V
Veg N Out
101 north comes in sept 25. Nl x train wreck
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Sierra Organics
New member
Why in the heck does everybody use turkey bags ? The turkey bags are horrible for long term storage, complete waste of time, paper thin and really porous. I found this out the hard way several years ago on several lbs. I put in buds that were just right and ready to be stored for long term. When i pulled out the lbs just a month later, they were bone dry. the turkey bags are porous as hell. The only bags that work for long term storage are the smelly proofs, or u can vacuum seal with something like the foodsaver. the smelly proofs are made out of a different plastic than other bags and thicker too, not to mention it makes the lb look great. well worth the $2 a bag to save ur buds. the turkey bags at around a $1 a piece seem like a ripoff to me. just my 2 cents. Good luck everybody and happy harvesting
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SeaMaiden
Man, I'm with you on that! Those and jars. I hate the jars. Vacuum-sealed for my delight. Easiest storage, and especially if it's stored in the dark, it comes out damn near pristine if not pristine. No need for smell-proof bags, either.
20"x30" mylar food storage bags work extremely well... vacuum/heat seal-able, odor proof, fits inside a 5gal bucket for protection, and can be purchased for around $1 per bag if buying in bulk. http://www.vackpak.com
True Liberty and Trim Scene Solutions offer their own versions of turkey bags that they claim are superior to the ordinary ones.
Any of you vacuum-sealers find compaction an issue with that method?
Jars are fragile and take a lot of room, but you're not going to beat them for sealing, and they offer structural protection. Best if you can do it IMO.
Anyone find a way to do nitrogen on the cheap?
Any of you vacuum-sealers find compaction an issue with that method?
Jars are fragile and take a lot of room, but you're not going to beat them for sealing, and they offer structural protection. Best if you can do it IMO.
Anyone find a way to do nitrogen on the cheap?
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SeaMaiden
I don't know about N on the cheap, but I don't have a problem with compression or creating a bunch of kief/shake by using the vacuum sealer. It takes a couple of tries, and in my opinion it's important to be absolutely certain that the product is at the proper RH, but you're able to stop it long before it crushes anything down. I get out what appears to be most of the air, and stop it when the bag is touching the buds. Those are then stored in bins in a cool, dark place under lock and key.
We use our vacuum sealer for a lot of other things besides cannabis, by the way. When we get half a steer we like to repackage what came from the butcher so as to prevent freezer burn. We also save some of our summer produce by parboiling/blanching and vacuum sealing, then freezing.
We use our vacuum sealer for a lot of other things besides cannabis, by the way. When we get half a steer we like to repackage what came from the butcher so as to prevent freezer burn. We also save some of our summer produce by parboiling/blanching and vacuum sealing, then freezing.
SeaMaiden - What RH do you feel comfortable at leaving the buds in the vac bags with no burping? How do you find that RH without jars? I have a meter that I place in my LB jars that tells me the RH, but I was thinking down the road for long term storage using the vac bags.
I think this is very important when you have large outdoor plants due to the volume of buds they produce. Curing and storing that herb can be just as big a challenge as growing it.
I think this is very important when you have large outdoor plants due to the volume of buds they produce. Curing and storing that herb can be just as big a challenge as growing it.
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Veg N Out
Out the drying room the flowers are taken off the stalk in to turkey bags and put in pickle barrels in 2 contractor bags and stored till the cleaners can get to them. Final units are packaged using a minipak torre MVS45X with nitrogen flush...if your stuff isn't bone dry when you go to store it for a year plus you will be sorry...a cool mist humidifier will get your flowers back to the correct consistency when ready to go to market
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Nondual
I got my large foil mylar bags from http://www.optimumpreparedness.com for food and long term hunting ammo storage. Mine are the 5 mil variety. I also got the hand heat sealer and necessary due to the bags width. Yes they line a 5 gallon bucket just fine. These are also great for herb transportation as the last line of defense and cheap insurance.
Easy way around that. If you get some gallon freezer bags you can put 1/2 lb of virtually any strain, super dense to slightly fluffy, in one. Squeeze out MOST of the air but don't crush the herb. Seal tightly. Then you can put the herb filled freezer bag into something like a Food Saver bag then vacuum seal. The retained air in the freezer bag acts as a pillow. The Food Saver bag gets vacuumed yet the freezer bags retains enough air to prevent crushing. The only problem is if the freezer bag loses it's seal then it will get vacuumed and 'crush' your herb. Most can't afford fancy sealing equipment.
The mylar bags can be heat sealed using pvc pipe and a clothing iron. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIRBzACoPB0
Full Of Peace
Member
This thread has lots of real nice plants and gardens this year. I've seen at least 100 gardens myself here in Nor Cal. Everyone is really getting this plant figured out and I can't help but think that Icmag has a big part in this learning curve. Much respect to those who are doing what they love and living the dream.
warthog
Member
great advice!! yes if it aint fully dry shit will just mold up real nice and slow
plastochron
Member
Veg - do you have a recommendation for a specific model for the cool mist humidifier?
