DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[falstaffo]

out of curiosity
how much do you fill jars for cure test and cure proper?
i have a load of 2l airtight jars, 1/3-1/2? or do you fill them higher still?

 

[Hdinkleman]

out of curiosity
how much do you fill jars for cure test and cure proper?
i have a load of 2l airtight jars, 1/3-1/2? or do you fill them higher still?

i do one bud at a time in seperate jars.
then i try to sort by size and put multiple colas in a jar and test the humidity of the bunch

after drying a few times i can almost tell just by touch at this point

 

[SweetSue]

i do one bud at a time in seperate jars.
then i try to sort by size and put multiple colas in a jar and test the humidity of the bunch

after drying a few times i can almost tell just by touch at this point

Interesting.... I keep mine mixed, figuring that’ll give me a closer reading on the crop at large.

out of curiosity
how much do you fill jars for cure test and cure proper?
i have a load of 2l airtight jars, 1/3-1/2? or do you fill them higher still?

I don’t fill any tighter than 3/4 full on my jars. It’s mostly habit, but I feel more comfortable not jamming everything into the jars. The humidity reading won’t be effected so much as I feel leaving the jars a little “loose” reduces any chances of mold.

 

[Hdinkleman]

day 6 hanging in fridge

Ok having a little bit of an issue, not sure what to do.

so the smaller colas in the fridge are feeling a little crispy on the outsides. one of the smallest that i jarred two days before the rest was already at the target humidity at 66%

so i jarred 4 of the small colas overnight to check RH
woke up today and it was at 80 and the buds had sweated moisture and now are moist again.

should i rehang them in the fridge now?
does taking the buds in and out of the fridge ruin taste/smell?
i cut the buds off the stem.

what im thinking is this—-
when the buds hanging start to feel crispy on the outside, take them out and jar them over night, then after 12 hours of jarring, cut the buds off the stem.

one thing im realizing from this dry and last harvests dry is that the stem itself is what is holding all the moisture.

does this sound right ?

 

[falstaffo]

i stripped all mine off the stems bar pretty much the top nugs on each stalk.
some huge colas but all individual buds now of varying sizes, not possible to hang them now lol

i figured about 1/2 to max max 3/4 @SweetSue , was conducting jar tests with one at 1/2 one at 3/4 and were almost the same.

 

[SweetSue]

i stripped all mine off the stems bar pretty much the top nugs on each stalk.
some huge colas but all individual buds now of varying sizes, not possible to hang them now lol

i figured about 1/2 to max max 3/4 @SweetSue , was conducting jar tests with one at 1/2 one at 3/4 and were almost the same.

Good to know my instincts were right. I’ve seen jars in other homes packed full, but turnover was swift and they never stayed that full for long.

 

[Hdinkleman]

so my method now consists of

-harvest
-wash
- hang in fridge for approx 1 week
- break down colas to smaller nugs
- place those smaller nugs into jars to get the RH% (making sure it is below 70% but higher than ~62%
- place in Cvaults with lid partly open for final approach to 68% rh

one thing that worries me is that if the stem is retaining so much moisture, its hard to get an accurate reading of what the RH% is actually without cutting the buds from the main stem

so my theory would say, we must check rh once the bud is cut from main cola stem because it isnt an accurate reading with the stem still attached

 

[InTheShed]

I'm pretty sure the low and slow method starts will cutting the buds off the stem before they go in bags. Since you're hanging them that's not an option, so cutting them off when testing in jars is probably a good idea!

 

[Hdinkleman]

I'm pretty sure the low and slow method starts will cutting the buds off the stem before they go in bags. Since you're hanging them that's not an option, so cutting them off when testing in jars is probably a good idea!

i think its just two roads to get to the same place.... i hope lol

for me personally it is a little easier to just hang then cut. i like to do all the washing and trimming at once. then i can somewhat pick and choose which colas are ready to be broken down as they hang, so i space out the rest of the trimming time

 

[falstaffo]

oh i just soldiered through with what needed chopping washing trimming in one sitting at harvest time lol
wanted it all done and dusted.

