Drying and Curing in an extremely dry climate with limited resources

BoomKoning · Jun 5, 2021

Hi Everyone
I am newish to growing my 2nd season . And need some advice about how to dry and cure in a very dry and hot climate.
I have read loads of posts and great info here but I need to know a few things specific to my situation. I live in Africa somewhere around "the Tropic of Capricorn" . I am currently a week or so away from my second harvest . I grow outdoors. The Temperature during this time the start of our winter is a high of 30'C (85'F) and low of 10'C (50'F) average . And an average humidity of below 10% mostly 0 .
my first harvest I dried on the stems for 7 days in cool dark room . Buy that time they where completely dried out . So Jarring really did not do anything by this time .
For This season I need to know a few thing please.
1. how do you have the best dry & cure in a very dry & hot climate?
2. Limited resources. I live in Africa in a very rural area so only a few store around selling the basics . So I can not buy humidifiers or humidity packs or any merchandise what so ever so I need bare basics (Old School) advice on how to monitor, control and increase humidity during the curing process?
My plan now is
To lower my drying time to 2 days (on the stem in a cool and dark drying case/box I build) and then trim and into jars or sealed containers to cure. Burping & Turning every 3 days or so for 3 weeks .
Any advice will be very welcome thank you .
(I do flush before harvest, I see a lot of you asking that , no idea why but I do flush )

Slickrick82 · Jun 5, 2021

Well get a humidifier off hand so u can get humity to we're u need it at. And with the hot temp try get a portable or a ac to keep temp down.for drying try to maintain humitiy at 60-68 temp 60-70 curseng want 62%for humity. Low and slow is the key.oh yeah since u got dry water over there try to keep more leaves on when drying

Bass.man · Jun 5, 2021

I would hang the whole plant for a few days then seal in a plastic tote to even out the moisture.
Good luck.

Brendanpre · Jun 5, 2021

Hi BK, I'm also in Africa, but I have the opposite problem here in coastal KZN, South Africa. The humidity here is too high, my neighbour's plants hung in his shed with a fan on them for over a month before they were finally dry enough to trim and jar...

Have you considered some type of swamp cooler? With your low humidity it should work quite well at both keeping temps down and getting humity up. I know how difficult it can be to get the stuff that most overseas growers take for granted here, especially if you're in a bit of a rural area, but I'm sure with a bit of imagination you could rig up some type of swamp cooler. Just an idea off the top of my head, but maybe a couple layers of shade cloth, with a fan blowing on/through it? Maybe even wetting/misting the walls and floor(definitely avoid wetting your flowers!!!) of your drying space?

Kanzeon · Jun 5, 2021

Kinda sounds a lot like Northern Afghanistan. Worst case scenario, let it all dry completely and make some dry sift hash!

You can boil water in a nearby room to increase ambient humidity. Cooking rice, beans, stews, etc will have a similar effect. Keep in mind that you can always dry more once they're in jars, but it's very difficult to get moisture back into the buds. Better to jar early than late.

Sparky1980 · Jun 5, 2021

Kanzeon said:
Kinda sounds a lot like Northern Afghanistan. Worst case scenario, let it all dry completely and make some dry sift hash!

You can boil water in a nearby room to increase ambient humidity. Cooking rice, beans, stews, etc will have a similar effect. Keep in mind that you can always dry more once they're in jars, but it's very difficult to get moisture back into the buds. Better to jar early than late.

Agreed. Let them dry for a couple days and then jar. Without humidity packs it's tough to get moisture back into them unless you drop apple peels in there, but you prolly don't wanna go that route. Best of luck.

Og_punkgenetics · Jun 5, 2021

BoomKoning said:
Hi Everyone
I am newish to growing my 2nd season . And need some advice about how to dry and cure in a very dry and hot climate.
I have read loads of posts and great info here but I need to know a few things specific to my situation. I live in Africa somewhere around "the Tropic of Capricorn" . I am currently a week or so away from my second harvest . I grow outdoors. The Temperature during this time the start of our winter is a high of 30'C (85'F) and low of 10'C (50'F) average . And an average humidity of below 10% mostly 0 .
my first harvest I dried on the stems for 7 days in cool dark room . Buy that time they where completely dried out . So Jarring really did not do anything by this time .
For This season I need to know a few thing please.
1. how do you have the best dry & cure in a very dry & hot climate?
2. Limited resources. I live in Africa in a very rural area so only a few store around selling the basics . So I can not buy humidifiers or humidity packs or any merchandise what so ever so I need bare basics (Old School) advice on how to monitor, control and increase humidity during the curing process?
My plan now is
To lower my drying time to 2 days (on the stem in a cool and dark drying case/box I build) and then trim and into jars or sealed containers to cure. Burping & Turning every 3 days or so for 3 weeks .
Any advice will be very welcome thank you .
(I do flush before harvest, I see a lot of you asking that , no idea why but I do flush )

