How to control cannabis drying in a super dry environment

[grouchyoldman]

Help Save My Purple Widow From Imminent Dessication!

Cberdahl raised a really interesting question in a recent post (linked below) and I thought it might be worthwhile to dig a little deeper into the puzzle of controlled drying in a super dry environment. I am about two weeks away from a sweet harvest and I am facing this dilemma: The temps here are cool and very dry. Worse yet, the daily temps are trending up without an increase in humidity. My plant is completely healthy and thriving on those conditions. The sugar-coated buds are fattening up daily but an uncontrolled fast dry could wreck this otherwise successful harvest.

The problem is this, what is good for flowering is pretty challenging for drying & curing. The minute I chop, those branches will be faced with a humidity in the 25 - 35% RH range and temperatures in the 60's. Based on past experience, they'll dry to a clean bud-snap range in 24-36 hours unless I intervene somehow.

Most drying tutorials focus on problems with too much humidity rather than too little. I found a few suggestions of slowing down the drying process; wet trim, stacking the buds in a plastic bin & burping, humidifiers, wet towels under the buds etc. None of those seem efficacious once the branches are cut.

In any event, my intuition lead me to the very idea Cberdahl raised, basically, what if I just stop watering my plant and let everything dry "on the vine" so to speak? Drying my plant in the pot, uncut would naturally lengthen the drying time right into the range I'm shooting for, seven days to bud snap. Better yet, I could start the trim in stages as drying proceeded. Perfect.

Being a prudent grower I started looking around to see if anybody else had experience doing this but I came up empty handed. That's why I'm excited to read the replies to the @Cberdhal post! Turns out reputable GWE growers have first hand experience with this technique: SoOrbudgal has one drying "on the vine" right now, and quirk commonly uses this approach. I bet plenty of others have tried it as well.

Seek answers on GWE and ye shall find them! How cool is that?

How's about we flesh this subject out here with as much detail as we can muster. With a hat tip to Cberdahl, that's why I started this Thread with a little more instructive title.

Here are a few questions to get things started:

• How long do you think it would take for a plant drying in a nine gallon pot to dry out to the point where the small buds snap off cleanly.
• How far in advance of a normal (trichome-based) harvest day would you cut off watering?
• Do the buds dry sequentially from the top down, or is the entire plant "bud-snap" dry and ready to be jarred all at once.
• If there are other useful techniques for drying in really low RH, please share them here.

Ok, enough already from me! Thanks in advance to those with experience who are willing to take the time to share it with us.

-GOM

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...rying-question


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[desertdan]

Most of time when I am drying the RH is at the most 30% and temp avg. about 90f many times RH is 5-10%. I use swamp cooler and AC. Also I used cardboard boxes to hang buds to dry. You can seal them to various degrees for better hold on moisture. When super dry environment like dewpoint-15 as is the case here in winter one can mist outside of box. It is still possible to get mold even at 0% so be careful!

[desertdan]

I let my plants dry out in the soil before I cut them. I cut then at the first sign of water stress. Otherwise they will dry to a crisp in the sun. I would not let the plant dry out completely in the soil if you are outdoors. I tried this by accident with forgotten plant and it did not turn out well.

[crucialbunny]

I too have moved to box drying. Hang drying was going way to rapidly and leaving me with larfy brittle buds. The contained area seems to slow the process down considerably.

[grouchyoldman]

Thanks for the tips. The box idea sounds like it may do the trick. I have a humidifier in the room, but it isn't adequate to bring the whole area up to 45% RH.

[bboyfromwayback]

Drying with the leaves on and a humidifier will help

[Cberdahl]

• How long do you think it would take for a plant drying in a nine gallon pot to dry out to the point where the small buds snap off cleanly.

I thought about this more and as the plant doesn’t take up water at night, keeping it in the pot/in the dark wouldnt provide extra moister in the plant but a wet pot (or humidifier bboyfromwayback) would increase r/h in the area. Drying in the smallest area possible (cardboard box) would also help increase r/h likedesertdan mentioned.

• How far in advance of a normal (trichome-based) harvest day would you cut off watering?

I have low r/h where I am so I water big a couple days before harvest to make sure there is lots of water in the plant. Technically, if your room is set up right with correct temp and r/h, you can let your plant start to cure (7-15 days) on the plant, burp the room like a jar.

• Do the buds dry sequentially from the top down, or is the entire plant "bud-snap" dry and ready to be jarred all at once.

Smaller buds at the bottom will dry first and I usually cure them first. The large colas take a few days longer depending on the size.

• If there are other useful techniques for drying in really low RH, please share them here.

I only grow indoor and everyone’s growing environment is different. My suggestion would be to cut the whole plant and hang it as one tree. Water a few days before harvest and watch your r/h meter. If the plant feels really crispy within 7 days, put a large bag over the plant with r/h meter and watch it close. Mold can form if there is too much moister, so be careful and best of luck.

[SoOrbudgal]

OK here's what i'm seeing from my ZkittleZ fem. photo. She's suppose to be like a 60day flowering time but she's been going over 70 days now. So thought i'd try that darkness x48hrs and allowing the pot and plant to dry out. This morning i pulled her out of the closet as all tents are in use.

I have low humidity in the house do to woodheat. I see zero changes with her amber showing as a matter of fact i see very small 15% amber but all cloudy and smelling like candy. I'm chopping and hanging she's had in my view plenty of time she's just not a big amber showing gal but she's ready to harvest.

All the stems are hollow now that tells me also she is done, yellow branches also. No uptake from roots. She won't take long when hanging that's for sure, perhaps 4days? Any questions Cberdahl ?