Well I know it will be a good month or so til I will have to harvest, which is why I'm planning this in advance. I'm growing about 30 plants outdoors (haven't shown sex yet, so I might only end up with 10 females, but you never know). When I'm ready to harvest, well, I know that I'll have to let them hang out to dry for about a week. That's where the problems arise. #1) I can't let them hang outside, because that would be risking weather conditions... rain, snow, cold, etc. Not to mention a deer or other critters munching on them. Oh, and bugs. Also, since they will reak, anybody within 50 feet (or more) of them would smell them, and either report them or steal them. #2) I don't have any other place to put them. No abandoned sheds, basements, barns, etc. I can't risk anyone finding them, because that's like leaving an open suitcase of money sitting around. I don't trust people. #3)Would I even be able to transport the plants very far without damaging them? I mean, what if I find a place to hang them but it's a 15 minute drive from where my plot is? Would it be possible to safely haul 30 plants that far? I was considering a rental unit, you know one of those storage garage things. But I thought it through, and I've decided it would be a bad idea. Does anyone else have a suggestion? And no, I can't use my own house. Parents wouldn't appreciate it very much. Some requirements would have to include: Good circulation Decent temperature/climate Remote/Private location (because of the smell/where nobody would find them) Protection from wind, rain, snow, animals, bugs, etc. I'm worried. Harvesting is such a touchy thing and makes a big difference on the potency of your weed. I can't fuck it up or else my year's worth of work will be wasted.
theres other ways to dry and cure your harvest, however it will take longer, try them if yo can wait. one example is taking your buds and putting them in paper bags or in a closed bucket and stirring it several times a day to prevent mold.
A tent. Or hang them on branches under a tarp (hung at an angle so rainwater will drain off). Deer won't eat your buds either, I don't think. I thought they liked the leaves. Also unlike when the plants are vegging, just buds hanging in a tree will look (and smell) very weird to the native animals, and deer will avoid them. I don't think that any bugs besides spider mites eat buds, so maybe do some research on discouraging them. The temperature would be fine where I live but I don't know about you. What kind of temperatures do you guys have around October?
If you plants havent even started to show signs of flowering / sex yet (which is odd) you have at least 60-90 days before even thinking about harvesting.
Yeah I know. I haven't checked them in over a week though... damn, I better go do that. I just want to be prepared. Around October, it gets pretty cold. A tent would be too visible. Tarp too. There are alot of bugs out there, and I don't want a single one on my plants... as I will be smoking them. It's been known to snow here in October. Outside on branches simply would not do, unless by some chance, the weather is nice that week. I think I'll just have to look into finding a friend with a safe location to store them. However... I don't think I could trust anyone. The stakes are just too high. Which reminds me. I'm going to have a LOT of weed sitting around after harvest. If kept in the house, it would REAK. I'll also have to think of a safe storage place... damnit. Maybe an attic? If I could find a good attic to use... attics could easily be temperature controlled and ventilated. But where... I bet if I smoked a few bowls and thought about it long enough I could figure it out. Damn probation. Damn.
I'm glad this subject came up on here, i did a search and found no threads.. I was thinking about digging a hole in the ground and putting them in a sealed bag with oxygen in them to dry them up.. Put some leaves and branches over it so nobody can see it. Up in the Midwest the rain is coming by slim to none. I can only water them once a week since i live 2 hours away, and it hasn't even rained for 2 weeks so i put some moss over the soul to trap the water and moisture thats left. If im lucky ill have about a half pound out of the 5 females i have. BTW i put some nitrogen additive in the soil, its called Blood Meal and its 12% Nitrogen.. Will that stuff to good for them?
Thats something you should have thought about before you decided to grow more then what you can reasonably handle. Nice going genius.
First part, sealed bag in the ground you're going to get mold. Read the curing/drying threads. Second part, sure blood meal is good, you probably should have put it in back in april, as it takes a few weeks to even break down in the soil for the plant to use. It also messes with soil ph quite a bit, hope you have some dolomite mixed in your soil. Finally, its getting closer to harvest in some areas, some plants showing bud. You dont want to be overdosing with Nitrogen then, you want to be increasing your Phosphorus to help budding.
Would drying a lot of bud in my attic make my whole house reak? It's all insulation up there and it closes shut, not reachable without a ladder. It's the only place I could really dry indoors.