DGC, Happy 2020! Thanks to you guys I am about a week away from harvesting 5 Crystal Meth X White Widow and for my second crop ever look great. Thanks to all of your knowledge, listener support, Recharge, and my willingness to learn a little, I should get a pound or so. My issue is my harvest date 1/11 and a family vacation 1/20 I didn’t have scheduled when I planted. As it stands now I plan to cut no later than this weekend. If they dry for a week-10 days they are either going to finish drying while I am on vacation or JUST get put in the jars before I leave. I have about 14 days until vacation. I have a couple options that I have come up with. let them grow another week and dry while on vacation, dry them for an extended period while I am gone OR have a way to “slow burp” with out me being around to open the jar. what is the best situation after harvest for me to not be around for, the drying or the burping? And yes, I have considered a friend to help BUT handing someone 15 jars of fresh cut crop and leaving for a week makes my stomach hurt and I have good friends. Thanks all!
If you can keep a stable 65 degrees and 60%rh regardless of how wet the buds are, you can go away for a month and be good my brotha. I’d say be there for the first 3 days of dry at least to make sure everything’s running right and get past the mold danger zone then have yourself a wonderful time. Get back and start trimming!
Thanks Coach, I appreciate it!
Im with coach Steve. Stick around for the initial couple of days to see how the dry room handles that first big hit of moisture. After 2-3 days it should stabilize and just know what your fresh air intake temp and humidity are and you’ll be fine to let it dry while your gone. Way less risky then jarring up wet bud or relying on someone else. 50rh to 60rh and under 70f is ideal. Much hotter or lower humidity and they might need a boveda pack when you get back. Much higher humidity is a mold risk.
You could also use the paper bag with bovada packs.. The Bovada packs can keep the RH to 58% or 62% they sell different sizes also so you could get Turkey bags, stick a big bovada pack in and be good for a couple weeks for sure
automated curing with air pump and check valves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZHCvyA2cz4 AND https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jho0qeTUZnA
I appreciate all the support! I am feeling much better about leaving the crop.
I’ll post the outcome of the bucket valve automated curing machine! Awesome grow hack.
Why not try “brown bushing” as a harvest technique with part of your crop. Web search it for details, but basically just water your plants up before you leave and let them die and dry and cure while standing unwatered in their pots. It is an old school technique similar to that used to produce outdoor “gold” varieties back in the day. Some people combine it with girdling or boiling water or drowning root killing procedures. Personally, I’ve just let my plants stand drying for 3-4 weeks(first 2 in light) with great results.
Just reread. If only going away for a week, I would just water and wait until you come back to harvest. You don’t have to follow through with a brown bush standing harvest as I suggested above, and an extra 4-5 days of drying out on the plant before harvest will only help with yield and is not so long as to over ripen your flowers significantly. I would look at it as an opportunity to find out if an extra week in flower might be unexpectedly beneficial with your strain.