Wanted Drying options

[Dukeyneedhelpy]

Hey everyone, name is Mike. First time outdoor grower of two beautiful Bruce banner #3.
I think they're ready for harvest but the issue is my drying method. I can't use the house and I only have a detached two car garage. I'm in CT and it's humid. In fact they're calling for 90% humidity next week.
My question is, what would happen if I hang the weed in the humid garage, but provide more than adequate air circulation?
I'm a total DIYer and if I can make something, I'm open to suggestions, the bigger one is about 5' tall. TIA!

 

[Natep]

You want a pretty closed off area. You want it to slowly dry. I would suggest hanging it in the house.

 

[Dukeyneedhelpy]

You want a pretty closed off area. You want it to slowly dry. I would suggest hanging it in the house.

Unfortunately it's not an option

 

[Eclipted]

How much you got to spend? I would recommend a herbs now dryer

 

[zack991]

If it has to be built outside. get two inch foam board. Build a box and get a portable AC.

 

[Dukeyneedhelpy]

How much you got to spend? I would recommend a herbs now dryer

Not that much

 

[PlumberSoCal2]

Hey everyone, name is Mike. First time outdoor grower of two beautiful Bruce banner #3.
I think they're ready for harvest but the issue is my drying method. I can't use the house and I only have a detached two car garage. I'm in CT and it's humid. In fact they're calling for 90% humidity next week.
My question is, what would happen if I hang the weed in the humid garage, but provide more than adequate air circulation?
I'm a total DIYer and if I can make something, I'm open to suggestions, the bigger one is about 5' tall. TIA!

Dry 'em in the garage with a fan blowing the air but not directly on the plants. Cut them in half and hang them low to the cool cement floor.

If you can dry them inside, say a spare room with an a/c keep them near 68F. If it becomes too humid add a dehumidifier. Also a fan blowing away from the plants help. This will give you a great slow dry but impractical for many.

Good luck

 

[Dukeyneedhelpy]

If it has to be built outside. get two inch foam board. Build a box and get a portable AC.

Would a dehumidifier be necessary then?

 

[PlumberSoCal2]

Would a dehumidifier be necessary then?

Just depends on your room. In the garage I don't know. I'm in sunny so cal and I have to dry my autumn grow in 100F in the garage, humidity is never a concern but spring harvests can be pretty moist but a fan does help.

 

[zack991]

Would a dehumidifier be necessary then?

Depending on local conditions and size of AC. It may not be needed. Large enough box so as not to short cycle the AC. You will have a hole for the cold Ac to go in and a vent to push out the humidity from the box. AC infinity just developed a portable ac for grow tents.

 

[TheCroppeteer]

What exactly do you know about that garage and it's conditions and immunity (for lack of a better word) to the conditions outside? How well insulated is it? Has it ever gotten that humid there? If so you ever step foot in that garage and measured it's humidity? Is it pretty much the same? Is it usually less humid?

If it's around the same exact humidity, it's probably not reasonable to think a dehumidifier would be able to fight off mother nature for that entire garage. If it's less humid in there then it might be reasonable to say a dehumidifier might be able to manage to lower the entire garage humidity.

Probably can buy yourself a grow tent that's big enough to fit those plants and fit a dehumidifier to keep just that box low in humidity and no exhaust/intake with air circulating. That's the only thing I can come up with right now.

 

[Dukeyneedhelpy]

What exactly do you know about that garage and it's conditions and immunity (for lack of a better word) to the conditions outside? How well insulated is it? Has it ever gotten that humid there? If so you ever step foot in that garage and measured it's humidity? Is it pretty much the same? Is it usually less humid?

If it's around the same exact humidity, it's probably not reasonable to think a dehumidifier would be able to fight off mother nature for that entire garage. If it's less humid in there then it might be reasonable to say a dehumidifier might be able to manage to lower the entire garage humidity.

Probably can buy yourself a grow tent that's big enough to fit those plants and fit a dehumidifier to keep just that box low in humidity and no exhaust/intake with air circulating. That's the only thing I can come up with right now.

Yeah the garage was built in the 1800s, no isulation, has basically the same humidity as the outside.
Do those cardboard box drying rooms work as I've seen on YouTube?
If I make one big enough to fit a dehumidifier and the plants, should I count on a longer dry time?

 

[TheCroppeteer]

Yeah the garage was built in the 1800s, no isulation, has basically the same humidity as the outside.
Do those cardboard box drying rooms work as I've seen on YouTube?
If I make one big enough to fit a dehumidifier and the plants, should I count on a longer dry time?

