Drying buds Outside.. Need advice

lee harvey

lee harvey

Well-Known Member
what’s up guys ?! So I have a little outdoor Guerilla garden that I’ll be chopping down next week ... With my living conditions - I am absolutely unable to dry my buds somewhere indoors.. I do not have a garage , basement or anywhere indoor to dry them .. I am trying to figure out the absolute best method to dry my buds Outside... I know this is NOT a good way to harvest - However I literally have no other options.. I have 2 ideas that might work

1.)wet trim the buds and cut them into
Smaller buds to promote faster drying -put them in paper bags and let them dry out inside a tent with proper airflow / or leave the paper bags in my car for a few days ??

the temps will be between 45-65

many advice is greatly appreciated
 
Dougnsalem

Dougnsalem

Well-Known Member
No advice to give, just my past experience. I had to do that once. Had similar temps as you, and decent RH. It's VERY windy here though. Before I knew it, my stuff was crispy and smelled like ass. It sucked to spend all that time growing, and waste it in the drying/curing. If I had it to do again, I would have hung the whole plant instead of the individual branches. Maybe put plastic around it to cut down on airflow? The next harvest, I MADE room inside. Lol. Much better.

I do like the tent idea. Why not hang your branches inside of it? Then do the paper bag deal? Hopefully others will kick in here too....
 
lee harvey

lee harvey

Well-Known Member
Dougnsalem said:
No advice to give, just my past experience. I had to do that once. Had similar temps as you, and decent RH. It's VERY windy here though. Before I knew it, my stuff was crispy and smelled like ass. It sucked to spend all that time growing, and waste it in the drying/curing. If I had it to do again, I would have hung the whole plant instead of the individual branches. Maybe put plastic around it to cut down on airflow? The next harvest, I MADE room inside. Lol. Much better.

I do like the tent idea. Why not hang your branches inside of it? Then do the paper bag deal? Hopefully others will kick in here too....
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thanks for the response bro!The reason for not hanging my plants whole or even in branches - is because i don’t want to risk mold - mildew etc.. if I cut the buds down to size- they will dry quicker.. my plan is to just keep a close eye on them and not let them get to dry.. I’d rather them dry out quickly then grow mold because of too much moisture
 
Dougnsalem

Dougnsalem

Well-Known Member
lee harvey said:
thanks for the response bro!The reason for not hanging my plants whole or even in branches - is because i don’t want to risk mold - mildew etc.. if I cut the buds down to size- they will dry quicker.. my plan is to just keep a close eye on them and not let them get to dry.. I’d rather them dry out quickly then grow mold because of too much moisture
Click to expand...
I totally get where you're coming from. Most all of us here in Oregon have been battling bud rot. Pretty bad this year. No, it's REALLY bad this year. You've gotta do what you think is best for your crop. After I screwed up all of my harvest in the past by drying too quick; I decided that I'll take a chance on getting more rot with doing a slower cure. But, that's just me and what's going on with my enviroment. Again, (IMHO) I think the tent idea is a winner if it's really windy where you are.
 
Z

Zappa66

Well-Known Member
I have done in a tent before, years and years ago. Fun memories haha. We used 20lb propane cylinders with little screw on heaters, the type typically used for ice fishing or camping. Left it on low for a week or so swapping out cylinders as needed. Periodically we opened the tent when the weather was windy and nice. We hung individual branches and semi wet/dry trimmed as we were drying trying to get it all done. I think we did 6 or so lbs that season. As I recall the co in the tent was hazardous to say the least. Was quite a production, a big dehumidifier would work better in retrospect but we did not have power on that property.
 
BB84

BB84

Well-Known Member
lee harvey said:
what’s up guys ?! So I have a little outdoor Guerilla garden that I’ll be chopping down next week ... With my living conditions - I am absolutely unable to dry my buds somewhere indoors.. I do not have a garage , basement or anywhere indoor to dry them .. I am trying to figure out the absolute best method to dry my buds Outside... I know this is NOT a good way to harvest - However I literally have no other options.. I have 2 ideas that might work

1.)wet trim the buds and cut them into
Smaller buds to promote faster drying -put them in paper bags and let them dry out inside a tent with proper airflow / or leave the paper bags in my car for a few days ??

the temps will be between 45-65

many advice is greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
Hey, i think either method will dry them ok, but car option maybe safer against theft or animals getting in the tent. I guess it just depends if your going to drive the car anywhere as if so, someone may smell it.

im guessing u may have dried now- if so how did it go?
 
lee harvey

lee harvey

Well-Known Member
BB84 said:
Hey, i think either method will dry them ok, but car option maybe safer against theft or animals getting in the tent. I guess it just depends if your going to drive the car anywhere as if so, someone may smell it.

