Drying! HELP!

[Derrickb16]

My question is simple I got 2 weeks til harvest so I want to start my closet dry room ready the closet doesn't have anything in it but the hangers I'mma use and a fan.. of course no windows so it's dark I live in Michigan so it's still cold outside... our heat is around a good 85f degrees basically what all do i need? dehumidifier, humidifier, what temp? and humidity i've searched but there wasn't a good answer I'm trying to avoid mold and other dangerous things...

 

[DJ TEEREKS]

Winter climate is usually fairly dry so don't worry about humidifyers/dehumidifier. Just make sure it's dark and let the whole plant hang in one piece after the big fan leaves have been cut off. A fan would be good if it was a smaller closet, just don't blast them with wind or they'll dry to fast and get crispy. Rather, let the air circulate on the ground. Check it everyday and trim once the outside of the buds are crisp while the stems are still bendable. If you have several plants, make sure to rotate them for even airflow. Good luck.

 

[greentiger.sd]

ok so this is how it's done. don't have pics of this up but i'll put some up when i can of all this.
just nail 2x2's into studs in the closet on either end and attach/nail/hook strings to each 2x2. chop all the plants down at the base and hang on the strings, you can put multiple levels of strings if your plants aren't too tall also. note: don't worry about trimming anything off, i repeat don't worry about trimming anything off, hang the whole plant like it is. Pop a dehumidifier on in the room or closet if it fits. everything will be done drying in 3 to 5 days tops, seriously. then take everything down and dry trim, this creats great trim so save your trim, make some butter, kief, etc. after you're done trimming it while it's dry, pop the buds in turkey bags or jars and this will bring back smell and cure it at the end. if you know what you're doing while you grew it, you're bud will taste and smell awesome with this method no matter what.
PS anyone using racks is doesn't know what they're doing, how do you like that beautiful one side smashed bud of yours?
PSS no lie and i don't know why everyone thinks this, but you don't actually have to keep your bud in complete darkness while it's drying. you don''t want it in direct light, but if i dont have a specific dry spot i 2x2 the wall near the ceiling, put strings up there and dry everything above the lights that are now on underneath with the other crop vegging or just starting to flower. again the dehumidifier will chop down your drying time greatly so they won't be on the strings very long. ok now i'm done...
check out my other pics and here's a video for my references, hit me up if you have any questions, happy tokin'!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmxKZUqeXI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2VKwaVUgds
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[ChubbySoap]

funny...all my bud looks the same in my bowl...meh

but yes, hang the whole damn plant, leaves on.
the goal is a slow controlled dry for me...a week or more

there's as many different dry/cure techniques as there are growers though...most producing a fine quality product in one way or another
find what makes best sense to you.

 

[Leothwyn]

I agree with Chubby... there are plenty of ways to do it successfully. It's just a matter of preference. Personally I prefer to cut the plant into smaller sections, or whatever size is comfortable to trim, then I do a quick, rough trimming (pulling fan leaves off by hand first), then hanging that up. I've tried drying first then trimming, and find it to be more of a pain. All of the little leaves sort of curl in when they dry, but if you trim them right at harvest they're all sticking out. No right or wrong, just my preference.
And, I'd say if you're using a dehumidifier and you're getting your buds dry in 3 days, you might want to turn that thing down a bit. No offense to greentiger, but that seems too quick. I don't think the drying is going to be as even - crispy on the outside, maybe moist on the inside.
I've had to dry with no dehumidifier, and humidity that was higher than I'd like, and I've never had a mold problem. I've had mold happen at the end of flower, but never while drying. In my experience the more likely problem is drying too fast and making them crispy, crumbly, and harsh. Maybe I'm lucky, maybe it's the area I live in... but, that's been my experience.

 

[greentiger.sd]

why wait a week+ when you can get it done in 3 to 5 days? when you toss them into the turkey bag they cure and gain some moisture back. If your buds are too crispy than throw a piece of bread in there and they'll suck the moisture out of it and be fine. Also, no offense, if you haven't tried this method, then you probably don't have experience with it....got any pictures/videos by the way big leo??

 

[Leothwyn]

No need to get your panties in a bunch there little tiger. I made a point of saying these are my preferences, not right or wrong. Yes, I have accidentally dried too fast, and had fix the problem by re-hydrating. My experience... take your time and do it right, rather than be lazy, fuck it up, then compensate with a piece bread. You'll end up with a smoother smoke. No need for pics, common sense will do fine.

 

[fatboyOGOF]

my first few harvests i'd keep the huge colas intact and let everything slowly dry while hanging. after 20 or so crops i said fuck it and started cutting the colas into bite sized buds to speed things up. i'm always impatient to know my dry weight. i can estimate pretty accurately but i need to know for sure. my first grow i got 8 oz. a few years later i was pulling 24 oz out of the same room. practice, practice, practice!

lately, i have been putting them on paper, put in a dark room with a fan blowing over them (not on them) and turn them every day. i'm jaded. lol

i just saw a post with a guy who uses a hang time drying rack. i'll be buying a couple tomorrow. despite what was said above, using a rack is just fine. when i have 70 plus oz of wet bud to dry i really don't give a fuck if a couple buds are a tiny bit squished and neither do those who smoke my stuff. lol

 

[Jdubb203]

I live in Michigan to let me tell you if you want that loud humidy and temp is key. With low hum they dry to fast and keep alot of chlorophyl trap inside see the key is to dry the bud slow and evenly. I keep my temp 70 hum 50% takes about 4-6 days to dry. But all my strains smell loud once trimmed to go in jar for cure and then the smell only gets stronger over the weeks. Do it this way you will never have that hay smell in your buds before cure.

 

[lydiab]

Hi Green tiger
What variety have grown on your pic ? Thanks Lydia

 

[lydiab]

Quick question can I just crop 2/3 rds of the plant or do I have to chop down the lot,even if the bud at the bottom isn't ready. My first w/w I too only 2 thirds and left the rest to carry on and its worked ok..... Lydia

 

[fatboyOGOF]

Quick question can I just crop 2/3 rds of the plant or do I have to chop down the lot,even if the bud at the bottom isn't ready. My first w/w I too only 2 thirds and left the rest to carry on and its worked ok..... Lydia

it's fine to cut them a bit at a time. let the bottom buds mature! such a deal.

 

[greentiger.sd]

leo, honestly bro if you got no pics or videos as reference than how are we suppose to take your "experiences" seriously? just saying sure there's lots of ways to do things but this place is suppose to help people not give them lame advice from a few experiences that you thought you had.
Re-hydrating happens as soon as you put any dry bud in any place where there is more moister, not just when you want it to happen, like bread in the jar. So you're basically always smoking weed that has been fluctuating in moisture contain subtly, depending on the environment it's been in, thus this process has nothing to do with the harshness of the bud, rather the particular moisture content at the exact time that you smoke it. I try not to take any seriously on these forums, but to call re-hydrating lazy....well to even put lazy into any of the techniques I use makes me laugh, so thanks leo for the laugh and since you don't have any pics, why don't you check out mine so you got something nice to look at?
Like i've been saying before, people shouldn't be giving advice unless they're at least pulling .5g/watt consistently or state what exactly their experiences are from and how many times they've experienced this.
Lydiab, my pics are of various strains, Jack Flash, Lemon Kush, GDp and Platinum Bubba are the main ones that are in my current pics and videos. Feel free to hit me up if you have any questions.

 

[Leothwyn]

So you're saying it's good to dry the buds too much, then re-hydrate them? Interesting technique. Strange that I've never seen anyone else pushing that theory. Guess they're just not as experienced as you are. I'm patient enough to let my buds dry slowly and evenly. I'm not saying re-hydrating is lazy. That's what you need to do when you went too far with the drying. Lazy is not being able to dry your buds right the first time. There should be no need to re-hydrate if you did that. Three days of drying is to quick.

As far as the pics/vids posturing goes... Images are a great way to show something that's hard to explain with words. Not the case here.

So, you don't take advice from people without pics huh? You're missing out. I've gotten some great advice from people here - no pics needed, just words. Look, you don't know a thing about my experience, so your claim that any advice that I give is lame and based on a few experiences that I think I had is just something you're pulling out of your ass. I don't give a fuck how many pics you have or what strains you grow. Doesn't impress me. You know what does? Good, well thought out advice. Have any?

You can take my advice or leave it, but I'm not going to put up pics to try to impress some random guy on the internet. Thanks for the pissing match invitation, but it's just not my thing. It's a bit like the internet tough guy, e-thug thing... really lame IMO.