Stizz1e's First Autoflower: RQS Hulkberry Auto

[Stizz1e]

Do I water her again before hand? The plant hasn't been watered since Friday, and I'm worried about my drying tent conditions, my dry tent is currently sitting at 71.4F and 59% humidity

 

[JiggiLotus]

There's a lot of growers in here that wouldn't add any water before the chopping. It's called the droughting stage. you drought the plant a week or so prior to chop and some will even claim to pop her in a dark room 48 hrs before cutting her life source. The drought helps with the dry phase and it makes the plant force the rest of the goods into the buds in fear of dying before it's finished.

 

[JiggiLotus]

You don't want to wait too long though cuz it'll backfire on ya, I over waited my autos a few too many days or weeks and they decided to hermie. Autos don't always amber out like you see in the photoperiods.

 

[Stizz1e]

There's a lot of growers in here that wouldn't add any water before the chopping. It's called the droughting stage. you drought the plant a week or so prior to chop and some will even claim to pop her in a dark room 48 hrs before cutting her life source. The drought helps with the dry phase and it makes the plant force the rest of the goods into the buds in fear of dying before it's finished.

I do plan on doing the 48 hours darkness, so I think I'll hold off on the watering, thanks! I guess she comes out of the flower tent today then. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

 

[Stizz1e]

should I be worried my dry tent doesn't have an exhaust fan? I have cool air pumping into it from an a/c unit and a small fan on the inside pointed at a wall to circulate air. I have one of the tent vents open to let the air out, do I need more circulation?

 

[Roy Growin]

I do drought towards the end, but the 48hrs dark thing is bunkum IMO
If I dried here without an exhaust/filter I'd be robbed or having a free ride in a cop car within hours
Since your humidity is very low, just a little circulation should be ok to avoid it drying too quickly

 

[Stizz1e]

I do drought towards the end, but the 48hrs dark thing is bunkum IMO
If I dried here without an exhaust/filter I'd be robbed or having a free ride in a cop car within hours
Since your humidity is very low, just a little circulation should be ok to avoid it drying too quickly

should I add a bowl of water to the tent to try and raise humidity?

 

[Roy Growin]

should I add a bowl of water to the tent to try and raise humidity?

Don't think so - 70°f / 59% sounds pretty good - even better if you can get the temp closer to 60°f
Either way check it frequently, the window of just right is quite small so buds can go from slightly wet to crispy dry within a few hours
Better still wet than f*kd up dry though, so I sometimes loosely wrap stems in newspaper to slow it down, thus widening the 'just right' window

 

[Stizz1e]

I just wish I could keep the humidity consistent, in the time since my last response humidity is down to 55%

 

[Roy Growin]

I just wish I could keep the humidity consistent, in the time since my last response humidity is down to 55%

It's your gig mate - if you wanna try, go for it see what happens
Hang a damp towel on a clothes hanger, it'll be way more effective than a bowl of water

 

[JiggiLotus]

Wait, I thought 50 to 60 was ideal for humidity. Anything higher you're gonna cause powdery mildew and that stuff sucks. You can keep that stuff lol. I'm happy with spider mites over PM any day!!

 

[Roy Growin]

Wait, I thought 50 to 60 was ideal for humidity. Anything higher you're gonna cause powdery mildew and that stuff sucks. You can keep that stuff lol. I'm happy with spider mites over PM any day!!

Drying much below RH 60% runs the risk of losing terps and turning your bud to hay
6 is the magic number for me - RH 60% temp 60f / 16°C

"Woe to you, oh earth and sea
For the Devil sends the beast with wrath
Because he knows the time is short
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast
For it is a human number
Its number is six hundred and sixty-six"

 

[Stizz1e]

It's your gig mate - if you wanna try, go for it see what happens
Hang a damp towel on a clothes hanger, it'll be way more effective than a bowl of water

Thanks, I'm probably over stressing, but I've not dried a harvest in a long time so I'm kind of over analyzing everything lol

 

[Roy Growin]

Thanks, I'm probably over stressing, but I've not dried a harvest in a long time so I'm kind of over analyzing everything lol

Drying in the UK is different every time depending on time of year/weather, so no matter which way you look at it you just gotta play it by ear - and know how to play lol

 

[Stizz1e]

Drying in the UK is different every time depending on time of year/weather, so no matter which way you look at it you just gotta play it by ear - and know how to play lol

man that must get frustrating, not being able to dial in conditions would drive me nuts, see half the posts above We are having unprecedented heat waves here on the east coast of usa so not the most ideal time to harvest, but you have to do what you have to do

 

[Stizz1e]

This plant has finished its 48 hours of darkness, and got a rough trim to take off anything that looked yellow/dead, or just anything I thought had the potential to mold. She's now hanging to dry, with temps at 67F and humidity at 60%, hopefully those values stay consistent because I'm happy with them. It was a larger yield than I thought I'd get from an auto. I didn't do a wet weigh but I'm hoping for close to two ounces dry.

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• Stizz1e
• Jul 17, 2024

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• Stizz1e
• Jul 17, 2024

I'll post dry weight when I do the final trim and bag for curing.

 

[Stizz1e]

the drying conditions have not stayed consistent. I have had to take the flowers out of the dry tent, as my temps and humidity were all over the place. The temps were for the most part alright hovering between 65 and 67, but humidity was all over the place, even with a dehumidifier in the tent, I had a max reading of 78% at one point during the night between day 1 and day two. I have removed the plant from that tent and hung them in a closet, the humidity levels in the closet were better, but the temps are around 70-71. I opened the door this morning, which is day three of the dry and the humidity was reading at 74%. It's now back down to about 61% but I'm not sure this crop is going to survive. I have been inspecting the flowers multiple times a day and don't see any signs of mold, but they smell like hay right now, as apposed to when they started drying it had a lemony scent. I am hoping the hay smell is just chlorophyll breaking down but I am not sure yet.

 

[JiggiLotus]

Mine have a similar smell while drying as well. So you should be good. I'm right there w you learning how to dry an cure properly. Found mine dry best upside down in the closet. Lol

 

[Stizz1e]

Mine have a similar smell while drying as well. So you should be good. I'm right there w you learning how to dry an cure properly. Found mine dry best upside down in the closet. Lol

Ok great, that does make me feel better, I just wish I could tell if they were going to mold before actually losing everything. I'm hoping that I'm out of the worst stages for mold risk at this point being into the third day they are hanging, but I really don't know.

I took the hanging rack I had them on and moved it out of the tent and into the closet. This drying situation is going to get the better of me lol. I have another plant right on the heals of this one that will be needing to dry soon as well, and I REALLY don't want to mess up two harvests.

 

[JiggiLotus]

Yeah don't fret. I usually check mine a few times a day too. I try to keep the air fresh around the drying buds too. Idk if that helps. I just kinda figured they persperate when alive and cause the condensation on other leaves and tent surfaces, so the first days they're drying I'm sure there's something similar going on. I think as long as the air isn't stale, fresh air and low humidity. Does a bud good.