pick now or wait a week?

[Polboy]

Hello
This is 2 pictures of my 1st year magnum hops, cones look nice and seems to me they are almost ready for pickup (light, fluffy cones with paper like texture but still dense/moist in the center), normally i would give them more time and check on them everyday so most likely i would pick them up in 2-4 days but im leaving for a week, so my question is it better to pick them today or wait one more week?
If picked today can i dry them in the oven (convection lowest setting of 150F with door open, freeze it green or try to make a furnace filter dryer?)
Thanks

 

[day_trippr]

- There's not a speck of any browning in the picture, hence I'd leave them for the week.

- Don't even think about freezing wet hops. No good can come of it.

- If you have a box fan and any rarely-opened windows in the house with removable screens, you can rig up something effective and uber cheap.

I took that a bit further and built frames to hold three screens and make them easier to stack, but they're still just sitting across a pair of saw horses that are straddling a pair of $14 20" box fans.

3 days and the cones are dried down to under 20% moisture content and ready for bagging and freezing...

Cheers!

 

[Polboy]

thanks for the advice, i will give it one more week

 

[Polboy]

Harvest was this morning, waiting longer was a good call, cones are bigger, dryer and fluffier than a week ago, i put them on cheap furnace filters and will keep them by AC vent and when it will be less humid here i will finish drying in the garage, i got 23oz of wet hops, not bad for 5 month old plant but i have to say its a lot of work for a little hops, its fun but i wouldnt want to do this for a living so thank you pro hops growers