Drying Leaves Silica

[JDogHerman]

Any one ever try to dry saliva leaves out by placing them in a jar with silica gel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica_gel

I thought of this because the jar that i bought to store the dried leaves had a pouch of this stuff in there.

Of course I would let them dry mostly out in the air but for the last bit and to prevent mildew this seems like a good way what do you think?

[strangeworld]

Hmmm I'd be interested to know this also - I've got a few big packs of silica gel lying around. I was thinking I could probably just dry leaves in the attic where its dark/warm/some air flow. I better read up on whether thats actually whats required!

[Paradoxic]

I've never really had any reason to try it. Where I live its so damn dry. You should try it out and tell us how it goes. Although its really not even needed unless its really humid where you are.

[Sea Mac]

I would think it will take forever to dry them unless you had dozens of those things.

This Guide says that Drying using CaCl2 (Calcium Chloride) Takes two days - and that is by using a LOT of it!

I wait until the plant tosses them before I try to get them. If it hangs up in the tree on the way down I call it a "festoon" - If it's lying on the ground I call it a "Plap!" (onomatopoeia from the faint sound I imagine it makes when crashing down ...).

Either way: my plants know I respect them enough to not just come along and pull something they are using off of them. At the VERY Least I would ask it of them - and there is no need because their is a big pile of rotting Salvia leaves under all of them. If I wanted leaves I could gather several a day.

You should see the diet I feed my vermiculture container ... I'll bet those little red moist buggers are in heaven all the time ...

But, yeah, after they air dry one or two of those things in the storage container certainly sounds like a good idea to me.
 

[goatfish101]

I have found that the only method really needed for drying leaves is just the regular "set them out and fan them" technique. Dessicants such as those mentioned previously really only have an affect at large amounts, more so than what most people are willing to have on hand. Just lay them out and have a nice fan providing some circulation for them, they will dry out in no time.

[Paradoxic]

I have found that the only method really needed for drying leaves is just the regular "set them out and fan them" technique. Dessicants such as those mentioned previously really only have an affect at large amounts, more so than what most people are willing to have on hand. Just lay them out and have a nice fan providing some circulation for them, they will dry out in no time.

Yeah thats definitely what I think, although in some cases people may want to dry a very large amount of leaves in a short time. In this case the silica gel might be faster (but probably not by that much). Personally I'd use the silica gel method as a last resort because I wouldn't want chemicals near something I plan to ingest. The oven method is a good way to dry lots of leaves quickly:
http://www.salviasource.org/forum/index.php?topic=244.0

[JDogHerman]

Per wikipedia (take it for what it is ramblings of individuals) silica gel is not toxic or harmful as long as it dosn't have the blue coloring chemical with it.

[MstryShovel]

as per what Seamac said, yeah my plant drops like 3-4 leaves a week, ususaly smaller support leaves, and i have a coffee cup full of them, when they fall off i just put them on the top of the pile, and they dry in a day or so, the cup is also under my light fixure but yeah its no time and easy,

i dont think the silica would be very economical to dry them but like seamac said asweell they would be good to keep the amount of moistrue down once you have dried them and stored ect

[Arcygenical]

I converted the top of my computer into a drying rack... The heat of the aluminum coupled with the warm air from the system dries even the largest 9g leaves in a day or two.

Before that I just put them all on a pan, place them in the oven for about 30m with a fan blowing the warm air around.

[JDogHerman]

Well...

I dry them in the air out of the light and then once they are almost dry I move them to an air tight glass with a large packet of silica and store it in my liquor cabinet with my wines (dark and cool) 

~somewhere I heard that the chemical breaks down with lots of light and heat and by avoiding moisture I can avoid other molds and junk.

[Sea Mac]

Well...

I dry them in the air out of the light and then once they are almost dry I move them to an air tight glass with a large packet of silica and store it in my liquor cabinet with my wines (dark and cool) 

~somewhere I heard that the chemical breaks down with lots of light and heat and by avoiding moisture I can avoid other molds and junk.

To the best of my knowledge only UV light degrades Salvinorin A: hence "Purple Sticky Salvia" uses Purple UV Light filtering boxes to store their product in. A shelf life of 30 years is reasonable for their products.

Even I-AM-Shaman used Brown glass tubes to ship in. Keep it out of the light and it'll last practically forever.

Yes. UV light will degrade Salvinorin A in suspension... It's much less likely to be destroyed if it's deposited in crystal form or on a leaf. But it will be destroyed even then.

I keep my extracts and such in a sealed glass jar in the freezer, and I put baby blue gels over my lights while I do the extractions too.

[zaorr]

I have found that the only method really needed for drying leaves is just the regular "set them out and fan them" technique. Dessicants such as those mentioned previously really only have an affect at large amounts, more so than what most people are willing to have on hand. Just lay them out and have a nice fan providing some circulation for them, they will dry out in no time.

Fan.

I tried this experiment a while back. Desiccants are a waste. The fan does all the work really. The desiccants just absorb the moisture coming out of stuff. Having something dried to room humidity is pretty bone dry already. If you are worried about 0.5% or something moisture content for preservation purposes then do the desiccant thing after normal drying to save on desiccant and then your drying chamber must be sealed or it won't mean a thing.

Try having your fan alternate between blowing hot and then cool air. Shouldn't be a problem for drying stable compounds and you don't have to have baking hot air, just a few degrees or so.