Help with a dry box idea please

[420Somehow]

I need to provide high quality meds for my patients and this will be my first harvest. I have a shed that is uninsulated and filled with all sorts of creepy crawly's. I'm estimating that I'll need about 64 sq. ft with 7 foot ceilings. How should I perpare the shed so the buds will dry properly. My weather out here is cold nights, hot days and low humidity.

My idea was to set up some insulation boards and wrap plastic on the outside and inside. I would line the inside with a lot of cardboard, hopefully to help keep humidity in check. Then I was thinking of putting an intake and exhuast using small fans, 8". What do you think??? I will start cutting in about a week. Any help will be appreciated by many in need.

420Somehow Reviewed by 420Somehow on 04-29-2010. Help with a dry box idea please I need to provide high quality meds for my patients and this will be my first harvest. I have a shed that is uninsulated and filled with all sorts of creepy crawly's. I'm estimating that I'll need about 64 sq. ft with 7 foot ceilings. How should I perpare the shed so the buds will dry properly. My weather out here is cold nights, hot days and low humidity. My idea was to set up some insulation boards and wrap plastic on the outside and inside. I would line the inside with a lot of cardboard, Rating: 5

[420Somehow]

Here's some pics of what I'm working with. looking at it now, what about just covering the walls with plastic, leave the ceiling open and use the closet doors for an outside wall. Will that work?

[420Somehow]

I decided not to go overboard on this and just tack some painters plastic up. I'll use some panda plastic for the floors and I may install a 4" exhaust fan at the top to blow out. I'll keep posting as the next step will be to run lines and cover the floor.

[seventhchild]

is this area ONLY for drying ?if yes than it looks great and should work fine. however if you plan on curing ur buds in the same space then you will need better control of ur temps.are u gonna cure your meds and if so what method do u plan to use?
the drying/curing process is often the point at which a new grower DESTROYS their crop.

[seventhchild]

the plants in ur pics do not appear as to be ready to harvest in a week imho.have u started ur flushing?

[420Somehow]

the end of the eight weeks will be 5-6, so i'm figuring any time around then. The box is to dry and i'll store in jars to cure. i'm thinking of letting them dry until i get a good snap on the stems, at that time i'm thinking of trimming the buds off the stems into the jars. Do I need to worry about the temp of the area around the jars? or is it good enough to open them and sift every once in awhile?
What should I be looking for besides amber trichomes? most have turned milky white and the calyxes have really swollen. The last additives I added was molasses on 4-26, done a couple of clearex treatments and now just RO water. yeah? or no?

[420Somehow]

pic 1 is of the strings and the cardboard covered wall, pic 2 is the trash that turned into insulation.
pic 3 the floor before tacking the plastic down
pic 4-5 outside the box/shed.
i hung string across the ceiling, then 2' down and 3' out is another row(from the back wall), and then went from corner to center back wall to maximize hanging space, and theres one more row 2' down and 3' out.
i ran electrical out there to set up a heater and a couple cool mist humidifiers to help control to temp flux from day to night. i'm using humidifiers because where i'm at is considered the desert plains and it's so dam dry that without them they'll dry in a couple of days. I picked some popcorn buds with thick stems to experiment with my weather. in a cabinet they dried in two days, and thats not what i'm looking for. i want to try and stretch it out for week or so to eat up the "clorephyll", or so i have read... what does your personal experience tell you?
any comments???

[seventhchild]

the plants in ur pics do not appear as to be ready to harvest in a week imho.have u started ur flushing?

i only say this because i see a large number of very green fan leaves . i flush until most are yellow or brown.
mostly cloudy trichs with a few ambers under HPS only is considered fully ripe in most verities ,but only you can decide when the best time to harvest is.let a main bud or two live longer than the others so you can see what happens.
i am not a fan of drying till stem snaps but many are . i dry until the outer 1/2 of large buds feel dry ,drop it all into a plastic box with cover until it is wet again,and then rehang until the inner 1/2 of large buds are pliable ,remove large stems and jar.there are 1001 venerations of curing just watch out for mold
you seem to be doing quit well:thumbsup:

[420Somehow]

like you said, it's been a week and i saw the first amber last night. i decided to take the 2" layer of hydroton off the topsoil to help dry out. something else i'm gonna try is now that i've started to see amber, i'm not going to water it anymore, suppose to cut back on drying time as the plant won't be hydrated. once i see some more amber i'll stick them in the shed for 24 hours, this is suppose to increase maturity and resin. i'll do before and after pics. i found mites the night before last, i have no pest strips attached to a oscillating fan. they came out of no where man, it was cool one day then BAM. so i made an executive decision and started plucking the worst affected fan leaves. i have 3 5'-6' moms, one bubble x peacemaker, one purple lights, one cinderella 99, all in 5 g. pots. then i have 4 that are 3 days behind those, they include mystery, hawaiian, mauii, in 3g pots. and then i got 18 that are 11 days behind that include sticky finger, northern lights(looking like the fattest buds),og kush, more mauii and hawaiian. now i wish this was all my personal smoke, what a variety. but it's already gone as soon as it's done to my patients. i will keep some NL for myself. with the mites, i ran it at 65f day and night, seems to put them asleep and slow down reproduction. no other options except a water spray down(paraniod about losing potency and mold), and physical removal. to many leaves/plants so i take the whole leaf. thanks for following this. glad someones along. i'll post harvest, drying and curing pics.

[420Somehow]

this was cindy 99, a mother plant that was purchased.
i had no room for a 6" mom so i LST'd her and put her right into flower.
pic 1-2 harvest
pic 3 stem
pic 4 a top i'm smoking