Drying and curing setup ?

So I'm a few weeks from harvest I have 4 plants in a 8x4 I will be drying in a 2x2x4 tent however where I live it is. Very dry at 20%rh temps are just fine however I'm not sure if I should just get a bucket of water to increase to 60% and to keep it constant so I have a fogger already that Im thinking about hooking it up to a Rh controller and calling it a day get a small fan for intake and a pc fan hooked to a 4in carbon scrubber and call it a day..... Just not sure if that would be my best option with the best control as I didn't work this hard to have a too fast of a dry and end up with a bunch of bud that smells like hay just not going to work esp I am disabled and NEED my meds so doing it right is more important...Just first time harvesting in such dry climate and not sure what all I will need to do or if I will be fine with what my plan is....
Also I would like to cure in either 3 or 5gal buckets I will pry use turkey bags too as I've heard sometimes the plastic will get into the buds which I don't want bud taste like plastic that I will have to use for the next 6mo ...Also I want to do buckets so I can put 1 plant in it and be done not have to have 100x Mason jars ...I'f I do go with the buckets how much will fit in a 3 or 5gal bucket with 80% full...I will be using gamma lids as well so they are sealed and food grade too....
Thank-you for your help and time reading my post feel free to check out my rdwc grow as well

Yes to raising rH up to 60%.

Ya I thought so however using my fogger I'm gna pry put it in a bucket with a lid and I think I might get some PVC and put it on the sides and I may put it to the outside of the tent in all 4 corners Im thinkn def dont want to be putting fog on the buds ....Is another issue I'm thinking about it having...I'm gna build a drying rack from PVC with hemp and hang the buds that way have several different levels and I'll have to make like a bunch of 2in scrogs for the most part but no biggie just need to have it all setup and ready prior to harvest of course definitely not going to have issues with drying to fast like it would I'f I didn't make a dry room for them like I could in my previous state and drying in a closet was a easy thing def can't happen with 20-30%rh that's for sure......

If anyone has any tips or tricks for me I'm well opened to suggestions thanks

20% RH isn't ideal, but it isn't terrible either.

I'm in the desert, anything above 5-10% RH here is abnormal. Before I had a dedicated drying room I just hung them in a closet or in my grow tent (4x4x7). I just hang the entire plant whole as opposed to trimming it into smaller branches, that way it takes slightly longer to dry. Even in 90+ degree temps with 10% humidity, it'd take 3-4 days for me to dry plants fully if I hang them whole and left the fan leaves on. Leaving the plant whole and leaving the fan leaves on will give you an extra day or two worth of drying due to the moisture content compared to bare buds on separated branches.

Your tent is on the smaller side though, which is great news. You can grab yourself a humidifier for less than $50 on Amazon that has a controller built in to it. Grab yourself one of those, set it at 40% RH and leave it inside the tent. Ensure that the tent is in an air conditioned room if at all possible. The bulk of mold grows in temps over 70 degrees, so if you can keep your drying room lower than that then you're golden.

I recently converted my shed into a drying room, AC keeps things at 70-75 degrees and a humidifier keeps my humidity at 40% RH. Takes 7-10 days to dry this way, depending on how much I have hanging in the shed. A controller for your humidifier is crucial though, because it will help you account for the moisture the plants are releasing into your tent.

Just a matter of what your budget is really. In my personal experience, the hay smell will only be an issue if the buds are mediocre/mids and if they dry in less than 3 days. If it dries in 3-4 days instead of 7-10 then it will still be good bud, you'll just have to cure longer is all.

Just remember, the goal of drying is to reduce the overall moisture content of the plant/buds to ~60% moisture. It is much better to put the buds in the jars too moist than too dry.

If they're too moist in the jars, you just need to let them air out and spend extra time opening jars and maintaining/controlling the RH of the jars. But if they're too dry when they go in the jars then there's pretty much nothing you can do.

HTH my man.

Dabhead710 said:

Ya I thought so however using my fogger I'm gna pry put it in a bucket with a lid and I think I might get some PVC and put it on the sides and I may put it to the outside of the tent in all 4 corners Im thinkn def dont want to be putting fog on the buds ....Is another issue I'm thinking about it having...I'm gna build a drying rack from PVC with hemp and hang the buds that way have several different levels and I'll have to make like a bunch of 2in scrogs for the most part but no biggie just need to have it all setup and ready prior to harvest of course definitely not going to have issues with drying to fast like it would I'f I didn't make a dry room for them like I could in my previous state and drying in a closet was a easy thing def can't happen with 20-30%rh that's for sure......

