chopping and then vacation....

Hi guys, I am going to harvest on xmas day. I then leave the 26th and get back the 31st...so 4 total days away. I thought I would ask some opinions of drying while I'm gone. I should mention that I did battle some light PM throughout the grow and used GreenCure to knock it back...worked great. Though it would probably be fine, I hate running equipment while I am away. I thought about having a fan pop on once an hour or so to stir the air but no entirely comfortable with that. Basically, I am a little worried about not being able to control the environment enough while I'm away. I would hate to come home to PM on my buds. With that in mind and knowing I'll be away; should I hang the whole plant, slim it down and hang branches, or trim it all up and rest buds on a screen to dry? ALL thoughts appreciated. I did a mini journal too if you want to get a better idea of what I got. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/754511-solo-s-s-cfl-hemy.html

Instead of harvesting your pot on your time table, you should be more concerned with the pots time table. One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is harvesting to early or to late. Harvesting early can effect potency and smell. My first harvest I made this very mistake and many others...

Personally I would wait till I got back from vacation and tend to the harvest and curing properly. I'd rather go a few days over than cut too soon. I would not chop smoke and leave it hanging unattended the first few days even if I thought I had it set up just right w/fans, dehumidifier or whatnot.

And it's the Whatnot that will bite you hard in the ass, something you did not or could not anticipate.

Best of Luck and just my opinion, if it was a good grow I'd not leave it up to chance at the checkered flag. - AIM

AimAim said:

Personally I would wait till I got back from vacation and tend to the harvest and curing properly. I'd rather go a few days over than cut too soon. I would not chop smoke and leave it hanging unattended the first few days even if I thought I had it set up just right w/fans, dehumidifier or whatnot.

And it's the Whatnot that will bite you hard in the ass, something you did not or could not anticipate.

Best of Luck and just my opinion, if it was a good grow I'd not leave it up to chance at the checkered flag. - AIM

Click to expand...

I'm worried that may be too late AIM. She could come today so I'm already pushing her a bit later by chopping next week. I'll certainly take this under advisement and see where she is that day. However, leaving my entire set up on while away freaks me out more than having just a fan pop on and off every so often. I do wish I had someone to babysit her... Appreciate the luck.

i dont see the problem really. just hang dry it while your gone it will not be dry even by the time your back takes like 5-7 days to hang dry. just leave it on the stems dont remove it so it takes al ittle longer to dry. as long as your humidity isnt like really high you should not really have any problems if you got your smell under control. hell even if you where not harvesting you would have to worrya bout smell anyway.

What about the alternative. Shut down the lights and let it sit in the dark on the plants. Some people believe the resin packs on in the dark. Then chop when you get back. If it was me, I'd let the setup go and chop when I get back.

mrblu said:

i dont see the problem really. just hang dry it while your gone it will not be dry even by the time your back takes like 5-7 days to hang dry. just leave it on the stems dont remove it so it takes al ittle longer to dry. as long as your humidity isnt like really high you should not really have any problems if you got your smell under control. hell even if you where not harvesting you would have to worrya bout smell anyway.

Click to expand...

this is what I was thinking originally blu.

This is what I would do, considering you had a little PM:

*Chop down to individual branches.
*Remove the large fan leaves. This is a good time to inspect CLOSELY for any PM that may be hiding on your bud leaves.
*Hang them up with a fan on full time, but facing AWAY from the buds. You want indirect airflow, not buds flapping around in the wind.

They should still be a little wet when you get back, assuming your humidity is in the 50-60% range (as it should be). Usually takes about 7 days of hang time in these conditions.

First, if you can't tend to your drying plants you need to find the right "Place" to hang. I would not lay your buds on anything, as that could easily lead to mold on the parts that will be in continual contact with a surface of some kind.

My dry room is our spare bathroom, inside the 1 piece bathtub/shower. I've done several drys in this place and it works fantastic. I have my wife thoroughly clean everything. Then I take a shower curtain rod that expands and run it the length of the tub, front to back, so I have a place to hang my hangers. I take 2 plastic garbage bags and lay them on the floor of the tub in case a bud falls from the hangers.

Most bathrooms have a fan/ventilation, and I just leave that on the whole time my plants are drying, so constant fresh air is being circulated into the bathroom. I do keep the door shut and I place a towel at the bottom of the door to keep light out, and I leave the heater vent open so warm air can regulate the temps. Then, when the heater shuts off, the bathroom fan is sucking air from the heater system, which is fresh air when the heater is off.

Depending on how you cure your weed, that is how long you will hang your plants. I cure very carefully so I cure long and slow, and my smoke is killer, every time. The longest I hang is 4 days, with an average Temp of about 70 degrees in the bathroom. If you hang for 5 days and the plants are a little drier than you want, you can bring back some of the moisture during the cure.