Examples of bud drying chambers?

[hush]

For many years now I have thought about designing something like this so that I can slow dry my harvest, which always dries too fast (3 to 5 days) because of my environment.

I would like to dry my buds in a climate controlled box that is automated to maintain specific humidity and temperature. I know such drying boxes must already exist, and I would like to see some ideas. I would love to be able to make the drying process take 7 to 10 days like everyone recommends.

What I'm thinking is I would like to build a sealed box that has constant but very minimal air circulation, like a computer fan blowing against the ceiling of the box or something like that. Then, there would be another small fan hooked to a humidistat that would turn on when the humidity got too high, while shutting off as soon as it goes back to the desired setting. This exhaust fan could even blow through a carbon filter, if necessary, although, I plan on just keeping my drying box in the grow room where the air is being scrubbed already.

Has anyone done anything like this? Show me please! Maybe if I work this out, I could also design an automated curing chamber too! Finally stop using all those glass jars...

 

[michmedclones]

why don't you just use a humidifier and a dehumidifier in the same room? Set the humidifier to the setting you'd like it at, set the dehumidifier 15% higher or so and let it control the humidity that way. The smaller the room you're trying to control the easier it would be, I'd imagine you'd be just fine with a humidifier to add some moisture to the room you're using now, it'll slow them way down.

 

[longwaters]

I live in CO where we always have 20% humidity or less. I also had trouble with 3-5 day drying. Then I realized leaving buds on the branch at harvest increases drying time to 7-10 days.

 

[LAMBS-BREAD]

Try to hang the whole plant with the big fan leaves still attached to her. This will slow down ur drying process. When the fan leaves are getting dry and brittle U can removed them. And this point for ur kind of situation, maybe it is better to let the smaller leaves for one or two days hanging then clip them off, and put ur buds in boxes such as Tupperware. Live the lid on and top it off once a day for just a few minutes, just like curing the buds.

Of course this require regular check to make sure the process is going on well.

 

[Desert Hydro]

i dry in a spare bathroom. i use several methods depending on the size of harvest. if its a smaller one i load into reusable shopping bags and fold over the top to close it. i turn them daily since they are wet. i have a big ass hangable drying rack that i lay my big shit out on flat for a few days. like 4-5 days and then i pile it up in one big mound and turn it daily. small harvests can be done in paper bags or shoe boxes. i have 20-30% rh and this is as good as i can do without building something.

if you wanted to build something i would suggest a tiny grow tent with a a simple rack and a controller that either runs a humidifier or a fan. the buds would probably keep it high enough rh in a tiny tent to dry at a proper rate.

 

[LeeROI]

Secret Jardin sells a 3ft x 3ft tent specifically for drying.
http://www.secretjardin.com/en/grow-tent-secret-jardin/dark-dryer-secret-jardin.html

 

[aceofspades]

I also live in CO. Just trim your shade leaves off and hang as much of the plant as you can at once. I usually keep the big stalks together. Use a cabinet, this will trap some of the moisture, and then once they get to where they will make a snap when broken nug those gals up and throw them IN a 5 gal plastic bucket with a lid and trim at your leisure while they cure in the bucket! Been doing this for a few years and it works amazing. Especially when you hand trim your whole crop by your lonesome!

Ace

 

[jayaregee]

I need to get pix of it but last grow i made a drying box from an old large icechest and made some wood screened racks that stack. then i cut 2 holes and got 2 fans one for intake and one for exhaust which blew thru a dryer sheet for smell. the mistake i made was the intake, even though the timer was set for 15 min every 4 hours, in that small of a space the direct air dried them out too quick.

next time im going to remove the intake fan and just use it as a passive intake and let the moist air be exhusted just the same. I use and ice chest cuz its insulated ( to aviod high temps drying the bud out ) and cuz its light proof which to me was more important. That was alomost a year ago and the bud i have left is still good, just slightly on the dry side.

