DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[Zafu]

I only grow outdoors and last year was my first grow; came out amazing in large part to the help on this incredible forum.

Harvested two of my nine this morning; Jamaican Dream and while the first tub wash below is dirty (use new wash mix each plant, so that's from only 1) and a reminder of why I wash; it's nothing compared to last year. Very lucky for an exceptionally clean grow outside this season.

Picked up the paper bags but can get a whole lot more in this pan. Wondering if this is too much. I work from home, so can remove and turn buds, etc. every 6 hours to ensure there's not issues visible. Just not sure if I'm pushing my luck. Places tray on shelf mid frig.

Covered with cheese cloth.

Am I safe, or pushing it?

Thank you.

Zafu

 

[kelticBlue]

Yabba dabba do, nice harvest Zafu!

I think you will be safe on a pan. Maybe someone else has tried it?

I use the bags like i used to and have sometimes used cardboard box to draw the moisture out. It also might help to keep the smell contained. I check on the bag about once a day for the first 2-3 days then at the end of the week. I find the smell dies of after day 3 or 4 for sure. But it can be strong at first when you open the fridge door. And any strong smelling food in the fridge can influence the buds. You dont want to keep it next to a cut up onion or something.

I have my sample bud in a Jar tonight and it is holding 63% humid. I has only been maybe a week cause it is such a small amount. but a ton of bud drying at the same time will raise the humidity in the fridge. But you will be there to watch for trouble.

Jamaica dream! & Good luck!

 

[SweetSue]

Well done Zafu. It looks good to me. Your being right there turning it regularly will keep problems at bay. Like keltic suggests, if you can slip them into a cardboard box you can get more moisture to pull out.

I'll be interested in how long it takes to dry like that.

 

[kelticBlue]

I never used a box in a fridge, just an thought cause I have used one before just not with the fridge methdo. I mostly use a small cardboard box to keep fresh seeds before I store them. it helps dry anything you keep in it. cardboard absorbs moisture very well it seems. maybe to fast tho

My sample bud is at 65% RH in the jar. Gonna let it ride till the morning comes. ....it will do you fine.

Edit I am super excited to harvest more ! Cannot wait.

 

[kelticBlue]

crappy foto from this morn. holding at 64% rh.

Pretty good I thinks. I trimmed another small bud to start the dry. I will probably have the whole small plant chopped by next week.

here it is in the jar.

 

[bignstrange]

Ok wow, first of what an amazing thread! Thank you to Sue and Dr.Ziggy for getting it off the ground! Then thanks to everyone playing with this-there is so much amazing info on here I couldn't help but read every page XD

I just started my first journal but after reading all of this I don't think there's any other way to dry bud! I'm gunna try it on my next harvest and see how it goes! I might try half and half if the plants yield well!

Your right, Sue, in that this could certainly be a revolution for growers and consumers of cannabis alike! I'm looking forward to trying it and being part of that movement! I will be posting results on my journal in a few months!

to those who risked their precious crops to prove and improve this method, and chose to share here!

Cheers folks !

 

[Zafu]

I only grow outdoors and last year was my first grow; came out amazing in large part to the help on this incredible forum.

Harvested two of my nine this morning; Jamaican Dream and while the first tub wash below is dirty (use new wash mix each plant, so that's from only 1) and a reminder of why I wash; it's nothing compared to last year. Very lucky for an exceptionally clean grow outside this season.

Picked up the paper bags but can get a whole lot more in this pan. Wondering if this is too much. I work from home, so can remove and turn buds, etc. every 6 hours to ensure there's not issues visible. Just not sure if I'm pushing my luck. Places tray on shelf mid frig.

Covered with cheese cloth.

Am I safe, or pushing it?

Thank you.

Zafu

While it's been just 3-days after placing this tray of goodness in the fridge, couple of observations. Last night I was checking the majority of this Jamaican Dream harvest that is in the garage and sadly, after just 60-hours, it was ready for the jar/boveda. I say "sadly", because while there is enough moisture still in the buds to cure, the initial phase was far too fast and doubt the result will be as ideal as hoped for.

On the other-hand, taking in my tray of flowers in the fridge today really cheered me up. As you can see, they are coming along nice and "slow", retaining the beautiful smells. I'll probably trim these today or tomorrow so when they are ready to be jarred I won't have to. Just find it easier to trim when still a bit fresh. I'll wait the 7-days to check the humidity levels in a jar, but I can see from the read in the fridge they still have a ways to go.

Have an awesome day.

Zafu

 

[InTheShed]

While it's been just 3-days after placing this tray of goodness in the fridge, couple of observations. Last night I was checking the majority of this Jamaican Dream harvest that is in the garage and sadly, after just 60-hours, it was ready for the jar/boveda. I say "sadly", because while there is enough moisture still in the buds to cure, the initial phase was far too fast and doubt the result will be as ideal as hoped for.

