How to cool a drying tent

[Stizz1e]

I have a dedicated drying tent setup for when my harvest is ready in a few weeks, but in dry running it (haha) temps seem to be too high, around 75F and humidity is low, around 51%. I have a fan in the tent, and ducting into my flower tent to suck air out of the dry tent, but none of that seems to be helping. I bought a swamp cooler little a/c unit but that's also not doing it. The tent is in a basement and its summer here I'm not really sure what to do. How bad is my situation for successfully drying a harvest?

 

[Dwight Monk]

Does it have to dry in the tent or other options available? You learn to avoid harvesting certain times of the year well that one sounds good in theory and rarely works out as a different problem when it's real cold and wet outside. If you have like a chest or bigger freezer you can freeze milk jugs of water, and rotate those in and out of area sticking them in front of a box fan (I was growing out in my shed). It doesn't do a lot but sometimes a few degrees can make a world of difference when temps are extreme.

 

[Roy Growin]

Loosely wrapping the stems in newspaper reduces airflow so it dries more slowly

 

[Azimuth]

How big is your tent compared to your harvest?

Once I get to the point where the outside of my buds are crispy (often just 3-5 days) I take them down and start to sweat them in a closed container with a hygrometer, in something like a Rubbermaid storage container or cardboard box or something.

It's much easier to control the environment (temp and humidity) in a smaller container than a large tent or room.

Once the buds are dry on the outside they're usually at about a low 70's humidity level when I box them up and then I open the box for a short period a couple of times a day to even out the moisture on the drying buds, and try to get from low 70's to low 60's as slowly as I can over several weeks.

Once at a consistent 60-62% humidity I jar them up and burp them periodically for the cure.

 

[Stizz1e]

Does it have to dry in the tent or other options available? You learn to avoid harvesting certain times of the year well that one sounds good in theory and rarely works out as a different problem when it's real cold and wet outside. If you have like a chest or bigger freezer you can freeze milk jugs of water, and rotate those in and out of area sticking them in front of a box fan (I was growing out in my shed). It doesn't do a lot but sometimes a few degrees can make a world of difference when temps are extreme.

I go the ten specifically to dry in, I guess it doesn't HAVE to be in there but thats what I would prefer to use. I have changed the location of the tent from the basement into an office in front of a window a/c unit. I'm thinking with the move I should have a bit more control over the environment. I'm letting it acclimate now to see what the temp/humidity differences are. I have a wine refrigerator that I could repurpose for the time being but that seems stuck at 57F and I'm not sure of the humidity levels.

 

[Azimuth]

Or, repurpose that tent into a mother and clone tent so you can go perpetual.

 

[Stizz1e]

How big is your tent compared to your harvest?

Once I get to the point where the outside of my buds are crispy (often just 3-5 days) I take them down and start to sweat them in a closed container with a hygrometer, in something like a Rubbermaid storage container or cardboard box or something.

It's much easier to control the environment (temp and humidity) in a smaller container than a large tent or room.

Once the buds are dry on the outside they're usually at about a low 70's humidity level when I box them up and then I open the box for a short period a couple of times a day to even out the moisture on the drying buds, and try to get from low 70's to low 60's as slowly as I can over several weeks.

Once at a consistent 60-62% humidity I jar them up and burp them periodically for the cure.

The drying tent is a 2'x2'x4' vivosun clone, and the plant in question is my hulkberry from this grow so not too big of a plant compared to the tent, but I have three og kush seeds running that will also theoretically be dried in the same tent so I'm trying to get it as dialed in as I can. I'm not too concerned about curing, I got some grove bags for that step

 

[Stizz1e]

Or, repurpose that tent into a mother and clone tent so you can go perpetual.

that will most likely happen any way because I'm impatient and have a lot of seeds I want to sprout lol

 

[Stizz1e]

after sitting in the new space for about an hour the tent is now reading 72.9F and 53% humidity, I think this space will work for drying, I'd like to get the temp down a bit more, but its like 90F outside right now so that may have something to do with it