Best drying conditions?

[Jammysmoker83]

Hi all looking for some advice from the pro growers. I’ve chopped my girls today and I’m just wondering what the perfect conditions are for drying? My tent is currently 21.4 degrees and 52% humidity. I’ve read so many conflicting answers that go against previous answers,now I’m scratching my head a little any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[Bill284]

Hi all looking for some advice from the pro growers. I’ve chopped my girls today and I’m just wondering what the perfect conditions are for drying? My tent is currently 21.4 degrees and 52% humidity. I’ve read so many conflicting answers that go against previous answers,now I’m scratching my head a little any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Nice work Jammy.
You want a cool dark room with minimal air flow. Your rh is a little low. Anything below 60 rh will dry your buds too fast

 

[Jammysmoker83]

Nice work Jammy.
You want a cool dark room with minimal air flow. Your rh is a little low. Anything below 60 rh will dry your buds too fast

Thanks for your reply bill. I’ll add a humidifier now and get the room hitting the 60 mark! Do you keep your intake/outtake fans on constant?or do you have a set time for them to come on and off?

 

[Bill284]

Thanks for your reply bill. I’ll add a humidifier now and get the room hitting the 60 mark! Do you keep your intake/outtake fans on constant?or do you have a set time for them to come on and off?

Do not turn on your exhaust fans you will dry too quickly. You want just minimal air flow. A small 6"fan on the ground pointing away from your buds is fine.

 

[Jammysmoker83]

Do not turn on your exhaust fans you will dry too quickly. You want just minimal air flow. A small 6"fan on the ground pointing away from your buds is fine.

Your a star bill!! Thanks for your time buddy,really appreciate it

 

[Bill284]

Thanks for your reply bill. I’ll add a humidifier now and get the room hitting the 60 mark! Do you keep your intake/outtake fans on constant?or do you have a set time for them to come on and off?

I see you still have the fan leaves on your buds. It is a common practice for people to trim the fans off before hanging buds. Just 2 cents.

 

[Jammysmoker83]

I see you still have the fan leaves on your buds. It is a common practice for people to trim the fans off before hanging buds. Just 2 cents.

Was told to keep them on to slow the drying process?

 

[SmokingWings]

Hi all looking for some advice from the pro growers. I’ve chopped my girls today and I’m just wondering what the perfect conditions are for drying? My tent is currently 21.4 degrees and 52% humidity. I’ve read so many conflicting answers that go against previous answers,now I’m scratching my head a little any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

I have become a big fan of using the refrigerator method of drying my Marijuana harvest. It is based on the older method of slow drying the stalks in a paper bag which is then placed in dark but slightly warm spot. The paper bag can breathe and allows the moisture to slowly dissipate instead of letting the plant stalks dry out to fast. It takes a bit longer but it just seems so much easier.

One reason you might see conflicting answers that go against previous answers is that growers are learning new tips and methods from other growers all the time. What worked 20 years ago will still work today but we have more info and more research now. Look at all the info on curing which is something very few people did for a long time. Now curing is highly recommended for a quality smoke.

 

[SmokingWings]

I see you still have the fan leaves on your buds. It is a common practice for people to trim the fans off before hanging buds. Just 2 cents.

Was told to keep them on to slow the drying process?

This is something of a personal preference. Some people like to trim all the fan leaves off when they cut the plant down and some people like to wait until the drying is done. Try it both ways a couple of times and find out which way is the easiest for you.

My opinion is that there is not as much moisture in the leaves as we think and leaving them on will not slow down the drying all that much. It seems that the stems hold more moisture since it takes them longer to dry out enough that they have the perfect bend and snap that so many people wait for.

I like to trim at harvest. I have tried trimming after the drying time and did not like having to cut the dry leaves off. But, it is a personal preference. Try several grows using one method and several grows using the other. One will seem like less work for you and that is the one to stick with.

 

[Jammysmoker83]

This is something of a personal preference. Some people like to trim all the fan leaves off when they cut the plant down and some people like to wait until the drying is done. Try it both ways a couple of times and find out which way is the easiest for you.

My opinion is that there is not as much moisture in the leaves as we think and leaving them on will not slow down the drying all that much. It seems that the stems hold more moisture since it takes them longer to dry out enough that they have the perfect bend and snap that so many people wait for.

