Drying the whole plant vs. drying individual branches...help!

[GrimloxK]

Anyone mind schooling me on the pro's and con's of hanging the whole plant to dry and chopping individual branches for drying?

Could use any advice seeing as how i'm going to harvest in about a week.

Thanks.

 

[MakinGoo]

Both ways will work great.. But 4 me I dry the whole plant cuz where I live it's super mega hot (106) & when I hang the whole plant it drys a tiny bit slower.. I don't like 2 rush the drying.. But if u can control ur temps in ur room drying single branches will work

 

[green punk]

I begin by timing the flush. When your last watering was. For hydro, I flush for 10-14 days, pure water. Leave the pump off the last 2 or 3 days, the beginning of the drying/ curing. For soil/soil less I flush last 10-14 days with some blackstrap first 2 waterings and then straight water, then no water for last 4 or 5 days. The plants realize their fate and begin to consume all the available resources beginning the living cure.
It truly is the skill that is hardest to develop for growing. I hang the whole plant, every leaf, if it is too large I hang the largest sections of branches. Hang in cool 65F 45 to 50% RH with some fans circulating. Allow to hang till branches crack... the noise. Then begin pealing crunchy fans off then get into the buds and trim the more crystallized leaves away. Depending on the volume you're taking down I would then debone and put in turkey bag for 6 to 12 hrs. If a large harvest whole branch sections into contractor bags. This process in the bag is sweating out the moisture that is still contained in the stem. The buds that have been trimmed and turkey bagged will become pliable and moist. A person must watch this point carefully. This part of the process is what separates the newbs from the experienced. You must rotate and burp that turkey bag every 6 to 12 hrs leaving it open for a while in between the periods when you have bag tied off. This is the super condensed version of the method. I promise good results, no hay smell if you monitor it (follow a strict burping, rotating schedule, don't bag it to quickly/ early). This will make or break your hard work of growing the crop to its fullest potential.

I am certain there are many who will disagree with what I have said. This has worked well for me for a long time. It takes a while to get it down, but when you do the bud will smell as you wish and the flavor and the smoothness we all desire. The texture of the buds will be like pliable leather.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck, Grow Hard

 

[GrimloxK]

Well maybe you guys could give me some advice as to how to go about havesting/drying/curing in my conditions.

I have an attic grow in a small room that I close the door during the daylight hours because it's my 12 hrs dark time during the daytime. with lights off the temps in the room range from 75-80 degrees with humidity around 40%.

I was planning on chopping the entire plant after 5 days of no water and 3 days of 72 hrs darkness which are included in those 5 days.

Hanging the entire plant upside down from 4-7 days or until branches snap (do branches need to actually snap?)

then if need be, putting cut up buds into a paper bag for a couple days then into jars for burping.

Any advice, or criticisms?

 

[Seamaiden]

Nope, you've got a good, workable plan. The longer it takes to dry (without moldering, of course) the better the end product.

FWIW, I keep everything in the paper bags until it's trimmed and vacuum-packed. The environment I keep the stock in is very much like a Humidor.

 

[senate]

Are you saying as soon as you harvest it goes into paper bags?

 

[hiboy]

Are you saying as soon as you harvest it goes into paper bags?

No,
Like making goo said, leaving plants intack will slow the drying process, more water in stems will keep the buds wetter longer, most likely a better plan for your hot area..
I would trim all big leaves as soom as you chop, leaving smaller ones to detail out later. Bag them (brown bag) after your fully trimmed, no stems or nada,,,,
most likely in the 10-14 day area
h

 

[bleuballz]

I just harvested also, and just hung the whole plants.
Only problem is the humidity lately is in the 70 - 80%.
not sure if not trimming will cause mold. Anyway good luck.

 

[Seamaiden]

I just harvested also, and just hung the whole plants.
Only problem is the humidity lately is in the 70 - 80%.
not sure if not trimming will cause mold. Anyway good luck.

No, trimming in and of itself won't cause mold. You kinda need to get that humidity down and definitely need to get massive air circulation/ventilation any way you can.

 

[GrimloxK]

Okay so I know there needs to be air circulating for the buds to get dried...but not directly on the buds.

My original plan was after chopping and some slight trimming, to hang my plant upside down inside my mini grow cab which the dimensions are 18" x 19" x 36". The reason for this is to help ensure that I have no light reaching my buds.

I have a 4" inline fan attached to the top right corner of my cab with a 4" passive intake hole I cut out in the front of the cab. Would that work if I left my inline fan to pull air through my grow cab and outside the cab have a small oscillating fan mixing the air outside?

This is what I felt would be best in my situation because i'm gonna have the door to this room closed during daylight hours to ensure no light gets in this room.

Anyone think this sounds good?

 

[hiboy]

yep sounds good,
looks like ur on ur way
h

 

[Seamaiden]

Why can't air be hitting the buds directly? When I have to I put a fan on those bitches because a small chance of a few broken trichs is nothing compared to the whole cola going moldy.

You might have to find a way to allow more passive intake because I'm not so sure 4" is going to be enough. While I agree with the idea of not letting light hit the buds, I don't know that it's so important that you should be reducing ventilation in order to meet that criteria. Does that make sense?

Oh! I almost forgot, there are these products like Damp Rid that pull in atmospheric moisture. You could try something like that and see if it gets the RH down in the drying area for you, too. Might not A) work so well or, B) not be needed because of the ventilation you're providing.

 

[SLO Grown]

First, I cut what is ready to cut. Which would be indivdual buds. Lower parts of the plant have the oppertunity to mature. But first (as you know) Flush, flush, flush.

 

[GrimloxK]

I see what your saying Sea. I def do not want mold, esp. for my first grow. Then would it be okay if I kept my original plan except I opened up the door to this room every couple hours for air to be able to flow?

If I kept my plant inside my grow cab I would figure that the light in the daytime that travels into my dark room wouldn't be that much seeing as how my grow cab covers most of my plant. The only way light will get into my cab is from that same 4" intake hole. It def won't be alot of light hitting my plant though.

Would this help me out?

I've read that you should keep your plant in total darkness in drying...how true is this?

 

[Seamaiden]

I can't say how true it is, I know people who chuckle when I talk about how I want to do the drying in as close to total darkness as I can, and they've been doing this a loooonnnggg time. Just seems to me that if light can make so many other materials oxidize, and thus 'lose' desirable features (coloration changes, texture, often the very fabric of a thing will change with exposure).

I am fortunate in that I have a large basement area that's not enveloped like the house is, it's open to the earth and has those ventilation openings at the foundation that allow some air flow. This can be bad and good, because if RH is high then I have to move everything inside, where it's *too* dry. But, whether I use a spare bedroom or the basement, I like to make sure that my plants are in the dark, and the only reason resembling a good reason that I can give you is that I am anal that way, for the reasons above.

Oh yeah, you can either baffle that passive intake, or get a photog's vent... thing, of course I can't remember what they're called, but they're for a darkroom. Brainfartage, sorry.

 

[Blaze]

Do not be worried about a direct air current on the buds. You WANT a high rate of air flow, and air exchange, or you can end up with moldy buds. General rule of thumb in my book is that the hanging buds need enough air flow to make them move slightly like they are blowing in a light breeze...

Drying in darkness is helpful, but the air circulation and movement is FAR more important. The difference between drying in total darkness and partial darkness is not all that big, the difference between drying with air exchange and movement and without it is huge.

 

[GrimloxK]

Blaze thanks for the info...i'll def go with what your saying.

Help me out on this though...when I do chop my plant she will be starved for water most likely so that already is helping my drying time. Since slower drying is considered better...would the air flowing through my small cab from my inline fan not be enough to slowly dry my buds?

I also have a 6 inch small fan that I have in my cab right now that I have had blowing on my plant...should I leave that fan inside my cab blowing on my buds at the lowest speed...which like you said would make them move slightly....on top of the inline fan I have?

I'm in no real rush to dry so I was gonna give my plant a week to dry before bags or curing...so would a small fan + inline fan be overkill and dry my plants out faster than they need to be?

Also taking into consideration that my temps in my room would be around the range of 70-83 degrees currently 40% humidity.

 

[hiboy]

I've always thought and been told not to have air directly on the buds,
air movement on them will dry them out faster, which is bad ,, slower drying time is what is key,
at least for me,
thats what i see,
how bout some tea
now i have to pee
h

 

[culdaria]

Hello, I just harvested two White Widows about an hour ago lol, they were both at the beginning of their ninth week of flower, by this time almost all large fan leaves had already wilted and have fallen off. Under close visual inspection by way of 25X magni-scope, trichomes were mostly all cloudy with about 20% being amber. Thursday evening was the last time I watered them, then Saturday afternoon I pulled the plug on the light only...letting them stay in the dark till this afternoon where as I cut them both at the base of the plant. I have hung them both in a closet along with a small 6" fan set on low for ventilation, the fan is not directly blowing on them. After they seem to be getting dry on the outside to the touch, they get gently trimmed and begin the "bag method"...following that, sealed canning jars for the cure. More or less following the "DJ Short" method, the first sticky in the "Cannabis Harvesting & Curing". This has worked excellent for me...Goodluck!

 

[GrimloxK]

Hello, I just harvested two White Widows about an hour ago lol, they were both at the beginning of their ninth week of flower, by this time almost all large fan leaves had already wilted and have fallen off. Under close visual inspection by way of 25X magni-scope, trichomes were mostly all cloudy with about 20% being amber. Thursday evening was the last time I watered them, then Saturday afternoon I pulled the plug on the light only...letting them stay in the dark till this afternoon where as I cut them both at the base of the plant. I have hung them both in a closet along with a small 6" fan set on low for ventilation, the fan is not directly blowing on them. After they seem to be getting dry on the outside to the touch, they get gently trimmed and begin the "bag method"...following that, sealed canning jars for the cure. More or less following the "DJ Short" method, the first sticky in the "Cannabis Harvesting & Curing". This has worked excellent for me...Goodluck!

Cul thanks for replying...I am experiencing the same things like wilting of fan leaves...hell I've 90% defoliated by plant because of all the withering leaves...now it's just bare buds on stems.

The slight ventilation like your talking about with just the fan set on low away from the buds was my original plan except with my inline fan...my grow cab is small so the air being pulled through my cab would def be pulling air in between the stems on its way out of the cab.

I def don't want to dry out my buds faster than necessary...