 

[Hdinkleman]

So just for reference.
its been 9 days hanging and after separating the small colas it looks like im in the target range or very close to it.

if they are a little too high i will set them in a cvault with the lid slightly open and set back into fridge

 

[falstaffo]

3weeks3days bagged up in the fridhe fror the critical

running a jar test on all.

have done one every other day the past week with 3 bags,
been in the cupboard a little while.
fingers crossed they stay it below 70 lol

so i started with around 52g wet trimmed in each bag, they were flat paper bags to begin and so often squished a bit,
got some square bottom ones a week or so in when i trimmed and bagged up the 2 gas girls:
tbh if i had halved each bag.. id have needed a third fridge. i also bagged the gas up in 50g’s, have now split them somewhat into the bags the critical came out of and put split one in each fridge now.

if the critical need more time il leave the lids ajar and put the jars in the fridge as they are.
fridges are still full lol
gas1

gas2

the royal haze that was in there is out now too, burping since burping.

not too fussed about this stuff. these girls had a hard confused life lol

quick question, once they are 69 or below, should i straight chuck the boveda62s in?

 

[DonkeyDick]

Looking awesome!

 

[EhCndGrower]

Just harvested my first plant from my 2nd grow today. Wasn’t a big crop (150g of Peyote Critical) Did my first harvest on the mesh drying rack but it didn’t dry the way I wanted it too. (Uneven drying, but mostly too dry after 2 days on the rack) So I’m trying the paper bag drying method and will see how things go. Hanging in the basement where it’s roughly 60%RH and very little light coming in

 

[InTheShed]

once they are 69 or below, should i straight chuck the boveda62s in?

No! Boveda packs will take a long time to get from the high 60s down to 62, and you run the risk of mold while you wait. They were designed for long term storage stability, not as a dehumidifier.

If you're in a low RH environment you should be able to quickly burp them down to 62%, but if you're in a higher RH area, I'd use rice balls (link in my sig) to lower the RH in the jars. Rice balls allow you to lower the RH while still sealing in the terpenes you've been saving during the low and slow process.

 

[falstaffo]

No! Boveda packs will take a long time to get from the high 60s down to 62, and you run the risk of mold while you wait. They were designed for long term storage stability, not as a dehumidifier.

If you're in a low RH environment you should be able to quickly burp them down to 62%, but if you're in a higher RH area, I'd use rice balls (link in my sig) to lower the RH in the jars. Rice balls allow you to lower the RH while still sealing in the terpenes you've been saving during the low and slow process.

ok cool!!
on it today then, 66-68% across 3 and one still hitting 70 last night so went back in fridge.
fairly humid here the past days too, so may give this a short try

 

[falstaffo]

got a little bored today, and felt creative, wanted to try make a drying rack to stand in the fridge to perhaps speed up the drying in my circumstance. to essentially be able to fit more into one fridge,as the bags take up a lot of space, but not so they are completely expsed, was looking at proper hanging drying racks, the round mesh type ones with multiple layers, but theyd be too big.

started with a frame

used some new cotton pillow cases, theyre not fluffy and seem less abrasive than cheese cloth and seemed softer too, only have one plant in here atm, spread over 3 ‘shelves’

whats everyones opinion? think it would work ok?
i can add more shelves and at least spread the other drying girl over a them. i could also line them with brown paper bags so they dont touch cloth if it would be better?
just bandying ideas.

@SweetSue what you reckon?

 

[Alafornia]

Looks great to me. Thank you for sharing, @falstaffo .

 

[falstaffo]

Looks great to me. Thank you for sharing, @falstaffo .

thanks, i was planing to make individual shelves to slide in and out, but was a bit in depth and didnt have the resources to make all of that today lol so it ended up perhaps not as pretty, but with the pc’s wrapped how they are they create an enclosed space with the opening at the front; enough to gently spread all the bud out so its not compacting.

 

[weenmeoff]

Ingenious! Nice work! I'm not sure about the cotton, maybe someone else can speak to that.

How about paper shopping bags, using binder clips to attach to frame and keep closed...?