Harvest time this morning. This is the first plant I’ve harvested that is a result of using proper lighting. Granted, the plant is an auto (AK47 fem - germinated Aug. 19), but as a newbie, my first attempts at growing were done with inferior LED floods and LED flood grow bulbs. Even though I used quite of few of those bulbs in the tent, it is now obvious to me that the plants were not getting proper light. The result of this plant is, to me, 100% different and better. The kicker is that all of those inferior bulbs cost as much as, or possibly more than the pair fixtures I use now (link below). Unfortunately, they are currently unavailable, but I got them for $59 each!
I want to give a huge thank you to @nacho151 for putting me on to GroBuckets! It made watering so much easier and uniform.
A few of the stalks are nearly two feet long, heavy, and chock full of the good stuff, and the aroma smells so good. Now on to drying. Question: based on the size of these, how long should I expect the drying to take?
Also, thank you, too, to @970cannetics , @ultrapuff , @PreyBird1 , @happilyretired , and @MrMonkey420 , for the guidance!
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Congratulations. Your plants look good. Are you wet trimming?
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Depending on the humidity in the area you are drying them in they should be ready to can in 10 to 14 days. I have a dry tent that I keep at 55 to 60 % humidity that works well for me. Keep the air moving around them it will help with the process. I’m glad the Grobucket’s helped you out!
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Nice harvest, congratulations. how long to dry your flower, good question. There’s a lot of different answers to this one. I usually dry my stuff 5 to 7 days. Sometimes longer if necessary. But we’re talking a huge difference in volume. for the beginner, when the small branches snap it might be a good idea to buck the buds off of the branches And jar them up. Get yourself a couple of hydrometers so you can get your moisture/humidity in the jars to between 55 and 62%. Once you’ve achieved that, let it cure for a month or two or burn it till it’s gone. That I will leave it up to you.
I’m in California, we have low humidity here. Your dry time can vary due to your location for sure. And as nacho said air movement around the flowers is very important.
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You’re definitely getting the hang of it! Who doesn’t love 20 inch buds? 
For the drying, I’m going by the 60/60 rule, 10-14 days. That’s 60% RH, 60°f + good airflow. But of course, like Hap mentioned, this depends a bit on where you live and if you want to make the investments (humidifier/dehumidifier) to keep climate optimal. It’s not necesary. But if you want to preserve as much terpenes (who are extremely volatile) as possible, it is advisable to stretch the drying time towards 2 weeks. If your RH leans toward the 40% zone, you definitely want to slow it down a bit, for example by drying in cardboard boxes.
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Does that mean trimming before drying? If so, yes. I got one of those cylindrical hanging mesh dryers and I’ve already placed them in it.
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I always hang the plant stems fot like 3 days. I like them slightly crispy outside and slightly squishy inside. Then i snip em of the stems into boxes for another day or right into jars with integra moisture packs. This keeps the best flavors for me. If its too wet in the jar it can be bad and mold and ruin all the hard work. Over drying it is far better then moldy wet ruined weed. This part of the grow takes a lottle practice. I hang my flowers in low humidity at 28-30% so they dry pretty fast. But this can dry out the terps also. Better to have the humidity tightly controlled with a fan moving air around. A tiny fan no huge fans. Do a lot of reading and then decide whats good for you.
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Looks great man glad to see it turned around for you.
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Great looking and sticky- Life is good!
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It’s just like growing tomatoes to the t only this brings a much happier product at the end. Lol. Try tomatoes the same way this year when u grow them do the last and all with tomatoes and watch them blast off like ur weed plants do. I also give my tomatoes any leftover feed from watering plants and they absolutely love it. Do tomato plant defols and all just as u would a por plant doing training and watch the tomatoes pop up like prize winning buds
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