Guerilla Drying and curing

[mountainoutlaw]

Im a big believer, that a patient dry and cure is only way to get premium grade bud, but of course, you need to be able to grow and cultivate premium flower beforehand, and that a whole other or as we say "nother" discussion.

Yep you can grow and harvest high grade flowers and completely kill all efforts by not drying and curing properly, world class bud to something you can hardly give away.

This year Im goinng to have a problem, a good problem. I wont have enough room in my normal dry area for the main harvest.

My method is simple, 4 x 8 grow tent ...long colas hang (i defoilate first), and others go in paper bags....7-10 days usually....i like to jar it right before the stem will snap and jar it in big jars....2 weeks...i open em once every 2 days. Thats it.

Ill do my cure same way. But the 4 x 8 wont be near enough room. Cant do it at house...dont have barn...

How are my fellow IC outdoor growers drying the big harvest....outdoors? Under tarp?
Sheds?
Cant wait to hear.

Heres a little pre harvest dry action...in paper bags, got few more days drying, then to jar....these were outdoor autos.

 

[Swamp Thang]

A grow tent well camouflaged and sited deep in a thicket where no two-legged critters ever go sounds like a great idea for stealth drying. That said though, if I owned such a setup I'd still sleep uneasy thinking about who might stumble on my hidden treasure and make off with the fruits of my labor.

Out here in the tropics where houses wear tin roofs the best stealth weed-drying idea I stumbled upon was to get up in the ceiling and place manila envelopes full of fresh bud between the corrugated tin roof and the supporting lumber struts. With this method, drying typically took 3 days of good sunlight and to my amazement, there was no aroma to speak of within the building.

Fear of LEO means my stealth protocol must extend way beyond the drying and curing phase. When the buds are dry enough for the stems to snap cleanly, I stuff that gooey delight into a stainless steel cylinder whose compression piston is driven by a 5-ton car jack. Operating the jack compresses several ounces of buddage into solid pucks measuring two inches in both diameter and thickness. The final stage of the dastardly plan is to vacuum seal each puck before stuffing it into a waterproof plastic stash box that gets buried far from home in the woods, such are the laws out here.

 

[pipeline]

Need good air flow. Under tarp in a semi-open spot of the woods is what I use. Get the waterproof hunting blinds they work great for small tarps. Rope tied between trees is the main structure. Need to use coat hangers for big flowers and cut them up more next time. Will get some pics soon.

 

[troutman]

Check this out.

Outdoor Drying Techniques

Hello all, what techniques do you guys use for drying your buds at your grow sites?

www.icmag.com

 

[Verdant Whisperer]

I harvested some bud during a pause in the rainy season from some clones a friend gifted me one of them was able to make it to 8 weeks before the first sighs of mold and it turned out super nice, I know almost all growers are going to talk down on what I'm going to tell you but if you have no other way, use a food dehydrator on the lowest setting it usually takes 10-12 hours before there ready for the cure jar. I estimate the temperatures didn't exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the nugs ended up retaining there terpene profiles and being extremely tasty and potent even know they where dried in such a quick fashion, and still retains a good amount of flavor to me this is the poor mans cryo cured cannabis, it still retains the terpenes, because the temperatures are low. i had no option because after a couple of days trying to air drying in high humidity they some started to mold and the dehydrator saved my harvest. good smoke.

 

[dirty-joe]

Check this out.

Outdoor Drying Techniques

Hello all, what techniques do you guys use for drying your buds at your grow sites?

www.icmag.com

Yes that is the way I did it once 3 or 5 years ago, the rope is still there two lines between two trees, one line for the tarp, and second line 6 inches lower for the plants (or half plants) only difference is I had a camo tarp. I'm going to do it that way this year, because I think my shed gets to hot, and I'm not getting all the flavor I could be.

The grow tent mentioned above is a very bad idea, no air flow, I did that once too, and lost pounds in only a couple of day. One guy sleeping in a tent overnight wakes up wet from his own breath...DON"T DO IT.

With just a roof tarp you get any small breeze that comes, which is more important than heat or humidity.
See if I can find that picture.....Yeah that was 2018, before legal days, but as I said I think I'll do it that way this year, because of better temperatures than in a shed. Might leave some in the sun for awhile to to get some color to it, I'm sick of green weed.

