A perfect cure every time

[fatboycantpost]

after an untold number of joints i've finally read every post. i didn't have to ask one question because they were all answered.

i just cut down the first of 22 plants, the hygrometers should be here in a day and i'm good to go! i decided to get a humidifier too. i'll use it throughout the grow as it's low humidity year round here.

by the way, for those of you who don't know; there are few things in life better than eating a great lunch, getting high and taking a nap!

 

[BongDaddy]

Wow, I couldn't have found this thread at a better time. I just harvested my first 1 sq. foot grow and I was wondering how to get the best cure. Working with actual numbers just seems so much more precise than "when it feels dry enough". So many factors can make buds a lot more wet (or dry) than they feel. Thank you simon and others, for the amount of time you put into documentation, and sharing your results. Newer people like me really appreciate it!

I ordered a couple of Caliber III's and they're on their way. I may not have them for a week or so, but I think I can wing it until then. I bought a couple of the small plastic hygrometers at Home Depot and they're complete junk. I bought 3 of them, and they consistently read 10-15% above the RH reading on my indoor/outdoor unit. Even using the salt test, the best one was 7 or 8 points off, and the worst was over 16! I'm a relative noob and I can probably do better by feel than those pieces of crap.

For people in Canada, I did a fair bit of looking and the best price I could find on the Caliber III's is from amazon.ca - $18.99 + shipping. I'm so glad they've FINALLY started selling stuff besides books and DVDs (it's WAY behind its US counterpart in terms of products offered).

Quick link if you need it: http://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digita...1EA6/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1300224497&sr=8-6

 

[NorthernBigBuds]

after an untold number of joints i've finally read every post. i didn't have to ask one question because they were all answered.

i just cut down the first of 22 plants, the hygrometers should be here in a day and i'm good to go! i decided to get a humidifier too. i'll use it throughout the grow as it's low humidity year round here.

by the way, for those of you who don't know; there are few things in life better than eating a great lunch, getting high and taking a nap!

I went with a humidifyer, and its slowing the hang-dry down considerably. The plants flowered for 62 days in 25% rh. Tonight is day 4 hanging in rh from 52-60. The plants are getting ultra-sticky as they dry, and the fresh plant smell is fading away and a citrus skunky smell is replacing it. I have no doubt that if the plants had dried too quickly it would have ruined everything, and the hay smell would have been impossible to overcome.

I 1/2 filled a jar tonight to see what the RH would settle at. Started at 45, 4 hours later im at 80.

1 or 2 more days to go until Jarring....

 

[fatboycantpost]

I went with a humidifyer, and its slowing the hang-dry down considerably. The plants flowered for 62 days in 25% rh. Tonight is day 4 hanging in rh from 52-60. The plants are getting ultra-sticky as they dry, and the fresh plant smell is fading away and a citrus skunky smell is replacing it. I have no doubt that if the plants had dried too quickly it would have ruined everything, and the hay smell would have been impossible to overcome.

I 1/2 filled a jar tonight to see what the RH would settle at. Started at 45, 4 hours later im at 80.

1 or 2 more days to go until Jarring....

cool. just what i'm looking for.

i'm hoping my humidifier and hygrometers get here in the next day or 2. what did i ever do without amazon?

even though simon said that he doesn't see a difference in how long it takes to dry them, i still like the idea of them taking a few more days
than the 2 or 3 that it usually takes to dry.

my humididty is 25% this morning so the humidifier will get a good workout. it should be a lot more humid for the vegging plants and a bit more for flower. in reading up on humidity a few years ago, 25% isn't healthy for people either. i need to get one for my bedroom. plants first, me second! lol

 

[FinestKind]

The results are in... it is indeed a foolproof perfect cure every time! Thanks Simon!!!

 

[simon]

The results are in... it is indeed a foolproof perfect cure every time! Thanks Simon!!!

Very glad things worked out.

Browsing the thread, it seems like a few posts were unanswered. Are everyone's questions covered?

Simon

 

[NorthernBigBuds]

yeah man thanks. My questions were all answered.

Mine is all jarred up; I pulled 10.5 zips off a 600W, NL x WW.

Had to jar early due to unforseen circumstances, so I have been burping every 8 hours for 2 days, now my humidity is falling in around 70, so I burped for an hour this morning and will give them 12 hours. Plant smell has faded to a faint aroma of things to hopefully come.

