DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[DonkeyDick]

Basis for cold cure HERE

Quite a different conversation over there, yeah? I think we’re all going to give freeze-drying a bit of a swerve.

I think low and slow will catch on. It’s fun to be closer to the start of something than is usual for me

Hers the pic

Perfect. Man. Grow creep really hits the wallet doesn’t it? Got an even bigger wish list now. Dammit. Looks ideal.

 

[Tejasdirt]

Quite a different conversation over there, yeah? I think we’re all going to give freeze-drying a bit of a swerve.

I think low and slow will catch on. It’s fun to be closer to the start of something than is usual for me

You will know it's caught on when you see ads for

ZenteC
A Specifically designed unit for the upscale cannibus grower.
Self contained,
temperature and humidity controlled
For the drying and cureing of your conniseur & medical self grown cannibus.
Complements any decor!!!
Only $1799 !!!!!

Translation:
A cube minifridge with Steeltainers tossed in .........
.

 

[Sierra Cowboy]

omg this shit takes soooo long
took me 7 hours pretty much non stop to just do the critical

early this morning, cat having a nose

two piles on the right the critical
one on the left royal haze, chucked them to fridge like that when i realised after a couple of hours this was no quick job

and all bagged in fridge

847g wet weight, 14x 52g 1x54g 1x40g 1x25g and around 110g of trim bagged up also.
not bad? lol

omg the royal haze next help meee

so glad im not harvesting all them at once

My plants are getting a "Cat Scan" daily, Cat approved so far. I have learned to include at least one Feline Supervisor on all of my projects, they seem to be all-knowing.

 

[Sierra Cowboy]

PHEW 115 pages of priceless information consumed, my head is spinning, my butt is sore and my eyes are twitching I wrote in my Journal that this post is well worth the read and after completing the entire thing I feel even more convinced that it should be a "required read" for any newbie and most of all others. The urge to skip to the end hit a couple of times but I stuck in there and sure enough it payed off, post #2256 showed me something that I will be using going forward. Thank you SweetSue and Dr. Ziggy and all of the other contributors for starting and adding so much to this. I feel like I just finished a semester course. I will be harvesting my first crop shortly and will be utilizing the knowledge that I have gained here to produce the best final product possible. I have my fridge lined up, my hygrometers are on order and stack of paper bags are on the shopping list.

 

[weenmeoff]

Good on you Sierra for soaking in all the knowledge and for going for the low and slow dry on your first grow. You will not be disappointed! Keep us posted.

No offense to newfun but I don't see anything special about post 2257. Did you mean 2256?

 

[Sierra Cowboy]

Good on you Sierra for soaking in all the knowledge and for going for the low and slow dry on your first grow. You will not be disappointed! Keep us posted.

No offense to newfun but I don't see anything special about post 2257. Did you mean 2256?

Yep 2256 I will go back and edit, thanks for bringing that to my attention

 

[limpfingerz207]

I was at a trimming party and at one point i did bring up the idea of using a fridge for the drying/curing process. Almost every one there were being closed minded and said they'll get all moldy and yucky. lol so i made a deal with them and I got a branch for a test / experiment. Absolutely cannot wait to see how it turns out, and watch for my friend's reaction after he opens the jar \ smoke it.

I did the bud wash, hang dry for 6 hrs and trimmed it up a little bit. The buds were not cut off the stem and i just let it hang in the paper bag. So far it's been 4 days and I pulled it out for a bit at room temp before placing it back in the fridge.

 

[Tony Urban]

I was at a trimming party and at one point i did bring up the idea of using a fridge for the drying/curing process. Almost every one there were being closed minded and said they'll get all moldy and yucky. lol so i made a deal with them and I got a branch for a test / experiment. Absolutely cannot wait to see how it turns out, and watch for my friend's reaction after he opens the jar \ smoke it.

I did the bud wash, hang dry for 6 hrs and trimmed it up a little bit. The buds were not cut off the stem and i just let it hang in the paper bag. So far it's been 4 days and I pulled it out for a bit at room temp before placing it back in the fridge.

They are gonna be happily surprised.

 

[Steve9814]

Does this method still allow the chlorophyll to break down? A lot of your buds still look very green once cured how is this not harsh to smoke?

