Drying at low humidity

Mike_B

Member
Here's an update on my plant. I've jarred the buds a day ago and added a temp/humidity sensor. Placed the jar in a dark room and inside the jar it's been a steady 21C at 45%RH.

I burped the jar once last night and it didn't change the RH at all. So looks like I just keep this up, burping once every day or so and should be golden?
 

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Here's an update on my plant. I've jarred the buds a day ago and added a temp/humidity sensor. Placed the jar in a dark room and inside the jar it's been a steady 21C at 45%RH.

I burped the jar once last night and it didn't change the RH at all. So looks like I just keep this up, burping once every day or so and should be golden?
You need to rehydrate the weed if that's the case. It should be stabilising around 60% humidity. 45 is way too low.

I put my weed in the jar in a setting where humidity is around 60%. If the jar gets to 70% over a few days, I burp back down to 60% and repeat until it stabilises around 60.
 

Mike_B

Member
You need to rehydrate the weed if that's the case. It should be stabilising around 60% humidity. 45 is way too low.

I put my weed in the jar in a setting where humidity is around 60%. If the jar gets to 70% over a few days, I burp back down to 60% and repeat until it stabilises around 60.
In my case there would be no "re"-hydration. 45 is actually as high as I managed to get so far at all.

During flowering the RH in my room was between 20 and 30, and during drying it's been 30 - 40%.
 

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
In my case there would be no "re"-hydration. 45 is actually as high as I managed to get so far at all.

During flowering the RH in my room was between 20 and 30, and during drying it's been 30 - 40%.
Just put the weed in a jar with a damp sponge for a few hours at a time and it will re-hydrate. You can put lettuce in there as well, or citrus peels, but I find a damp sponge to work a treat as it won't transfer any unwanted terpenes.

I've had jars that stabilise at 50% and few hours in a jar with a wet sponge once a day over a couple of days re-hydrated the bud to a point where I could hold a 60% cure.

It doesn't matter what your relative humidity is outside the jar, as long as your jar has more moisture than your weed, it will re-hydrate over time.
 

Mike_B

Member
Just put the weed in a jar with a damp sponge for a few hours at a time and it will re-hydrate. You can put lettuce in there as well, or citrus peels, but I find a damp sponge to work a treat as it won't transfer any unwanted terpenes.

I've had jars that stabilise at 50% and few hours in a jar with a wet sponge once a day over a couple of days re-hydrated the bud to a point where I could hold a 60% cure.

It doesn't matter what your relative humidity is outside the jar, as long as your jar has more moisture than your weed, it will re-hydrate over time.
Cheers, VincenzioVonHook, I will try that :)

I'm curious what would be the downside of leaving the buds jarred at 45%? Do they go bad quicker? Does it affect the potency?

If I were to consume the buds within the next few weeks would it matter at all?
 

Playk328

Well-Known Member
Here's an update on my plant. I've jarred the buds a day ago and added a temp/humidity sensor. Placed the jar in a dark room and inside the jar it's been a steady 21C at 45%RH.

I burped the jar once last night and it didn't change the RH at all. So looks like I just keep this up, burping once every day or so and should be golden?
Why are you burping jars with 45% rh? Im confused
 

Playk328

Well-Known Member
If you can maintain a drying room with 60F and 60% RH, you could hang store your cannabis in there, no need for jarring, burping ect..

This year I am doing Grove Bags...

I have my dry room dialed in at 60/60, it fluctuates to as low as 56f and 58RH, I also have dehumidifier that kicks in if the RH goes above 62%
 

Playk328

Well-Known Member
Drying process is just as important "if not more so" then the actual grow itself..

You spend months growing these plants, why shank it at the end with poor drying conditions..

If you invested this much on growing the plant, you should invest just as much in a drying area for it :)
 

weedstoner420

Well-Known Member
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but in my experience the "stems" that are supposed to snap when it's properly dry, are not the main branches like you posted a pic of all split up, but rather the tiny stems inside the buds. Like if you clip a bud off the branch, and the little stem sticking out the bottom of the bud is brittle and snaps rather than bends, that's when you're good to try and jar it. Hope that makes sense.

Also that looks like it was harvested way too early for my taste, the high will probably be racy and short-lived. Next time try giving it at least another month after the point you harvested this one...
 

