Drying in a cardboard box ok?

About to chop down my plant, but I'm also moving and selling my tent/cobs. I usually dry inside my tent so I need a new drying spot.

Big cardboard box seems like it would do but I read somewhere about it sucking moisture out too fast or maybe something with the flavor?

Anyways, the plant isn't huge so maybe a few ounces dried. Any ideas what I can use/buy for cheap to dry with?

Probably both as faster drying affects the flavour, smell and smoke.

Can you hang it from a hanger? In your closet or washroom? Buy a drying rack thing that you can hang from a hook? Parchment paper on the floor on top of cardboard boxes?

If you can hang them in the cardboard box so they don't get flattened on one side, that would be ideal. Consider getting a cardboard 'wardrobe box' from Wally World, arrange buds on hangers, and hang hangers in box. Make sure to provide good ventilation, temp, and humidity just like normal.

I actually incorporate a box in my drying process.

Step 1 - Cut and wet trim (leave long stems on each bud), lay in drying rack in closet(in grow room) with door closed. 65-70F & 55-65% RH. After 4-5 days, Then I put them into a small cardboard box 10" By 10" and 6" high. I close the top as much as I can, if they sit open a crack thats fine.

Anyways I find that this slows down that second crucial stage of drying where I can keep it in this box and check them once per day and toss em around a bit and after 3-4 days they go into jars. They are kind of like the bags system, but I prefer this as there is more room and space, and the cardboard can absorb more humidity so i acts as a buffer holding on to it. and the buds aren't so squished together in the box if you have stems on all the buds still, and you just open and shake the box and go bigger or smaller as needed.The carboard box slows down and evens out the dry so that when they go into the jars now they settle into a nice 60-65% RH range and I don't need to burpbbb jars. As where before after the first 4-5 days I would put them in jars, humidity would spike to 70-80 RH and then when I would take it out of the jars. I would forget about it overnight and the next day it overdried I go back in the jar and it is in the 55 RH range. So it dried to fast overall, had a spike in RH, then ended up too low. Versus a nice slow gradual dry in the second half after most of the moisture is gone where I mold isn't a concern.

Cardboard boxes are fine for drying. People can seriously over-complicate the drying process. Just make sure not to stack buds on top of each other without separating layers with white paper, and then make sure to rearrange/shuffle the buds after a day or the bottom layers might become gross. Flat buds taste as good as round buds.

Take this with a grain of salt because this advice is coming from someone who thinks bone dry weed that crumbles when you squeeze it is a sign of high quality. (while most seem to disagree)

Edit: Honestly, the biggest drying/curing mistake I see on these forums is people insisting on chopping and then immediately getting their stuff into a jar before going on vacation, doing ANYTHING to get the buds "ready" to be jarred". They'd be better off just letting it dry for an extra week. You can't ruin weed by letting it sit for too long, unless you live in a sauna.

If you want to sweat mostly dry buds, wrap some plastic around the box. Easy solution.

One more thing, line the bottom of the box with wax paper if you want to collect the trichs later.

When drying do you keep the drying area completely dark for the entire drying period?

I've been using doubled paper bags to slow dry my freshly trimmed buds for the last couple grows.

Takes about 10 - 14 days to get them dry enough to put in cans for burping for a month.

I keep the bags down in my basement where conditions are 55F and 70% RH. Early days I slide the buds out into a 16" plant tray to gently loosen up the clumps and let them air out to prevent mold.

Keeping the buds evenly moist as they dry is key so the biological processes can continue to get a smooth smoke. Once any part has got dry it no longer can be cured even if it's re-hydrated. Hanging branches until the main stem cracks is the way to get mids instead of top shelf buds.

If you can hang them and control heat and humidity to take 10 days or more to get them ready to jar and burp you will have some smooth smoking buds that your buddies will beg for more.

Most peeps just want to get fresh buds in the pipe and don't even think about quality other than how fucked up it gets them.

I don't hang with peeps like that.

the whole stem thing isn't a good indicator. i like to feel the buds, the outside should be starting to get a little crispy, but it should still have a little give. it's hard to describe accurately, but you get to where you can tell when it's time.

matman4444 said:

About to chop down my plant, but I'm also moving and selling my tent/cobs. I usually dry inside my tent so I need a new drying spot.

Big cardboard box seems like it would do but I read somewhere about it sucking moisture out too fast or maybe something with the flavor?

Anyways, the plant isn't huge so maybe a few ounces dried. Any ideas what I can use/buy for cheap to dry with?

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I live in 20% RH constantly. I put my trimmed buds / 10-12" stems in cardboard box with the lid closed and keep a moisture meter (old-timers, can't remember the name of the meter) in there to achieve approx. 40-60% RH in the box. This prevents fast drying and I'm able to keep that humidity level the 5-8 days needed before jarring. I use dental floss to hang the stems on. It's worked well for my needs now for years. I'm a small grower netting usually under a pound per harvest.

hygrometer... took me a while, hard drive low on memory. This issue should be in ole farts over 50 thread.