 

[Tejasdirt]

I think I’m going to try the low and slow method with my personal stash, and standard hang dry/cure the rest as I have before with good results.

I will comment come August with those updates

Updates????

 

[limpfingerz207]

think my stuff is in the cure stage at this point. I cut the buds off the branch and Jared them with a hygrometer to see where they were at. Its been couple days consistent at 66%. The jars were burped a few times and now i think it's safe to leave it closed for a little while. I'll just keep an eye on the meter for a couple weeks and then i'll try smoking a nug.

 

[Newfun]

Keep us updated. Take a hole for us non-smokers. Lol

 

[PCaddict]

Quick question do you wet trim before putting in fridge in brown paper bags or dry trim later ?

 

[Sierra Cowboy]

From what I have read, most are trimming to the sugar leaves and going from there. The larger leaves protect the buds during the drying process

 

[PCaddict]

From what I have read, most are trimming to the sugar leaves and going from there. The larger leaves protect the buds during the drying process

That is this is our tiny harvest it was an auto flower. We have three more plants that are bigger then this tiny thing , We have one that is a Gorilla Glue #4 and one mystery plant that came from a mystery seed so we don't know what it is and we took a clone off of one and it is small too

 

[InTheShed]

Quick question do you wet trim before putting in fridge in brown paper bags or dry trim later ?

I prefer to wet trim so I can find anything that needs to be found before any more damage might be done...mold and caterpillars are the main targets. I don't want to wait a week or three and lose more buds. But I grow outside.

I also find it's harder to trim off the sugar leaves once they have dried and curled into the buds.

 

[InTheShed]

Since it's been a long time since anyone posted the actual low and slow technique, I thought I would drop the latest SweetSue instructions that @MrSauga has so kindly assembled:

-----------------------------------
Basic points:

• Paper bags will help speed the process by about a week.
• You’ll get better than 25% back, so loading the bags at 28 grams wet means every four bags will bring you very close to an ounce dry.
• 28 grams to a lunch bag is a good volume for smooth drying.
• Save most trimming for later to retain even more terpenes. I only take off fans.
• Laying the bags on their side increases surface area facilitating the drying process.

Wash the buds and hang dry for 4 hours and then trim the buds into the bags.

After three days open the bags, reach in and gently bounce the buds apart. Close up and put them back in place.

Do this again at least one more time, about 3 days later. After that you can forget about them.

In two weeks I pull them and finish drying with rice balls to 62-65%. Then into a jar with a Boveda.

In the instructions below, Sue skipped the step where you take them out of the bags after a week and put them in a sealed jar for a few hours with a hygrometer to check the process.

--------------------

The process is a simple one. You want humidity levels at around 45-50% and temperatures at 40-45 degrees F.

* Harvest and wash buds, if that's your inclination. I will tell you, that washing the buds will facilitate a more even and faster dry. Most of us let the branches hang to dry for around 4 hours. This is completely arbitrary. You're going to dry them nonetheless.

* Trim the buds from the branches small enough that they won't take forever to dry. It'll take a round or two to find your personal sweet spot, but everyone has their own comfort zone.

* Place the buds in jars that'll be gently tumbled daily or every three days, or into paper bags. In either case keep in mind that you're trying to create maximum surface area, so avoid overloading the storage container.

* Occasionally tumble, separate, or do whatever floats your boat to keep the buds from forming a big, sticky ball. I find that I have great luck with the bags if about every three days I stick a hand in and move things around.

* Once a week let the buds air dry in a room with reasonable humidity to help drop the levels a little faster. I usually don't start doing this until the second week. Larger buds can take up to three weeks to get down to below 70% humidity, but in bags, most material is ready to work the rest of the humidity out in jars, and the cure begins at the two-week mark. I use rice to help with this.

* When you have them stable in the jars, begin curing as per your favorite method.

 

[MrSauga]

Just for the record, as I don't want anyone to think that I'm taking credit for Sue's work, that info ^^ was the method in a nutshell. Sorry Shed if I led you to believe they were my additional notes.

 

[InTheShed]

Edited to reflect that.

 

[MrSauga]