Advice on drying

Hi guys and girls,

Had a few grows turn out spot on when it comes to drying. Also have had plenty that haven't. Should probably keep some info on it so I can work out what I've done wrong. Will do that from now on.

I would guess the weather plays a huge role in my environment. Just drying some bud at the moment and has been hanging 5 days. Can already tell its gone like the past grows that fucked up drying. No real smell to it and nothing like when in flower. Now I know people will rush to say cure will bring it back. Yeah it does make some difference but times I've got it right its been lovely straight from the minute it came off the branch dried. It's not dry yet by the way but can't already tell.

Now this time of year the temperature was certainly no issue. It's been quite cold and tents been about 60f if not lower at times. Humidity however from day 1 was sitting at 60%. That's me talking about the rh on the day I cut it inside the tent. Usually hot and sweaty in there but wasn't at all this time. For most of the time the humidity has been about 44% but did see it drop to 39%. I am guessing humidity went to low and thats what fucked things? Had my fan setting to run at its lowest and still humidity was that low.
Thinking in the future should I buy a humidifier? One where I can set what I want the rh% to be.

My friend he will run a heater on the final day and still end up with better smelling weed. He has had bud rot a few times though, which makes me think his area must just be higher in humidity compare to my house. I remember one previous grow my fan broke on a day of drying and went a good few hours until I replaced the fan. Even that grow didn't end up with mold and in fact turned out smelling lovely.

Also I know as the bud dries humidity drops. With a humidifier should i set it at where I want it and leave it at that. Or do you guys lower it further into drying?
Is all I can think of the issue being, is no way I've had high temps in this cold weather. In fact I have wanted it cold thinking that it would slow the drying down. So I have had my window slightly open and been so cold I have slept in the room where the tent is in bed with a tracksuit on lol . The window slightly open isn't at the wall where the tent is by the way and so isn't like wind from that hitting the buds. Know they dont want air directed at them.

Thanks

same issues bro, im gonna catch 6 kinds of hell, but look into the myherbsnow herb drier, it freaking wiorks bro. period. 4 days after my chop i am in the jar, no worries about mold or room temp, or humidity, i fit 4-6 oz comfortably into the drier.
yeah i get a flat spot on the nugs, but other than that its great!,
really helped me out.
before you knock it because it goes agaisnt what weve always been told, look into it
remember back in the day? when you were an idiot for trying led lights. or lookit this dumbass growing something called an autoflower..
just saying check it out, youll be glad you did.
im in NO way affiliated, other than a happy customer who would recomend it to his bro

Funny enough I did come across that tonight when I googled. Figured there must be a system out there in this day and age. Trouble with that product though is I have way too much bud lol.

I am gonna buy a humidifier and look to get a controller with it or one which comes with one built in? Anyone got any recromends? Don't want one that sprays water up I guess as buds will be hanging in the tent. This way I can ensure a constant level of humidity through out drying. Tbh surprised I haven't already bought one before.

I imagine it won't be needed all the time as summer months tends to be more humid. Then I will have the issue of trying to dry whilst keeping temps down. Usually I just open the bedroom windows of the room where the tent is at. As the buds inside a tent it isn't like any winds hitting at it. The fresh air in the bedroom itself though might affect humidity so be good to be able to always control that. Could too much fresh air in the bedroom be an issue? If not blowing direct at buds as they are in the tent? Only thing I have heard it no air blowing directly at them. Then again we turn the intake off don't we and that isnt aiming at the buds?

Don't have the windows wide open at all. Just thinking I will need it open more to cool the temps down in the summer. Too much fresh air in the room bad? Even if not aimed at the buds and I'd have the humidifer keeping the rh% up

I have had it right a few times and been over the moon with my bud. I need to start taking more notes on grows. Just to write down info on drying and so when it works I can see what exactly the drying area was running at. I know it's online anyway what optimum conditions are. Also gonna grow in bigger pots maybe in the hope bigger buds itself slows things a little.

Running the same strain again once this lots dry. Feel I owe it to the strain to get it as good as I have others in the past. Could tell before drying that the plants were good.

Prince Vegeta said:

same issues bro, im gonna catch 6 kinds of hell, but look into the myherbsnow herb drier, it freaking wiorks bro. period. 4 days after my chop i am in the jar, no worries about mold or room temp, or humidity, i fit 4-6 oz comfortably into the drier.
yeah i get a flat spot on the nugs, but other than that its great!,
really helped me out.
before you knock it because it goes agaisnt what weve always been told, look into it
remember back in the day? when you were an idiot for trying led lights. or lookit this dumbass growing something called an autoflower..
just saying check it out, youll be glad you did.
im in NO way affiliated, other than a happy customer who would recomend it to his bro

Click to expand...

Preach it man. I was very very VERY skeptical about the herbsnow dryer.

Just got done with its first harvest with one and have already ordered another.

drying the trim for hash in her as I type.

If good weed goes in, good weed comes out

You mess up because you overthink everything.

I hang dry two weeks in an.open room that gets some air exchange - this is enough to let most stuff dry within 5-7 days. Its dry when it smokes well in a joint and best drying temps and humidities are simply what humans like indoors s'why growing and drying indoors works so well for waaay long time now.

For smell and taste to come through it takes a futher week hang drying from when they dry - enymatic and baterial process takes longer than just the dry which should be done in a week max.

Once your weed is dry you can keep sampling it to simply see ylthe taste and flavour come through. Once dry and taste and flavour come through its ready to jar.

Find the right spots in your house to dry, divide harvest up and experiment - now you never make mistake or get mold again.

Ten years ago this was the advice and worked for the dankess dankiggity dank weed medical top shelf but since then a lot of trolls and boveda early jar crap and the pro grower stuff got lost in translation.

Bud simply needs to hang dry and loose moisture - it is 10% solid matter 90% water and needs to loose 85% to 90% of that water to become a quater or under its final weight. At these moisture levels it will burn hence the simple put it in a joint and puff test.

Humidity means very little - lower humidities see the end product closer the 20% weight of wet bud amd higher closer the 25% - it all smokes and if you want dryer bud simply hang longer like three weeks or wet bud just jar after five as it aint ready yet.

Not rocket science and becarefull as fans and heaters move bud from natural drying to forced drying which will basically kill the taste and bud.

Good luck

Just in case wasnt clear hang for one week to dry and a futher week for tadte and smell - two week hang dry

Thanks for the reply mate.

I haven't ever had mould, even when I had a fan break on me during drying and so no fan running for a day. I was just thinking that's probably a sign that my humidity is always on the low side.

I know what your saying about finding the best place to dry. Trouble is it's a family home and so they wouldn't want me shoving grow stuff all over the place. Gotta try get the environment right with where I'm at. I know the slower the dry the better. I have had bud dry at just over a week and it smelled amazing right off the branch. Just a shame those times I didn't record exactly what I had done.

Humidity I'm confident I can sort out as ill buy a humidifier with a controller to get it constantly where I want it.
Temps I have a fan speed controller and it lets you set where you want it. In the summer though it's a struggle as you can imagine when outsides even hotter than the ideal temps and not running an intake. Do you think it will be worth buying an air conditioning unit? Just to run during the summer. Won't put it in the tent but in the room where my tents at.

Way I usually lower my temps is to open a window and have the intake pulling in fresh air into the tent. If I have the windows open during drying to bring the temps down. Thats still not going to effect things? It's outside the tent but being a fabric no doubt air still gets through it. However if im keeping the humidity constant at where I want it. Fresh air outside the tent and not actually directly in it should be okay right? An air conditioning unit that others use must be adding fresh air to the environment?

My friend he hangs his and has even used a heater to speed it up and still ended up with good stinking bud. I'm guess in his humidity is higher where he dries though as he has had mold. Fact he has speeded his up and still got better. Makes me think the humidity must play quite a big role in the drying process.

Good genetics and dry trim

I guess what I want to know is. How much of an impact does the air in room where the tent is kept affect things? If I have the bedroom window open to try keep temps down. Will that mean too much fresh air is leaking into the tent? I can get it the ideal temperature and with a humidifier I'm sure I can keep the humidity up. Just in the hotter periods, I would need to open a bedroom window slightly.

Next grow I'm also gonna go with bigger pots and look to have bigger buds. I was using 6litre pots of coco. Was giving them 1 litre of water each and watering daily. I feel though would have been better to give 2litres and get run off every time like when I flushed it. Noticed the buds wasn't as big as previous grow. What's dried makes me feel like is from a plant in a smaller pot. Simply where I watered wrong imo.

Have seen ways I can improve anyway. Just be good to know how much of an impact would having the window slightly open have. Wouldn't be nothing directly hitting the buds in terms of wind as the bud will be inside the tent. Just as its a fabric dunno if it'll count as a proper sealed area.

You got to grow for ketones thiols and fatty acid esters not terpenes and cbd. Monoterpene isn't a smell that holds.

Trying to preserve terpenes, wtf does that have to do with weed, go grow some rosemary if you want to smell shampoo. I'll stick with weed that smells like weed and isn't so fragile and snowflake like.

Trash Cali genetics + growstore methodology = blowing VOCS into the air during grow, then they're gone.

I didnt read all posts but i will say this...

IMO you dont really want to smell terps when your weed is drying, or really even when its in the jars much. You shoukd smell terps the most when breaking up buds.
While drying you kind of want the grass/hay smell as that is chlorophyl you are smelling. If you are smelling chlorophyl (or terps) that means they are being released by the buds.

Dry too fast and chlorophyl gets trapped in buds.
Dry in t hot of temps and terps break down and release from buds.

I also use a myherbsnow and it's great. Highly recommend it, especially if your short on space.

Craigson said:

I didnt read all posts but i will say this...

IMO you dont really want to smell terps when your weed is drying, or really even when its in the jars much. You shoukd smell terps the most when breaking up buds.
While drying you kind of want the grass/hay smell as that is chlorophyl you are smelling. If you are smelling chlorophyl (or terps) that means they are being released by the buds.

Dry too fast and chlorophyl gets trapped in buds.
Dry in t hot of temps and terps break down and release from buds.

Click to expand...

Or just grow genetics that are strong smelling all the time.

Gemtree said:

Or just grow genetics that are strong smelling all the time.

Click to expand...

Lol that makes zero sense in reference to my post.

You are overthinking it. Everything @Kingrow1 said is true Keep It Simple Stoner! Dark & cool place room/closet/garage hang it for a week or 2 then bag it up simple as that

You hang till dry which is a point it becomes smokable and then hang more till the taste and smell come through.

Wet bud is 10% organic matter 90% water

Dried bud is 10% organic matter 10-15% water. Dried bud approx 20-25% weight of wet bud.

We write 10-15% to adjust for those in higher and lower humidities but those in higher humidities can just hang longer to achieve a lower final moisture content if they so wish.

It takes upto a week to dry and upto a week for taste and flavour to come through so we give guidelines of two weeks but it may be done a few days before again depending on your environment. You can simply check by sampling some.

The idea is to finish your bud fully by drying, it should be ready to sell smoke or concentrate. The jar is pretty meaningless except it provides a stable storage environment and long term will enable small changes from futher enzymatic process that happen slowly at a low moisture level.

Anyone can take a small bud and practice leaving their main harvest early jarred with boveda just to check this data set it 100% accurate and also learn a method that teaches you the science behind drying and producing tasty dank bud. Master this and you master the whole subject, go straight to boveda and a load of broscience confusion and you will only end up a troll with failed ego issues here and in life.

This info has been carefully passed on amongst the hobby growers here - i remember members dreaming up boveda and then it becoming a product

LemonFuelPinesol said:

You are overthinking it. Everything @Kingrow1 said is true Keep It Simple Stoner! Dark & cool place room/closet/garage hang it for a week or 2 then bag it up simple as that

Click to expand...

What amazed me was finding out how the old hash makers use to dry snd cure.

Initially these dudes hung the plant till dry say two weeks and then stacked in a pile in the corner of their house for six months or a year for some of the more quality hashish.

Stuff was bone dry as long hanging periods allow futher moisture to escape and start coming close to very low almost zero percent moisture.

Then they would beat the whole crop across a sieve and continue on to make hash from the trichs.

Fuck these guys didnt even jar or cover to cure - they knew their shit from a 1000 year industry. Weed dont even need jarring to cure only time.

What works for hash dont for bud, we seal that last moisture in to prevent it turning to zero moisture level and subsequent dust but that suits hashmakers who use some material as bulk and dont mind it crumbling to a particulate.

This whole recent industry talks rubbish about humidity - some old dude in a field in thailand knows more than your average industry boveda type grower.

I love to write this stuff, too many idiots and egos surround my hobby and love of growing a herb

Craigson said:

Lol that makes zero sense in reference to my post.

Click to expand...

Yea it does I haven't grown a stain you had to squeeze to smell in years. You said you want the grass/hay smell lol good luck with that

Gemtree said:

Yea it does I haven't grown a stain you had to squeeze to smell in years. You said you want the grass/hay smell lol good luck with that

Click to expand...

Simple science.
In order to give off a smell of terps the terps must release/leave the buds.
Similar w heat/cold. If something is getting warmer then it is releasing cold.

Kingrow1 said:

Wet bud is 10% organic matter 90% water

Dried bud is 10% organic matter 10-15% water. Dried bud approx 20-25% weight of wet bud.

We write 10-15% to adjust for those in higher and lower humidities but those in higher humidities can just hang longer to achieve a lower final moisture content if they so wish.

Click to expand...

After wet bud lost 90% of <whatever> the remaining organic matter is still 10%? According to your statement dried bud is 10% organic plus 15% water for a total of 25% material. And what's with the rest 75%? Gone out of the equation. This is not a proper way of doing percentage values. A percentage value always refers to the 100% total that's there, not including stuff that were already lost! If you add up all percentage values and the outcome isn't 100% then that's an error.

Craigson said:

If something is getting warmer then it is releasing cold.

Click to expand...

I think I just heard Newton moan in his grave (and Maxwell turned around 3 times) ^^
No offense ment though. The way you paraphrase it makes it look as if cold/heat is some sort of opposite when in fact it's just different faces of the same thing (temperature).
I agree with the rest of what you said on drying/curing though.

Yeah, if you smell something, that something is lost. However, the stuff our nose detects is very very tiny. Things can smell for a long time w/o the source of smell loosing significantly mass.

Kingrow1 said:

What amazed me was finding out how the old hash makers use to dry snd cure.

Initially these dudes hung the plant till dry say two weeks and then stacked in a pile in the corner of their house for six months or a year for some of the more quality hashish.

Stuff was bone dry as long hanging periods allow futher moisture to escape and start coming close to very low almost zero percent moisture.

Then they would beat the whole crop across a sieve and continue on to make hash from the trichs.

Fuck these guys didnt even jar or cover to cure - they knew their shit from a 1000 year industry. Weed dont even need jarring to cure only time.

What works for hash dont for bud, we seal that last moisture in to prevent it turning to zero moisture level and subsequent dust but that suits hashmakers who use some material as bulk and dont mind it crumbling to a particulate.

This whole recent industry talks rubbish about humidity - some old dude in a field in thailand knows more than your average industry boveda type grower.

I love to write this stuff, too many idiots and egos surround my hobby and love of growing a herb

Click to expand...

The only idiot in this thread is you.

The great hashmakers of Marocco, Afghan, Lebanon (et al) do totally lack the manpower/infrastructure to properly cure buds. They also deliver a completely different product so it doesn't make sense at all to do a cure on their part. Their plants trichome profile is all amber (and decarb'ing as a part of turning kief into hash will actually further increase the transition of THC into CBN).
Most don't hang weed to dry - they let it dry on the field and simply store in barracks und subsequently turn it into kief.

Hash makes you tired.
Weed can (and should IMO) be uplifting (but that's entirely dependant on the strain's genetic plus personal preferred trichome profile (ie. mostly clear - mostly cloudy - mostly amber) = (only uplifting - balanced - couchlocking)

However, there are also different ways to do hash (eg. Nepalese/pollum/skuff/ice etc pp can also be initially uplifting) and so on and so forth.

So you know about Thai weed? I'm impressed. Because in the other thread you boasted about "hundreds of harvests" you brought home.... May I ask how old are you? Because it's not possible to do more than 5 harvests per year, but 3-4 times is more common. However, a true Thai-Sativa will take 120-140 days to show amber trichomes plus add 4-5 weeks if you go from seed until maturity sets in. You can only bring 2 such harvests annually home. You must be over 100 years old.

You know who uses your method for drying weed? The Mexican drug cartels, and basically alot of criminal or commercial growers because it's convenient and a good way to counter mold. They sell their stuff fast so it won't matter that the product will turn dusty after a year.

A true cannabis connoiseur however invests some additional time so his buds get even better after 6 months, and won't taste so harsh. And is also more healthy because of less nitrate/chlorophyll. And if vaccuumed and stored close to freezing in the dark will last a lifetime.