Playk328

Well-Known Member
The window for curing is closed. You let the cannabis dry too much. Adding moisture does not restart the cure.

it doesn’t matter if you grew it in 30% humidity. Next time add a humidifier to get your room in the right climate for drying.
People spend thousands on lights and tents but forget to show their dry room any love, then wonder why their shit smells and taste like hay because their dry room is not optimal conditions..
 

Mike_B

Member
Ha, no fancy equipment here at all. I grew my plants using the sun and plain old garden soil. Probably spent less than 20 bucks on everything including the seeds ;)

Why are you burping jars with 45% rh? Im confused
I figured stale air is bad..?

Like I said, first time grower here, no experience with any of this stuff yet.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but in my experience the "stems" that are supposed to snap when it's properly dry, are not the main branches like you posted a pic of all split up, but rather the tiny stems inside the buds. Like if you clip a bud off the branch, and the little stem sticking out the bottom of the bud is brittle and snaps rather than bends, that's when you're good to try and jar it. Hope that makes sense.
Ah I see. Thanks for explaining. So I just try to bend one of the buds by its closest stem every day until it snaps?

Also that looks like it was harvested way too early for my taste, the high will probably be racy and short-lived. Next time try giving it at least another month after the point you harvested this one...
Thanks for the feedback. Luckily I only harvested half of that plant, I've cut off the top part and left the bottom part to develop more. Yesterday the leaves started to turn purple and I think I'm starting to see amber trichomes. I'll definitely give the rest of the plant some more time.
 
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pahpah-cee

Well-Known Member
Check out of the information over in the harvesting and curing section.

 

weedstoner420

Well-Known Member
I figured stale air is bad..?
Not really, I mean at some point you're going to close the jar and might not open it for weeks or months, and nobody is worrying about stale air in that situation.

I think the point of burping jars is to gradually reduce the humidity in the jar. But if the humidity outside the jar is lower than inside the jar, it's going to keep going down every time you open the jar. I think that is why the confusion about burping jars that are at 45% rh, it's not going to go up if the Rh in the room is only 30%.

Ah I see. Thanks for explaining. So I just try to bend one of the buds by its closest stem every day until it snaps?
I wouldn't try the same bud every day, once you bend it, it might create little micro-tears in the fiber and it might not snap properly even when fully dry. If you're going by the snap test, I'd use a different bud each time you test.

Good you didn't harvest the whole thing at once. I wouldn't worry about trichomes right now, that's a pretty advanced technique and is easy to get wrong. Just try and wait until the buds have a kind of popped-popcorn look to them, and all the hairs are brown and curled into the buds. If you post pics in the "harvesting and curing" section, some kind folks will give you guidance on that front. Good luck!
 

Mike_B

Member
Here's an update on my plant.

It's been over a month since I harvested the first half of my plant and last week I harvested the second half. This time I finally saw a bunch of amber trichomes all over the plant. About 10-20% I estimate.

I hung it inside a cardboard box with a fan on top to circulate air. The box is in a small storage room in which I placed some wet towels to raise RH.

I placed a hygrometer inside the box next to the weed and it's been reading between 45 and 65% since I started drying, and the past few days I managed to keep it between 55 and 62%.

It's been drying for 5 days and here's a picture of how it looks like right now:

day121.jpg day121b.jpg

Should I jar them now?
 

TCH

Well-Known Member
Here's an update on my plant.

It's been over a month since I harvested the first half of my plant and last week I harvested the second half. This time I finally saw a bunch of amber trichomes all over the plant. About 10-20% I estimate.

I hung it inside a cardboard box with a fan on top to circulate air. The box is in a small storage room in which I placed some wet towels to raise RH.

I placed a hygrometer inside the box next to the weed and it's been reading between 45 and 65% since I started drying, and the past few days I managed to keep it between 55 and 62%.

It's been drying for 5 days and here's a picture of how it looks like right now:

View attachment 5220043 View attachment 5220044

Should I jar them now?
My guess (and this is from experience of drying one plant in my still very newbie existence) is that those little guys are probably a bit over dry at this point. You can snip them and leave enough stem to still be able to Clamp them to something to hang if more drying is needed and toss them in a jar with a hygrometer to see where they are at.
 
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