im guessing u may have dried now- if so how did it go?
Click to expand...
TheDifferenceX said:
Yes, curious how this turned out.
Click to expand...
What’s up boys? Thanks for dropping in . SO - What I ended up doing was setting up a tent outdoors at the grow site - made sure it had airflow but was also rainproof with a tarp ( also helped keep direct sunlight off of the buds) .. Inside the tent I had a battery powered fan and the buds were trimmed - broken down into smaller nugs - and placed on a mesh drying rack for 2 days .. After 2 days of decent weather followed by morning dew - The buds were not drying as quickly as I needed - I had a bad feeling about this method as it was so wet and cold -
so I switched methods ... I put all of the buds into brown paper Bags ( the thick ones ) and tossed them in the trunk of my car - shaking the bags several times a day - opening and closing the bags to let moisture and gases escape ...BE SURE TO CHANGE THE PAPER BAGS AS THEY GET SAUGY..I did the paper bag method for at least 5-6 days and although it was working much better than the previous method - I still feared mold so I had to help speed up the drying process... What i ended up doing the last couple days due to excessive moisture still in the buds- was I laid the cannabis inside a big cardboard box with a fan blowing on the nugs- rotating them frequently and making sure not too try them out completely.( this was done inside the trunk of my car - and yes it did smell ) Just enough to where the outer bud is dry and stems are starting to snap ..They are now curing in mason jars- smelling - smoking- and starting to taste beautiful - I did not lose any bud to mold surprisingly ..
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS METHOD IF YOU CAN HANG DRY IN A DRY COOL INDOOR LOCATION !!! I was in a jam and literally had no options .
If I could go back and do things different - I wouldn’t have dried them in the tent to begin with. I would have put them directly in brown paper bags after harvest and started that way .. I feel as though letting them dry outdoor was extremely counter productive and really increased my risk of mold... I know the fan blowing directly on the buds is a big no-no but Had I not used these methods- I would have lost my whole harvest.
 

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Dougnsalem

Dougnsalem

Well-Known Member
lee harvey said:
What’s up boys? Thanks for dropping in . SO - What I ended up doing was setting up a tent outdoors at the grow site - made sure it had airflow but was also rainproof with a tarp ( also helped keep direct sunlight off of the buds) .. Inside the tent I had a battery powered fan and the buds were trimmed - broken down into smaller nugs - and placed on a mesh drying rack for 2 days .. After 2 days of decent weather followed by morning dew - The buds were not drying as quickly as I needed - I had a bad feeling about this method as it was so wet and cold -
so I switched methods ... I put all of the buds into brown paper Bags ( the thick ones ) and tossed them in the trunk of my car - shaking the bags several times a day - opening and closing the bags to let moisture and gases escape ...BE SURE TO CHANGE THE PAPER BAGS AS THEY GET SAUGY..I did the paper bag method for at least 5-6 days and although it was working much better than the previous method - I still feared mold so I had to help speed up the drying process... What i ended up doing the last couple days due to excessive moisture still in the buds- was I laid the cannabis inside a big cardboard box with a fan blowing on the nugs- rotating them frequently and making sure not too try them out completely.( this was done inside the trunk of my car - and yes it did smell ) Just enough to where the outer bud is dry and stems are starting to snap ..They are now curing in mason jars- smelling - smoking- and starting to taste beautiful - I did not lose any bud to mold surprisingly ..
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS METHOD IF YOU CAN HANG DRY IN A DRY COOL INDOOR LOCATION !!! I was in a jam and literally had no options .
If I could go back and do things different - I wouldn’t have dried them in the tent to begin with. I would have put them directly in brown paper bags after harvest and started that way .. I feel as though letting them dry outdoor was extremely counter productive and really increased my risk of mold... I know the fan blowing directly on the buds is a big no-no but Had I not used these methods- I would have lost my whole harvest.
Click to expand...
Good info to know. Thanks for the update....
 
BB84

BB84

Well-Known Member
lee harvey said:
What’s up boys? Thanks for dropping in . SO - What I ended up doing was setting up a tent outdoors at the grow site - made sure it had airflow but was also rainproof with a tarp ( also helped keep direct sunlight off of the buds) .. Inside the tent I had a battery powered fan and the buds were trimmed - broken down into smaller nugs - and placed on a mesh drying rack for 2 days .. After 2 days of decent weather followed by morning dew - The buds were not drying as quickly as I needed - I had a bad feeling about this method as it was so wet and cold -
so I switched methods ... I put all of the buds into brown paper Bags ( the thick ones ) and tossed them in the trunk of my car - shaking the bags several times a day - opening and closing the bags to let moisture and gases escape ...BE SURE TO CHANGE THE PAPER BAGS AS THEY GET SAUGY..I did the paper bag method for at least 5-6 days and although it was working much better than the previous method - I still feared mold so I had to help speed up the drying process... What i ended up doing the last couple days due to excessive moisture still in the buds- was I laid the cannabis inside a big cardboard box with a fan blowing on the nugs- rotating them frequently and making sure not too try them out completely.( this was done inside the trunk of my car - and yes it did smell ) Just enough to where the outer bud is dry and stems are starting to snap ..They are now curing in mason jars- smelling - smoking- and starting to taste beautiful - I did not lose any bud to mold surprisingly ..
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS METHOD IF YOU CAN HANG DRY IN A DRY COOL INDOOR LOCATION !!! I was in a jam and literally had no options .
If I could go back and do things different - I wouldn’t have dried them in the tent to begin with. I would have put them directly in brown paper bags after harvest and started that way .. I feel as though letting them dry outdoor was extremely counter productive and really increased my risk of mold... I know the fan blowing directly on the buds is a big no-no but Had I not used these methods- I would have lost my whole harvest.
Click to expand...
Looks great, and at least you know for next time :weed:
 
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