OldMedUser said:

I've been using doubled paper bags to slow dry my freshly trimmed buds for the last couple grows.

Takes about 10 - 14 days to get them dry enough to put in cans for burping for a month.

I keep the bags down in my basement where conditions are 55F and 70% RH. Early days I slide the buds out into a 16" plant tray to gently loosen up the clumps and let them air out to prevent mold.

Keeping the buds evenly moist as they dry is key so the biological processes can continue to get a smooth smoke. Once any part has got dry it no longer can be cured even if it's re-hydrated. Hanging branches until the main stem cracks is the way to get mids instead of top shelf buds.

If you can hang them and control heat and humidity to take 10 days or more to get them ready to jar and burp you will have some smooth smoking buds that your buddies will beg for more.

Most peeps just want to get fresh buds in the pipe and don't even think about quality other than how fucked up it gets them.

I don't hang with peeps like that.

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Roger A. Shrubber said:

the whole stem thing isn't a good indicator. i like to feel the buds, the outside should be starting to get a little crispy, but it should still have a little give. it's hard to describe accurately, but you get to where you can tell when it's time.

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My God this is beautiful...... I just wanted to congratulate both of you for being spot on this one. I love going straight into bags after a short hang. I like to start my cure wetter than most. Paper bags are awesome for ease of burping and wicking moisture slowly. I also love the advice about the stems. I like to feel the buds as well. I may play with a stem or two during the hanging ......but during the cure/burp ....it's all about the feel. I've seen lots of noobs over dry their flowers waiting for pencil size stems to snap. No reason to cure when there's no moisture left at all.


Great advice

I wonder if anyone has ever done a Burley type cure on cannabis? Where I am from, just about every farm has a burley tobacco drying barn. You use wood fires to quickly but carefully dry out the tobacco.. Probably not a good idea, huh?

PogoLives said:

I wonder if anyone has ever done a Burley type cure on cannabis? Where I am from, just about every farm has a burley tobacco drying barn. You use wood fires to quickly but carefully dry out the tobacco.. Probably not a good idea, huh?

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nope. you have similar goals but they require different means to get there. there are three stages to tobacco curing, a "yellowing" stage with low temps and high humidity, a leaf drying stage with high temps and low humidity, and a stem drying stage with even higher temps and lower humidity. the first stage takes about one day, and each of the others takes a day and a half to two days.they like a higher percentage of reducing sugars in the finished product for tobacco, that's why they do the three stage quick dry. it would make for some pretty harsh weed

from cardboard boxes to tobacco barns

churchhaze said:

One more thing, line the bottom of the box with wax paper if you want to collect the trichs later.

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What kind of herb are people growing that the trichs are just popping off like that? Sounds like some chemically emaciated poop to me. Get your resin game up son. Ditch the chems. Something that should be comprised equally of resins/fats and plant fiber should not have characteristics of oilless plant fiber. Cured herb quality can be rated by stacking a ground pile vertically and counting how slow it rolls down itself.

Why did sticky herb go out of style? Because young growers are afraid of dirt and microbes i guess.

LinguaPeel said:

What kind of herb are people growing that the trichs are just popping off like that? Sounds like some chemically emaciated poop to me. Get your resin game up son. Ditch the chems. Something that should be comprised equally of resins/fats and plant fiber should not have characteristics of oilless plant fiber. Cured herb quality can be rated by stacking a ground pile vertically and counting how slow it rolls down itself.

Why did sticky herb go out of style? Because young growers are afraid of dirt and microbes i guess.

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Nice shit post.

LinguaPeel said:

What kind of herb are people growing that the trichs are just popping off like that? Sounds like some chemically emaciated poop to me. Get your resin game up son. Ditch the chems. Something that should be comprised equally of resins/fats and plant fiber should not have characteristics of oilless plant fiber. Cured herb quality can be rated by stacking a ground pile vertically and counting how slow it rolls down itself.

Why did sticky herb go out of style? Because young growers are afraid of dirt and microbes i guess.

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You ever have anything useful to say?

I

LinguaPeel said:

What kind of herb are people growing that the trichs are just popping off like that? Sounds like some chemically emaciated poop to me. Get your resin game up son. Ditch the chems. Something that should be comprised equally of resins/fats and plant fiber should not have characteristics of oilless plant fiber. Cured herb quality can be rated by stacking a ground pile vertically and counting how slow it rolls down itself.

Why did sticky herb go out of style? Because young growers are afraid of dirt and microbes i guess.

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I could point out like ten different things, but I'm just going to leave you with two words, "first bounce"