Drying tent humidity swings ok?

[spase]

I'm about to harvest my first grow. I set up a tent for drying. I've got controls on it, but the humidity is swinging from 47 to 73 to get my 60 average. Are these swings ok?
I've stuck a dehumidifier in it to see if I can get it to swing less. I'm starting harvest today. I can't leave the dehumidifier in for drying.

 

[greentomatoes2025]

This is also my plan and am pretty close to chop too.. without a dehumidifier going my tent would sit between 70 - 80%.

As I'm in a 2x2ft tent I'm hoping the the dehumidifier will not have to do much work to keep it around 60% on and off.

Why cant you put one in your tent? Also is it swinging because it is turning on and off? Do you have an oscillating fan going to mix things up in there?

 

[Halloweed]

I would say that above 60 -65% is kinda high. But we use what we can to get the job done.

I'm about to harvest and I might have the same problem. When I harvested my last grow I needed a humidifier to raise it. That was early spring though. Summers are rough.

It's easier if you have a controller that controls all of that. I would try to use a dehumidifier during your highest humidity. Not sure about running over night. It may dry too much.

 

[spase]

It's the dehumidifier for my house. It takes up half the tent. If I can find a smaller one it could stay in the tent. I do have a circulation fan as well. The flux is partly due to the ac cycles. The tent is hopefully outgassing and will get better...

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

Can you put the dehumidifier outside the tent? I suspect you'd get smaller swings.

The humidity in the tent will increase when you put the plant in it. That's unavoidable. Just keep the fans going, both circulation and exhaust.

 

[BearWater]

You can try to run a positive pressure,that will lower your humidity. Inlet fan runs higher than your exhaust fan. It’s not a big win but it does work.

Do the plants need to be in your tent with the door closed? You might try leaving the door open to the tent and see what that does.

 

[spase]

The humidity in the feeder room is lower, but the temp is higher, so relatively, in the tent, it's higher. The dehumidifier is outside the room now, and about half my plant is in the room. The tent does have vents, but the drying plants do need darkness. I can open them a little.

I guess we'll see what happens.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I guess we'll see what happens.

Does your drying tent have fans? Air circulation is important.

We use a drying tent. It works well. It has an old desktop fan for circulation inside and a repurposed computer fan for exhaust fan at the top. Once the buds are in the tent, we just let it run 24/7 till the buds are ready for the next step.

It's best to let the plant or buds dry slowly. We trim before putting the buds in the drying tent. That's my wife's part of the process, and she prefers to wet trim. They seem to dry better that way. Hanging the plant upside down works well, too, though.

 

[spase]

My drying tent currently has an ac unit, a humidifier, a circulation fan and it exhausts through my flowering room. I'm wanting to add a dehumidifier.

 

[spase]

I have an extra exhaust fan as well, and might vent it with that instead of going through my flower room.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

I have an extra exhaust fan as well, and might vent it with that instead of going through my flower room.

I realized I don't know the size of your drying tent. Mine is a 2x2, so that's how I was imagining yours. Yours seems larger. If so, size might make a difference, but I'm still sure air flow in and through the tent is important.

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

My drying tent currently has an ac unit, a humidifier, a circulation fan and it exhausts through my flowering room. I'm wanting to add a dehumidifier.

Air conditioners dehumidify.

 

[JIMKSI64]

How fast does it switch between the high and low and what are you doing if anything to modify humidity?
That is too broad a range. I am wondering if you have a sweep fan hitting your sensor. You would notice the clouds forming on the upswing and the wet tent walls on the down swing the numbers are huge.
Unless this is in a 24 hour period.

 

[spase]

It's a 4 minute cycle. The temp is 61 to 65, but the humidity is 48 to 78. About 14 cycles an hour.

My drying tent is a 2x2x4 foot tent. It is new and just set up.

 

[JIMKSI64]

What is modifying the humidity? Fans? Humidifier?

 

[spase]

The ac.

 

[JIMKSI64]

Sorry. Reread the thread for comprehension. I understand your system a bit better
The whole house dehu in the tent prolly not gunna work. Sure did not in my first grow and I tried. The spool up and down and the heat load increase fight the target.
Best bet is to try and isolate the tent in a small enough area that the dehu can set the humidity and not overwhelm with heat buildup
If this is a big old 50 pint even that in a 12x12 room will build up heat. At least in my room it did. I have a 30 pint in the lung room and the 50 pint in the rest of the basement. I have to draw air from the rest of the basement to get the lung room close enough so the tent stuff can modify it.

 

[Crazyformes]

It's the dehumidifier for my house. It takes up half the tent. If I can find a smaller one it could stay in the tent. I do have a circulation fan as well. The flux is partly due to the ac cycles. The tent is hopefully outgassing and will get better...

May I suggest? See photos...I have one in my grow tent...Happy Harvest

 

[spase]

Here's a graph

 

[spase]

I'm limiting the ac to level 1. Hoping to make it less spikey. I've shut off the humidifier at this point. I might just put that back in the flower room...

I was hoping to put the big dehumidifier in for a while and just get the humidity down. I don't know if it helped. The levels do seem like they are going down. It's slow.