Drying tent advice needed

[Tomateo.grower]

Hi. Thanks for reading.

After my first grow last year (in the garden) I've got a GG on the go now, and I'm trying to plan ahead for the harvest and drying.

Here's the set up I had last year for drying

Hardly the best, just hung up in the garage on some wire, or dried on top of a table. Let's be honest, anything would be an improvement!

But it worked. But not the best. The bit I have left still has a hey type smell, even after 8 months curing, but when it is ground up the smell returns.

After all the hard work, I'm not gonna fuck this part up again.

So I've come to the conclusion that getting a dedicated drying tent is probably the answer. Unless there is some other suggestions??

I don't grow inside so I don't have a tent or anything like that and unsure on all the lingo.

So if I was going to go the tent way, as I'm guessing this would be best? What would I need? 

I'm imagining;

A tent, but what size.

A fan, again what size type.

A carbon filter, for the smell, again not idea what size.

Something the take the temperature and air humidity?

And some kind of dehumidifier?

So basically a grow tent but without the light? If this is the case. Would it be easy to add a light later for germinating?

I know it looks like a million questions, but wanna get this right.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Shumroom]

Hi Tom  atoe grower.

 

I'd say that the size of the tent would be dependent upon how much material you will be drying.

 

How many plants and roughly how big do you expect them to be?

 

the size of the fan and filter follow on from knowing what size of tent?

 

 

It's a shame to spend all that time and effort to grow,

only to end up with a messed up dry.

 

Atb

 

 

[Tomateo.grower]

Thanks @Shumroom

I have 15 out. Have a mix of earlys, mid and late. So 6 early sept, 3 end sept, 6 Oct.

Id rather keep it on the cheaper side if possible, can always upgrade later, but for now, it's primary function will be for drying. Then packed away till next year. Oh and smaller would be better as it will need to be discreet as possible in the house.

Other thing I did see was fruit and veg dehydrators, but I think they would make them too dry!

Edited July 10, 2021 by Tomateo.grower

[Shumroom]

So a max of 6 plants at a time over a 2-3 week period? 

 

Do you intend to hang whole for drying or are you gonna trim it first? 

 

Obviously if you're gonna dry whole you'll need more space than if you trim first. 

 

I used to use a 1.2x1.2m tent to grow in and that was great for being able to sit inside the tent to trim, 

which was necessary due to me wet trimming at that time and the smelly ass clone I was running. 

 

That was fine as they fitted in the tent no problem as they were grown in there. 

 

Stick up some photos of your plants so that people can give you an idea of the amount of size of space you might need 

 

Atb 

 

Swerve the dehydrator, 

they use heat to speed up the dry of stuff. 

 

Slower is better

 

[smilertoo]

I just hang the whole plant in a tent with air extraction on minimum for about 10days with minimal airflow in the tent, no problems yet.

[Tomateo.grower]

Thanks @Shumroom 

So they still small right now.

All rsg 

3x Mighty Gold

3 x Mighty Freeze

 

3 x DFG

3 x Purple Freeze

3 x OPG x Freeland

 

Not grown before so no idea of size. Seeds popped June, in soil last week.

 

I'm gonna trim them a bit into manageable sizes as I will need to transport them from site back home as will take up less space with fan leaves removed.

[Tomateo.grower]

19 minutes ago, smilertoo said:

I just hang the whole plant in a tent with air extraction on minimum for about 10days with minimal airflow in the tent, no problems yet.

Unfortunately I won't be able to hang whole.

I am doing a gorilla grow, so unless I can get away with walking some 6ft plants around they gonna need to be cut into sections.

What I do need to know is what equipment I will need for the drying, while keeping costs low.

[murphyblue]

I plan to trim at plot mate which reminds me i need to get some air tight tupperware and some deoderant spray for transport from plot.

Im going to use my grow box to dry which just has a cheap 4" extractor fan think it was about 35 quid a fox  4" filter think that was about 20-30 not sure the price of tents sorry.

But a good cheap alternative if u have charity furniture shops nearby would go buy an old wooden wardrobe you help out the charity and get yourself a grow/dry box think i paid about 40 quid for a large oak one about 5 years ago.

When not in use for drying use it for storage in the garage hasp and staple and padlock for security and as it was cheap can drill holes wherever you want.

[Tomateo.grower]

57 minutes ago, murphyblue said:

I plan to trim at plot mate which reminds me i need to get some air tight tupperware and some deoderant spray for transport from plot.

