DrZiggy's Low And Slow Drying: Maximizing Your Harvest

tomorrow will be 14 days.
i took some buds out i thought were dry and left them overnight but earlier tonight they had been at 73%
will the stems snap when they are ready?
tomorrow is day 14 and this is my first time doing this dry. im used to the stem snapping when hanging so does the fridge soften the stem ? this is my first time drying like this so not sure what exactly to look for now im at this point

i can say i smoked some of the dried larf buds i smoked i am currently pretty stoned
 
Hdinkleman said:
tomorrow will be 14 days.
i took some buds out i thought were dry and left them overnight but earlier tonight they had been at 73%
will the stems snap when they are ready?
tomorrow is day 14 and this is my first time doing this dry. im used to the stem snapping when hanging so does the fridge soften the stem ? this is my first time drying like this so not sure what exactly to look for now im at this point

i can say i smoked some of the dried larf buds i smoked i am currently pretty stoned
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I’ve never had any come out of the fridge sooner than the 2 week mark. Actually most of mine go 3 and that’s without the stems keeping them moist. My stems tend to bend but not snap. I’m not sure what’s typical though. When mine snap they are usually to dry.
 
Mr. Magoo said:
I’ve never had any come out of the fridge sooner than the 2 week mark. Actually most of mine go 3 and that’s without the stems keeping them moist. My stems tend to bend but not snap. I’m not sure what’s typical though. When mine snap they are usually to dry.
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ok thats good to know. i can tell not all the bjds dryed evenly. i had bags stacked in a way to try and expose air but different buds dryed at different rates. i think alot of it needs to go more i am just wondering what for you let you know they were ready for the jars?
 
Hdinkleman said:
ok thats good to know. i can tell not all the bjds dryed evenly. i had bags stacked in a way to try and expose air but different buds dryed at different rates. i think alot of it needs to go more i am just wondering what for you let you know they were ready for the jars?
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I just wait 2 weeks then check them in a jar for a couple hours. It’s usually still too high so I put them back in the fridge or I use the rices balls if I’m in a hurry lol.
 
@Mr. Magoo @weenmeoff @Pennywise

today is day 13-14
i definitely know what you guys are talking about when you said the stems make the bud not dry as fast
some of the buds are dry but the stems are still green and i can see they still have moisture
i cannavaulted what was ready, mostly smaller buds, and put in a boveda 62.
they were at 65% rh after sitting sealed in the cannavault overnight so i figured it was safe. i will burp it everyday and monitor the rh.

the bigger buds (which feel dry but i can see the stem still is green, not tannish when dry) i jarred up. my hypothesis is that it will sweat some of the moisture to the buds and then i will put it back in the fridgerator maybe overnight or another day or two and it will be ready for a final jar.

i did this to all bud. and i also got rid of the paper bags and put everything in jars with cheesecloth over the top now that the buds are dry rather than fresh.

does this sound correct? im assuming at this point we are safe from the majority of terps evaporating from the initial fresh drying period. is this going to screw things up?is it a possibility that the buds got too dry and the stems stayed wet that i missed the curing window?!?!?!

@SweetSue
 
Pennywise said:
Those buds are still damp in their central. You’re good, just burp them often at first.
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yes they definitely are pennywise. im going to sweat them for a few hours, then rearrange, put back in the fridge overnight then tomorrow ill toss them into final containers sealed with boveda 62s

i havent had the chance to smoke any of the top cola buds yet. they look great, with a golden tint of amber
 
@Hdinkleman my stems never got to snapping stage until about 1 week into the curing process out of the fridge. They do stay soft and bendy.

In regards to the bags vs boxes vs jars in relation to speed and nug size.... the best way in my experience, and I’ve done jars and out in the open on racks. On racks is by far the best way to go, more surface area exposed for gas exchange. The low temps will keep it going slow, and the high surface area will make it as quick as possible (about 2 weeks)
 
ChefDGreen said:
@Hdinkleman my stems never got to snapping stage until about 1 week into the curing process out of the fridge. They do stay soft and bendy.

In regards to the bags vs boxes vs jars in relation to speed and nug size.... the best way in my experience, and I’ve done jars and out in the open on racks. On racks is by far the best way to go, more surface area exposed for gas exchange. The low temps will keep it going slow, and the high surface area will make it as quick as possible (about 2 weeks)
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how bout just hung from the racks like thjs?

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i think i got the idea. i sweated the bigger buds and put them back in the fridge. i got bovedas and jars so all set for everything.
some of the larf is smokable, the larf is pretty damn good lol
 
Hdinkleman said:
Any hints on how you guys who do this method have “known” the buds were ready to jar?
now im not worried about mold as much as im worried about missing the curing window. thanks!!
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The first time through can be maddening, eh? :laughtwo: I want to thank you for being so engaging as you felt your way through this initial low and slo. The information shared was invaluable, and every time we guide someone through it gets easier to explain and keep them calm.

When you put all we do into getting the flowers to harvest it feels like the craziest and riskiest thing in the world to dry this way. Second time through you’ll be shocked at how casual you are about it. :laughtwo:

Hdinkleman said:
ok thats good to know. i can tell not all the bjds dryed evenly. i had bags stacked in a way to try and expose air but different buds dryed at different rates. i think alot of it needs to go more i am just wondering what for you let you know they were ready for the jars?
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Mr. Magoo said:
I just wait 2 weeks then check them in a jar for a couple hours. It’s usually still too high so I put them back in the fridge or I use the rices balls if I’m in a hurry lol.
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Exactly! I don’t even go looking for two weeks. I’ve learned to pack the bags with buds of assorted sizes. It seems to help everything dry more uniformly.

