Using a dehumidifier to dry

[thedemon]

@BRIAR

Agreed, no ones saying anything controversial...you are explaining an "Extreme" situation in your environment my friend, that of extremely high humidity, most wont have it that high Briar and in the majority of situations Humidity levels, especially in the UK don't ever get that high so therefore, advising to use a deHumidifier on a UK site where the majority of people wont NEED a Dehumidifer unless they want horrible unsmokable shite, the advice is sound.

Whats NOT sound is advising people that YOUR extreme humidity and unusual environment when drying, should allow THEM to flash dry bud using unnecessary equipment and quick drying every molecule of Terpenes out of their plant after all the effort and expense........

To summarise. DONT use a Dehumidifier UNLESS you are suffering extreme humidity levels and have no other way of reducing this.....a MAJOR factor in bud mold is airflow...you don't want any BREEZE at all in your drying space but you want a constant and decent air exchange, without that you risk getting mould especially if your in high humidity environment....BUT ironically airflow directly affects humidity so.....

But the rule is don't se anything artificial to dry your environment unless you have unusually high humidity levels and poor air exchange...IMHO....

[hops]

Hey all,

Thanks for all the imput. Maybe I should add this to the thread-

DISCLAIMER: FOR NEW GROWERS, THE METHOD IN THIS THREAD MAY BE FOR HIGH HUMIDITY DRYING ENVIRONMENTS

Although I'm not here to create any sides, I will say for discussion's sake that terpenes are constituients of essential oils, and so have a little protection. It is my understanding that oils don't evaporate the same as water does when drying unless there is a very high heat source. So whether you have a nice low RH environment to dry slowly or if you are unlucky and have a high RH and need a little help to control the drying environment, your terpenes should still be there. @@thedemon, can i ask what happened in your experience with loss of terpenes? Was it a loss of aroma you found? I'm keen to understand where the oils went. In my experience obviously (not wanting to loss thc), I have never had an issue with 'hay scent' etc. This IMO might only happen if you dried your bud in a single day? You know, like a quick desperate oven dry for a smoke. All i'm saying for anyone reading Is that I have not experienced any negative effects from this method (otherwise id never use it).

:-)

[Embryo]

Terpenes are alcohols and so do evaporate in air

[hops]

Hey

Think of it this way - Remember those 'volcanos', the vaporiser. Until you get the device up to what is it, 200-230 degrees C the thc etc does not volitilise, and you dont get high! Everything just sits there on the bud. Now thinking back to a dehumidifier and evaporation, we are only talking like at a guess 30 degrees C during this process.

Im going to do some reading up on this issue, ill let you know if I find anything useful for the discussion

Edited September 11, 2014 by hops

[worked]

Average annual humidity in the United Kingdom is High 88% Low 70% approximately according to

http://www.currentresults.com/Weather/United-Kingdom/humidity-annual.php

Does this not cause any problems drying?

Edited September 11, 2014 by worked

[Embryo]

Do you know when you sniff your bud and you can smell something?

Well, if nothing was evaporating you wouldnt smell anything...

[cZm]

Ok so now I am confused - which is not hard btw.

My plan was to dry my buds in my garden shed with a small fan creating some air flow around the shed.

I am at 51 lat and my crop should be ready in 2/3 weeks

Is this going to be ok or a bad idea?

[thedemon]

its going to be okay, but forget about the Fan.... AIR EXCHANGE is whats important my friend...in a shed that should be high but if outside humidity may be an issue if bad weather comes but frankly peeps have been drying weed in barns, sheds and outhouses for probably thousands of years.....watch for mold my friend.

You guys or some of you at least are completely mistaking TERPENES with THC, two very different things, THC is the substance that makes you high, Terpenes are what give it flavour, taste and smell.

So although quick dried weed will still get you as high as well cured weed, but will taste and smell fucking horrible, like dried lawn grass if really bad.

if you have grown a strain for its taste, high and flavour which most of us do, why lose half its appeal with poor drying process and ALL my advice is driven through direct first hand experience not airy fairy theories and extrapolation by folks who have like 3 grows under their belt.....

But whatever, making mistakes and regretting it is what learning about growing is all about....GL folks!

[Briar Fox]

@BRIAR

Agreed, no ones saying anything controversial...you are explaining an "Extreme" situation in your environment my friend, that of extremely high humidity, most wont have it that high Briar and in the majority of situations Humidity levels, especially in the UK don't ever get that high so therefore, advising to use a deHumidifier on a UK site where the majority of people wont NEED a Dehumidifer unless they want horrible unsmokable shite, the advice is sound.