If anyone has any tips or tricks for me I'm well opened to suggestions thanks

Click to expand...

I'm wondering how powerful is your fogger? I don't have any tents so maybe they make humidity rise so much easier. But I could never get the humidity to rise that much with a fogger. are you able to? I like kratos015 's suggestions. I'm not convinced you need slow drying, but drying fast gives you a much smaller window for sealing them up before it's too late to cure. Different buds cure at different rates. It's easy to miss the window if your not there all the time.

I never have dry air but my growmies do from time to time. They have both a mister and dehu in dry room, they use a humidity controller like this to turn them on when needed.
https://www.amazon.com/Humidity-Controller-Inkbird-Humidistat-Pre-wired/dp/B01J1E5LWM/ref=asc_df_B01J1E5LWM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167130978684&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17943179862510393306&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9002244&hvtargid=pla-314644480949&psc=1

Okay guys so I got to thinking about my 2x2 tent to dry in and with my 4 plants in a 8x4 Scrogged and it's a blanket of buds from corner to corner and I just don't see all of them fitting in there I was going to have a PVC rack that's about the same size as the tent and have 8 rows 6inches apart and have x2 rows for each plant however I just don't think it's going to be big enough...So I think I'm just gna dry in my 8x4 I'm thinking I should chop the plants take the fan leaves off well before I chop and I'm thinking I'm just gna flip the scrogs upside down and let the plants dry that way and well since my rdwc will be 0ppm I'm gna leave the water In to help w rh however I'm still gna use the fogger..Now I have not used it for a humidifier just for my fogponics cloner...So I am gna try it out and see how it does and if I need to buy a humidifier I will and yes the inkbird controller is almost a must have.....
And from what I've read fast drying in low rh isn't the best..Now I'm disabled and I'm always home and always up so I can keep a close eye on it however I rather not do it that way esp if it's only 50 for a humidifier and controller big deal more than worth it in my book..So what do you guys do about using a humidifier with the mist is there a way to keep it from getting on the buds or anyone have any tips would be great I was kinda thinkn like a piece of PVC and some mylar so the mist blows onto that but idk there thanks

The fogger should work its the same single ceramic disk in my walmart brand ultrasonic and it brings my 8x10 room up close to 60% with ac keeping the temp around 65 to 70. A fan will pull most of the mist through it and disperse it. Thought maybe the water is bad for the fan but no problems so far there shouldn't be any condensation if the inkbird is keeping it under 60. Blowing it would probably be enough if needed.

K thanks for the info..Ya instead of using my house of hydro fogger and taking it out of my cloner... I just bought a super cheap humidifier so hopefully it works as it's one of those personal portable ones that are USb..They are about 8in tall and you can put them in about any container so I figured I'll give it a try put it in a gal jug or even a 5gal bucket as I could pry get close to 2.5gal with it to work and just gna hook it up to my Saturn 5 controller and call it a day....Amazon prime is awesome esp anymore with next day shipping if they have it local like they do so I'll be able to test it out see how it does and if it's not going to work I'll exchange it for this $40 one I found and call it a day if not...
I'm also considering using turkey bags or ziplocs in 5gal buckets with gamma seal lids to cure in..But I'm not sure how much I could fit in the 5gal bucket... However I'm considering 1gal cracker glass jars but would rather not have to have over a dozen of them and have to burp them all etc which is why the 5gal buckets are deserible to me...However I have heard some ppl will get a plastic taste/smell by doing so plus I've read static discharge from the buckets and they will pull the hairs off the buds but if any of those things are a issue with food grade buckets then that's what the turkey bags or ziplocks are for...
I've thought about like a 15gal storage container too but getting it to be airtight that can easily be removed might be a issue and why the 5gal will pry be my best option or 7gal too since the gamma lids will fit those too......
Thanks again folks

Have you actually just found a spot in your house to hang till dry or have you read a load of stuff and freaked out and now trying to over engineer a simple procedure called the natural dry?

Bud is 10-15% moisture when dried not 60% and will take a few days to get there in a range of humidities and temperatures. Humidity cannot suck water any faster than organic matter gives it up which is why as above people manage the natural hang dry the world over.

Its hard to overdry bud as once your dried bud finds equilibrium with the air humidity it dosent dry at much speed past this and hence why you can leave hanging past it being dry for a while and no rush to jar.