When I use rice balls I leave them in the jars until the hygrometer reads 50%. Then I take the rice balls out and wait for the RH to stabilize. It’s usually at 62-65% then.

I always leave this room feeling so proud of what you all contribute. :hugs:
 
SweetSue said:
The first time through can be maddening, eh? :laughtwo: I want to thank you for being so engaging as you felt your way through this initial low and slo. The information shared was invaluable, and every time we guide someone through it gets easier to explain and keep them calm.

When you put all we do into getting the flowers to harvest it feels like the craziest and riskiest thing in the world to dry this way. Second time through you’ll be shocked at how casual you are about it. :laughtwo:





Exactly! I don’t even go looking for two weeks. I’ve learned to pack the bags with buds of assorted sizes. It seems to help everything dry more uniformly.

When I use rice balls I leave them in the jars until the hygrometer reads 50%. Then I take the rice balls out and wait for the RH to stabilize. It’s usually at 62-65% then.

I always leave this room feeling so proud of what you all contribute. :hugs:
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sue today i have all of the biggest bud jars with bovedas in them out of the fridge. it is day 15-16.
the last two days i have taken buds out of the fridge, and rearranged in jars according to size.

one of the big giveaways if the buds are ready is COLOR OF THE STEMS. its easy to see if there is moisture by the green color in the stem. stems on buds that are ready have a more tannish brown dry look to them.

a good idea is also next time to sort buds out by size.
i didnt really do this, i just broke down each cola and brown bagged as i went along.
also realized the relationship between stem length and drying time.
i could literally see the moisture in the stems of buds that were longer, or when breaking up colas when i left the “stick end” of the cola attached. even smaller buds that had a long stem took longer to dry than a bigger bug that i clipped the stem at a more reasonable length.

on big drawback to this method though.....
have had no food in the fridge, so been living one meal at a time lmao, good thing i work at a restaurant. some time inthe future when i have more space i am convinced by this method enough that i plan on buying a old fridge just for this!!

the buds smell awesome when i burp the jars. one thing i am semi worried about is if the bigger buds dried too much on the outside than in the middle though. i dont 100% understand curing but i am hoping i barely caught the curing window on the majority of buds. cool thing about boveda packs is you can keep the buds in the curing window longer than normal once you reach the target rh%.
all in all its a great method, i hope some of my experiences can help other who are interested in drying this way. if anyone was doubtful of drying like this, i figure my experience will ease some second thoughts people may have had about trying this. i had alot of questions, but dove right in with my whole harvest dried in the fridge
so in closing next harvest i will #1 trim the stems better, #2 cut holes and do the pizza box method rather than paper bags( still not sure which worked better) #3 sort buds by size rather than just cutting colas and bagging them as i go

sorry for the long post!
 
Mr. Magoo said:
if I’m in a hurry
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Low and slow...hurry :hmmmm:
:)
Hdinkleman said:
then tomorrow ill toss them into final containers sealed with boveda 62s
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I'd like to jump in to say that you should not rely on humidity packs to correct the RH in your jar except within a very narrow range (±3%). They work too slowly and your buds could rot long before the RH reaches your target zone, if it even can given the limited range the packs can work in.

This is why the rice balls method is important. If you jar at 70% and seal it with a Boveda 62, your buds will likely mold. It could take 4-5 days for the B62 to get the RH down...way too long.

Humidity packs are designed for long term storage in sealed containers already close to the desired RH. They are not designed to work as desiccants.
 
InTheShed said:
Low and slow...hurry :hmmmm:
:)

I'd like to jump in to say that you should not rely on humidity packs to correct the RH in your jar except within a very narrow range (±3%). They work too slowly and your buds could rot long before the RH reaches your target zone, if it even can given the limited range the packs can work in.

This is why the rice balls method is important. If you jar at 70% and seal it with a Boveda 62, your buds will likely mold. It could take 4-5 days for the B62 to get the RH down...way too long.

Humidity packs are designed for long term storage in sealed containers already close to the desired RH. They are not designed to work as desiccants.
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im still burping them, the bovedas are just in the jar so i dont need to constantly remove them. once they get to 65% rh they should be good.
i got the 67 gram bovedas in the cvaults and a 8 gram in all the mason jars
 
Oh good! I wanted to make sure there was additional information here in case someone is using this for reference. I've seen folks rot their harvest relying on humidity packs to do the heavy lifting of RH reduction.
 
I'm not sure anyone has shown an advantage to pizza boxes, and the drawback is that there is very little moisture exchange through the cardboard. I think brown paper bags would be best. And much easier to source!
 
Hdinkleman said:
how bout just hung from the racks like thjs?

image.jpg

i think i got the idea. i sweated the bigger buds and put them back in the fridge. i got bovedas and jars so all set for everything.
some of the larf is smokable, the larf is pretty damn good lol
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It’s effectively the same, maximum exposure to the air in the fridge. Except that the big stems will keep them wetting for longer
 
InTheShed said:
I'm not sure anyone has shown an advantage to pizza boxes, and the drawback is that there is very little moisture exchange through the cardboard. I think brown paper bags would be best. And much easier to source!
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i cut two holes in the sides of the dominos pizza box.
they gave me a stack of ten boxes for free!
but yeah i dont think there is an inherent advantage, but they do stack very nicely in the fridge if doing alot
 
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