Drying With Ehhh Results

[Koolbudz]

Everywhere I read it states 45-55% humidity to dry..... I have tried 45-50% while trying to stay clear of upper levels because everyone says bud will mold..... Well I have switched up my drying process and instead of hanging on stem or using my drying rack I did this.....

Step 1
Chop plant stem by stem, place into large container stacking wet chopped untrimmed plant material about 8" high

Step 2
Fully wet trim all material leaving a 1-1.5" stem to hanle sections of plant easily without touching buds (as little as possible)

Step 3
After each section was trimmed they were washed in a 3 bucket setup, which included 1/2c lemon juice and 1/2c baking soda in bucket 1, clean water in bucket 2 and 3

Step 4
After each section washed it was shaken off then placed in rows in a (lidded) carboard file box with bottom lined with paper towels to absorb water, then another layer of paper towels then another layer of plant sections and so on. (Lids Off)

Step 5/6
The sections were left like this for about 4hrs then the plant material and paper towels were removed and a fresh layering with paper towels and rearranged plant material for anothe 4-6hrs.

Step 7
At this time if paper towels are soaked do again, if not and just a little damp (damp enough to feel a temp change to your hand when touching) take paper towels and palnt material out, line bottom with a fresh paper towel folded in half then loosly place plant clippings in boxes without too much contact between plant material and place lid on but leave handle holes open and lid open 2-3" with a humidistat inside.

Step 8
Monitor humidity, mine is staying right around 60/62, every day give a little flip flop of box so buds are not just sitting on the one side for too long (that would probably get mold to grow - at this point I myself am not too worried about buds touching because mine dont feel super wet)

So far my smell is staying much more than when running lower humidity like I have read about, over and over, but I am checking every 1/2 day to make sure things dont spike and to make sure I see no mold or anything. If I see the level creeping up I pull lids off completely and do a quick couple fan swipes with the lid to blow out any excess humidity. I also have the boxes stacked so I rearrange the boxes so to try to keep the air exchange a little more even (if it matters, I dont know but...)

I use no fan and rely on my living environment which is usually 66-68F and 45-55% RH where the boxes are.

So far things seem to be ok and my crop is still stinky, I always seem to lose the smell when drying after 3-5 days and it takes weeks of cure to come back yet never as strong as it should be when using good Genetics and good Nutrients...

PS at 45-55% RH my crop dries way too fast, If I dry at 50% in 5 days I can roll a doobie and it will smoke but will go out....7 days and it wont. I believe this lower humidity would work for all large buds but for those not growing huge buds I think those numbers are just too low and the smaller buds will dry too quick. I am shooting for a 12-14 day dry and lets see what happens....

I am on day 4 and so far buds.....

 

[InTheShed]

After I wash I hang mine on a line in front of a 2' box fan to drive the wash water out. Then I trim and hang in a closed cardboard box with 1" holes at the bottom and the top. That way I can control the RH in there with a fan aimed at the lower holes. In the first day or so I have it on high and point it right at the holes. Then as the RH lowers I can turn down the fan and put it on oscillate, or close up some holes if it's drying too quickly. An open box leaves you too open to the elements, which in your case is low RH.

If you want to slow down the drying process, you can hang the plant whole, upside down by the trunk.

The ambient RH in my house is usually in the 60s, so over drying doesn't happen very often.

Here is a pic of my two drying boxes before I close them up for the week: