Growing and drying in the same tent

So, I am planning to grow several different strains in the same tent.

It's gonna be my first time.
Different strains will probably have different flowering time.
I need my room (let alone my apartment) to have no odor whatsoever.

I have a budget for only 1 tent, so when some plants will already need to hang to dry, some will still be growing for another week or two.

Would it be a good idea to grow and dry in the same tent? There should be no light shining on the drying buds, correct? What if I stick drying herb in brown paper bags to block the light and hang these bags on the side inside the tent while other plants are finishing their growth? Would it work?

Thanks

If you do grow and dry in same space shouldn’t be a problem just make sure you clean really good before you hang them up

It would certainly work, but it isn't ideal.

Drying areas should ideally be a constant humidity. The humidity in an active growing area will tend to vary with the light cycle. The paper bag will help, but long-term the quality of your final product will be better if you dry them somewhere else.

What’s your temp & RH?

The issue is grow rooms are usually 78-85F and drying is usually done at cooler temps around 65-70F. Try to keep your RH between 50-60%. There’s typically lots of airflow in grow rooms as well and you don’t want direct airflow on drying buds. Paper bags might help slow the drying time down and prevent direct airflow.

NukaKola said:

What’s your temp & RH?

The issue is grow rooms are usually 78-85F and drying is usually done at cooler temps around 65-70F. Try to keep your RH between 50-60%. There’s typically lots of airflow in grow rooms as well and you don’t want direct airflow on drying buds. Paper bags might help slow the drying time down and prevent direct airflow.

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I am planning to start the grow soon and finish around January. I am in a cold state, so getting rid of heat shouldn't be a problem (as in cracking the window open). Humidity in January fluctuates between 79 (morning) and 57 (afternoon), so I'll just keep using a dehumidifier.
My goal humidity during flowering should be around the same as during drying anyway (ideally 45-55%), according to what I've read.

So, there is no disparity between goal temps and humidity for flowering and drying. The only issues are light and possible airblow from the fans. To block the light I can use paper bags, and I could hang the bags in the corner where they won't get blown on by the fan (which is what I am supposed to do for drying anyway--have a fan move the air, just not blow directly on the drying herb).

Unless I am missing something, I think it should be perfect--in theory, at least. Just wanted an input from the experienced growers.

^^
Does my train of thought make sense, or is it flawed somewhere?
Constructive critique is welcome.

I've heard of people using cardboard box in the tent or attached box to the filter system but obviously don't have it blowing directly on the buds

PurpleHaze777 said:

^^
Does my train of thought make sense, or is it flawed somewhere?
Constructive critique is welcome.

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You can hang a temp/rh guage where you're thinking of hanging the bags to see what the temp and rh are. If it's warm and dry the buds may dry too fast. But, the paper bags help by keeping moisture in. You may want to get those little temp/rh gauges and throw them in the bags to monitor.

So I’m confused your OP said you want to flower and dry in the same tent? So you want to dry in the tent while other plants are in flower? Is that right? Yeah, thats not going to work very well. Doesn’t really matter that its January cool out, the inside of the tent needs to be maintained at 78 which is too warm for drying and way way too warm for curing. The bud will end up smelling like freshly cut grass or hay. As @spliffendz mentioned a wardrobe box could work plumbed into the air intake system for the tent.

Flawed.

Temperature and light in the drying room
As with humidity, an incorrect temperature can ruin our flowers, as can drying them in full daylight. Temperatures over 25 degrees can dry the plant too fast, the ideal temperature being about 18-20 degrees celsius. On the other hand, if we dry the plants in the light this will degrade part of the content of the trichomes, reducing the final quality of the buds.

The ideal is to dry the plants in a relatively cool, well ventilated and dark place. This way, we will avoid many of the factors that can cause drying to reduce the quality of our harvest.

Kalebaiden said:

Flawed, ask me why.

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Why?

Merlin1147 said:

So I’m confused your OP said you want to flower and dry in the same tent? So you want to dry in the tent while other plants are in flower? Is that right? Yeah, thats not going to work very well. Doesn’t really matter that its January cool out, the inside of the tent needs to be maintained at 78 which is too warm for drying and way way too warm for curing. The bud will end up smelling like freshly cut grass or hay. As @spliffendz mentioned a wardrobe box could work plumbed into the air intake system for the tent.

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Why 78?? Everywhere I read, it said 80-82 was the borderline for flower, never to go above that.
Everywhere I looked, they recommended 68-75, 80 being borderline.
So, why would I want to go 78 F--so close to the borderline?

(Sorry for the large green font--just trying to make it easier for you to tell where the quotes are, and where my words are.)

Flowering

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Stage: In the flowering stage (when cannabis plants start making buds), it's best to keep temps slightly cooler, around 65-80°F (18-26°C). This isn't for the plants themselves as much as to ensure the best bud quality.

