DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

[Tony Urban]

Those are some mighty frosty nugs there UA!
The smoothness of the smoke is what I’ve gotten the most compliments on from veteran smokers. They love it!

Thank you, yeah the smoothness is what most people compliment me on too, makes you feel good. Warm and fuzzy

 

[tommyboi]

tb, just picked this up over the weekend. Magic Chef 4.4 cu. ft. Mini Refrigerator in White-HMBR440WE - The Home Dep

Hey medmanmike, went to Home Depot last night and they were out of that one but I got a 3.3 cubic foot wit hfreezer for $98 and I get a $25 rebate from the electric company!! Sounds like a win.

 

[medmanmike]

Hey medmanmike, went to Home Depot last night and they were out of that one but I got a 3.3 cubic foot wit hfreezer for $98 and I get a $25 rebate from the electric company!! Sounds like a win.

Nice! Sure can't beat the "price"!

 

[SamPuff]

Hey Sue, what material do you use for the rice balls again?

 

[Mr. Magoo]

Hey Sue, what material do you use for the rice balls again?

Rice and pantyhose work well.

 

[InTheShed]

Hey Sue, what material do you use for the rice balls again?

See my sig for the riceball info!

 

[DobeWan]

Have any of you low and slow’ers ever done your dry unattended? Time is growing short and one of my plants is clearly not ready to chop in time for me to finish the low and slow before going away for 10 days. I’m thinking of leaving it in the fridge while I’m away, but every run of the low and slow I’ve done has involved me taking the bags out and moving the buds around daily.

 

[Mr. Magoo]

I think Sue opens hers at 2-3 days and then around 3 days later and then leaves them for the remainder. Could be wrong about that but I feel like I remember her saying that!

 

[DobeWan]

Oh yeah Magoo? Any thoughts @SweetSue?

 

[Mr. Magoo]

Why don’t I do this proper?

Low and Slo: In The Bag

Basic points:
* Paper bags will help speed the process by about a week.
* You’ll get better than 25% back, so loading the bags at 28 grams wet means every four bags’ll bring you very close to an ounce dry.
* 28 grams to a lunch bag is a good volume for smooth drying.
* Save most trimming for later to retain even more terpenes. I only take off fans.
* Laying the bags on their side increases surface area facilitating the drying process.

I wash the buds and hang dry for 4 hours and then trim the buds into the bags.

After three days open the bags, reach in and gently bounce the buds apart. Close up and put them back in place.

Do this again at least one more time, about 3 days later. After that you can forget about them.

In two weeks I pull them and finish drying with rice balls to 62-65%. Then into a jar with a Boveda.

Hope that helps.

Here it is @DobeWan

 

[DobeWan]

Thanks Magoo. Maybe the move is this - harvest 3 days before leaving, and give them the "three day shake" before I leave and then hope for the best.

I'm also considering drying in my tent for, say, a day, then moving into the low and slow unattended with the initial wetness toned down from the day in the tent.

For what it's worth, I left most of my Chemdawg with only the fans taken off in the fridge for months when I hurt myself, and none of it got moldy. I think Sue's right, that once you're through those first few days you're in good shape.

 

[SweetSue]

Thanks Magoo. Maybe the move is this - harvest 3 days before leaving, and give them the "three day shake" before I leave and then hope for the best.

I'm also considering drying in my tent for, say, a day, then moving into the low and slow unattended with the initial wetness toned down from the day in the tent.

For what it's worth, I left most of my Chemdawg with only the fans taken off in the fridge for months when I hurt myself, and none of it got moldy. I think Sue's right, that once you're through those first few days you're in good shape.

You've been working too hard at it my friend.

I think you could get away bouncing them at day three and forgetting about them DobeWan, but I wouldn't hesitate to do the one day hang and bag them up on day two. I have yet to find mold in my bags, and I've been doing this for over a year now, I think.

 

[SweetSue]

I am also doing this so I & low for the first time. My Buds also took 3 weeks to dry. Currently in a 1 gal jar burping several times a day. Most of the smell is gone, hope things get better after the cure.

Sorry I missed you in all the excitement Headclinic, and welcome to the grand experiment. It's always a thrill to find someone new inspired by our passion. As the guys pointed out, you have only improvement in terpene expression to look forward to. We were all hopeful skeptics at one time too. Lol! It'll quickly become your preferred drying method.

@UrbanAchiever, nice photo presentation. You've shown why we keep at it.

