Harvest Time Drying In Low Humidity, High Temps, Sierra Foothills.

[stomatasf]

Hi all,
So it's getting time to harvest and I as usual running behind. Down to the wire!! I'm in Northern Cali Sierra foothills.

I have 3 plants that will need cutting down in the next week or so and I have two options for drying them. I have a Jager X with Sunset sherbet & a couple of Royal Highness. They'll be followed by a few more in the next weeks.

I have an old shed we've removed everything from and a standard shipping container. The temps have been in the mid 80's upwards of 90's and temps in both rooms have checked out at 53 mornings to 103 degrees in afternoons. RH 15% to 25%.

I'm pretty worried about setting up in either space because of the high temps & low RH.
I don't have space inside my home where the temps are better.

I do have many fans, and access to one exhaust fan. I used to dry in my cabinet back in the bay and am used to higher humidity & dealing with lowering humidity etc. Now I've got to figure this out. Any advice on controlling temps a little more without a huge electric bill and where to cut into storage shed for good air flow.... down low or up higher? Will placing my harvest in a room bring up the humidity enough that I won't need a "humidifier?"

 

[Perception]

If it was me, I'd run a small swamp cooler in the shed to help keep the humidity up and temps down during the day (with some air exchange). Although you'd need to run it for a few days to get some data, and make sure you were staying between 50%-60% humidity. I ALWAYS test out my environments for a few days to make sure I have the environment how I want it before moving plants in.

I also live in a very dry climate, and I hang dry my plants in my garage WITH a humidifier on a humidistat. I keep my humidity around 55-60%, for a nice, week-long hang dry before moving on to the next phases. I found that if I don't use a humidifier, my buds are cracker dry in 3 days, and all the chlorophyll is locked in. And it tastes like grass (lawn grass :) ).

Good luck!

 

[stomatasf]

If it was me, I'd run a small swamp cooler in the shed to help keep the humidity up and temps down during the day (with some air exchange). Although you'd need to run it for a few days to get some data, and make sure you were staying between 50%-60% humidity. I ALWAYS test out my environments for a few days to make sure I have the environment how I want it before moving plants in.

I also live in a very dry climate, and I hang dry my plants in my garage WITH a humidifier on a humidistat. I keep my humidity around 55-60%, for a nice, week-long hang dry before moving on to the next phases. I found that if I don't use a humidifier, my buds are cracker dry in 3 days, and all the chlorophyll is locked in. And it tastes like grass (lawn grass :) ).

Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion! I think that sounds like a great idea! I have a friend also offering to come over and use his plasma cutter to slice open ventilation in the shipping container but wanna make sure I know where those vents and exhaust should go.

 

[stomatasf]

Well I wish I would have gone with a swamp cooler for that first round of plants, they got crispified in 2-3 days. I Had access to two AC/Heater units one for shed and one for Storage unit and hooked first one up in the shed. In the last week i've set up the shipping container also. The temps & humidity have changed completely now dipping temps at night and humidity rising. The humidity went outdoors from 15 percent to 77 percent on sunday night/monday morning and its been a learning experience to say the least. The shipping container is holding on to humidity like crazy... today its at 76 percent and yesterday was in the 80%'s during early mornings. The wooden shed is now fine in 40's to 50's. Temperatures are getting down to the 40's at night. I have two dehumidifiers one is running in the Shipping container but isn't keeping the humidity down enough may throw in the 2nd one. Any suggestions on these shipping containers? Should I not worry as much about the humidity if the temps are so low? The buds are definitely drying out slower now but I don't want any mold of course.

 

[CaliRooted]

Ac bro. Anything over is waaaaaay to hot to dry here properly