# Question about drying residue



## Surfer Joe (Mar 13, 2014)

I have noticed that when I move my drying pot around- taking it off the hanging line and trimming the buds into nugs, or setting them out on a screen or into bags- I see a fine powder left behind. 
I never noticed this when handling pot I bought in Holland.

I looked at some of the dust with a microscope and they appear to be the round heads of trichomes. 
This is quite disturbing, since I want them on the smoke, not in the bag or tray.
Also disturbing is whether I am again doing something wrong in drying or handling the buds.
Why am I getting so many trichomes falling off? 

I try to handle them as little as possible, but I have to move them around a bit a I manage their drying. I am trying to dry them as slowly as possible without getting mould.

They spent 3-4 days hanging in a 50% humidity room with some ventilation and felt dry on the outside but the stems were still bending, not breaking.
I cut them off the stems and laid them on screens for a couple of days then put them into bags. I transfer the bag contents to a jar periodically and check their humidity and so far it is still around 70-74%, so I put them back in the bags.
Once they get below 69% I plan to leave them in jars and keep burping them down to about 62%, then give them some time to cure.
Any advice would be welcome.


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## Rosebud (Mar 13, 2014)

I think what you have is probably normal, have no idea how much you have lost.

I always put parchment paper down when i harvest and under the drying racks and yes, there is a lot of wonderful keif..... Scoop it up and put it in your next joint.  I wouldn't move them so much. I hang mine in the bathroom for 4 days and they are jarred. Everytime you move them you will have some more loss i would guess.

Enjoy!


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## Surfer Joe (Mar 13, 2014)

Rosebud said:


> I think what you have is probably normal, have no idea how much you have lost.
> 
> I always put parchment paper down when i harvest and under the drying racks and yes, there is a lot of wonderful keif..... Scoop it up and put it in your next joint.  I wouldn't move them so much. I hang mine in the bathroom for 4 days and they are jarred. Everytime you move them you will have some more loss i would guess.
> 
> Enjoy!



Thanks. Parchment is a good idea. The newspaper tends to swallow up some of  the dust that falls on it in its fibers. I was thinking of laying the buds out over a glass tray so the dust could be collected.


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## 7greeneyes (Mar 13, 2014)

sounds like you're drying them out too quickly. Slower is better


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## trillions of atoms (Mar 14, 2014)

Wax side DOWN!   I use blk panda film pulled smoothe.


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## Hushpuppy (Mar 16, 2014)

Yeah you will get "kief" from drying as the sugar leaves and buds will lose some of the trichomes whenever touched or moved. Hanging them over a large piece of glass or parchment is a good way to collect them. The panda film is also a very good idea. If you didn't trim the sugar leaves off of your buds when you harvested then you will lose a lot from those leaves as they dry out, but you will not lose as much from the buds themselves. that is some very good smoking material when collected.


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## Hushpuppy (Mar 16, 2014)

I wonder how much kief you could get if you took all of the plants one at a time after they have dried, and hang them over some panda film or glass and then shoot them with a CO2 fire extinguisher until they become rather crispy, and then shake them to release all of the freeze dried trichomes off of the sugar leaves and buds? I bet you could get quite a lot of kieff and still have good smokable bud.


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## WeedHopper (Mar 16, 2014)

Coo idea Hushl,,lets do it. :48:
Just send me some smoke and ill do it for ya.:hubba::smoke1:


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## Hushpuppy (Mar 17, 2014)

I was hoping you would send me some  I wish I had some right now to try it out. I love some tasty kief


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## Surfer Joe (Mar 22, 2014)

Hushpuppy said:


> Yeah you will get "kief" from drying as the sugar leaves and buds will lose some of the trichomes whenever touched or moved. Hanging them over a large piece of glass or parchment is a good way to collect them. The panda film is also a very good idea. If you didn't trim the sugar leaves off of your buds when you harvested then you will lose a lot from those leaves as they dry out, but you will not lose as much from the buds themselves. that is some very good smoking material when collected.



I don't know if my experience is meaningful, but I don't think that the autos I grew are anywhere near as potent as the smoke I buy in Amsterdam.

My plants seemed to grow fine. The northern lights in a 20L bubble bucket grew a huge root ball and very lush leaf cover and was harvested after 10 weeks flowering and gave 225grams of dried bud and the soil white widow in a 6.5L pot gave a nice 35 grams of dried bud.
I dried them slowly and they have been curing for a bit over a week now, but the stone is mild and not very satisfying.

It may be due to mistakes in feeding or other growing conditions or harvesting techniques, but none of the autos that I have grown are even close to the stone I get from store bought pot. Even smoking just the kief powder is just average in comparison.

I am going to try a photoperiod grow next to see if regular seeds are stronger or if I am just a crap gardener.
I was hoping to be able to grow my own and save a ton of cash, but if this is the best I can do, then it's not worth the effort.
I don't really look forward to smoking over 250 grams of mediocre pot.


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## sunakard2000 (Mar 22, 2014)

yeah man anything your gonna buy in amsterdam is more then likely gonna be a photo period plant and it more then likely came from a nice dialed in grow... autos dont really produce in terms of potenticy because of their genetics, having the Ruderdalis traits typically causes less trich production since ruderdalis produces little to no thc on its own... so its a hindering genetic trait... sure they grow from seed to harvest faster but all in all not worth it if its not gonna be quality... do yourself a favor and get some good photoperiod genetics, whether it be reg seeds or fem seeds what ever just stear away from autos, i have yet to see an auto thats actually worth keeping when compaired to photo plants...


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## Hushpuppy (Mar 24, 2014)

Yeah I agree. While I have never had "auto bud" myself, I have heard many people complain that its just not as good in potency or yield. I think they are getting the genetics better and better, one of the guys on here had a NL auto that he said was really good but it didn't produce yield worth the effort.

I suspect that the strains in combination with your lack off experience gave you the results that you got. However, you are now more experienced and if you go with standard, photoperiod plants with some top quality lighting, solid nutes that are engineered for MJ, and some diligence in taking care of them, you will get some top quality smoke. Most new growers don't have the best results the first couple times unless they get some outside help from experienced friends on forums :hubba: Don't give up yet. Order you some feminized Pineapple Chunk from Barney's Farm and/or some Trainwreck and grow them out and you will have some good smoke.


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