Long term storage?

[Clean Green]

I've had my set up about four years now and its simply a blue plastic food storage barrel with black lid, the type that are sealed with an aluminium ring with lever. These come in various sizes. This is then put in a hole, mine is well into the clay layer, and I think the deeper you can go the better for temp stability.

The barrel drops in vertically with the top sticking out of the ground about an inch - to guarantee it's never flooded, and gaps around the edges filled with sand.  The lid clips on and then the top can be disguised however required, slabs, bark chippings, a shed floor, whatever works best. I keep a sock filled with silica gel inside the barrel and the rubber seal on the lid coated with vaseline for an air tight seal.

I like the humidity of the barrel itself to be about 50% so the silica needs replacing but only about once per year I've found, though I'm opening it up only every two or three months to top up my stash tins with various strains.

There's a little platform on either side of my barrel at the top which is where I blue tack the sensor/ transmitter for the weather station. Also I cut a disk of thick polystyrene which fits into the top indentation of the lid - on the outside.  This helps insulate extreme temps from above ground. In four years, I've had two jars go mouldy.  I've probably had dozens that have lived in there in that time and I don't think it had anything to do with being in there.

It was graft to get it all dug and set up but should last years (and I'm a guerilla grower so used to graft  )

I keep the inside of it meticulously clean being very careful not to drop any debris in, and always bring jars inside and allow them to come up to temp before opening to avoid condensation forming on the inside before the lids go back on. 

 

I have another barrel on its side for drying with silica gel, so in essence, a fully sealed drying and storage set up away from the house and family which works ideally for my circumstances. 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Clean Green
Chop up the wall of text

[Salty]

Damn....I could never grow enough to have to worry about long term storage.

 

Maybe this time round.....but probably no.

[Notorious B.U.D]

I came across this just the other day and thought it would be a good fairly simple option for long term storage, I’ll definitely be trying it out myself at some point.

 

 

[Revive]

Grove bags heat sealed in a box, a simple cheap and effective solution