Stressed about the drying process..

So I only got a room the size of a normal bed room to work with. my system and 5 plants currently take up the majority of the space.. how can i go about drying/curing my 5 plants when they are done flowering? what are some simple inexpensive ways to do it, i figure putting them in some boxes hanging from strings, have a couple boxes on top of each other and do somethin like that but i dont really know honestly..

that's an idea. the piled boxes.

You can't dry & cure in a lit room.
That'll break down the cannabinoids.
And the temperature and RH will probably be an issue if you have not sealed off the growing room.

Best bet in that case is a ventilated dark space, like a dresser with some fans built in.


Edit: Can't*. What a spelling mistake.

Lay the buds on a window screen. Laying flat of course. Place where it gets air moving around it and it's dry. Closets with an incandescent bulbs work great if a small fan is in it to move air. Usually takes a good week to properly dry and may take longer.

I like the window screen idea. I bet you could even use a spacer and stack multiple screens on top of each other, then cover it with something to block out the light. You might even be able to buy Sweater Dryer Racks off Amazon for a few bucks and stack those.

The only downside is your bud will have flat spots if you lay them down, which really isn't a big deal. Even bud that's put in glass jars will conform to the edges a little bit.

cheap and easy...

http://www.amazon.com/Dry--Net-Herb-Drying-Rack/dp/B004YDJMH6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1346720176&sr=8-4&keywords=bud+drying+rack

k0ijn said:

You can't dry & cure in a lit room.
That'll break down the cannabinoids.
And the temperature and RH will probably be an issue if you have not sealed off the growing room.

Best bet in that case is a ventilated dark space, like a dresser with some fans built in.


Edit: Can't*. What a spelling mistake.

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Seriously? Give me a break dude. It didnt sound like he was drying under a HID.

It is not imperative that cannabis dries in the dark.

Why mislead people to think they have to dry in pitch black its not like that. It just shouldnt be in DIRECT light.

I think people hear or read something and never try anything else different then what they read so they dont actually know. I have dried in the corner of my room w/ hps running on others. It turned out dank. Yeah not the ideal spot but its fine. I really could tell no difference. Maybe scientifically analyzing it it may have had a few more amber trichs (for all you weed scientist that are going to argue me) but yeah was still dank


To the OP me personally id just leave those suckers in there to die. Forget about that room when its harvest time and come back in a week and go to work. I get the most consistent results by trimming after the plants are dead and not full of chlorophyll. Also smokes and taste great after the 1 week. Gives it a nice partial cure. 3-4 weeks after that in jars fing premo! Just dont let the temps go over 90 because THAT is guaranteed to degrade the thc and humidity over 60% can promote mold. ESPECIALLY IN DARK AREAS. And try if possible to keep them out of direct light because it to degrades the thc. And fyi its the UV in strong light not just ANY light.

All this humidor jar cure RH% timer Open, timer close bag 3 times a day do this do that bs is enough to make anyone "stressed" about drying. Just let them die & dry and you wont be disappointed and it by far is the easiest way.

I started off with large boxes that would fit inside the big plastic yard bags. just ran string and hung limbs from the string. I sealed the box with a small fan in side. put the bag over it to seal it up fairly air tight. opened the box once a day till bud was about dry. At about 70 it took 6 days to dry then about another week burping jars. Never tried letting them die then trim. I have trimmed dryer limbs and didn't care for it to much. going on a year and only have a jar or two left. it's as good now or better then when it was fresh.

mr. green thumb 01 said:

Seriously? Give me a break dude. It didnt sound like he was drying under a HID.

It is not imperative that cannabis dries in the dark.

Why mislead people to think they have to dry in pitch black its not like that. It just shouldnt be in DIRECT light.

I think people hear or read something and never try anything else different then what they read so they dont actually know. I have dried in the corner of my room w/ hps running on others. It turned out dank. Yeah not the ideal spot but its fine. I really could tell no difference. Maybe scientifically analyzing it it may have had a few more amber trichs (for all you weed scientist that are going to argue me) but yeah was still dank

Click to expand...

