Trimming for Humidity levels Gauteng/ Johannesburg

[Greg]

Howsit All 

 

First time grower here, and this is my first harvest, Went through like 3 failed attempted plants for various reasons, but finally my one plants produced what seems like a great quality and quantity yield. 

 

But as i know the job is only half way there, i now need to dry and cure. 

My question is : how much should i trim to ensure a good slow dry process / 7-10 days or so here in johannesburg. 

I dont have a hygrometer to measure humidity. So according to weather apps seems like its 65-70% ish which for johannesburg seems a bit high, but we have had allot of rain, and its seems to be cloudy here allot. 

 

Due to the big amount my plants harvested im drying in 2 separate places. 

 

1. A small clean room with good ventilation (when the door is open)  and cover from the sun. 

2. Under cover by my car-port ( which i know is not great at all and could end up ruining part of my harvest due to the amount of sun it gets, but i have no other options) 

2nd question: Is even a small bit of light going to drastically ruin the quality of the harvest?

With my room i can choose to close the door for better darkness but wont have great air flow/ i can use a fan but it will dry too quickly then.

 

Recomendations to either leave door open and deal with light or close door and deal with air flow. 

 

Here are some pics of the set up. 

[1000Hills Nursery]

@Greg 

The Sun is very bad for your harvested plants. For one it makes the buds brown and ugly. Ruins smell and taste. Then there are the chemical processes that don't take place...

Get them out of the Sun and dry it in your house. Preferably complete darkness

[Bos]

Concur with above mentioned.
Sunlight and humidity is not your friend here.
You need an area with no direct sunlight and some ventilation.

We're on the north coast, ambient humidity is always high 60-95%.
We dry in the garage as it's the only space available, built a simple pulley system to hoist the buds out of harms way.
A 12v server fan provides indirect airflow, you don't want to dry it out too fast, 4 to 7 days works for us.
The buds need to dry out evenly all the way through, but not bone dry otherwise the curing process doesn't start properly and the smoke may be harsh.
We leave them for 3 to 4 days then start checking-you want the thinner twigs/branches to snap when you bend them. Obviously with bigger buds it will take a bit longer.
Lots of info on the net, check tobacco curing methods as well, help me to understand the process. We use hygrometers for the first few weeks in the jars. Petshops should have the basic ones for reptiles.

Cheers and welcome to the journey.



Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk