I know that I also like doing foolish things and trying new things also. So here is the humor for you and how I do things. I like to dry as slowly as possible without mold. I also hang as much of the plant whole as I have room for, I prefer the entire plant but this is not always possible in my set up. In my weather conditions, cool with very high humidity my plants can take 1 week to 4 weeks to dry enough to put into cure jars, depending on the amount of plant left intact.
I also like to trim after the buds are dry instead of before I dry them. I do cut off the fan leaves so that they do not cover the buds but leave the sugar leaves on them. This is just personal choice that I have settled on over the years, I smoke mostly from the pipe so the little sugar leaves are easy for me to trim as I am ready to smoke. I have found that I do less damage to the trichs by leaving the sugar leaves on while they are in the cure jars and being handled and moved around in the jars. Maybe this isn't so, but it does give me a little comfort with them covered like this.
Now as far as your dry room. I would suggest a lower temp around 60 degrees F with humidity in the 50 to 60% range. The lower temps are good at retarding mold, most won't grow below the high 60's in your bud. The next thing would be good airflow in the room, not on the buds directly but with nice air currents throughout the dry area.
I wish you the best of luck with your dry room, this is my next project and I have been working on the details for awhile. Hope to hear how it turns out for you and the results you obtain.
