What do I do to get that good smell back?

greenops

Well-Known Member
First of all sorry for making another "my buds smell bad" thread!
I read every thread on this i could find and the more I read the more it confuses me.

A little backround:

x It's my first grow, 3 AK48 (Nirvana) 1 Skunk#1 (Royal Queens) under 250w HPS
x Flowered for 72 days. Smell was mild, but when I touched the buds, my fingers smelt like i washed my hands with some sweet citrus handsoap!
x Individual branches were hanging for 6 days, then buds got crispy, branches started to crack/snap when bending.
x 71-73F, 55% RH during drying. The buds smell like a wet towel!
x been curing for a week now, regularly burping.. still smell like some wet towel, hay or cut grass... tho when buds are
squeezed, i can smell some sour odor, which is also not very pleasant.

My occasional f-ups during the grow, which could have contributed to this:

x Overnuted once with Plagron Alga Bloom during 6th week of flowering, gave about 3x normal dosage accidentaly.
x about this time, some leaves started yellowing and wilting. Overfeeding? Bleaching from the light? Some other deficiency?
x I flushed after 7th week.
x 8th week I got impatient that buds didnt seem to swell, so I gave one last feed, 1/4 dosage. The next and last watering was just water, to flush it out.
x Temperature during last 3 weeks of flowering was between 87F - 90F, and stayed at 80F when lights off, due to summer heat.

From researching, i found contradicting statements such as:

x If you open the jar and it smells like sweaty feet or something nasty, dump it out on a mesh screen or piece of paper
or whatever and let it air dry out fully.
Once everything is nice and dry seal it up and put it in a cool dark place and forget about it. After 3-4 weeks, you'll open the jar and the smell will knock you on your ass.

x While drying you should notice a very nice smell. That's the time you should put them in jars. If you miss it then there's nothing you can do to get that smell back.

x properly grown weed always smells dank during flowering, drying and curing!

x my buds almost always have no smell but it comes back with a proper cure.


So is it true that the smell does come back? If so, what should I do to achieve this? Leave them in the jars, and continue burping? Unfortunately I cant find a hygrometer that will fit in the jar, so i just burp them once or twice
a day, take the buds out, let them rest a bit, put them back in, leave the lid open for about an hour.
Or should I get them out of the jars now and let them dry fully? Tho I really feel they are dry enough.

I've never put so much effort in anything like I did for this grow. And I dont feel like I accomplished much if I just end up with this kind of smell.
Much thanks to anyone who can shed some more light in this!
 

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I had the same problem w/ my outdoor kush. But after a couple weeks the smell came back. The taste was not there and the bag appeal was nothing neither, but the smoke was the best. Straight couch-lock, and for awhile too.
Hungry, Happy, Sleepy.:blsmoke:
 

jordan293

Well-Known Member
it hasn't been curing long enough I find it doesn't really get that dank smell and taste until after a month of curing
 

greenops

Well-Known Member
I had the same problem w/ my outdoor kush. But after a couple weeks the smell came back. The taste was not there and the bag appeal was nothing neither, but the smoke was the best. Straight couch-lock, and for awhile too.
Hungry, Happy, Sleepy.:blsmoke:
So you just kept the buds in their jars, and the smell came back? Or did you take them out of their jars to let them dry more?
 

Beansly

RIU Bulldog
yea thanks for this... I read it before. The thing is I cant find a hygrometer that fits in the jar! It's suppose to be an instrument thats kinda like a stick right? What I see in the stores are those digital hygrometers, as big as a wallet...
You could order the Caliber III's. They fit in the smaller mason jars. They're 1" x 3 3/4"
 

greenops

Well-Known Member
I figured i might have left a little bit too many leaves inside of the buds.
So today i manicured them and noticed that the wet towel smell is gone.

Most of the buds have almost no smell but a faint hint of earthy, grassy smell.
A few AK48 buds have a very mild sour aroma, and the Skunk kind of smells like chocolate. But it's nothing like dank, nothing like weed!

Then i figured id just use my wallet sized digital hygrometer. So I got me large a tupperware , filled it with Ak48 buds and my digital hygrometer.

It currently reads 65% RH. I have a feeling tho, thats just the RH inside my closet. Outside and inside of the jar is 65%... wtf?
 

wbd

Well-Known Member
One of the biggest problems I've found as far as information on the internet is concerned, it seems to me that the drying guides are geared towards folks pulling huge yields and fat colas. What you've got there is more typical like a small indoor grow, with colas closer to the width of a D-cell battery and less like a Coke can or fatter.

To that effect, I find that any more than 2-3 days hanging is too long, the buds dry out quick and by the time the stem "snaps" like you read about your buds are way overdried by that point.

You'll be really surprised how curing can turn that hay smell into something much more complicated and sweet, so don't give up hope. But if you do find you can't get that sweet smell back in your buds no matter how long you cure for, consider that you very likely overdried your buds this time and try hanging them for less time.

FYI I have a ~45g yield plant (pretty much the same size as what you got here) that I just chopped last Sunday, it hung for less than 48 hours, then I did less than 24 hours in a paper bag and then into the jars. They are still drying because I can tell by the weight, but they are not wet and there's barely any noticeable moisture when I check the jars. I have half sweet / half hay smell right now but they've only been jarred since Wed. but the smell gets a little better every time I open'em up.
 

Joedank

Well-Known Member
the high temp yeilds only the citrus top note that coupled with only hanging branches with big leaves on = wet towel smell
sub has written alot about high temps leading to lack of terpens that have that "dank" smell.... only the citrus comes thru and at the finish not much of that, he evenhas me convinced to run 75 with co2!!
HANG WHOLE PLANTS! it helps unless u live in humid areas they dry slower
 

Beansly

RIU Bulldog
HUMIDITY HUMIDITY HUMIDITY!!!
A high RH is crucial to keeping the smell I've noticed. 60%RH and 70 degrees F for 4 days to 2 weeks depending on the size of the buds.
 

^NoR*CaL@420

Well-Known Member
sounds like you went to cure to soon. this happened to me my first harvest (i was hasty) once i noticed your same probs i went back to drying. 50%is a lil much btw and im shur you know by now. but with my slightly smaller yeild a good day or 2 of 100*F and 30HUM with a light fan on em. then back to curing and burp, 3-4 days smell and everything else we love in out buds shows you her thanks!
 

greenops

Well-Known Member
the high temp yeilds only the citrus top note that coupled with only hanging branches with big leaves on = wet towel smell
sub has written alot about high temps leading to lack of terpens that have that "dank" smell.... only the citrus comes thru and at the finish not much of that, he evenhas me convinced to run 75 with co2!!
HANG WHOLE PLANTS! it helps unless u live in humid areas they dry slower
so high temperature makes buds smell less dank? and a proper cure wont bring it back?
 

greenops

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the interesting info people.
Whats also interesting is that your statements contradict each other. WBD says i overdried, and norcal says i cured to soon.
But thats cool tho, there are as many grow styles as there are growers =)
 

Beansly

RIU Bulldog
so high temperature makes buds smell less dank? and a proper cure wont bring it back?
High temps mean a quick dry. Which is bad, and makes the bud smell less dank, or whatever it smelled like.
My bud always smelled somewhat like the end product after drying and before going in the jar. If the weed is bone dry, or it can crumble to dust when you break it up then I don't think a cure will bring it back at that point. There has to be some moisture. Hope it works out for the best man.
 
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