Why are you getting upset just because I said that it's not a good idea to dry and/or cure in a flowering room?
It's basic cannabis growing not to expose harvested weed to UV light.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to dry & cure their weed in a flowering room.

Sure you can do it if you have to, the same could be said for a lot of things but it's still not a wise thing to do.

Most serious growers dry their weed in blacked out spaces, same goes for storing.
Sure you can have a bulb in there so you can see what you're doing but no grower with respect for himself would dry in a room that is constantly lit, whether it's direct light on the buds or just an unblocked window which allows sunlight to stream in.

If you want the best from you product you keep temps steady, RH levels even and light exposure to a minimum.

I'm in no way trying to mislead anyone, I'm simply giving him my best advice to ensure he gets as much out of his product as possible.

Lower the standards if you want but don't try to write it off as me misleading people.

well you did say CANT..

No anger what so ever. Just sarcasm.

If you want to be super scientific about it and "not lower your standards" then any knowledgeable grower would give the plants 24-36 hrs complete darkness also before harvest to increase trich production. I just get the best of both worlds the way I do it because the plant lives in the drying room many days after it is pulled increasing trich production and drying out at the same time.

Edit: My preferred drying area is also dark (well green light when need be) but its not imperative it be so just ideal. Only reason I dried in the flower room was my dry area was full but everything turned out fine.

Some of the dankest shit I smoked was dried in a barn outside in the summer. The barn was not light tight either. And temps were pretty high...in the mid to upper 80's or so. Also in my experience temperature (anything under 90degrees) had little effect on drying except on the speed. I always say 90 degrees but the exact number if I remember correctly that thc degrades at is 88 degrees.

For me and the way I dry RH & temp can basically do whatever they want as long as it does not go above 90 degrees or 60% rh I have fire just as good as anything I can get at any dispensary. I have let them sit out for up to 3 weeks and still lost no flavor. Always the same. For me its full proof.

Trim at harvest when everything is still fully alive and juggle with rh and temp. Monitoring your product everyday so it does not dry to fast and possibly lose flavor and potency. Or... Let them die out and walk away its up to you. I have done both ways many times and everytime I let the plant die out I have superb results. Ive fed up the dry a few times the other way. Also you dont have to be trimming dry if you dont like. You can trim day 3-5 and its still easy peasy. On a final note if you chop sewey when the plant is alive and end up with low smell, little flavor, or a grass/hay smell then you know why...your dry juggle was most likely off.

If anyone would prefer the scientific explanation on why this process is easier and works better I can type that up also..would be like the 4th or 5th time but no prob just say the word and ill say 100 more

1 love

If you have to use that room block the windows so light does not get in and buy green light bulbs at lowes. Leave the lights off but when you go in there to check the green light bulbs will not hurt them.

Keep it dark, keep it cool and keep the air moving around. You only have to dry maybe 4 days at most before you wind up in the jars than you can keep it dark by putting them in a drawer.

mr. green thumb 01 said:

well you did say CANT..

No anger what so ever. Just sarcasm.

If you want to be super scientific about it and "not lower your standards" then any knowledgeable grower would give the plants 24-36 hrs complete darkness also before harvest to increase trich production. I just get the best of both worlds the way I do it because the plant lives in the drying room many days after it is pulled increasing trich production and drying out at the same time.

Some of the dankest shit I smoked was dried in a barn outside in the summer. The barn was not light tight either. And temps were pretty high...in the mid to upper 80's or so. Also in my experience temperature (anything under 90degrees) had little effect on drying except on the speed. I always say 90 degrees but the exact number if I remember correctly that thc degrades at is 88 degrees.

For me and the way I dry RH & temp can basically do whatever they want as long as it does not go above 90 degrees or 60% rh I have fire just as good as anything I can get at any dispensary. Trim at harvest when everything is still fully alive and juggle with rh and temp. Monitoring your product everyday so it does not dry to fast and possibly lose flavor and potency. Or... Let them die out and walk away its up to you. I have done both ways many times and everytime I let the plant die out I have superb results. Ive fed up the dry a few times the other way. Also you dont have to be trimming dry if you dont like. You can trim day 3-5 and its still easy peasy. On a final note if you chop sewey when the plant is alive and end up with low smell, little flavor, or a grass/hay smell then you know why...your dry juggle was most likely off.

