I am soon coming up on my first harvest in 20 years. In week 7 of flower and I have to make a difficult choice soon, so I would appreciate some input.
We rent a lovely apartment but in early August renovations will start of our 18th century house. We live in a country with unfair consequences for running a grow so I try to stay under the radar at all times.
When my ears caught the plans of renovations coming in August I did a quick calculation and came to the conclusion I could do a quick run. However, what I did not account for was the drying process of 2 weeks! I could do a 10 week flower without issue but by harvest day the carpenters will start building the scaffolding and access our apartment about 3-4 days later.
I seem to have three paths to choose from:
1. Harvest in 3 ½weeks, cut buds and put them in jars (high risk of mold)
2. Harvest in 1 ½ week and hang up in tent to dry for 2 weeks.
Its not perfect, but you could use a dehydrator. I have found dehydrated bud to still be pretty decent. Its gets it done in a few hours and then its ready to jar. Id rather have fully finished bud and have to dehydrate it, then pull it too early or take a risk with mold. Surprisingly, its pretty good.
I like the second option with the two weeks to work with. Not sure on the variety your growing where it would need 11 weeks plus to finish.
Depending on the amount of harvest, you could try to quick dry them with 50% RH with temp ideally in the lows 60s. Light air movement in the tent.
( dehumidifier running near the tent)
When trimming;
Taking as much stem out and breaking down the larger buds to speed up the process. I can quick dry in 4-5 days and is able to be put into jars without it smoking and smelling like hay lol.
This is a great middleground between the two. However the Lemon Shining Silver Haze has thick buds and I am not too sure six days is enough for them in 60/60. I will think about it and do more research, maybe six is enough.
What a great idea! Makes me wonder how the buds will react to ice crystals forming and breaking apart the insides of the flower? But hey, if you have tried it and gotten no negative effects then freezing could be a great alternative!
Sorry, I got no dehydrator. Could however definitely work.
I got sativa leaning strains, around 70% on both if I am not mistaking. Blue Dream and Lemon Shining Silver Haze . Not the types to finish in 10 weeks but I got pretty much full control of the ambient in my tent. I have already been introducing a gentle autum vibe in there (lower temp and high winds). I will add more stress factors down the line. Hoping to push them to finish that way. Not sure it will work as this is my first try in steering plants.
@SaitinsSatyr you don’t have to worry about the trichomes, especially if you handle everything with care. When you dry them keep good air flow! They will initially release more moisture then normal, but other then that it’s just like a normal drying.
Btw drying baskets are perfect for this
@ClandestinLEE yeah it really is. It’s quite simple, this is how I’ve done it. Remove all bigger fan leafs, then I harvest a branch, snip all the buds from the branch in a jar. I usually hold the branch over the jar and let the buds drop. Then I get a new branch, until the jar is 2/3 full and then I place it in the freezer.
You can probably use bags as well, just don’t squish them. Light and fluffy is the way to go.
I try to be as quick as possible. This is nice because if you want to do ice water hash on some when it’s time to dry, they haven’t oxidized as much and you get those extreme live terps.
For drying, I use a sealed wooden box (diy) with a mini plugin dehumidifier inside running from an inkbird RH controller. Basically a poor mans cannatrol. For harvest I run an ozone gen in each room for 20 mins before starting, put harvested material into buckets and seal, transfer to the box and set it to the desired RH. It gets screwed closed tight so doesn’t smell much. I adjust it to particular RH based on temp (vpd) but you could get away with setting it to 58RH and leaving it sealed for 8 to 10 days. I also use ona gel as a backup. Works.
Small one works for me but depends how much material you have. Havent tried freezing but that sounds like an idea to me. Worth grabbing some mini ozone generators regardless
If you have access to a frost free fridge that you could put somewhere safe, you could look at the lotus cure (or ziggy cure) depending on what is available.
Harvest with 1 week dry time and then into groove bags or similar for the cure. Run your dry room a bit aggressive if you have a lot in there to dry. Make sure you get it dry enough for cure in one week. I also like the idea of freeze drying, but might be out of price range or availability … Cheers !!!
and Lemon Shining Silver Haze 
. Not the types to finish in 10 weeks but I got pretty much full control of the ambient in my tent. I have already been introducing a gentle autum vibe in there (lower temp and high winds). I will add more stress factors down the line. Hoping to push them to finish that way. Not sure it will work as this is my first try in steering plants.