I never heard of those drying boxes until you mentioned it here, but I'm pretty sure they work because there's a bunch of success stories out there. Not sure if they'd help out specifically for 90% humidity, but I definitely see it as a viable option to the grow tent Idea I pitched. I did mean any type of customized "box" type setup, whether it was cardboard or even just some hung plastic sealed up pretty well as long as it's insulated pretty good. I don't know much about materials though. Either way, seems to be your BEST option. I'd say if that's what you have to do, it's better than nothing.

If they're ready to be harvested, maybe harvest them right now and start the drying process so that by the time it reaches 90% humidity, you'll at least be ahead of the game and that bud won't take a double hit with by the moisture in the air as well as the moisture you're trying to get out of the plant because some of it will already have been taken out?

 

[Fishybass]

This is the setup I’m trying for the first time in my MN garage. Still needs some work. But this is the idea… AC vents out the back of the box while inside the box stays cool and cuts the humidity. I can keep the temp dialed into the low 70’s by AC on its own when it’s 95F outside and sweltering in the garage. But, the AC doesn’t keep it dry enough in there when outside humidities are high. I think it might be related to the water accumulating in the AC unit because it worked great when I started it earlier in the week. Might need a hose draining to a bucket on the floor full time. I’m going to try draining it today and see if that helps. A window AC unit might have worked better. Best case would be an AC + dehumidifier on a sensor but that’s more than I wanted to spend and too much electrical demand on that circuit. I could try both but alternate each on timers. Tough technical problem. Insulating the walls would help a lot but I’m trying to figure out how much ventilation to provide for air exchange before I add xps.

 

[C0pperh3ad]

You got a frost free freezer? If you do, hang the buds off the wire shelves in there. It's sort of like freeze drying, just takes a little longer than a freeze drier. It has to be a frost free with automatic defrost.

 

[BigCBud]

You got a frost free freezer? If you do, hang the buds off the wire shelves in there. It's sort of like freeze drying, just takes a little longer than a freeze drier. It has to be a frost free with automatic defrost.

I purchased a wine cooler to try out the lotus method, how long do you think need to leave to dry?

 

[C0pperh3ad]

I purchased a wine cooler to try out the lotus method, how long do you think need to leave to dry?

Hey man, thanks for replying. You reminded me I didn't finish my reply. Kinda stopped mid sentence. Mind just zoned out I guess......
Anyway, yes, the lotus method, just simpler. I raise temps in freezer to around 40 and humidity stays about 65.. it contains the smell, but it's not enough space for me, and tbh, I get the same results by keeping my drying room at 50F and 65%. Additionally, with the fridge/freezer, you gotta pre-dry regularly for 3ish days to get rid of majority of moisture. With mine at 40F, it took 2 weeks to start cure, but here is the best part, you are already curing. That 65% is right where you want to be for a perfect cure. It's basically a giant self burping mason jar!
In my experience anyway, I'm sure someone will disagree.

 

[Kiwifarmer420]

Kia ora all, I’m thinking about getting some drying racks for this harvest but I’ve always done the hanging method and like the way it uniforms the buds, question is what’s the difference, what’s the outcome of using a drying rack instead

 

[amneziaHaze]

If you can get the garage 60% humidity its good anything over that will invite mold.or if you can get the garage under 14c that should allsoo make the mold hybernate and not relese spores.

If you dont have a huge harvest you can try the wine fridge method. With a tiny dehumidifier inside.first 3 days you have to remove water because it will be over 90% but after that you just let it slowly jump from 60-70 it should stabilies in 5-7 days.
Best part is its basicly a closed box soo 0 smell will go in to the outside room i think you are interested in that

Drying rack you cut each bud induvidually.hanging its all together usually touching eachother

 

[Rastalyfe420]

Hey everyone, name is Mike. First time outdoor grower of two beautiful Bruce banner #3.
I think they're ready for harvest but the issue is my drying method. I can't use the house and I only have a detached two car garage. I'm in CT and it's humid. In fact they're calling for 90% humidity next week.
My question is, what would happen if I hang the weed in the humid garage, but provide more than adequate air circulation?
I'm a total DIYer and if I can make something, I'm open to suggestions, the bigger one is about 5' tall. TIA!

Hey man I would suggest looking into the lotus drying method. You literally just dry it in a refrigerator. I dry all my bud this way it works great.