So ideally the best enviroment for a good dry is 60% humidity and 60°F. If your resources are limited, whatever you can do to get it as close to that as possible is best. If you have a small space, you can get a humidifier for pretty cheap, and it's best to use distilled water or you'll get a film over everything. If you don't have an AC or anything, the best place to do it would be a basement if that's available, because temperatures don't fluctuate that much subterraneously.

BoomKoning · Jun 5, 2021

Sparky1980 said:
Agreed. Let them dry for a couple days and then jar. Without humidity packs it's tough to get moisture back into them unless you drop apple peels in there, but you prolly don't wanna go that route. Best of luck.

Apple seeds ? Bro that's the type of stuff I want to know please

Sparky1980 · Jun 5, 2021

BoomKoning said:
Apple seeds ? Bro that's the type of stuff I want to know please

If you don't have humidity packs, you can peel an apple and put a small piece of the peel into the curing jar. It will rehydrate the buds super-fast, but you don't want to leave the peels in there too long. It's just a way to add moisture to over-dryed buds.

BoomKoning · Jun 5, 2021

Brendanpre said:
Hi BK, I'm also in Africa, but I have the opposite problem here in coastal KZN, South Africa. The humidity here is too high, my neighbour's plants hung in his shed with a fan on them for over a month before they were finally dry enough to trim and jar...

Have you considered some type of swamp cooler? With your low humidity it should work quite well at both keeping temps down and getting humity up. I know how difficult it can be to get the stuff that most overseas growers take for granted here, especially if you're in a bit of a rural area, but I'm sure with a bit of imagination you could rig up some type of swamp cooler. Just an idea off the top of my head, but maybe a couple layers of shade cloth, with a fan blowing on/through it? Maybe even wetting/misting the walls and floor(definitely avoid wetting your flowers!!!) of your drying space?

Thanks, I am on the other side of the Continent it's a desert 🏜

GrowHobo · Jun 5, 2021

I’d hang for two days maybe three. Till the outside leave get a little crunchy then put it in a paper bag for another day or two till the stems crack then into jar. Good luck.

GrowHobo · Jun 6, 2021

Also bleached flour tortillas work well to rehydrate. Safer than apple or orange peels. Imo

Farmer88 · Jun 6, 2021

@BoomKoning you can try building a rudimentary whick based humidifier. A tank of water and rolled up cotton shirt or something to whick the water up the cloth and naturally evaporate into the air raising humidity. If you can add a fan or direct an air input over the whick or whicks if you make more than one to increase the evaporation speed. Just keep an eye on the tank level and clean the tank regularly.

V3n0M · Jun 6, 2021

Dry it in the fridge, in brown paper bags. itll take about 10-14 days.

BoomKoning · Jun 7, 2021

Farmer88 said:
@BoomKoning you can try building a rudimentary whick based humidifier. A tank of water and rolled up cotton shirt or something to whick the water up the cloth and naturally evaporate into the air raising humidity. If you can add a fan or direct an air input over the whick or whicks if you make more than one to increase the evaporation speed. Just keep an eye on the tank level and clean the tank regularly.

Thanks good idea , I was already thinking something like that .

Roof · Jun 21, 2021

BoomKoning said:
Hi Everyone
I am newish to growing my 2nd season . And need some advice about how to dry and cure in a very dry and hot climate.
I have read loads of posts and great info here but I need to know a few things specific to my situation. I live in Africa somewhere around "the Tropic of Capricorn" . I am currently a week or so away from my second harvest . I grow outdoors. The Temperature during this time the start of our winter is a high of 30'C (85'F) and low of 10'C (50'F) average . And an average humidity of below 10% mostly 0 .
my first harvest I dried on the stems for 7 days in cool dark room . Buy that time they where completely dried out . So Jarring really did not do anything by this time .
For This season I need to know a few thing please.
1. how do you have the best dry & cure in a very dry & hot climate?
2. Limited resources. I live in Africa in a very rural area so only a few store around selling the basics . So I can not buy humidifiers or humidity packs or any merchandise what so ever so I need bare basics (Old School) advice on how to monitor, control and increase humidity during the curing process?
My plan now is
To lower my drying time to 2 days (on the stem in a cool and dark drying case/box I build) and then trim and into jars or sealed containers to cure. Burping & Turning every 3 days or so for 3 weeks .
Any advice will be very welcome thank you .
(I do flush before harvest, I see a lot of you asking that , no idea why but I do flush )

