Whether you choose to store or trim immediately the cannabis you harvest, you will have to dry them before you continue processing them.
But there is more to hanging your cannabis to dry in the darkest room or place in your house or facility.
You do not just pick any spot, but you have to make sure it is the ideal environment for cannabis to dry without sacrificing quality.
There are some factors you need to control, which, if unable to control, will impact the quality of your dried cannabis.
So how do you prepare an ideal setting for drying cannabis?
Pick a dark room
Ideally, you would want a room without light penetrating it all the time. While a little light won’t hurt, you must reduce light exposure to the least possible. After all, you will need light to check on the status of the strains you are drying.
But you must remember that exposure to light damages the THC in your cannabis.
That is why your end goal in light management should be to remove it and only introduce light in short spans, such as when checking on the progress of your cannabis.
Consistent ventilation
When drying your cannabis, ventilation must remain consistent at all times. You do not want the air to remain stagnant when drying your cannabis.
To achieve consistent ventilation, you can install a fan system that will help air circulate the room. That will help you remove pockets of air and moisture inside the room.
Note that you should not point the fans directly at your plants as that will cause them to dry out prematurely.
Temperature and Humidity Control
The environment outside the room greatly affects the drying process of cannabis.
That is why you need to have full control over the temperature and humidity inside the room. Having the wrong temperature also contributes to the premature drying of plants, which produces inconsistent flavors. Ideally, the temperature should range around 18 to 20 degrees Celsius.
You will need to regulate the temperature of the room so that you can achieve a uniform drying of cannabis. Go above 25 degrees Celsius, and the risks of cannabis drying up fast become high.
Depending on the climate for the year, you may have to install heaters or air-conditioning to stay within the ideal temperature range. Meanwhile, humidity also plays a crucial role in the quality of drying for your cannabis.
At the right levels, you can achieve a slow and consistent drying.
To achieve this, you want humidity at a constant level of 50 to 60 per cent. Below this, you will end up with your plants drying too quickly. If above, you may encounter fungi and a prolonged drying process.
Factors that affect humidity include temperature and ventilation, which have been discussed above. Now to help you keep the humidity in check, it is highly-recommended to have a humidistat and hygrometer to maintain the ideal levels for your plants.
Maintaining Distance
Even with drying cannabis, your harvested plants need to practice distancing. The point of maintaining a certain distance of a few inches between each stalk is to prevent them from sticking with each other and form molds.
To prevent this, make sure the room you will use will be adequate to store all your harvest while maintaining a few inches of distance.
Have enough hanging lines to accommodate them. It is also highly recommended that you put something between to help maintain space, in case a stalk or branch slides. A clothespin fits perfectly for this purpose.
Substituting a Drying Room
In case you do not have a room or space that can fit the criteria of an ideal drying room for your harvest, you can opt for grow tents.
Grow Tents are designed with proper ventilation and light management. Also, it has attachments that help you achieve the right settings for drying. You just need to maintain the right temperatures and humidity for the tent to achieve a slow and consistent drying for your plants.
The good thing about it is that you don’t need to make so many modifications to your place to accommodate a drying area for your cannabis.
Moving Forward
Creating the proper drying space is not at all that hard. You just need to check the room so you can make the necessary adjustments. Also, there are alternatives available in case you cannot put up the ideal space, so you don’t have many excuses not to do it.
Lastly, drying also takes a large amount of patience. It takes around 7 – 10 days on the average to dry, with some needing two (2) weeks. But as long as you do things right, your efforts will be worth it at the very end.