I like to trim at harvest. I have tried trimming after the drying time and did not like having to cut the dry leaves off. But, it is a personal preference. Try several grows using one method and several grows using the other. One will seem like less work for you and that is the one to stick with.

I’ll 100% try both methods. I’ve got 6og kush in flower. 1 cheese 1 northern lights and 7 lemon haze in vegetation. I’ll definitely give it a try come harvest time

 

[Jammysmoker83]

This is something of a personal preference. Some people like to trim all the fan leaves off when they cut the plant down and some people like to wait until the drying is done. Try it both ways a couple of times and find out which way is the easiest for you.

My opinion is that there is not as much moisture in the leaves as we think and leaving them on will not slow down the drying all that much. It seems that the stems hold more moisture since it takes them longer to dry out enough that they have the perfect bend and snap that so many people wait for.

I like to trim at harvest. I have tried trimming after the drying time and did not like having to cut the dry leaves off. But, it is a personal preference. Try several grows using one method and several grows using the other. One will seem like less work for you and that is the one to stick with.

I’ll 100% try both methods. I’ve got 6og kush in flower. 1 cheese 1 northern lights and 7 lemon haze in vegetation. I’ll definitely give it a try

 

[Enjoil]

I cut off all the fan leaves! But leave the sugar leaves to protect your frosty buds! I don’t trim the super killer stuff... and I have never one time had a complaint! All compliments, and my friends will fight over my smoke! Lol, I try to stop them but they don’t listen much! Crazy hippies!

 

[Dan Dark]

This is something of a personal preference. Some people like to trim all the fan leaves off when they cut the plant down and some people like to wait until the drying is done. Try it both ways a couple of times and find out which way is the easiest for you.

My opinion is that there is not as much moisture in the leaves as we think and leaving them on will not slow down the drying all that much. It seems that the stems hold more moisture since it takes them longer to dry out enough that they have the perfect bend and snap that so many people wait for.

I like to trim at harvest. I have tried trimming after the drying time and did not like having to cut the dry leaves off. But, it is a personal preference. Try several grows using one method and several grows using the other. One will seem like less work for you and that is the one to stick with.

I agree with this. The fan leaves don't do anything to slow drying - it is the inside of the flowers you need to dry slowly. The fan leaves with just turn into dry flakes in a few days. Plus, you'll only want to use them (if at all) for extracts. The moisture you are after lives in the stems and buds and they can be VERY dense for some strains.

I always take as many fan leaves as I can at harvest but leave the leaves growing within the flowers top take after drying. I personally enjoy the close trimming after the flowers are dry but I get the personal preference to trim at harvest, I've just never had the time to take doing that. I typically harvest 3-5 plants at one time with a target of 450g's per plant and it can take days to hand trim well.

Last, I'm in a dry climate and getting anything to greater than 50% humidity in the high desert is tough. I can get to 50% and with minimal air flow it does seem to dry slowly enough. I do watch to make sure I trim and jar the flowers while they are still in the >56% RH range. The key is to watch watch watch to make sure you don't get past the point of being too dry!

 

[bobrown14]

Wow a lot of information here.

anything under 60% RH is fine. You dont want the RH too high or your flowers will rot. Do not add a humidifier. If you RH is 52% instead of 60% the ONLY thing that will happen is your flowers will dry a little bit faster say 1/2 a day or so.... nothing to worry about.

In the winter our home has RH of 45-50% all that does to my drying time is speed it up a day. Thats it.

The important part of this process is the cure. Drying is important sure but most of the heavy lifting is in the curing stage.

You can leave the fan leaves on and hang it will slow the drying process and will be fine if your RH stays at 50-55% or even a lower. You add moisture and prolong the drying time you're asking for problems.

It's best to get the flower to the container in a prompt fashion. I've never dried a plant longer than 5 days hanging on the line.

Here's my process:

Chop and hang the plant upside down and trim off the fan leaves

Cut off each branch working from btm of the plant to the top and bud wash

Hang the branches on a line with a fan on low to move the air around a little bit.

After 3-4 days on the line, I'm checking for crispy sugar leaves.

Once the sugars are a little crispy I'm in the trimming window.

This is where life gets in the way.

I try and schedule my life around the trim table. Here's why:
It's gonna take a while - several hours maybe 2 days depending on size of harvest.
I've trimmed steady daily for a month so schedule becomes a thing.

