There are a lot of “lotus method” drying with fridges but I can’t find anything specific on a wine cooler for drying. I do not want to drill holes for ink birds and install fans for this to be possible. It has a circulating fan on the inside.
Can I leave the doors closed and humidity will resolve itself during the run cycle? How long? I cannot get the right temps/humidity and need a way to dry for continued growing and to cure at ideal temperatures. That’s why I purchased this over an extremely expensive to run window unit.
Have no idea if it will work. It will need to be able to control humidity , so remove excess moisture and add needed as well have air circulation to keep mold from forming. Let us know if it works
I use a used refrigerator. It takes about two weeks for weed to dry in one. I dry some in my spare fridge every year. I’d probably dry even more if the fridge was bigger.
Any improvements on the drying as opposed to just drying in a cool room? My only concern with the wine cooler is I would have to lay them on racks. I’m no where near flowering but I’ve read terpenes can fall off, is this true? Just worried about it laying and making some fall.
@Bigcbud I bought a used one on marketplace for$50 and it works perfect. Couldn’t get the temp higher than 50. The humidity will increase when you put the plants in. After it drops as they dry I put in a bowl of water and it takes it back up. It dried to 11% after 7 or 8 days. Thats good enough for me. I don’t get carried away trying to keep it exact. I take out all the shelfs and hang them from the top one. It works just fine. It’s all the bigger I need for myself. I’ll be drying a plant in a week.
I’m going to keep an eye out on that dry if using lotus method and damn look at me spending too much lol. That’s a relief that it is doable, I’m positive I read it high somewhere and that’s why I bought. I don’t necessarily have the height to hang(or maybe I do) would having them lay on trays that I rotate once a day suffice??
It depends on the wine fridge you choose. The cannatrol is little more than a wine fridge with fancy controls and a sponge. The problem being that a wine fridge doesn’t regulate humidity or introduce fresh air(That I know of anyway). So you have to compensate somehow. Early on in a space that size it it will be hard to keep humidity down and you will have to introduce fresh air manually. You would probably get better bang for your buck retrofitting a closet or tent. Then you can use the same equipment in you grow and dry in stead of having a one trick pony that only drys and is less than optimum. Will it work? Probably, but you will likely get a more controlled dry for less cash by throwing together a drying room or tent.
Yeah I would love for that to be an option but I’m limited on space due to my kids. I currently have my grow tent in my walk in closet so trying to keep it all in there. They aren’t ignorant to me smoking my medicine but don’t want them to know I’m growing an accidentally tell.
I can’t say for sure without knowing dimensions. If you can’t dry in the same tent you grow in, It may be easier in a custom closet that you can build to size. I’ve used everything from black vapor barrier to Styrofoam insulation Even cardboard wardrobe boxes. Both are relatively cheap and easy to work with without special tools. Just some ideas to consider.
You’re the second person to suggest that and it’s something I’ve considered. But running a window unit for two weeks makes me worried about bill. I think I just need a full on failure with wine cooler before I consider running the power sucking noise monster lol
I doubt it would be a full on failure. If you do have problems with high humidity some desiccant packs in the fridge would be easy. Some baking soda or salt might work too. Just make sure the fan isn’t going to blow it all over. Raising humidity Is as easy as a clean damp sponge. Make sure you have a few so you can swap them out and dry them to prevent them getting nasty. You would just need to swap them out as needed by hand. You will also want to let a little fresh air in a few times a day to promote decomposition of chlorophyll.
Thankfully I’m a disabled veteran with a lot of free time lol I will definitely “burp” it because it seems like the chlorophyll smell is gross from what I’ve read. With the sponges are you saying they will absorb extra moisture as well? And with the desiccant packs is that in conjunction with the baking soda or an either or type thing?
With decent humidity the sponge probably won’t dry and it might start to mildew. You don’t want that with your weed so if you need the sponge to add humidity for more than a day at a time you could swap a fresh sponge in and clean and dry the used one. If it is too wet you would pull out the sponge and replace it with a desiccant pack. Salt or baking soda works in theory but I’m not sure about the practice in this application. Use at your own risk. Come to think of it if your temp is relatively stable between 60 68 degrees a few bovida packs may work to stabilize humidity in both directions. No muss no fuss. You just have to burp. The chlorophyll smells like wet hay. That’s what you want. If it smells terpy your temps are too high and your evaporating terps. If it ever smells like ammonia or poop you need to introduce fresh dry air immediately.
SUPER helpful information ive never heard of the ammonia or poop smell before so i wouldve been super concerned catching a whiff of that lol. Now i feel like i at least have some direction in doing this so thank you for taking the time growmie.
Laying them down and rotating them is perfectly fine. My cooler holds around 30 so i can hang them. Thats good you have a fan inside. I don’t. I bought a moisture meter and when they get to around 11% I jar em. If the rh starts to get to high I take the buds out and I lay em out for a couple of hours. For some reason when I get the rh to stabilize at 62% I’m good t go. I don’t buy those packs, just don’t need em for the amount I’m dealing with.
Let me know how it works out for you.
Have a good 1
No, it’s the moisture content in your stems or buds. If you have a bigger stems just insert the pins of the probe and see where your at. Or 1 pin in the stem and the other in the bud. Or the small stem test. If it snaps when you bend it it’s most likely ready. You want the buds to be sticky and somewhat spongy, not wet. You Got it.
Sorry to keep you just wanted a little more clarity. I’m using a Grovee to measure rh and temp, can you recommend a sticking probe? I have a cheap soil moisture meter that has a probe but it just does like a dry,moist,wet range with no specifics of percentages.
Moisture meter the one I have.
Mecurate Digital Pin Type Wood Moisture Meter with 3 Colored Indicators, Moisture Detector 2 Mode 8 Calibration Large Backlit for Wood, Wall, Firewall https://a.co/d/9RyFTyb