Thought I would jump in quickly and mention that my box-dried harvest went into jars after 60 hours as well, but then I did a lot of burping and airing before they got down to 62% (ambient RH is high where I live) and have been curing for about two months. They didn't get Boveda 62s until about a month after going into jars. The smoke gets rave reviews!

So don't fret the short dry. You can now go on to perfect the cure.

 

[SweetSue]

Thought I would jump in quickly and mention that my box-dried harvest went into jars after 60 hours as well, but then I did a lot of burping and airing before they got down to 62% (ambient RH is high where I live) and have been curing for about two months. They didn't get Boveda 62s until about a month after going into jars. The smoke gets rave reviews!

So don't fret the short dry. You can now go on to perfect the cure.

Let me second this point. I was initially thinking the same thing Zafu, but as they cure the recovery is absolutely amazing. Take care to air them out every day as they cure until you hit 62% stability on the RH. Let them take their time.

I stopped to share that yesterday I reached one of my goals for the year, thanks to this thread and the addition of the dehydrator. I made my first batch of buds dried this way, hoping to get something equivalent in effect to my FHO with the same chemovar.

When I opened the jar to get the buds out the smell was robust, to say the least.

In my opinion the oil I made yesterday was at least as good as my FHO attempts. The oil offered the same complete feeling the FHO offers, one of my biggest concerns with making the switch away from FHO. Now I have another option to use. One that has buds ready to go within a week from harvest. Now I'll be able to harvest, dry in the dehydrator and make a potent infused oil that can be done without the hovering FHO demands when done on a stovetop, my favorite method.

After 36 hours at the latest setting I let it rest in the fridge overnight, then transferred it to a stainless cup and set it in an oil bath.

30 minutes later I had an oil so potent that I had the best euphoric experience ever with this chemovar after licking my hands during the straining stage.

Meds for the daughter for the next two weeks.

I'm excited guys. These drying methods offer much more flexibility to the oil-making process. This thread has far exceeded my expectations.

 

[kelticBlue]

Cool beans with the oil. I just made on of my batches for me cat. Strained this morning. Looks stronger than before. Will see if the seizures come back. It has been over a year.

I have my second test bed from the triple purple rhino in a paper bag in the fridge. It looks so good and green after just a couple of days. The color stays so vibrant.
Now the first bud has gone through some de seeding and test burn. After digging into the seed I can smell the sweet grape juice. It is funny how it take a couple of seconds for the air to interact with the bud before it smells. When first out the jar it is gassy and sour dank. Give it twenty seconds and it starts sweet grape juice. Feckin incredible. The smoke has grape flavored in it too. Love it.

 

[Van Stank]

Great read, thanks guys and gals

 

[Randoobula]

When talking brown bags vs cardboard boxes...

I have been using brown bags and pull the buds out every other day to air dry for a few hours while the bags dry out. Brown bags seem to take much longer to dry than in open air in fridge. While that's not a bad thing, having enough fridge space is a consideration and turn over is needed so I can produce enough oil to meet demand.

So I can up with a system that is working very well. The bud dries fairly slowly but what I like about it is that the outsides of the buds dries out and wicks the interior moisture to the surface at a steady pace. Left in bags, the buds seem to remain moist because the moisture leaves slowly... imperceptibly.

Here's the system I use...

I bought craft boxes at the craft store... of all places. Lol!

I cut a piece of a heavy brown bag, crumple it up so that buds don't lay flat against it, and spread buds out on it. I then cut another piece, crumple it up and place over the tops of buds. I then place mesh material over the top with a wire that pulls down over edge of box stretching the mesh material out. These sit on lower shelves in fridge. This last batch hit the jars in just shy of two weeks and are curing nicely.

Being rectangular, the boxes can be staggered and stacked atop each other leaving plenty of area for water vapor to escape.

Another thang... bud dried in fridge seems to hold terpenes well, so leaving them in fridge until they can be safely jarred without the need for excessive burping or leaving open to air for longer periods of time is key.

On first harvests I put Boveda packs in jars right away. I am not impressed by them at all. They didn't seem to do the job and NEVER read 62%, even with just the pack alone in a jar. I also noticed that the pack absorbs a great deal of aroma. The buds smell awesome and very strong while pack are in with them. Once removed, the smell decreased significantly telling me the packs absorb terpenes.

I now am not using the packs, ensuring the bud is near the moisture content it needs to be to prevent mold before it goes in jars. Then burp only once a day and only for a minute to exchange the air in jars. The wonderful aroma fills the jars within 24 hours of placing them in there, when there is very little aroma to them while in fridge.

 

[InTheShed]

On first harvests I put Boveda packs in jars right away. I am not impressed by them at all. They didn't seem to do the job and NEVER read 62%, even with just the pack alone in a jar.

Have you calibrated your hygrometer to 75% using the salt method? Most of mine were not spot-on out of the box.