 

[Hasselhoff1337]

I harvested some bud during a pause in the rainy season from some clones a friend gifted me one of them was able to make it to 8 weeks before the first sighs of mold and it turned out super nice, I know almost all growers are going to talk down on what I'm going to tell you but if you have no other way, use a food dehydrator on the lowest setting it usually takes 10-12 hours before there ready for the cure jar. I estimate the temperatures didn't exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the nugs ended up retaining there terpene profiles and being extremely tasty and potent even know they where dried in such a quick fashion, the flavor is more so than air cured buds, to me this is the poor mans cryo cured cannabis, it still retains the terpenes, because the temperatures are low. i had no option because after a couple of days trying to air cure in high humidity they some started to mold and the dehydrator saved my harvest. good smoke.

This is actually an Ok way of drying if you’re pressed for time or space.

What I did was to put the food hydrator on the lowest as you said, which was like 40c, and then I had it on for an hr and off for an hr for best result. I tried multiple settings and times and this worked best. The smell from the bud wasnt hay but it wasnt premium either. But what can we do, it’s illegal, and we’re pressed on time and space for whatever reason. Might not smell the best but it smokes good and you get high, and out of sight quickly, and thats a win to me.

 

[Hasselhoff1337]

Oh another thing you can try is a plastic box, with holes in the bottom corners, and 2 levels. Bottom level with road salt / sillicant and top level with buds. Works wonders

 

[River Rooster]

@Hasselhoff1337 Interesting idea with the desiccant might try hanging some in big plastic tub, calcium chloride jars and a battery powered fan. With the aim of getting a good chunk of the weight off quickly maybe in 24 or 48 hours before transporting to a better drying location.

 

[gumzgi]

@dirty-joe for how long/hours/days you let it in sun to bleach it ?

 

[dirty-joe]

@dirty-joe for how long/hours/days you let it in sun to bleach it ?

Do not know, never done it, but I know the weed from yesteryear was mostly, if not all dried outdoors "in the sun", that's why it was red, and gold, and yes brown, but it had character, and flavor. I miss the old days.

Today all the weed seems so much the same, 1000+ strains but mostly all the same because everybody crossing everything with everything. And everybody thinks that if some light shines on your weed for 5 minutes after it is harvested it is ruined !

Anyway I thought I'd like to leave some in the sun for "awhile", so it at least doesn't look like the same green shit. (oh yeah I know some does get purple around here.

Also not to mention it is always very humid here on (near) the east coast, a little sun will help with drying.

 

[pipeline]

The Ultraviolet (UV) light is known to degrade THC so the trichomes on the outside may be sacrificed. Also a slow cure makes the flowers more potent and tastey. Watch the weather, dry in the shade. Leave about a week for them to dry before rain if possible. Dry under cover to prevent dew and rains.

 

[Maria Sanchez]

How are my fellow IC outdoor growers drying the big harvest....outdoors? Under tarp?
Sheds?
Cant wait to hear.

Last time I did this, very nasty method, but surprisingly it worked.

Hung whole colas it up in tree branches. It was an apple tree, and the smell of the then over-ripe and rotting apples on the ground managed to cover the aromas of the holy herb.

Wouldn't recommend if you have better options. Just saying, it can be done.

Then cut down, jarred, and burped every few days for a couple of weeks.

Edit: The jars were literally stashed inside some gardening equipment at the base of the apple tree. Along with a home made bong.

 

[pipeline]

I love the hunting blind tarps because you can set up 1 or set up 5, however many you need for the crop. Starting to get some cooler weather. Hope mold doesn't break out. Supposed to get warm in a couple weeks. Keep an eye on mold is the secret. Frequent inspections to remove mold before it breaks out and spreads. This will make harvest go much smoother. Its good to inspect before and after rains at least once or twice a week is good.

Hunting blinds from Menards

2022

Use sticks as stakes to anchor the tent. tie strings to strings to strings if you have to. Structure is based off a single marine rope tied around all the trees. Wrapped around each one a couple times as it goes around the circle.

 

[Ca++]

A small car battery, is maybe 250w hours. So will run a 1w PC fan, continually, for 10 days.
A pair of 12cm noctua branded fans, could shift 1.5 cubic meters a minute, through a tent in a push/pull configuration (in&out). Using that 1w between them.
Using a 12v ($15) humidistat you could run the fans only when the RH was over 60%, just as I do indoors.

There is quite a bit of leeway in this figures. 10 days is ages, while 1.5 cubic meters is also high. Or maybe you need to vent a shed, and so run 4 fans. Giving 5 days or constant run

What this won't do is account for the weather making it over 60% RH. There is no way of drying the incoming air. It only shifts out air when it's wet.