I "prefer" my sugar leaves to be crispy almost to the point where the btm leaves on a flower will just peel off I dont need to cut them. Thats my preferred feel. Its not always like that but I try to do it when they are dry enough to peel off (just the btm 2 leaves on EACH flower).

Then hand trim the rest of the bunch and into containers.

Once in containers this is the curing process and the most influential when it comes to taste, smell and bag appeal. Kind of important to me.

Once in containers then I will check the flowers usually 2 times a day for the first week.

The flowers in a closed container the moisture still left in them will equalize thruout the flower. So moisture still in the stems and inner parts of the flower will migrate out and all the flowers will eventually become the same moisture content. This equalization takes a few days sometimes longer if the flowers were more moist.

Sometimes the flowers stick together from too much moisture. I will dump them all out into a box and spread them out if they are now too moist. If I timed it right all I will need to do is open the lid for an hour a day.

This is when the curing begins.

The flowers need to stay inside a clean closed container (start out with clean at the drying phase) for several weeks. Then after say 20 days or so I will add a 62% Boveda pack (large ones) to the flower and they will be able to continue curing and will stay fresh for a VERY long time. Well over 6 months to a year FRESH. While curing the flower will gain back a lot of its smell and flavor that we smelled shortly before harvest.

I usually always take fans off to speed up the drying time.

This is MY way that I've figured out over many years of harvesting. Lots of growers have their own methods but I've found trimming dry gets the best results hands down over wet trimming and how the "Pros" do it.

Congrats on your harvest. Sweet looking plants good job

 

[Dan Dark]

Wow a lot of information here.

anything under 60% RH is fine. You dont want the RH too high or your flowers will rot. Do not add a humidifier. If you RH is 52% instead of 60% the ONLY thing that will happen is your flowers will dry a little bit faster say 1/2 a day or so.... nothing to worry about.

In the winter our home has RH of 45-50% all that does to my drying time is speed it up a day. Thats it.

The important part of this process is the cure. Drying is important sure but most of the heavy lifting is in the curing stage.

You can leave the fan leaves on and hang it will slow the drying process and will be fine if your RH stays at 50-55% or even a lower. You add moisture and prolong the drying time you're asking for problems.

It's best to get the flower to the container in a prompt fashion. I've never dried a plant longer than 5 days hanging on the line.

Here's my process:

Chop and hang the plant upside down and trim off the fan leaves

Cut off each branch working from btm of the plant to the top and bud wash

Hang the branches on a line with a fan on low to move the air around a little bit.

After 3-4 days on the line, I'm checking for crispy sugar leaves.

Once the sugars are a little crispy I'm in the trimming window.

This is where life gets in the way.

I try and schedule my life around the trim table. Here's why:
It's gonna take a while - several hours maybe 2 days depending on size of harvest.
I've trimmed steady daily for a month so schedule becomes a thing.

I "prefer" my sugar leaves to be crispy almost to the point where the btm leaves on a flower will just peel off I dont need to cut them. Thats my preferred feel. Its not always like that but I try to do it when they are dry enough to peel off (just the btm 2 leaves on EACH flower).

Then hand trim the rest of the bunch and into containers.

Once in containers this is the curing process and the most influential when it comes to taste, smell and bag appeal. Kind of important to me.

Once in containers then I will check the flowers usually 2 times a day for the first week.

The flowers in a closed container the moisture still left in them will equalize thruout the flower. So moisture still in the stems and inner parts of the flower will migrate out and all the flowers will eventually become the same moisture content. This equalization takes a few days sometimes longer if the flowers were more moist.

Sometimes the flowers stick together from too much moisture. I will dump them all out into a box and spread them out if they are now too moist. If I timed it right all I will need to do is open the lid for an hour a day.

This is when the curing begins.

The flowers need to stay inside a clean closed container (start out with clean at the drying phase) for several weeks. Then after say 20 days or so I will add a 62% Boveda pack (large ones) to the flower and they will be able to continue curing and will stay fresh for a VERY long time. Well over 6 months to a year FRESH. While curing the flower will gain back a lot of its smell and flavor that we smelled shortly before harvest.

I usually always take fans off to speed up the drying time.

