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Curing when on vacation

I'm not harvesting after I come back because my grow area needs an everyday procedure to keep things running, I have big and small containers and would be tricky to leave the small ones because they'd dry in one or two days. I'm def harvesting before, I'm just wondering if I should quick dry the buds (and even if I'm able to do so becuase the high humidity around here), then put it inside brown bags or if I do a standard dry and hope for the best once they're inside the jars with bovedas.
 
It really is mate and I'm sooo busy right now but things will get better this week and I hope to have some time to make better decisions. They're all photos - 3 mothers and 5 clones.
 
The environment in which the jars are storaged has a RH around 75%. Would it be a problem for the humidity inside the jars? There isn't any exchange of moisture from the room to the jars once they're sealed? Could be a dumb question but I truly don't know this for sure.
If there isn't then it shouldn't be a problem to leave the jars untouched for a week once they've been properly dried.
 
Would you say the same thing for a week of drying on racks and another week of nugs untouched inside the paper bags?
 
Yea it's enough to get them dry but you never know for sure. Don't you think that without burping a week they won't be prone to develop mold?
 
Mr Pot there are too many variables. If it were me and I were forced to leave before I had brought the RH down to the point when I could leave the jars closed without having to burp them, I'd definitely put the bud in thick paper bags. I would rather stop the cure than have moldy bud.
 
I hear ya on the constant attention needed for your grow..:) I am the same way..lol..

Out of all the suggestions posted, I really like the idea of chopping just the branches and letting them dry while you are gone.

To make use of my carbon filter that is in my flower tent, I also use it for the initial drying while lights are still running 12/12.

Here is what I have rigged up, I use a big paper grocery bag, flipped upside down, put small hole in center of bottom of bag, run a plastic clothes hanger up the inside of the bag and thread the hanging loop of hanger through the hole in bottom of bag. So now you should have a upside down paper bag that you can hang.

Hang your branches on the clothes hanger bottom part. close off bag with clothes pin. Add some 1/2 holes here and there on the bag that will allow airflow, yet keep light off of flower.

Not perfect by any means, but works and the paper will help buffer the flower from drying out too fast. but also keeping them from staying too wet.

Just throwing out an idea for ya..:) Good Luck.
 
I run a dehumidifier in my basement and I have to empty it every 12 hours. I was leaving for vacation back in July and had no way to empty it, so I went to Lowe's and found a 50ft flexible hose and I was able to run from the dehumidifier to my sump crock and now I never have to empty the bucket ever again! It was years overdue and the most convenient investment I think I've ever made. I was able to run it along the wall and around the steps and I only have to step over it when going into the laundry room. I highly recommend you do the same.
 
MP, Listen to ATU here!!!! If you do NOT know the exact moisture content of your flower prior to leaving, DO NOT put them in the jars sealed up. Better to error on the side of being too dry once you get home as you can still use it.... Paper bag, allow some air circulation and even in 75%RH they will be fine.

Otherwise you may come home to jars full of funk and you will get NOTHING USABLE out of them.

What is the WORSE case scenario for being to dry? Make hash, make tinctures, edibles, crap smoke?

Worse case for jars of funk, 4 more months of hard work and a hard lesson to learn, however you will never make that mistake again..:(
 
If the weed is good, it won't be crap smoke!!! Just throw some Boveda 65%s in there to moisturize it.

There's some controversy about the cure: some folks insist that the high when your weed is dry won't change after curing... Good bud is good bud, long as you don't do something really dumb with it...
 
Totally agreed ATU, however as you have stated, curing is a bit subjective for some. I will take what appears to be overly dried flower over a jar full of funk any day..:)
 
Ok. So what I could really do is delay my harvest a few days (I was thinking about 23-24th MERRY XMAS), then babysit my drying area for 3-4 days (I'm leaving 27th) with the dehumidifier and stuff. Right before I leave put them inside the bags (also have to wonder how many oz per bag - some people say about only one layer of nugs a bag) and leave it inside my tent (that'll be turned into my drying area after harvesting without the dehumidifier) with my two fans blowing towards the wall. One week after and fingers crossed they won't be turned into dried dust when I come back. This is almost a slow drying process with two steps - drying rack and sturdy paper bags, aight? Won't the high humidity fuck everything up since I'm leaving the nugs in the exact same position for a week, I mean, can't it create wet spots on the paper?

The other option is to have a standard dry for a week or so (in this case I'd chop them @19-20th and dry till 26-27th keeping an eye for RH inside the tent). Right before leaving put them into the jars with the bovedas and hope that when I come back I don't have any mold. This seems like a better option only if I'm able to accurately dry them in time before closing it, there can't be a room for error since this option is more prone to mold.

Overall I'd say option one is better but only if I'm sure that the paper bags won't create wet spots (and my intuition says it'll because I'll be away for 7 days and not 2-3). Option two seems to be way more risky as I'm dealing with wet conditions inside the jars.
What do you say?
 
Also when the lights are off I cannot control RH so well. It's really hard to keep it at 55%, most likely to stay at >60%. So the first option would be drying for 3-4 days with these conditions and when I leave and the dehumidifier isn't working the paper bags will be conditioned to >75%.
 
I'm not sure if I'm able to do so because of my grow area logistics. I'd have to leave the door open and cut a hole on the bottom of the dehum. reservoir. Lift it up with a chair or something like this and dump the water freely with the hose using gravity. It is really a good idea but idk if I could to this. Dunno if I have such place to dump the water near the grow room.. But it could work with some well done job gdog! Thanks for the idea.
 
This could be a good idea, Sock. I'm tempted with all the reviews. Sorry bout questioning every1 but I'm trying to do best with the tools that are available.
 
The jars in option two would need to be pretty stabilized before you left, humidity wise. So they would need to be fan dried for 4-5 days then checked in the jars for two more days to see that they are stable between 60-65 percent. I wasn't saying put them in the jars wet with bovedas. Then you would finish curing (burping) when you got back. Paper bags are great but the material should be moved regularly or it does form a wet spot on the bag under the herb. Either way can form mold. Getting most of the moisture out of the material before you leave is the best bet and in my opinion in high humidity the only way to do that is with a fan. That said if the humidity is 80 percent a fan is still only going to reduce the moisture level in the plant to 80 percent. If its in a bag same thing .The paper bag can't magically reduce the moisture level if the air is saturated. The bag will absorb the moisture from the atmosphere and the material will still not Dry further.
 
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I raised my dehumidifier up onto a milk crate and that was high enough to let the water flow into the crock. My dehumidifier has a connection for a hose on the back. Most of them do, at least I thought they all did, but could be wrong. Do you have some kind of basement drain? It doesn't drain all that much water at once, so maybe that could work. No sump crock in the basement?
 
You are doing great MP..:) Thanks DM1..:) We always want the best for our girls and it sucks when we have to step out of our comfort zone, especially when we are so close to the finish line..lol..

I would urge you MP to not leave them in jars while on vacay if you can help it, being so fresh off the chopping block..
 
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