is it ok to dry branches slowly over a period of 7 10 days? I am following the thread on here, ie 5 or so days hanging, then bottling untill RH is 65 then burping untill RH is 57-60, The only place i have is not very warm (about 20 degrees) and the grow room is too hot!
any suggestions.
cheers
norman
Do not count days too much, check RH, that will guide you precisely.
I cut plants, trim buds, cut buds into final form. It is nice and safe to dry them on branches, but I do not do that. Trimming is easier on fresh plant and I can control drying so much, that it does not go faster as dried on branches. Speed of drying does play a role.
Then I put them to dry in paper box. I check RH of air all the time, to see where I am. If necessary, I intervene (more heating, AC, depending on situation) or change their position.
When I see, they are a little crispy on surface, far from stem beiing breakable, still soft, I put them in jar to check RH.
If above 85%, they go out, but I start to have them more and more in jar and less outside. So I drive them down to 75%, where I start burping. I open them not for so long time any more and I turn them frequently, so they are never allowed to stick together. At the beginning I use bigger jars, at least 2x volume of buds, to have much air around, what dries them faster.
Turning and getting RH down prevents mold/mildew. Anything above 70% is mold area, especially humid air pockets, if you let them exist. I have mold around, so I have to be very carefull about it.
So, I go down with humidity and when 67-68, burping is somehow over, curing starts. That is around day 14. Then I let humidity go down with opening jars as much as necessary and at 65% I consider them to be ready for the first test, they will be far from the best yet, that is around 3 weeks/1 month.
In dry winter, I dry them a little less, because with opening jars when used, moisture goes out. When RH outside will be above 70%, what is more than should be, I will dry them to 62-63%, because with every opening, they will get some moisture back.
Drying and curing is like growing for me, a lot of work to be done for perfect result. But it is worth any hour spent.
Generally you have two choices - buy small precise hygrometer and learn everything very quick or try, fail and improve through years of guessing.
When I bought myself caliber hygrometer, it arrived and I first checked my jars with it. What was 60%RH in jar by my opinion, was in fact dangerous 75%. I had lost some because of mold and now I stick with my meter and make all decisions related to humidity ofbuds, not time that had passed.
That is how I understand and do drying/burping/curing with great results.
