hey i was just wondering what was the best way to dry the herb in a box... should i hang it from the top or lay it out on a screen?

if i dry the herb on a screen, will it damage it? am i better off to hang the buds?

is drying herb on screen much different than hanging it?

i am building the box out of wood and it will have a 4 inch inline duct fan attached to it for ventilation.


thx in advance for all your help

cheese

[HappyHemphog]

Hanging or placing on a screen have the same desireable effect, good air flow around the buds. This is essential to prevent mold.

Placing on screens used like trays and stacked in your drying box would be very effective and you could place a piece of glass on the bottom to collect any trichomes you knock off into a nice pile of kif.

Personally I like hang drying as you get nice, naturally shaped buds. Laying buds down to dry creates flat sided buds that just don't look right to me. Of course this only affects bag appeal really.

Cheers!

I hang them in boxes. I'm at work right now; I'll try to get pics of my box when I get home and add them to this post.

What is usually the top of the box becomes the front of the box so it's easy to open & check on the buds.

Stretch string across from side to side to hang the buds on (usually 3-5 lines per box depending on the size of the box).

Cut about 3 flaps on each side of the box for ventilation; leave one side of each flap still connected to the box so you can open & close the flaps to control ventilation.

Put a large piece of paper or something in the bottom of the box to collect anything that may fall off the buds.

Keep an oscillating fan in the room with the box and set it so it sends a light breeze on the box with each pass. Air flow is controlled with a combinatin of changing the position of the box to angle the ventilation flaps toward or away from the breeze in addition to opening and closing the flaps.

Here is the outside right of the box:


Here is the outside left of the box:


Here is the inside of the box from two angles:

thx ambre and HH.. i think i will design inside of the box so i can hang them... it just makes more sense...

hey ambre.. do you think if i put a small fan exhausting air out of the box (which is 3 feet high by 3 feet long by 1 1/2 feet wide.... and have some small vents (like you suggested) would this be enough to properly dry the herb?

i can get the temps to stay around 65... is this fine? the humidity is at 26 percent right now and the highest it reached in the last 24 hours was 32 percent.

thank you very muhc for the great answers both happy and ambre. i normally just use a spare room to dry eveerything but at the moment that rooom is being occupied.. so i had to make some adjustments... and i think it will work just fine..


cheese

You might want a small fan at first, but direct ventilation tends to try the herb pretty fast. A small fan indirectly moving the air around inside the box without actually moving air in and out of the box might help even out the drying process, but I am not sure about that. I'd tend to simply leave the front of the box open for a while to allow the buds to dry out a bit more when needed.

If you want a good dry and cure, the goal is to slow the drying process as much as possible without the buds molding. That's why I use an oscillating fan outside and control the air getting inside with the vents. I also open the box once a day to check on the buds and rearrange them (the ones at the edges near the vent holes tend to dry a bit quicker than the buds in the center).

The humidity might be just a bit low for a slow dry, but you can control it by closing the vent holes more.

hey ambre.. thx again you have been a great help when i need you.... the only problem with leaving the door open is the room the dry box is in is not dark at all....

do the buds have to be in complete darkness??? i mean the door would only be open a crack and i could face the door to be on the opposite side of the light.....would this work??

if not i could just set the fan to go really slowly to exhaust air out of the box... this would just create some air movement inside the box as well has refresh the air through the air vents in the box?

we'll see how she goes... the majority of my plants are coming down soon and i have a few test nugs to try it out with..

wish me luck

cheese

No, they don't need complete dark, just not much light (dusk). Aim the box away from the door & you're OK.

If you use the fan, mount it in the top of the box and put the passive intakes at the bottom so you get even airflow over the buds inside. Don't put buds too close to the top of the box if you do this or the ones at the edges away from the fan won't get airflow.

I personaly always used the same box I grew them in keeping circulation on and not letting light in because I wanted the dorors closed anyway. Remember fresh cut hangin herb smells way worse than during the grow .If you already have a small flower box with carbon scrubber that would work great. Hanging the buds always works best to retain flavor and looks great