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https://medium.com/@growlight/what-temp-should-my-grow-room-be-during-flowering-420-guide-for-beginners-ab8db306954a

Late Flowering

During late flowering, improvements to overall quality can be achieved by keeping temps and humidity as low as possible. Humidity under 40% RH is ideal.

Room temperature with lights on should be 18–24°C (64-75 F). Increase the difference between day/night temps by up to 10°C for even better results.

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High Times:

The best grow room temperature during the flowering stage of growth is 68-75 degrees during the day and no more than 10-15 degrees cooler at

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So, 68-72 Would be decent for drying, no?
https://www.dinafem.org/en/blog/drying-and-curing-of-fresh-cannabis-buds/

Temperature:

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In the first 3 days the best temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius. This way the buds will dry quick, but not too fast. After 3 days the temperature should be lowered to about 17-18 degrees Celsius to slow down the process.

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The Best Ways For Drying Cannabis | Green CulturED eLearning Solutions

After your crop has been harvested and manicured the next step in the process is to start drying cannabis buds. Marijuana buds must be dry before smoking since it is difficult to smoke wet buds.

www.greencultured.co

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The ideal air temperature within the drying area should be between 65 – 75° F (18 – 24° C).

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PurpleHaze777 said:

So, I am planning to grow several different strains in the same tent.

It's gonna be my first time.
Different strains will probably have different flowering time.
I need my room (let alone my apartment) to have no odor whatsoever.

I have a budget for only 1 tent, so when some plants will already need to hang to dry, some will still be growing for another week or two.

Would it be a good idea to grow and dry in the same tent? There should be no light shining on the drying buds, correct? What if I stick drying herb in brown paper bags to block the light and hang these bags on the side inside the tent while other plants are finishing their growth? Would it work?

Thanks

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you need another plan. Pretty sure you can make a drying box out of 2"x2" and some 1/4 plywood that would hold smell same as tent.

a mongo frog said:

you need another plan. Pretty sure you can make a drying box out of 2"x2" and some 1/4 plywood that would hold smell same as tent.

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Thank you, that's an interesting idea, but I just checked Home Depot's website, and plywood is ridiculously expensive (2x4 easily ~30 bucks; 4 sides - ~$120 + 2''x2'' + top and bottom. Building a box would cost more than buying a second tent.

Maybe I'll seal the closet with plastic bags and tape and hook it up to the tent with a duct to get the air moved out of it by tent's fan.

How about a cardboard box? Would drying in a big cardboard box connected to the tent would work well?

PurpleHaze777 said:

Thank you, that's an interesting idea, but I just checked Home Depot's website, and plywood is ridiculously expensive (2x4 easily ~30 bucks; 4 sides - ~$120 + 2''x2'' + top and bottom. Building a box would cost more than buying a second tent.

Maybe I'll seal the closet with plastic bags and tape and hook it up to the tent with a duct to get the air moved out of it by tent's fan.

How about a cardboard box? Would drying in a big cardboard box connected to the tent would work well?

Click to expand...

Yes, that is what @spliffendz suggested above. In the US, Uhaul sells wardrobe boxes, nice and big with a metal rod for hanging clothing / weed.

PurpleHaze777 said:

Why 78?? Everywhere I read, it said 80-82 was the borderline for flower, never to go above that.
Everywhere I looked, they recommended 68-75, 80 being borderline.
So, why would I want to go 78 F--so close to the borderline?

(Sorry for the large green font--just trying to make it easier for you to tell where the quotes are, and where my words are.)




https://medium.com/@growlight/what-temp-should-my-grow-room-be-during-flowering-420-guide-for-beginners-ab8db306954a


High Times:



So, 68-72 Would be decent for drying, no?
https://www.dinafem.org/en/blog/drying-and-curing-of-fresh-cannabis-buds/

Click to expand...

Best temp in flower depends on your lighting too. With LED, low 80's works because LED does not put out IR like HID. Read up on Leaf Surface Temps and you'll see why temps of 80-84 works for LED grows. The way I see it: for temps, flower in the high 70's/low 80's and dry in the high 60's/low 70's. For RH, I like 40's in late flower but around 60 for drying.

this seems like good insight in how to dry. did you come up with a solution and how did it work? if you dried in the grow tent did it turn out ok?

The grow tent will do just lower your duct fan to low and keep your RH between 50-60%, last time i did put a humidifier with a timer with 4 cycle a day of 30 min on to keep it tight, it took me 10 days and it was superduper good still today been 6 months in the jar still got the terps and bud still a 55% rh in masson jar.

Even though this thread is 5 months old. Seeing as it was revived I thought I would share this. I have the same issue of only one tent. To combat this problem I plan on running a duct from a large box (or cabinet) through a filter/fan combo. I will also attach ducting to the other side get a small fan for intake. Problem solved

PS I also don’t have a huge bank roll so I am going to use a uhaul clothes hanging box instead of a pre-made cabinet that I would have to alter with wood cutting tools PIA.