Drying with roots attached?

Basic Growing Info
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Hi OG, went through the GrowFAQ before I came here. Stumbled across a curious method of drying in my time stalking other forums:
Has anybody ever dried their weed with the roots still attached?
I assume you’d somehow remove the medium it was in and simply hang it with the root system.

My curiosity comes from this reddit comment
https://www.reddit.com/r/microgrowery/comments/18nswkn/comment/kee3280/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
and this THCfarmer post, which a lot of people seemed divided on
https://www.thcfarmer.com/threads/any-advantage-of-letting-plant-dry-up-in-medium-upright-until-correct-dryness-before-going-into-cure.145417/

Searched on here for the same question but didn’t find anything so thought I’d give it a go. Thanks!

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I would put a bin bag over the roots to ensure no debris from there gets in the way… otherwise it should make no difference to the final product :slightly_smiling_face:

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Sounds like BroScience that survived from “back in the day”.

Give it a try. Dunk the root ball in a bucket of water to rinse the grow medium from the roots. See if you can reproduce the claimed benefits.

Stem splitting, drilling the stem, nail driving into stem are also purported to increase trichome production.

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@buzzmobile how is it still producing trichromes if it’s been chopped?

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Good question, @Ibegeekdup , which is why I mentioned BroScience.

I doubt the method does anything to increase potency, trichome production, or :fire: , but I have been wrong at least once before this.

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@buzzmobile is flushing bro science as well?

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I always flush my outdoor when the neighbor starts flushing his corn.

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Never tried that but i am considering trying to dry upright instead of hanging upside down. Hoping that will make trimming easier loll

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There are really 2 types of flushing… doing it to reset the medium when using bottled nutes and the other late flower which some believe can improve taste on the finished product. Some recent studies show that’s not really the case and to simply keep feeding until harvest. Obviously I wouldn’t dump loads of nitrogen or heavy feedings near the end of the life cycle but slowly decrease the amounts. I switched over to organic years ago and never looked back so just water and the occasional recharge are the only 2 things getting dumped on my medium… the plant just takes what it needs from the soil.

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Seems like drying with roots could add a day or two to the drying process if needed.

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What about not chopping them? Just let them dry out in the pot. Self trimming if you wait long enough.

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Could probably add significant time if the medium was left w/ some moisture in it.

Sounds like a lot of hassle, maybe worth it for the guys drying in like 30RH.

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But it hasn’t been chopped if it’s still attached to the roots.

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I’ve seen this done with polystyrene slabs, stab each stem upright into the slab. The idea was that drying upright, the leaves wilt downwards away from the bud leaving a more "open"structure, whereas drying upside down the leaves droop over the buds giving more chance for mould and increasing drying time.

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Yes I think so.

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Jungle Boys used to advertise this method years ago. Its a great way to get your weed to have no terps. But they were always on the cutting edge of awful tasting weed lol

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I dried a small plant with its roots awhile back. I used a hose outside in the dark 1 hr before sunrise with only a dimly light headlamp for light to blast off the dirt on the root ball. I immediately then dipped the entire naked root ball into a pyrex bowl filled with ice water and a bit of Vodka. I left it there for an hour until the sun rose. Then i wrapped the roots in cheese cloth (to prevent lastly remaining dirt pieces from falling into flower) and I hung the plant upside down, roots ball still attached. I dried the plant, jarred it, and cured it.

Idk if it was the strain or the method but I can honestly say the two people I gave that flower to raved about it. Said it had most excellent effects.

The method I described above is a bit of a pain the ass. However, maybe there is something to killing the plant quick (vodka) and hanging with roots still attached?

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Yeah, this read heavy as bro science or old head knowledge that just works so I honestly wasn’t sure. I was asking more for a longer, slower dry than trichome development, but thank ya

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Yeah, this is mainly what I was curious for

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This sounds like a recipe for molding or rot, but might be a good/weird experiment to try.