[RobHempen]

Dear all,

Last year we dried around 300kgs of flowers on racks in a cow barn. This year we are considerably upscaling out harvest - to try to achieve around 10t of dried material.

We are looking into machinery to do this as our indoor space is limited. Being in the UK, it is also fairly wet and cold in autumn and not ideal humidity to dry the bud.

I have been researching machinery such as belt conveyor driers that are typically used to dry grasses and leaves. Obviously this will be a much more active drying system than previously with higher temps. Maybe around 40-50 degrees celsius (100-120 fahrenheit), but I am hoping that it will be a reasonably quick and effective way to dry the flower heads.

What thoughts do people have about how this might impact on the CBD content of the flowers, if any and any other thoughts about this process?

Any tips, contributions will be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Rob

[Only Ornamental]

What are you planning to do with the dried buds?

[diforenzad]

Originally Posted by Only Ornamental

What are you planning to do with the dried buds?

Second that. Sounds like hemp cultivation for Co2 extraction, maybe finola 0 ?

And second this thread : I'm starting out this season and I plan to harvest between 100/200 kgs, so I'm going to have exactly the same problem soon 0 (plus the burden of trimming the cream of the crop, since I will sell the flowers).

[socioecologist]

Look into Stronga FlowDrya systems and use a combine if you are aiming for extraction. If dry flowers are your end-goal, nothing can substitute for hang-drying for 5-7 days. Whole plant hangs require 5000 sq. ft. per acre of material; taking tops can double the usefulness of that space, but increases labor dramatically.

[WHIPEDMEAT]

just an idea but what about the technology which is freeze drying
maybe you can hire some company that are using it on other products already
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze-drying

[socioecologist]

Originally Posted by WHIPEDMEAT

just an idea but what about the technology which is freeze drying

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze-drying

It works, but is prohibitively expensive. Also produces an inferior raw oil due to chlorophyll capture, leaving all extracts very "grassy" until post-processing (and requires more of the latter than other drying methods).

[WHIPEDMEAT]

it s still a better option than let it eat by molds in that high humidity zone, than why worths to do it with raspberry, its cheaper than cbd