Whats NOT sound is advising people that YOUR extreme humidity and unusual environment when drying, should allow THEM to flash dry bud using unnecessary equipment and quick drying every molecule of Terpenes out of their plant after all the effort and expense........

To summarise. DONT use a Dehumidifier UNLESS you are suffering extreme humidity levels and have no other way of reducing this.....a MAJOR factor in bud mold is airflow...you don't want any BREEZE at all in your drying space but you want a constant and decent air exchange, without that you risk getting mould especially if your in high humidity environment....BUT ironically airflow directly affects humidity so.....

But the rule is don't se anything artificial to dry your environment unless you have unusually high humidity levels and poor air exchange...IMHO....

So basically, as I said, everyones enviroment is different, and everyone should evalutate their own requirements... And in extreme cases (like mine and the OP) people may require a dehumidifier. All you've done is expand on my message and PUT random WORDS in BIG letters.

And if I had to be picky, we do live in a fairly humid country. I don't think it's actually *extreme*. Go to uk.weather.com, put in your postcode and check your ambient humidity for the next few days. Mine are predicted at 61% 75% and 83% for the next three days and that's without any rain forecast.

My last place the ambient was around 60% if I sealed all the windows for a few days... before I even started growing, And that can add some serious moisture to the air. Where I am now the ambient internal is lot higher and I'm using both a dehumdifier and Bovida.

I've even read threads in the enviroment section about people having to use dehumidifiers just to make their houses livable. But those are people with mini jungles lurking in tents in dark corners.

But ho hum.

Sorry if my last post sounded a bit condascending, it was meant to be funny, Late night stoned posting and all. So apologies to everyone. I just felt people were being un-neccesarily critical of OP, having had exactly the same problem in both places I've lived in the last few years. @@Embryo, your rep says you've made some excellent contributions to this forum, you could have given some advice, contributed something rather than just a sarcastic facepalm. This community is supposed to be about helping each other to be better growers, not being rude, sarcastic cunts. (or in my case accidentally condascending, over generalising cunts)

[Embryo]

The op wasn't looking for advice just to spread iffy methods so i think my response was and still is apt.

Withnailed rest

[thedemon]

naah don't worry about it pal, no harm no foul we was only just talking and I tell ya now, ive fucked up a lot of grows, a lot of drying a lot of weed in my time.......those mistakes have meant that when I grow now, ive experienced practically EVERY pitfall in Soil, and RDWC (My two methods) and ive fucked up SO MUCH GRASS by thinking the wrong way about curing.....so if I came across as quite strong its only because nothing frustrates me more than to think someone els will make the same mistakes.....

Ive realise you are NOT DRYING YOUR PLANTS.....from the moment they are cut down you are CURING your plants.....THAT philosophical difference has made my CURING process spot on......we think of drying, its wrong. You don't want to dry them you want to CURE them and that means that you don't want a breeze or anything changing the enviro much AT ALL, just the plant slowly Curing and equalising the water and any evaporated water to be expelled and the air to be exchanged at a low rate so as to limit mould spores taking hold......its such a subtle thing curing.......

DRYING is different altogether...drying we think of artificially effecting the enviro to dry something asap like clothes, we WANT a strong breeze etc to dry...dunno if im getting my point across but you will understand if you have got your curing spot on....most long time growers would agree with me....the envo while growing MUST be stable, must have good air exchange although low and must NOT have too much air movement In the shape of a breeze etc.

GL folks

[BirdTurgler]

Theres nothing wrong with a breeze ffs plants love the wind

[hops]

Hi guys,

I haven't had a lot of time the past month to read up on this much more. But I do stand by the stance that the UK is quite an humid country.

There's a little bit of further info here, mentioning terpene evaporation at high temps

http://www.fundacion-canna.es/en/terpenes-other-active-substances-of-cannabis

Also, decarboxylation of cannabis, again requires high temps

Edited October 5, 2014 by Owderb
Link removed

[gb1]

time is all you need actualy.

Temp just increases the speed of the proccess is all.

hope that helps

Edited October 5, 2014 by gb1

[inaction man]

I nearly always dry my bud with one, most decent ones come with a humidistat that you can set to the desired %humidity. this can be set/adjusted to dry bud as fast or slow as desired

I put mine in a massive plastic bag (from a matress, fridge, washing machine or whatever) with a frame to stack the bud and seal it all by rolling up the open end of the bag and clamping it shut. i honestly can't tell the difference between the stuff i've dried naturally and dehumidified weed. confines the smell well too

@@Briar Fox what happened to the GG diary? i was really enjoying that. been hoping for a new instalment, just loved the writing style