Drying Question - Phoenix AZ

[azbassist]

First grow, did my chop this morning. I cut the whole plant, cut off the large fan leaves, left on the sugar leaves and hung it. Drying room is a spare bedroom about 15'x10'. Put in a portable AC with a window vent at 68 degrees and put in a Govee humidifier and set it to 51%. I got the room to about 74 degrees and 50% humidity and put my plant in there. Over a few hours the temperature got down to 70 but the humidity spiked up around 58%. The house normally ranges from 35% to 45% humidity and the humidifier automatically shut off at 50% and hasn't been running for about 5 hours now. I know I don't want to go above 60% humidity to prevent mold. I guessing maybe the plant is giving off humidity just by being in the room maybe? I ran the ceiling fan and got the humidity down to 52% and it spiked back up to 56% about 20 minutes later. I want to be conservative on with the humidity as I'd rather have it lower and avoid mold. (I'd prefer a bit harsher of a smoke than ruined moldy buds). Any tips on this? Maybe leave the door open for a few hours? Will the plant automatically add humidity to the room as it drys? Being in Phoenix I had no idea that I may need to actually lower the humidity instead of raising it. It's about a 3' plant and not full or bushy at all.

 

[azbassist]

Answered my own stupid question lol. I'm used to hot=humid in most cases but never cold=humid. NEVER saw a room in Arizona at 58% but I guess if you get it cool enough it gets there! I think I found a sweet spot at 75 degrees and it naturally wants to stay at 50%..... At least for now. Any advice would still be helpful.

 

[Robert23howard]

First grow, did my chop this morning. I cut the whole plant, cut off the large fan leaves, left on the sugar leaves and hung it. Drying room is a spare bedroom about 15'x10'. Put in a portable AC with a window vent at 68 degrees and put in a Govee humidifier and set it to 51%. I got the room to about 74 degrees and 50% humidity and put my plant in there. Over a few hours the temperature got down to 70 but the humidity spiked up around 58%. The house normally ranges from 35% to 45% humidity and the humidifier automatically shut off at 50% and hasn't been running for about 5 hours now. I know I don't want to go above 60% humidity to prevent mold. I guessing maybe the plant is giving off humidity just by being in the room maybe? I ran the ceiling fan and got the humidity down to 52% and it spiked back up to 56% about 20 minutes later. I want to be conservative on with the humidity as I'd rather have it lower and avoid mold. (I'd prefer a bit harsher of a smoke than ruined moldy buds). Any tips on this? Maybe leave the door open for a few hours? Will the plant automatically add humidity to the room as it drys? Being in Phoenix I had no idea that I may need to actually lower the humidity instead of raising it. It's about a 3' plant and not full or bushy at all.View attachment 2024212

I think you will be perfectly fine! Perfect everything is under 68 degrees temp for drying and humidity level at 60%. These are the ideal numbers that most agree on and they definitely have science on their side to back their claims. Some will disagree and swear by different temps and humidity levels, and those folks are truly speaking from amazing results they have had at those numbers. So I guess what I am trying to say is that don’t be afraid to run to 60% humidity and if it drops to 50 or a tad lower your smoke will turn out just fine. The perfect humidity for marijuana to smoke and store is between 58-63% and I am positive of this. Also keeping the temperature under 68 degrees is scientifically proven to maintain your trichomes at much higher rate than drying in 69 and up temps. The hotter it is over 68 the more you are taking away from the strength of the plant.

I have smoked weed that was dried perfect, badly microwaved, baked, dried under high temps, the humidity out of control, either sky high humidity or way low, fans directly blowing on them and drying them out way to fast, etc…… All were just fine and did their job when I smoked the final product. Not sure this helps but keep on keeping on.

 

[azbassist]

I think you will be perfectly fine! Perfect everything is under 68 degrees for drying. And humidity level at 60%. These are the ideal numbers if that most agree on and definitely have science on their side. Some will disagree and swear by their numbers and are truly speaking from amazing results they have had at those numbers. So I guess what I am trying to say is that don’t be afraid to run to 60% humidity as the perfect humidity for marijuana to smoke and store is between 58-63%. Also keeping the temperature under 68 degrees is scientifically proven to maintain your trichomes at much higher rate than drying in 69 and up temps. The hotter it is over 68 the more you are taking away from the strength of the plant.

I have smoked weed dried perfect, microwaved, baked, dried under high temps, humidity out of control, either sky high, way low, fans directly blowing on them and drying them out way to fast, etc…… All were just fine and did their job when smoked. Not sure this helps but keep on keeping on.

Thanks for the input man!