If anyone would prefer the scientific explanation on why this process is easier and works better I can type that up also..would be like the 4th or 5th time but no prob just say the word and ill say 100 more

1 love

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Well I didn't mean that it's physically impossible.
I meant you shouldn't do it if you want the best out of your product (which the end goal for all growers I'd say).


Btw, I think you should read this thread:

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/557965-48-hours-darkness.html

I think most experienced growers are of the persuasion that there is no real scientific proof/research for a 1-2 day dark period increasing trichomes.

Okay, thanks for the link. However, I have hours upon hours reading about this topic already and the scientific study has proven the 48 hr dark period works to increase thc. Some strains better than others. Thc is at its highest in the mornings also because blahblahblah let me copy and paste some info that you can read in terms you understand. I know the 48hr dark study was scientifically tested and proven. It worked better on certain strains. I tried it myself. It does help.

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/225463-dark-period-before-harvest.html

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/frequently-asked-questions/116585-plants-left-dark-48-hrs-before-harvest.html

http://cannabis-science.com/papers/Chemical Ecology of Cannabis.pdf

-------save the best for last for ya guy------
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2159.html

The thread you told me to read is nothing more than normal people talking...how credible is that? I now have way to much time tied up into explaining the facts I know and have been proven in my environment. Smokie time

I tied the ends of the buds with string and tied them to a hanger.. put about 5-6 branches per hanger. worked perfectly

mr. green thumb 01 said:

Okay, thanks for the link. However, I have hours upon hours reading about this topic already and the scientific study has proven the 48 hr dark period works to increase thc. Some strains better than others. Thc is at its highest in the mornings also because blahblahblah let me copy and paste some info that you can read in terms you understand. I know the 48hr dark study was scientifically tested and proven. It worked better on certain strains. I tried it myself. It does help.

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/225463-dark-period-before-harvest.html

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/frequently-asked-questions/116585-plants-left-dark-48-hrs-before-harvest.html

http://cannabis-science.com/papers/Chemical%20Ecology%20of%20Cannabis.pdf

-------save the best for last for ya guy------
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2159.html

The thread you told me to read is nothing more than normal people talking...how credible is that? I now have way to much time tied up into explaining the facts I know and have been proven in my environment. Smokie time

Click to expand...

I am hard pressed to find any "scientific evidence" in any of the links you provided. How does an article from Cannabis Culture become scientific evidence? This is the best statement I could find in any of the postings:

"Delving through the history of marijuana cultivation you will find a myriad of techniques used to supposedly increase THC production. Much of this is little more than hippie folklore, but over the years some techniques have appeared which seem based on some amount of science."

I am not trying to discredit anything you may have experienced yourself, but from my own experience I have never noticed any difference in anything from 24, 48 or 72 hours of darkness and this is something I have tried on mulitple occasions with many different strains isolating ones left in the dark versus ones left under the light. If this works for you or anyone else then I am happy that you are achieving your best results this way, but there is no "scientific evidence" anywhere which states any amount of darkness is better then no amount of darkness.

That last link said about a 24 hr dark period: "it seems it could have some scientific evidence"

Lets be sure not to label a writers opinion as a scientists proven theory. It's easy to do as people have issues sorting the two.
Lets see a real scientific study, a repeatable one that is well documented.

Darkness, 13/11, Flush or not flush, leave fans leaves or defoliate.. so many myths truths or just urban legend. How about try it for yourself and see... its the only way anything is valid in my book.

I do A LOT of things people frown upon with ABOVE EXCELLENT results, yet people argue over the stupidest things without ever knowing anything close to the truth.

rocpilefsj said:

I am hard pressed to find any "scientific evidence" in any of the links you provided. How does an article from Cannabis Culture become scientific evidence? This is the best statement I could find in any of the postings:

"Delving through the history of marijuana cultivation you will find a myriad of techniques used to supposedly increase THC production. Much of this is little more than hippie folklore, but over the years some techniques have appeared which seem based on some amount of science."