 

I hadn't thought of that. How I was going to transport it back  Something else for the shopping list lol!

Does it work? To hide the smell?

 

Think we are growing almost the same stuff too. But your a fair few weeks ahead of me.

 

And as for drying? Would that be all I needed? An extractor fan with filter? I've looked on Ama*on, but there so much gear lol. I wouldn't know where to start!

 

Edited July 10, 2021 by Tomateo.grower

[murphyblue]

deoderant mate for outside of bag it will mask the smell long enough till i get it home used my sandwich box last year to but bud in but want to get a couple ready for chopping.

Means of slowing the fan down would also help so maybe spend a bit more on a fan with speed control built in and a small circulation fan again with speed control u can get cheap pc fans which will work well.

 

[Tomateo.grower]

27 minutes ago, murphyblue said:

deoderant mate for outside of bag it will mask the smell long enough till i get it home

 

 

I'll try and remember that one!

 

And I really have no clue about tents and maintaining humidity and temps etc for drying. Might be easier if I just get a kit with all bits I need. See I didn't even know you could get ones that regulate the fan speed either!

[HullFeltMashematician]

A few things to say here.

 

On transport from site to drying area: so, in my experience over 3 years with GG harvests, more often than not plants are wet from rain and dew when harvested. For this reason, smothering them in plastic for the duration of the journey home (for me this is over 1 hour walking) seemed negligent and unadvisable. Last year I found that the rectangular cardboard box that the carbon filter I ordered came in fit perfectly into a 70L rucksack I have. So, I wrapped this box in plastic to contain smell somewhat, and placed the box inside my rucksack. It was the perfect size for some nice long branches of bud, the cardboard acted as a desiccant, removing some unwanted standing water in the buds on the way, and the plastic wrap contained smell a little. Deodorant application may be necessary depending on what your route to your drying area from plot is like and what time of day/night you intend on making this journey. Having said that, it'd be unwise to plan to be in close proximity to any members of the public while transporting several ounces of stinking weed.. And in that sense, deodorant might not be necessary, if you're able to plan to make your journey at a time when you have a very low chance of coming in close proximity with any suspecting locals etc. 

 

On drying setup: I think I pointed you in the direction of my drying setup that I used last year in another thread, but, just in case I didn't... In the Random Guerilla Photos thread I posted details on my drying setup last year in September some time.. I forget the page number but it's not too hard to find if you skip back to last year September time.. I used cardboard boxes, they're free, they're easy to setup and dismantle and easy to dispose of. The beauty of the setup was that I could have expanded my available drying space as much as I imagine any GGer would need with ease. The basic principle of it was to create negative pressure in multiple drying chambers by ducting them to one "middle box" that contained a carbon filter through which air was being sucked by an inline rvk outside the box. This passively drew air out of the dry boxes into the carbon filter box and through said carbon filter. I made 2 large holes on the opposite side of the dry boxes to the ducting and lined them with an old (clean) pair of tights to act as a filter screen (very necessary!).. Negative pressure could be controlled by reducing the size of the passive intake holes on the boxes.. I could add more boxes as I pleased and increase fan speed to manage the larger volume of drying space... It worked really well in the end.. 

 

I don't know if others think it's a great setup, but, if you're on a tight budget, I think it's a very good option to be considered. No smell leaks, ample space, all you need to buy is a fan and a filter. 

 

Atb/

[tescoturnip]

Just had a gander.... page 729, on random gorilla photos  for anyone interested 

 

Looks good may have to try something like that next year as drying in loft is same, to hot in daytime 

 

 

[MindSoup]

Its a long old thread but it's got some really useful tips. 

 

 

[Tomateo.grower]

@HullFeltMashematician you did. Took me a while to find but looked spot on! @tescoturnip thanks for the page info too for anyone else trying find it. Funds where low last month do didn't have cash to buy anything, and I've started taking some down now, so bit fucked lol.

Also being a GG grow I've been cutting them into small managed parts to get them into air tight containers and in rucksack, quick wet trim, and them split into loads brown paper bags, then peg them closed, and onto a poll to dry best I can.

Far far from ideal, but, the autos that were downed over 2 weeks ago are jarred now, took about 10 days for the stems to snap cleanly, maybe that was too fast, and over dried? I dunno. Unfortunately don't think I'll have the funds to set something up properly this year now and have it set up in time. Hopefully have everything down in next 2-3 weeks.