Peeps ask when to know when bud is dry aka 10-15%. Answers simple - when it smokes smooth in a joint and dosent give of any additional moisture when jarted.

Were not trying to encourage mold and theres a lot of science to drying organic matter that gets missed for some mundane drying humidity of 60% or whatever.

Im not sure if many understand how to dry, my humidity can be from sub 30 to 70% daily or seasonally so not sure what most are scared off as it all works fine for me.

I personally find it smokes after a week but taste 100 times better after two - chalk this down to bacteria fungi and chemical changes

I'm going to dry in my 8x4 bloom tent just going to keep the plants in the scrogs cut the branches off and flip them upside down...As I was going to use a 2x2 tent but it just wasn't going to be big enough for all 4 plants so im gna use what I have esp since it's all setup already so might as well.
however I have 2 layers for my scrogs which is 4x4 and has 2 plants in it so I'm gna trim one side wet and each net will be for each plant so they will have plenty of room and on the other side of the tent with the other 4x4 scrog I'm gna take all the fan leafs off that I can get too and I'll flip the scrog w the plants in it and let them dry w sugar leaves on and see what I like best and works best and go from there...
Also that cheap $10 USB humidifier that goes in bottles or anything however it sucks and is pretty worthless it would be fine for in a car for one person holding it in your hand pretty much...So I got a $40 one top fill very easy to clean as well and humidity controlled so I don't have to run it with the Saturn 5 plug it in and call it a day so works for me....
Ya and with it being 10-20%rh In my basement which is the only place I can dry at my house as well...And with all this work I've put into and love I've put into this crop not gna risk it on just letting it dry in the open air without rh controlled just not gna happen esp here as the state I used to live in it wasn't a issue to dry in the closet just can't do that in the mountains... .
Plus $40 to have a properly dried meds I'm perfectly fine with

Im about if you need to know how to dry or the science behind it once youve tried all that other stuff.

Let us know how it goes

Dabhead710 said:

I'm going to dry in my 8x4 bloom tent just going to keep the plants in the scrogs cut the branches off and flip them upside down...As I was going to use a 2x2 tent but it just wasn't going to be big enough for all 4 plants so im gna use what I have esp since it's all setup already so might as well.
however I have 2 layers for my scrogs which is 4x4 and has 2 plants in it so I'm gna trim one side wet and each net will be for each plant so they will have plenty of room and on the other side of the tent with the other 4x4 scrog I'm gna take all the fan leafs off that I can get too and I'll flip the scrog w the plants in it and let them dry w sugar leaves on and see what I like best and works best and go from there...
Also that cheap $10 USB humidifier that goes in bottles or anything however it sucks and is pretty worthless it would be fine for in a car for one person holding it in your hand pretty much...So I got a $40 one top fill very easy to clean as well and humidity controlled so I don't have to run it with the Saturn 5 plug it in and call it a day so works for me....
Ya and with it being 10-20%rh In my basement which is the only place I can dry at my house as well...And with all this work I've put into and love I've put into this crop not gna risk it on just letting it dry in the open air without rh controlled just not gna happen esp here as the state I used to live in it wasn't a issue to dry in the closet just can't do that in the mountains... .
Plus $40 to have a properly dried meds I'm perfectly fine with

Click to expand...

I have dried a crop in my closet like you said and it was dried in 24-36hr actually and it dried waaaaaaaaay too fast I tried it trimmed and not trimmed not much diff...Which Is why I'm NOT doing that again and going to do a slow dry and cure like should be done...Which is why I'm just gna dry them in the tent they are in now and call it a day...Also I never said 60% moisture either as that would mold for sure 15% is more like it esp here in the mountains... gna dry 57-65%rh and temps will be 65-68...And hang dry from my scrogs and will have some fire ass meds when it's done and cured...
Pm if u want to talk more about it

Dabhead710 said:

I have dried a crop in my closet like you said and it was dried in 24-36hr actually and it dried waaaaaaaaay too fast I tried it trimmed and not trimmed not much diff...Which Is why I'm NOT doing that again and going to do a slow dry and cure like should be done...Which is why I'm just gna dry them in the tent they are in now and call it a day...Also I never said 60% moisture either as that would mold for sure 15% is more like it esp here in the mountains... gna dry 57-65%rh and temps will be 65-68...And hang dry from my scrogs and will have some fire ass meds when it's done and cured...
Pm if u want to talk more about it

Click to expand...

Im not even sure its possible to dry but in 24-36 hours without forced drying - consider this....