Everyone I have worked with, is too sloppy to build things outdoors. Or rather, to sloppy to clear them away again. They seem blind to the fact our leaves fall off in winter, making our secluded spots, as open as a desert. So I would think about 5v fans and phone charge banks that you can swap when you visit. A car battery will need walking in, then back out. Which becomes a serious issue, when everyone just wants to leave with the bud, and not tidy up properly

 

[Hasselhoff1337]

@Hasselhoff1337 Interesting idea with the desiccant might try hanging some in big plastic tub, calcium chloride jars and a battery powered fan. With the aim of getting a good chunk of the weight off quickly maybe in 24 or 48 hours before transporting to a better drying location.

Good thinking!

 

[Hasselhoff1337]

A small car battery, is maybe 250w hours. So will run a 1w PC fan, continually, for 10 days.
A pair of 12cm noctua branded fans, could shift 1.5 cubic meters a minute, through a tent in a push/pull configuration (in&out). Using that 1w between them.
Using a 12v ($15) humidistat you could run the fans only when the RH was over 60%, just as I do indoors.

There is quite a bit of leeway in this figures. 10 days is ages, while 1.5 cubic meters is also high. Or maybe you need to vent a shed, and so run 4 fans. Giving 5 days or constant run

What this won't do is account for the weather making it over 60% RH. There is no way of drying the incoming air. It only shifts out air when it's wet.



Everyone I have worked with, is too sloppy to build things outdoors. Or rather, to sloppy to clear them away again. They seem blind to the fact our leaves fall off in winter, making our secluded spots, as open as a desert. So I would think about 5v fans and phone charge banks that you can swap when you visit. A car battery will need walking in, then back out. Which becomes a serious issue, when everyone just wants to leave with the bud, and not tidy up properly

I like the ambition but honestly bro I dry in a barn and it works great. No need for fans if your room isnt tight. I even dried in plastic boxes with sillicant without air holes. Opened it every 3 days, about 15c outside in avg september, took 2,5 weeks to dry but worked wonders with no mold. Doesnt have to be super advanced

 

[mountainoutlaw]

Hardcore drying processes here. Pipeline your brave, and Ca++....your an inovator Good stuff

 

[Ca++]

I'm in the UK. Most of this season has been above 70% RH. I can hang out washing to dry, but have higher standards for my weed. This year, just using fans to shift excess RH wouldn't work. While in a typical year, auto's could be done, but photo's come down too late.
Over the years I have worked with many people. The usual course of action is to let them dry it, as a trust thing. Then after it's fucked, I dry it in future. Most don't know what ruined is, until they see what I have pulled off other sites. All dried indoor, of course.
Weed standards have moved over the years. Where once it might be hung near a heater and thought okay, now we hang in climate controlled areas. The RH figures to aim for, were not widely spoke of until a few years ago. Things are moving along.

I think a fan set is easy. It's stuff I have sat about. Taking a tent out there would be more effort. I have run irrigation from 12v drill batteries, it's no real hardship, if you are handy with things like that.

I guess if your outdoor is just rough, and you accept that, then many of the above posts that had me cringing, would be a lot better than nothing. To me though, my outdoor has to meet indoor growing standards.

If your climate is a nice steady RH, I can't imagine where you are, but I wish I could live there to. We all have different needs, so I offer my idea not as one I actually do, but as one someone in a drier (under 60%) climate could use.
I'm sure some would start thinking solar, with just a 1w power draw. I would just grab a battery though, as I agree, it could get complicated with 5 parts (battery, stat, 2 fans and a solar charger)

 

[goingrey]

This is just one experiment and not the "final truth" but it's pretty interesting.

Testing for Truth Part 3: Does Sun Damage Cannabis? - Orange Photonics

Sunlight contains UV light, which has well known destructive properties. Anecdotal reports suggest that the acidic form of THC, THCA, would degrade into Δ9THC (the active form) and then further into CBN. We put some buds to the test to find out.

orangephotonics.com

They noticed a loss of 0.5% per hour. And sure 0.5% might not be perceivable but it adds up. That's like half gone after a week assuming the rate stays constant. Well two weeks I guess as the sun doesn't shine at night, and to be fair the rate won't stay constant.

But even half gone would mean the other half is still there. And sure, there are possible benefits as well. For example degradation of chlorophyll to the "golds" (smoother smoke), also recall reading about Moroccan hash getting it's distinct aroma as a result of myrcene reacting to the light when they sun dry their crop, though I guess these may be more light in general not just UV specifically.

Worth discussing both the pros and cons. No need to get upset.