We are getting ready to harvest our girl’s in a few weeks. Everytime we do, we usually dry them in the dark, in our tent, with a fan for about a week before final trimming and jarring. Some previous harvests we ended up with some bud curing and smelling like hay (which I definitely want to avoid)
So 1.) Do you recommend a dehumidifier, and if so which one?
Also… what are the best drying/curing methods to avoid cured bud smelling/tasting like hay?
Thanks in advance for all the help!
I’ve bought humidifiers and dehumidifiers from Home Depot and have been happy with them. You should size humidifier/dehumidifier based on the size of your tent or drying room with it (them) being able to maintain humidity at ~60%. That will give you a nice 8 to10-day dry and it will help with the roughness of smoke. Curing properly is probably more important than the dry for smooth, nice tasting smoke.
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A few thing I have learned are, don’t let your fans blow directly on the buds, just to move the air around the drying area once in a while. Long and slow drying and curing is the key to a good harvest that don’t smell like hay.
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So that we’re on the same page, you understand that drying and curing are two different things, not two words for the same thing, right?
Are you moving air through your tent, in addition to circulating air internally?
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Yes. I dry in the tent for 7-14 days… these are the most dense buds I’ve ever had. The top ones are probably about an ounce each. Once we final trim and put into jars… we always ‘burp’ them or leave open for a decent amount of time the first few days/week… then open everyday for the first few weeks… and slowly lessen the amount I open it as time goes on and eventually put on boveda 62% relative humidity packs.
What do you mean by moving air through the tent, and circulating internally? I usually have one fan rotating at the bottom, and another on the side. None directly on the buds, just moving around the tent so theres no chance of stagnation/mold to grow
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So for a 4x4x8 … what size would you recommend?
A Honeywell HCM-6009 will work well if you live in a dry area. It’s what I use. If you only need a little bit of extra humidity you might be able to get away with a Honeywell HEV320WD1. I would stay away of ultrasonic humidifiers unless you are okay with white mineral powder dust all over your grow area.
I use a HCM-6009 in my veg tent.
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I personally use a toppin humidifier works fantastically running 24/7 for 4+ months keeps my grow room 10-15% higher then without it ( dam winter dryness practically halved what my harvest should’ve been ) and let me finally dry past 7 days for the 1st time (Makes a HUGE difference)
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The smaller humidifier I referenced produces no search results. Here’s a link just in case you want to think about going that way.
https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-oneywell-Moisture-Humidifier-Shut-Off/dp/B00TUC3SGW
The humidifiers I’ve pointed out have wicks that must be replaced every so often. The wicking humidifiers help you avoid issues with mineral dust.
Ahhhh. You really want to have fresh air moving into the drying space, and stale air exhausting. I have a HEPA filter on my air intake and a carbon filter on my exhaust.
Dehumidification is an alternative, but it’s cheaper to use fresh air. It sounds like maybe you’re not drying enough before putting flowers in jars. What humidity numbers are you at when you jar?
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To be honest… I’m relatively new to this and will be buying a humidity monitor today. We’ve never actually measured it. Just put the buds in when ‘crispy’, and open a few times a day for the first week or 2, and slowly lessen the time I open them as time goes on and eventually put in boveda relative humidity package 62%.
I love the idea of moving the stale air out of the tent, and don’t know why we havent done that sooner… it just makes so much sense! But for our set up… it will take some work. I’m only 33 but disabled. Now we have 3 internal fans, one rotating at the bottom and 2 on the sides and it’s done the job for us throughout the grow, and we usually just convert the tent to the drying area. But I’m hoping to make this pur best harvest, as we likely have over 10 oz from 4 plants in our 4x4x8 tent
Thank you so much for all of your insight and tips! I truly appreciate it!
What humidity level do you want the buds to be at before jarring?
I keep my box dark and at 60f/60rh with filtered air moving through. I use a humidifier and heater to bring both numbers up, since my space never gets over 60f/35rh. After 7-10 days the flowers might be ready to go in jars, so I’ll jar them with a GoVee humidity puck per jar, and see what they read. If they’re over 62rh almost immediately, they go out of the jars and back into the drying chamber.
There’s little risk of overdrying using this method. It’s worked really well for me.
I don’t know if others will echo this experience, but the jars have their smell, but the aromas really open up when you break up the flowers to vape/smoke them.
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Doesn’t it matter whether you put the stems in the jars with the buds or not, whether your hygrometer reading is high immediately. I usually try to just put the buds in there without the stems. When it comes up a couple of degrees of humidity inside the jar, I burp it.
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I know they’re leaning heavily… but the trichomes are 20-35% amber between all 3 strains depending… 12 hours until chopping these gorgeous ladies
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I’m still not getting any smell to my finished product. Seems like I’ve tried everything.
Had the same issue with some Blue Dream auto. Smooth smoke and gets the job done but never got the taste/smell very much.
Hell I’m finding out I burped the jars too much. I guess you only burp them a couple of times a day for a week and then once a week. I remember asking somebody in the very beginning if it was okay to burp more than once a day, they said yes, so every time the hygrometer went up I would burp. Wrong. Next thing you know it smells like I came straight out of the alfalfa field. I’m going through the same thing right now, with five different jars.
What about when you break off trichomes, or break open a bud?
So is that how you get it to smell, break them all open and stick them back in the jar?