This is MY way that I've figured out over many years of harvesting. Lots of growers have their own methods but I've found trimming dry gets the best results hands down over wet trimming and how the "Pros" do it.

Congrats on your harvest. Sweet looking plants good job

Beautiful write up, concise, precise and easy to accomplish. The hardest thing for me as a new grower was getting to the end only to realize the cure would be the most important part of the grow - and you're not done for weeks after harvesting. That said, the wait is ALWAYS worth it!

 

[bobrown14]

Right on although...... me likey freshies the besties. lol

Only the farmer knows.

 

[Jammysmoker83]

Wow a lot of information here.

anything under 60% RH is fine. You dont want the RH too high or your flowers will rot. Do not add a humidifier. If you RH is 52% instead of 60% the ONLY thing that will happen is your flowers will dry a little bit faster say 1/2 a day or so.... nothing to worry about.

In the winter our home has RH of 45-50% all that does to my drying time is speed it up a day. Thats it.

The important part of this process is the cure. Drying is important sure but most of the heavy lifting is in the curing stage.

You can leave the fan leaves on and hang it will slow the drying process and will be fine if your RH stays at 50-55% or even a lower. You add moisture and prolong the drying time you're asking for problems.

It's best to get the flower to the container in a prompt fashion. I've never dried a plant longer than 5 days hanging on the line.

Here's my process:

Chop and hang the plant upside down and trim off the fan leaves

Cut off each branch working from btm of the plant to the top and bud wash

Hang the branches on a line with a fan on low to move the air around a little bit.

After 3-4 days on the line, I'm checking for crispy sugar leaves.

Once the sugars are a little crispy I'm in the trimming window.

This is where life gets in the way.

I try and schedule my life around the trim table. Here's why:
It's gonna take a while - several hours maybe 2 days depending on size of harvest.
I've trimmed steady daily for a month so schedule becomes a thing.

I "prefer" my sugar leaves to be crispy almost to the point where the btm leaves on a flower will just peel off I dont need to cut them. Thats my preferred feel. Its not always like that but I try to do it when they are dry enough to peel off (just the btm 2 leaves on EACH flower).

Then hand trim the rest of the bunch and into containers.

Once in containers this is the curing process and the most influential when it comes to taste, smell and bag appeal. Kind of important to me.

Once in containers then I will check the flowers usually 2 times a day for the first week.

The flowers in a closed container the moisture still left in them will equalize thruout the flower. So moisture still in the stems and inner parts of the flower will migrate out and all the flowers will eventually become the same moisture content. This equalization takes a few days sometimes longer if the flowers were more moist.

Sometimes the flowers stick together from too much moisture. I will dump them all out into a box and spread them out if they are now too moist. If I timed it right all I will need to do is open the lid for an hour a day.

This is when the curing begins.

The flowers need to stay inside a clean closed container (start out with clean at the drying phase) for several weeks. Then after say 20 days or so I will add a 62% Boveda pack (large ones) to the flower and they will be able to continue curing and will stay fresh for a VERY long time. Well over 6 months to a year FRESH. While curing the flower will gain back a lot of its smell and flavor that we smelled shortly before harvest.

I usually always take fans off to speed up the drying time.

This is MY way that I've figured out over many years of harvesting. Lots of growers have their own methods but I've found trimming dry gets the best results hands down over wet trimming and how the "Pros" do it.

Congrats on your harvest. Sweet looking plants good job

Bro I found your comment a joy to read. So much useful knowledge! To be honest this forum has been a blessing in disguise. I’ve picked up so much good advice in the last few months. Blessings to you all!! Added a quick pic of my temps/rh

 

[Jmaninthemiddle420]

Hi all looking for some advice from the pro growers. I’ve chopped my girls today and I’m just wondering what the perfect conditions are for drying? My tent is currently 21.4 degrees and 52% humidity. I’ve read so many conflicting answers that go against previous answers,now I’m scratching my head a little any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

Hi all looking for some advice from the pro growers. I’ve chopped my girls today and I’m just wondering what the perfect conditions are for drying? My tent is currently 21.4 degrees and 52% humidity. I’ve read so many conflicting answers that go against previous answers,now I’m scratching my head a little any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

I’m no expert but you might want to leave the sugar leaves on for 5 days, trim it, dry another 5 days or so than cure

 

[Bill284]

Imo the rh is a little low and temp a little hi. 2 cents.