Also, are you using the B packs to lower or raise the RH in the jars? B packs don't and aren't designed to lower the RH in the jar. Use rice balls for that if you live in a damp area. B packs maintain it at the number printed on the pack and can raise it if the RH begins to get low.

Personally, I use them for maintenance once the jar stabilizes at 62% and have not found any change in the aroma coming from the jars on either the low-and-slow dried or the air-dried buds.

 

[bignstrange]

Thanks for that Randoo, I think this is the method I'll be going with down the road.

I also saw a lot of people talking about placing fans on their buds to dry them- it made me think if we're all so concerned about retaining precious terpenes why are there folks blowing them off with a fan only to wait 3 weeks for it to dry in the fridge to get a slightly better result? Similar to your gripe about the boveda packs which I also just noticed with some bud I have curing from a summer grow.

Not related to your post but just something I noticed XD I think I'll be adapting your craft box idea for my situation so thanks for sharing and showing us pics to help visualize it!

Cheers

 

[Randoobula]

I haven't calibrated hygrometers, however I have checked the various styles and brands against each other and all are within a couple percentage points of each other.

I wasn't aware that Boveda packs are not meant to balance humidity both up and down. From all I read from their site and elsewhere, I was left with the impression they both release and absorb moisture to maintain the listed humidity level.

Good to know, thanks. I'll have to dig in and find out exactly how they work. That will tell the story on best practices and applications.

 

[InTheShed]

I haven't calibrated hygrometers, however I have checked the various styles and brands against each other and all are within a couple percentage points of each other.

I wasn't aware that Boveda packs are not meant to balance humidity both up and down. From all I read from their site and elsewhere, I was left with the impression they both release and absorb moisture to maintain the listed humidity level.

Good to know, thanks. I'll have to dig in and find out exactly how they work. That will tell the story on best practices and applications.

I was under the same impression until I watched the video they released announcing the 62's. Not a word about lowering humidity. So I decided to test it and found that all it could do was take a jar in the high 60s down maybe 1 or 2%. That's when I went with the rice ball technique as I live in an area with RH above 62% most of the year.

Boveda even talks about how to know when the pack is used up: when it's dried out. Which tells me it's mostly designed to add moisture, which I have seen it do. Still, it's within a pretty narrow range which is why I use them when the jar is sitting right around that 62% mark and ready for long term storage.

 

[bignstrange]

Good info thanks ITS!

 

[Zafu]

Have you calibrated your hygrometer to 75% using the salt method? Most of mine were not spot-on out of the box.

Also, are you using the B packs to lower or raise the RH in the jars? B packs don't and aren't designed to lower the RH in the jar. Use rice balls for that if you live in a damp area. B packs maintain it at the number printed on the pack and can raise it if the RH begins to get low.

Personally, I use them for maintenance once the jar stabilizes at 62% and have not found any change in the aroma coming from the jars on either the low-and-slow dried or the air-dried buds.

I think you may be misinformed, or I'm not understanding. Boveda packs remove and add moisture as needed to keep the relative humidity as close to 62 as it can; that is, if you are using Boveda 62's. I've seen packs swell with water in bringing the humidity down and the reverse. Obviously, the closer to 62 you get before placing B packs will simply make it work less hard, but I've put B packs in at 72 and worked fine.

Boveda even talks about how to know when the pack is used up: when it's dried out. Which tells me it's mostly designed to add moisture, which I have seen it do. Still, it's within a pretty narrow range which is why I use them when the jar is sitting right around that 62% mark and ready for long term storage.

All that tells me is how to know when it's used up. I have packs that have been in jars for close to a year now where the B-packs have even more moisture in it than when they started because I placed the B packs in when herb was still around 70 or so humidity.

You may want to phone them up and discuss.

Zafu

 

[InTheShed]

I think you may be misinformed, or I'm not understanding. Boveda packs remove and add moisture as needed to keep the relative humidity as close to 62 as it can; that is, if you are using Boveda 62's. I've seen packs swell with water in bringing the humidity down and the reverse. Obviously, the closer to 62 you get before placing B packs will simply make it work less hard, but I've put B packs in at 72 and worked fine.

That just hasn't been my experience. And they would have to swell up quite a bit to get a jar down by 10% RH. Either way it's a heck of a lot cheaper and faster to use rice balls. Don't know how long it took your 62 to lower the RH that much but when mine are in jars with that high an RH I like to lower them quickly to avoid mold. I use them under the impression and experience that they will modulate the RH within a range close to 62%.

All that tells me is how to know when it's used up. I have packs that have been in jars for close to a year now where the B-packs have even more moisture in it than when they started because I placed the B packs in when herb was still around 70 or so humidity.

So you didn't burp them to get the moisture out at 70%, but instead threw in the 62 and closed it up for a year? That's a lot of faith in their product!

The only way they mentioned replacing them was when they dried out. Does that mean they last forever in an environment that starts over 62%? I wonder what the capacity to absorb is then.

 

[Zafu]

Yes I burp them. They are two way packets. They absorb water vapor and give it out.