 

[Headclinic]

Sorry I missed you in all the excitement Headclinic, and welcome to the grand experiment. It's always a thrill to find someone new inspired by our passion. As the guys pointed out, you have only improvement in terpene expression to look forward to. We were all hopeful skeptics at one time too. Lol! It'll quickly become your preferred drying method.

@UrbanAchiever, nice photo presentation. You've shown why we keep at it.

Hello Sweetsue,
Since I don't have much control (temp/humidity) over my drying/curing space, this low and slow should work out great for me. My first batch was done in my kitchen fridge. So far I'm happy with the overall look but hoping the aroma and stickiness comes back, its been curing for about 2 weeks. This girl I speak about was stinky and oozing with resin at chop and even thru out the first several days of dry time.
I have faith in all the experience that bounces around this great forum and will continue using this method. I too, purchased a small 4.4 cubic ft fridge since I have several that will be ready with in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks to all who are sharing their experiences.

 

[DobeWan]

Sue I'm an analytic by nature, analyzing and planning is my thing, so playing out all the options and testing them with folks like you who know your stuff is what I do!

Jgrow's thread has been helping me figure out the various options, and I'm fairly certain what I've settled on is a harvest on the 12/14-12/16 weekend. I leave the morning of 12/21 so that should give me time to take the initial moisture out and set them up to be OK while I'm away. That'll also give me the extra week Jgrow and lazyfish recommended for one of the strains I'm growing that they both have experience with.

They'll end up in the fridge just over 2 weeks which will mean the drying time I've grown used to.

 

[medmanmike]

Doing my first Lo 'n Slo. Could use some feedback.

I washed, and hung plants in the grow room so the lights would continue photosynthesis for a bit and the fans would help with the evaporation of the moisture from the wash. I then trimmed each individual bud off of the stalks and placed them in brown (lunch) paper bags, closing them off with a spring clip. i ended up with ten bags.

They were laid flat in the min-fridge (with freezer). Temp/Hum. Has been consistently 46°/64%. I flipped the bags every three days (twice now) and shook them a bit to spread the buds out. Today (day 10) I decided to have a look inside the bags as they, the bags, felt quite moist. For the most part, the buds were clumped (stuck) together. They're VERY sticky . I decided to remove them from the bags and separate the buds. I also lowered the temp a bit to try to get them under 45° per this thread.

I left one bud out and placed it in a jar with a hygrometer. Hum. is settling around 83-84%.

Not having tried this method befor, I'm a little nervous with the amount of moisture still in the buds. My fear, of course, is mold.

For those of you who have done this a few times, does this sound right? Is there something different I should be doing? I know the process takes at least two if not three weeks and I get the need to do the rice balls . REALLY don't want to ruin this harvest.

Any thoughts or advice will be appreciated. Thx.

 

[Mr. Magoo]

My humidity was still in the 90’s after 2 weeks so I think you should be fine. 3 weeks is what it takes mine to get to the low 70’s. Then I use rice balls to get it down to cure range.

 

[weenmeoff]

Yeah you're good Mike. I would check them every couple days though and rotate/unstick the buds.

 

[LionOfJudah]

Whats up guys, made an account just for this thread, in Hawaii where the humidity is difficult to control, I clipped some tester buds before my main harvest, been in my fridges drawer for like 10 days it feels like its close to done, stuck my main lunchbag in my sisters crisper drawer in her fridge, the rh on the hydrogemeter says like 30-40%, Ive harvested like 3 times and never had a proper one, im preying this is my end to my drying and curing troubles, will update with pics tomorrow, I don't want to wake my sister right now

 

[InTheShed]

Whats up guys, made an account just for this thread, in Hawaii where the humidity is difficult to control, I clipped some tester buds before my main harvest, been in my fridges drawer for like 10 days it feels like its close to done, stuck my main lunchbag in my sisters crisper drawer in her fridge, the rh on the hydrogemeter says like 30-40%, Ive harvested like 3 times and never had a proper one, im preying this is my end to my drying and curing troubles, will update with pics tomorrow, I don't want to wake my sister right now

to 420magazine Lion. Hope you feel at home here and get a lot of great insight from all the journals on the site. Next grow you should start a journal (see the "helpful links for new members" in my signature) and read what the rest of the members here are up to in the meantime!

After a week in the fridge put them in a jar with a hygrometer and see what it says after an hour or so. If it's in the low to mid 60s it's time to jar it up.

I have high RH here in Los Angeles and I use rice balls (see the link in my signature) to lower the humidity in jars, or a mini-dehumidifier in a small cardboard box with the buds for an hour. Every time I burp my jars the RH goes up!