If you break a bud apart a smell it, its tangy and lemony, very pungent. I hope this smell increases over the next 2 weeks.

Good Looking Out. Whatever that means.

 

[BongDaddy]

Browsing the thread, it seems like a few posts were unanswered. Are everyone's questions covered?

Simon, I've seen people post that the manual for the Caliber III says not to do a salt test with them. What are your thoughts on that, and do/did you try it with yours?

 

[simon]

Simon, I've seen people post that the manual for the Caliber III says not to do a salt test with them. What are your thoughts on that, and do/did you try it with yours?

I'm trying to think, no small feat after 17 bong hits of Pineapple Chunk, and I honestly can't recall whether I did the salt test on the Calibers. This was 7-8 years ago. I first got some el-cheapo analog hygrometers and a Caliber (this was the original model), then bought a bunch of other digitals and analogs, and used them all for a time to gauge the results.

Simon

 

[shorty68]

thx where might one obtain one of these meters and the cost if ya dont mind too.

 

[BudToker]

shorty68: they are $23 via Buy.com
Let me google that for you.

-BT

 

[gardenbug]

Got a few of the round digitals that you can calibrate. This method worked great.

 

[FreedomFightr]

sub

 

[de145]

This method works great for me for two harvests now.

First off Always do the salt test no matter what the manual says it can't possibly harm them to do it every once in a while and it's essential as no hygrometer is dead on.

As long as you keep the bottle cap with the salt in it away from the hygrometer there simply is no risk to doing this and the hygrometers are cheap anyway, much more so than a ruined harvest from a wildly inaccurate hygrometer.

Secondly don't overlook those cheap hygros at home depot, as long as they are consistent in their readings they are fine. I have one that I salt test periodically and it's always +5% off. I just wrote -5% on that one with a sharpie and it's good to go.

 

[BongDaddy]

Great advice on all counts de145. I still don't know why the manual advises against the salt test, but I'm going to do it anyway. A person needs to know, right? Still waiting for my Calibers to arrive.

I'm still using one of my little round home depot hygrometers, and adjusting it just like you are. Mine is off by 7%, so I wrote -7 on it. I was wondering how consistent it actually is though. I actually have three of them, but the others were 12 and 16 off. I'm pretty leery on trusting a gap that large so I'm not putting a lot of faith in their readings.

I can't wait until my calibers get here! I think I've already overdried some of my bud.

 

[verdecielo]

great advice will try next time

 

[Zen Master]

I just picked up 3 hygrometers. put em all next to each other for 24 full hours and checked on em frequently to see if they were all the same, they all leveled off except one had a temp reading that was 2 degrees higher than the others. pretty accurate for a $7 WalMart hygrometer. accurite brand if anyone wanted to know. they are a lil bit bigger, but still plenty of room in a quart jar.

 

[simon]

I just picked up 3 hygrometers. put em all next to each other for 24 full hours and checked on em frequently to see if they were all the same, they all leveled off except one had a temp reading that was 2 degrees higher than the others. pretty accurate for a $7 WalMart hygrometer. accurite brand if anyone wanted to know. they are a lil bit bigger, but still plenty of room in a quart jar.

Before fully trusting the readings, I'd strongly suggest putting them into a jar with some product and a Caliber. If you're referring to the Accurites I'm thinking of, I tested them a while back. They read fairly well in a large space. Not so much in the jar. It's best to check.

Simon

 

[de145]

BongDaddy: You don't need to be leery, just salt test them repeatedly a few days apart, if it's consistent it's consistent, no need to worry. If you have more than two and you've tested and calibrated how off they are then it's also easy because you can compare them to each other, you already know they are off and by how much so if two agree and one doesn't you know what's up, if none agree then you have to retest them all and find out which one is consistent.

And if it's worthwhile you can always do this with new ones and then return the ones that don't work properly.

 

[de145]

Before fully trusting the readings, I'd strongly suggest putting them into a jar with some product and a Caliber. If you're referring to the Accurites I'm thinking of, I tested them a while back. They read fairly well in a large space. Not so much in the jar. It's best to check.

Simon

Yeah I saw that too and it's caused by the opening where the air intake is, on some models it's a few small holes easily blocked in a jar of bud. For mine like that I just put it in the jar upside down so the holes are uncovered and don't touch anything.