In regard to nitrogen sealing, its pretty easy to rig up an effective system with a N2 tank, regulator, vacuum sealer and those mylar bags that have the zip lock seals. Certainly not as clean and effective as the 5 grand nitrogen injector systems, but here is a foolproof method that leaves <1% oxygen in your final bags, probably <0.1% if you are careful:
Fill your bag with known weight; use vacuum sealer to seal entire mylar bag except for opening in corner barely large enough to fit hose from N2 tank into; fill bag with N2 and compress out all air; repeat two more times. As your are doing final compression of bag, pull out the N2 hose and immediately seal the zip lock after most of gas has been expelled. Vacuum seal the remaining unsealed corner. I have only used this approach with the mylar bags that have the ziplocks... I imagine that it could work with the non-zip locked ones as well,but you would have to have one hell of a sealer or just make sure its preheated. This method kept last year's crop fresh as a spring chicken until today... looks like it could have kept em fresh for another year maybe, six months definitely.
In regard to nitrogen sealing, its pretty easy to rig up an effective system with a N2 tank, regulator, vacuum sealer and those mylar bags that have the zip lock seals. Certainly not as clean and effective as the 5 grand nitrogen injector systems, but here is a foolproof method that leaves <1% oxygen in your final bags, probably <0.1% if you are careful:
Fill your bag with known weight; use vacuum sealer to seal entire mylar bag except for opening in corner barely large enough to fit hose from N2 tank into; fill bag with N2 and compress out all air; repeat two more times. As your are doing final compression of bag, pull out the N2 hose and immediately seal the zip lock after most of gas has been expelled. Vacuum seal the remaining unsealed corner. I have only used this approach with the mylar bags that have the ziplocks... I imagine that it could work with the non-zip locked ones as well,but you would have to have one hell of a sealer or just make sure its preheated. This method kept last year's crop fresh as a spring chicken until today... looks like it could have kept em fresh for another year maybe, six months definitely.
From the looks of it the big plants are comming down. You guys all talking storage....and for the record I freeze my product a tad bit green until needed.
This year I have but one left....kinda big Jack Herrer taking her own sweet time to finish.
This year the weather in this area of Maui has been junk. Not a good year. I just hope for decent weather the next month.
So wish me a month of good weather.
This year I have but one left....kinda big Jack Herrer taking her own sweet time to finish.
This year the weather in this area of Maui has been junk. Not a good year. I just hope for decent weather the next month.
So wish me a month of good weather.
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SeaMaiden
I hope your weather holds, haole. I haven't forgotten about your coffee, either.
Again, very strain/variety dependent, an example would be Apollo 13 vs Northern Lights #5. Apollo 13 stores well in the 63%-65% range, whereas even 60% is too high for NL5, so that needs to be brought down just below 60%.
Basically, if you do it in a space where you can monitor and control RH, then you don't need the jars.
I go for a minimum 2mo cure, by the way. I learned that lesson two or three years ago when I was running some experimental genetics a friend had distributed. I was fortunate enough to get amazingly similar phenotypes from the seeds I was given, so much so that you could NOT tell the difference between the ladies. 10 beans, got 9 girls. Anyway, a month into the cure it smelled like fuel, gasoline. I can't stand that smell, though I know others like it. I let me clones of it die (Longbottom Leaf, aka in some circles as Kush Cleaner). Came back a month later and it smelled BEAUTIFUL, like lemons and softness and silk. You'd better believe I've been kicking myself in the ass ever since.
And now every single clone I take waits until the product from its mother has been cured for at least 2 full months and sampled by several people.
I need to stop hiding it in different places. Or, maybe I should keep hiding it in different places!
I monitor RH in the room and bins where the product is stored while it's waiting to be trimmed. If it's too low, I'll put a container of water or something in the room and monitor RH coming up, I don't want it to go higher than where I want it.
Again, very strain/variety dependent, an example would be Apollo 13 vs Northern Lights #5. Apollo 13 stores well in the 63%-65% range, whereas even 60% is too high for NL5, so that needs to be brought down just below 60%.
Basically, if you do it in a space where you can monitor and control RH, then you don't need the jars.
Damn straight it can be! Getting it all trimmed, oh my God! And people talk about doing it while it's fresh, but Jesus, maybe it's just because I'm so slow but I've tried, believe you me I've tried with two to three other people and we were not able to get it done.
I go for a minimum 2mo cure, by the way. I learned that lesson two or three years ago when I was running some experimental genetics a friend had distributed. I was fortunate enough to get amazingly similar phenotypes from the seeds I was given, so much so that you could NOT tell the difference between the ladies. 10 beans, got 9 girls. Anyway, a month into the cure it smelled like fuel, gasoline. I can't stand that smell, though I know others like it. I let me clones of it die (Longbottom Leaf, aka in some circles as Kush Cleaner). Came back a month later and it smelled BEAUTIFUL, like lemons and softness and silk. You'd better believe I've been kicking myself in the ass ever since.
And now every single clone I take waits until the product from its mother has been cured for at least 2 full months and sampled by several people.
I just discovered some sealed product that's at least 2 years old. It's not molded at all. It's awfully amber, but it's not molded. I may be doing it completely wrong, but I went with what the old timers told me to do and it's been working. I keep finding old weed in the basement. I also found a paper shopping bag full stuff that was supposed to go to a harvest party last year. <facepalm>
I need to stop hiding it in different places. Or, maybe I should keep hiding it in different places!
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