How to proceed

[oldleafybeard1]

took 5 plants down saturday, noticed yesterday the leaves were very crispy but the plants seemed kinda fine still not dry but smellling good. Today though I noticed the buds have gone like cracker dry and the smell has totally changed. The stems are still just about bending not snapping and it feels like the outer parts of the flowers are crispy but kinda can feel some damp within them but the do seem very dry on the outside now. The smell thing has bothered me cause its a sudden change but should I be doing something now to try and slow the dry process? Ive kinda put them in paper bags but idk if its gonna help and im almost on the verge of cutting them up and just jaring them to try and rehyrate them a bit but I just really am not sure what the best next step is like I hve put the full plants in paper in a drawer at the moment but im not even sure if this is gonna help should I just leave them hanging or go to jar already?

[mikeydoughnut]

They’ll feel dry on the outside at times. Almost like they’ve gone crispy. Don’t panic. They won’t be fully dried and sometimes smells can change. Just stick to the programme and make sure they’re dry. I’m not a fan of snapping stems, I like them to crack then I take them off. I’ll pop em in a shoe box and take it from there. Feel and smoke to be sure to be sure. The problem we have at the moment is the weather. I’m trying to dry weed at 26 degrees  … an autumn of boof ahead  

[DeltaMelter]

That's only 5 days, unless you stripped every stem and dried all the buds on racks they won't be dry yet.

 

The smell will change, especially on days 3-5 when a good 1/3 of the water is gone and the chlorophyll starts breaking down but what are your drying conditions? What temps and RH are you at?

[oldleafybeard1]

1 hour ago, DeltaMelter said:

That's only 5 days, unless you stripped every stem and dried all the buds on racks they won't be dry yet.

 

The smell will change, especially on days 3-5 when a good 1/3 of the water is gone and the chlorophyll starts breaking down but what are your drying conditions? What temps and RH are you at?

Basically just air drying in ambient conditions with one fan underneath blowing indirecy against the wall under the hung plants in basically a little cupboard, so I think humidity is around 50% and temps around 24 ish I know it has been a bit too warm but I havnt got many options been a couple of stinkers here the last few days. The buds are kinda small as well which feels like its making a difference to my expected drying times.

[mikeydoughnut]

2 hours ago, DeltaMelter said:

What temps and RH are you at?

Fuckin 25.8c and 57.7% humidity  I challenge anyone to dry weed nice in this crap without spending a small fortune. Just gotta leave everything on and hope for the best ….

[mikeydoughnut]

@oldleafybeard1 take the fan away. You ain’t gonna need that in this weather. I never use one at all. Just hang, lowest extraction setting and let nature take its course. 
 

Also don’t get too down about how it dries or owt. Sure it’s not ideal. It’s beyond our control really. But you grew it. From a tiny lickle seed. I buzz off it every single harvest. You should be proud of yourself  I’m just smoking a nug that’s smokable after less than a week. You know what. It tastes fucking lovely. I wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t happening to me right now  

Edited August 23, 2023 by mikeydoughnut

[Black Shadow]

The initial aroma is the water soluble and volatile terpenes evaporating, there’s nothing you can do to stop that 

 

Next is the aroma of the water itself and the chlorophyll etc in the leaves, the green smell 

Mikey is correct, blowing air at the plants will just dry out the leaves and close the stoma that the moisture evaporates from 

 

[DeltaMelter]

Worth getting a Hygrometer so you have a bit of an idea on RH and temps, highs and lows. Mikey is right though, I'd kill that fan. Now you are past the danger zone and a lot of the moisture is gone you can stand to slow down the drying without the fan.

 

I dry 9 plants in a 4x4 tent and generally don't have a fan (just the extraction on low) as wherever it blows/points I get crispy buds that are dry on the outside but still wet in the middle.

 

Paper bags or a shoe box if you feel they are drying too fast after 7 days but I bet if you try and roll a joint with the buds it won't be ready.

[sweettooth]

2 hours ago, mikeydoughnut said:

Fuckin 25.8c and 57.7% humidity  I challenge anyone to dry weed nice in this crap without spending a small fortune. Just gotta leave everything on and hope for the best ….

same boat, had it hung for already 5 days in a 27 degrees loft, seems pretty dry but I know its gonna sweat, gone away for a week and decided to cut off the top 2 thirds of each branch and stick in a large 50L tub and stuck somewhere cooler in the house, don't want to come back from hols and find 1.5kg of dust weed

[oldleafybeard1]

yeah to be clear its just a lazy set up where the plants are hanging from a clothes horse, the fan is like the extraction, its not pointed at the plants just moving air in the small cupboard room they are in below them. I did check the humidity I have a hydrometer but it seems a bit pointless when I cant really do anything much else to affect it and today it was reading 50% but I havnt been watching it so im not really certain.

I had another good look at the buds earlier and I still think maybe one or two more days hanging without the fan and hopefully im still on course based on whats being said, I think just because the smell was so delicious yesterday im like "what happened" today and for me this part of growing is the most confusing having not done it many times. Thanks for all the tips though ill take it all on board and keep checking them over the next few days cause I can see what your saying is true to the plant still not being fully dry, as long as the sudden shift in smell from like beautiful to gone isnt anything to worry about ill keep hope the cure gets it all back cause it was smelling amazing.