I am not trying to discredit anything you may have experienced yourself, but from my own experience I have never noticed any difference in anything from 24, 48 or 72 hours of darkness and this is something I have tried on mulitple occasions with many different strains isolating ones left in the dark versus ones left under the light. If this works for you or anyone else then I am happy that you are achieving your best results this way, but there is no "scientific evidence" anywhere which states any amount of darkness is better then no amount of darkness.

Click to expand...

I did not say those were direct scientific evidence I said that a scientific study has been done. I cant find it now nor have the time. But that mag article or any mag article for that matter in more credible than some here say. Its not like the mag auditors pick these guys up off the street that they get their info from. Or I would hope not... Im sure they are credible growers. Honestly id believe any hands on experience before some scientific mumbo jumbo anyway. In your experience your strain may have not been ideal for a 48 hr dark period or the increase may just not have been enough to tell. Like I said before I think it would more so help keep the already formed thc from degrading to cbd which in turn would have better potency then if left exposed to uv light longer. However it works.. it seems to..

On another more important note I think my plants have tmv I just read a thread about it and now am lunching. Im now feeling ill. Seems my kush plants I just put into flower show some symptoms. I think I am going to start a tmv thread or bump one.

Screw this potency stuff I got bigger fish to fry

mr. green thumb 01 said:

I did not say those were direct scientific evidence I said that a scientific study has been done. I cant find it now nor have the time. But that mag article or any mag article for that matter in more credible than some here say. Its not like the mag auditors pick these guys up off the street that they get their info from. Or I would hope not... Im sure they are credible growers. Honestly id believe any hands on experience before some scientific mumbo jumbo anyway. In your experience your strain may have not been ideal for a 48 hr dark period or the increase may just not have been enough to tell. Like I said before I think it would more so help keep the already formed thc from degrading to cbd which in turn would have better potency then if left exposed to uv light longer. However it works.. it seems to..

On another more important note I think my plants have tmv I just read a thread about it and now am lunching. Im now feeling ill. Seems my kush plants I just put into flower show some symptoms. I think I am going to start a tmv thread or bump one.

Screw this potency stuff I got bigger fish to fry

Click to expand...

Well when you have the time to find it please post it for all to see

rocpilefsj said:

Well when you have the time to find it please post it for all to see

Click to expand...

At the end of the plants lifecycle it has collected enough energy to create THC in large quantities. The amount of CBN created is directly proportionate to the Amount of THC able to be broken down. The key is that the plant creates THC metabolically while the degradation from THC to CBN is a result of heat and light. By taking out the heat and light before harvest the plant is able to still synthesize THC while not breaking it apart at the same speed. We know that THC is vulnerable to degradation by heat and light after harvest.. is it such a stretch to believe this is also the case before harvest? At a time when the plant has unnaturally high amounts of THC packed in at the end. Not destroying them should be on the front of all our minds. Read this whole scientific article it is wonderful and will also back up what I and Green Thumb are saying.

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  • I am stuck on these darkness threads now because I am shocked that no one knows the reason why this works. I must be the only one who reads scholarly journals on growing....
    
    http://www.weedfarmer.com/cannabis/botany_guide.php
    "Light energy has been collected and utilized by the plant in a long series of reactions resulting in the formation of THC acids. Farther along the pathway begins the formation of degradation products not metabolically produced by the living plant. These cannabinoid acids are formed through the progressive degradation of THC acids to CBN acid (cannabinolic acid) and other cannabinoid acids. The degradation is accomplished primarily by heat and light and is not enzymatically controlled by the plant. CBN is also suspected of synergistic modification of the psychoactivity of the primary cannabinoids, THCs. The cannabinoid balance between CBC, CBD, THC, and CBN is determined by genetics and maturation. THC production is an ongoing process as long as the glandular trichome remains active. Variations in the level of THC in the same trichome as it matures are the result of THC acid being broken down to CBN acid while CBD acid is being converted to THC acid. If the rate of THC biosynthesis exceeds the rate of THC breakdown, the THC level in the trichome rises; if the breakdown rate is faster than the rate of biosynthesis, the THC level drops." (page 4
    
    
    
    
    
    

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