High temps/humidity buds WILL NOT dry

[silusbotwin]

We are all well aware of the difficulties of battling this Michigan heat and humidity in the grow room but what about battling the heat and humidity in the drying spot? I have a few buds that were left for over a month on a desk outside of my room and they just WILL NOT dry.

Now I've got a full harvest that has had about ten days to dry and it's still very moist. No matter what I try, they just won't dry in this humidity.

Using a 14K portable AC and a 8K window unit to cool 4K watts of HPS lighting in the flower room, and it's been working out o.k. since I have been supplementing Co2. Temps reach a high of 95 degrees in there so I had to start turning off lights here and there to keep temps under control. I started using Co2 because I felt I had no choice. Either let my plants take a hellish beating from these high temps or flip it to my advantage and let the plants take advantage of these high temperatures.

Enough rambling, I'll get to the point: What are you guys doing to get your buds to dry? I was thinking of crafting a dry box similar to what is used for drying mushrooms. Basically just a rubbermade tote with desiccant (Calcium Chloride) in the bottom with a few mesh screens to layer buds onto. I'm almost to the point of getting a hotel for a day or two just to lay my buds out and let them sit in the dry air conditioned air of the hotel room.

My plants have AC but my living area does NOT.

My idea is to trim up the buds as best as I can, jar them up and arrange them lids-off inside of the rubbermade tub with a couple jars of desiccant in the mix.

What are your experiences with drying your buds in this wicked heat and humidity?

 

[Firstoffallen]

idk man maybe build a drying/curing cabinet inside the room with A/C idk tho prolly better ideas....

 

[themullisk]

cardboard box and paper bags Wisconsin isn't any better you just have to be super carful man or u could easly get moldy ass buds and no body likes that!

 

[*BUDS]

Cut the buds right down to small size trimmed. Put them in front of a strong fan 24/7 and they will dry even in high rh.

 

[Lionden]

I built a humidor kind of with heat and humidity control just search the net and you can find the same machines used for cigar cases to where you can set humidity and temps for a perfect dry, hell I even cure mine in a smaller version I made

 

[mtgeezer]

Michigan is like Minnesota with humidity problems. My ex brother-in-law used to keep his A/C on all the time to dehumidify the air. If worse comes to worse, get a dehydrator and leave the door partly open so it doesn't dry too fast.

 

[silusbotwin]

Michigan is like Minnesota with humidity problems. My ex brother-in-law used to keep his A/C on all the time to dehumidify the air. If worse comes to worse, get a dehydrator and leave the door partly open so it doesn't dry too fast.

They have already been drying for about 10 days so drying too fast isn't an issue anymore. I just need to suck out enough moisture to be able to jar them up without worries of mold. I think ten days has given plenty enough time to break down all the nasty flavor-corrupting compounds in the bud.

As for the idea of cutting them into smaller pieces and using a fan directly on them, thats a no go. Space is extremely cramped as it stand already and I have no room for that. Also, I don't understand how a fan blowing humid air onto wet buds will cause buds to dry. Logic tells me that blowing humid air around is basically just making a humidity stew.

I've put the buds into a tote with desiccant. I will just have to give it a day and see how it works out. I'll update this thread with photos of my makeshit setup.

 

[silusbotwin]

I built a humidor kind of with heat and humidity control just search the net and you can find the same machines used for cigar cases to where you can set humidity and temps for a perfect dry, hell I even cure mine in a smaller version I made

This is the plan for future harvests. I'm picking up a tent/carbon filter/fan/dry rack to use just for drying. I just needed something for the immediate. When I have some money, I'll be building one of these setups you talked about.

 

[hockey4848]

dehumidifier.

 

[skullcrackers]

Keep it in the bud room out of the light. Humidity should be good, youll have to work on temp.

 

[Cory and trevor]

The man hooked me up with these thingshttp://www.bovedainc.com/store/tobacco/. The fan will do the initial dry quick and these in a humidor will return or remove moisture so your pot will be great no matter what. even a jank humidor.

 

[Huel Perkins]

dehumidifier.

That! and air circulation are key...

 

[ProfessorPotSnob]

That! and air circulation are key...

I concur , air circulation along with a dehumidifier is all that is needed . I had times in the past that demanded a controlled environment for drying . The trick is to maintain a RH at 55% -45% anything lower than this will dry out the bud fast and terpenes will be lost as well on the drier side . Anything above 60 % is going to lead to water saturation during the drying stage .

 

[420mon]

Big paper bags work well as long as you dont put too much.....

 

[Cory and trevor]

I concur , air circulation along with a dehumidifier is all that is needed . I had times in the past that demanded a controlled environment for drying . The trick is to maintain a RH at 55% -45% anything lower than this will dry out the bud fast and terpenes will be lost as well on the drier side . Anything above 60 % is going to lead to water saturation during the drying stage .

seen alot of bud that looks like that was the aim. maybe ignorance maybe weight, I hate to guess.

 

[kinddiesel]

should be no problems . get a dry net cost 35 bucks. throw into there. place a small fan on low . blow air by the net not directly onto it. Michigan here, as well . dried in 4 days and ready to market. also when its this hot turn off the co2 generator or turn down the ppm about 800 hardly will run what I do.wont hurt any yield,

 

[tomcatjones]

Cut the buds right down to small size trimmed. Put them in front of a strong fan 24/7 and they will dry even in high rh.

trim buds, put in the paper bags, and then fan over top so they dont dry out too quickly.. you want them dry but not to dry fast. finger the buds and mix them after a while.

 

[silusbotwin]

Again, they have already been drying for eleven days. I don't see how they can dry out too fast when they've already had eleven days to dry and they're were still moist. I tried paper bags, I tried a fan blowing inderect and direct, none of it worked. My makeshit dry box with desiccant did the trick. I opened it up today and all the buds I tested in it turned out perfect. I could understand they could dry too fast if I put them into the chamber the same day they were chopped but they hung in open air with an indirect fan circulating the air in the room for almost two weeks. THEN I tried the paper bags for a few days. They kept getting dry then resoaking the humidity from the air.

The desiccant dry box has worked wonders and I'm gonna jar them up now and keep my thoughts positive and hope they will stay dry after jarring.

Thanks for all the awesome ideas everyone.

C&T, smokes lets go!

jkjk, I am ordering some bovedas tonight.

 

[squarepush3r]

Al. B. Fuct had an awesome guide on here a few years back

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/112375-light-bulb-bud-dryer.html

 

[Someguy15]

Dehumid is the only way to go really. Adds minimal heat to the drying room (maybe 3-5 deg) and allows you to set the humid right around 45-50 where you want it. My drying room is just a closet in the grow room, so the dehumid doubles for the ladies and that space. Does cause the A/C to run a little extra...gotta be brave with the bills in the summer.