Take a look at this thread...it should help https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/clockworx-dry-cure-method-step-by-step.58490/

Ddebrazza · Jul 1, 2021

Piggy-backing off an existing thread, if you wanted to raise the humidity slightly for slowing down the drying process (Drying inside my Grow Tent), would you be better to put the humidifier in the bedroom and allow the portable AC to draw the air into the tent or put the humidifier inside the tent?

I have one of those hanging racks that looks like a clothes hanger but with 30 little clips to hang the individual branches from.

MIGrampaUSA · Jul 1, 2021

BoomKoning said:
Hi Everyone
I am newish to growing my 2nd season . And need some advice about how to dry and cure in a very dry and hot climate.
I have read loads of posts and great info here but I need to know a few things specific to my situation. I live in Africa somewhere around "the Tropic of Capricorn" . I am currently a week or so away from my second harvest . I grow outdoors. The Temperature during this time the start of our winter is a high of 30'C (85'F) and low of 10'C (50'F) average . And an average humidity of below 10% mostly 0 .
my first harvest I dried on the stems for 7 days in cool dark room . Buy that time they where completely dried out . So Jarring really did not do anything by this time .
For This season I need to know a few thing please.
1. how do you have the best dry & cure in a very dry & hot climate?
2. Limited resources. I live in Africa in a very rural area so only a few store around selling the basics . So I can not buy humidifiers or humidity packs or any merchandise what so ever so I need bare basics (Old School) advice on how to monitor, control and increase humidity during the curing process?
My plan now is
To lower my drying time to 2 days (on the stem in a cool and dark drying case/box I build) and then trim and into jars or sealed containers to cure. Burping & Turning every 3 days or so for 3 weeks .
Any advice will be very welcome thank you .
(I do flush before harvest, I see a lot of you asking that , no idea why but I do flush )

Limited resources huh ... If the humidifier is out of the question, you can slow down the drying process by putting your buds in a paper grocery bag. Roll it up at the top and place it inside another grocery bag and roll it up at the top. Then put the bag in the coolest place in the house.

freezeland2 · Jul 1, 2021

This might be worth a read though for those in hot & dry climates. Have never tried it myself.

DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

Since beginning this thread we've had a member show up who'd spent the years since 1993 refining this very process. He's already worked out what we were trying to discover - the most favorable atmospheric conditions, how to adjust humidity levels when it's time to jar it up, and for that matter...

www.420magazine.com

Backyard_Boogie · Jul 2, 2021

The best way of course is to get a humidity controller with both a humidifier and dehumidifier plugged in. Since you don't have access to these items you gotta do it the ghetto way which actually still works I used to do it all the time back in the day. We have desert winds in the fall in California the humidity sometimes gets like you under 15% extremely dry. I would hang and dry my plants in my grow tent so on the extra dry days just toss a few wet towels down on the floor. That simple. The air inside the tent is super dry so you can zip it up tight and then all you need is a tiny little desk fan set on low so you can move around the air a bit. By tossing a few wet towels on the floor inside the drying space it automatically starts raising the humidity due to the evaporating water. Once the towels start to dry out you just moisten them agin. This isn't perfect like i said kind of ghetto but it gets the job done. With 10% humidity it would usually zap your flowers in a few days but with the wet towels it will slow down that process so hopefully you can stretch the dry out to a week or more. Longer and slower is better you don't want to zap them fast they will hit way harsh and burn your throat. As far as the temperature I would choose the coolest room in your house. A basement would be good. Basically anywhere that is less hot than the other areas. Good luck!

Drying and Curing in an extremely dry climate with limited resources

Drying and Curing in an extremely dry climate with limited resources

BoomKoning

Slickrick82

Bass.man

Brendanpre

Kanzeon

Sparky1980

Og_punkgenetics

BoomKoning

Sparky1980

BoomKoning

GrowHobo

GrowHobo

Farmer88

V3n0M

BoomKoning

Roof

Ddebrazza

MIGrampaUSA

freezeland2

DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

Backyard_Boogie

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