure.

Anyway that's how I was taught but I never have dried a big amount, like not even a few ounces, I just end up with a lot of loose colas and stuff like that from my job. But this is how a few old pot heads from my area have suggested it and I assume their humidity levels are probably the same.

 

[Jimmycricket]

I've dried many Harvest in single-digit humidity as one of my grows is in the Mojave Desert.

Even hanging the entire plant won't help you much, because what happens is the inside of the bud will be quite moist along with the stem however the outside of your bud will be quite dry and stop curing.

What you want to do is dry for one or two days when the buds are still fairly moist comma then put them in a Tote box or or about 5 to 10 hours until all the moisture in the entire plant has redistributed evenly so that the buds are just as moist as the stems, then you will take them out and dry them or for another day repeat this process until the buds are where they should be

 

[Jimmycricket]

Typically after the first 3 or 4 days I take the buds off the stems too and just slow dry the buds with the leaves on the buds.

Or if I use the machine to trim I will do a similar process but using drying racks putting them on the drying racks for a while until the outside is becoming slightly dry then put the buds in a turkey bag or a Tote box