 

[hush]

Hey thanks for bumping this thread! I'm currently drying 2 plants right now, and I never made a drying chamber of any sort, but based on the advice of people in this thread I decided to dry the plant whole... but what I'm doing that might be a bit different is I didn't chop the plants. I simply removed them from the flood table and put them in a dark closet in a spare room, in the pots. There is air movement in there, from the central AC, but no fans or anything, so they should dry nice and slow. I wanted to see what the buds would look like drying right side up instead of upside down.

Has anyone dried their plants this way before? Will they take too long to dry this way? I mean, they are in hydroton, not soil, so I would imagine the root zone dried up in 2 days probably.

I also manicured them first.

 

[jayaregee]

i would think that would be an awfully slow inefficent way to dry, you need to chop the plant and then if you decide to dry it whole, cool. just my 2 cents. but i am honestly not an expert. well not compared to some of these other guys.

 

[hush]

I'm going to experiment with it. I'll chop the gigabud and leave the cheese attached to its root system. Then compare.

 

[jayaregee]

sweet. let me know how it works out

 

[hush]

Will do. I am just tired of my buds drying too fast, so I would rather them dry too slow if anything.

 

[jayaregee]

yeah but TOOOOO slow will invite mold. I was always told that 7 -10 days is optimal. Im working on plans for a drying box made out of the big uhaul wardrobe boxes. Light may be an issue but im planning on keeping it in a dark corner of the garage

 

[moodster]

leave the leafs on it will dry slower m8

 

[hush]

Yeah but I don't like manicuring after the buds are dried. It's really a hassle and the crystals get knocked off the buds. Maybe just keeping it as a whole plant would help though because of the water in the stem?

I don't know. I've had my cheese off of the flood table for 3 days now, where it was previously getting watered 2 times per light cycle, and it actually doesn't seem to be drying up very much at all. LOL. So yeah, I guess I'll have to chop the plant from its root system, but I'm going to keep the plant whole, with the entire stem, the branches, and the sugar leaves, and hope that helps it to dry slower.

 

[gbis59]

your susposed to leave the leave's on so the chloraphyl in the bud retracts back into the leaf's Lmao

 

[groer]

I am working on this box you speak of.

 

[St3ve]

There is nothing wrong with letting the plant dry in the pot, nothing at all. I have done it plenty of times with good results. In fact, if I am not in a hurry, I would prefer to dry this way. Nice and slow. Just gotta make sure to keep the air stirring around the room (not blowing on the plant directly) to make sure the more humid air gets pulled away from the plants so they don't mold. (same thing if you are drying for 3 days or for 30 days)

As for making a room, thats VERY easy. Depending on how large the grow is, you can use anything from a large box, to a closet, to building a room or area.

Building a drying room is as easy as picking up some 3/4" PVC with some elbows and some plastic/panda film. I have done this with great results many times. I have some pvc and elbows that I quickly put together framing the size of the room I want to dry in. Then just fashion some walls with the plastic. Remember, all you are trying to block is the water in the air so the walls don't have to be anything fancy. I just take a piece of plastic and lay it up top for a roof. Then take a long piece to wrap all the way around for all of the walls. I will fold over the seams from the wall and roof piece then clip it to hold it. Then just leave a slit to use as a door way. Just clip it shut when not in use. Much easier to do than it sounds. Literally takes less than 5 min to put up, and even less time to take down in between harvests.

If you're grow is small, take a large enough box and set it on the ground. Lay something across the open top to hang hangers on like a piece of PVC, then just shut the flaps over top of it or lay another box on top to make a seal. Just leave the cracks in the top to let the humid air escape some.

Before any of this, make sure you have a hygrometer to check the humidity. Using any of these methods could easier ruin all of your smoke if you let the RH get over 70% for more than a day.

 

[OLordy]

I made a modular stealth closed air circuit dryer out of tubs.
Attach top tub to the lid of the tub it's sitting on,
Cut out 2 holes for 8"PC fans - one blowing up, one- down.
The tubs you need to get suppose to have a ledge for some kind of wire mesh