Buds lose smell after harvest...

I know I know...flush better. Hang on...

I have about 20 plants under my belt. This most recent 10 plant Rockwool grow in my avi is about 1 week from harvest.

I lost a soldier last week. A plant fell over to the point where the roots were damaged enough to not uptake water. All the hairs were red and to many they looked ripe. Trichomes were 100% clear though.

I harvested that one plant.

Half the plant fell over into the tray and got really water logged and damp from my tray flooding and draining for that day or two. I decided to not run those nugs through the trimmer as they were really mushy and didn't dry that well.

I have two batches now. Branches of nice nugs that went through my Spin-Pro tumbling trimmer (love the nug shape) and the other stuff that got saturated.

After running batch No1 through my Spin Pro they looked excellent and reaked of sticky dankdom as I trimmed The others...batch No2 were still drying on the branch for a few days. I am going to use those (No2)for hash or edibles.

Batch No1 is pretty much dried out...30g's worth. They look great. perfect little ping pong ball nugs. There is a problem. they smell like shit. Very "pedestrian" if you will...like novice grown herb. Many would smell it and ask if I flushed. I didn't, it fell over before I could. The garbage (No2)that I tore off the branch by hand and shoved into a turkey bag smell many times better. It has a decent dank smell to it. I would say the smell is marketable. The look isn't.

Why is it that No1 and No2 smell different yet it's the same premature unflushed herb?

Bump stickety bump!

I am running a side by side test on whether it's better to trim and manicure right away or hang the plant for few days until outer leaves become crisp. I'm just trying to find the best way to bring out the taste, smell and smoothness. I started a thread yesterday. Check it out if you want.

How does that Spin Pro work for ya? I'm putting some serious thought into getting one if they work well. It would help a lot with my outdoor harvest this fall!

The Spin Pro is killer. I saw Fdd's on his outdoor thread in the fall. Had to have one. They trim very well. But you must trim wet nugs, not dried...it will sort of shread and tear apart dry nugs. It doesn't like big cola's. I cut my cola's from the bottom up to get those nice round nugs.

DubsFan said:

The Spin Pro is killer. I saw Fdd's on his outdoor thread in the fall. Had to have one. They trim very well. But you must trim wet nugs, not dried...it will sort of shread and tear apart dry nugs. It doesn't like big cola's. I cut my cola's from the bottom up to get those nice round nugs.

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I dont know If you have an ozone generator running in the drying room or not, But they will take the smell away from drying buds... Also, gotta remember to slowly dry your buds in the dark and then *CURE* the buds(several weeks+ for best results). The curing process will make the bud smell much better, and help out with the potency too. Dried bud without a cure, is like driving a Corvette without tires. Jar em up my friend!!!! And make sure you open up the jars each and everyday!

taste and smell come with the long cure in the jar. 30 days at least

j wizzle said:

taste and smell come with the long cure in the jar. 30 days at least

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Like they said... a cure will give your girls the chronic smell. It's weird... my plants stink to high heaven when growing. Stink like crazy while I trim them... then I put them in a box to dry and they don't smell like anything other than 'plant'. Put them in the jars and for about 5-7 days they still just smell like warm plant smell. But around 7-10 days the smell starts coming on. And yeah around 30 days things are dank to the point where they kinda sting your nose.

Patience daniel-san.

Of course.. there is the random plant that got too many nutrients. I grew one plant like that once. It neve smelled or tasted good. Just looked killer. Hopefully it's not one of those.

Drying is the most key part of the whole smell and flavor department,
not flush.

Smell and flavor are related to the chloraphyl in the plant matter, while
the harshness, and burning of the throat and lungs is described when
smoking herb which hasn't been flushed properly.

You need to allow all of the chloraphyl to release while drying, but the problem
is that chloraphyl is only released and a certain rate, which is much slower
than water is allowed to release,you must allow adequate time to dry, and
the humidity needs to be around 35-45%, this allows the buds to stay moist
long enough to allow the chloraphyl to escape. It should take around 8 days
for the stem between the buds to be dry enough to snap when bent.

Tips:
Do not cut up individual branches when harvesting and hanging, this
allows the moisture to escape too quickly!

Do not trim the buds of their leaves before they are completely dried,
this also allows moisture to escape. Also this is KEY for the curing process,
a properly dried bud will smell MAGNIFICENT right after it is done being
trimmed. Trimming allows the terpenes to really expose themselves and
this causes excess moisture within the leaves and buds to allow the bud
to "sweat" and this is needs to happen right before the buds are jarred,
if you do this before you dry them, what happens to the terpenes? They are
released in to the air and dissipate, you need to do this before you jar them
and then the buds sit and bask in their own dankness..... This is how the
curing process begins. The dispenseries here in boulder buy my meds the
same day that I trim them because they smell as if they have already been
cured, but really, they were dried properly.

jigfresh said:

Like they said... a cure will give your girls the chronic smell. It's weird... my plants stink to high heaven when growing. Stink like crazy while I trim them... then I put them in a box to dry and they don't smell like anything other than 'plant'. Put them in the jars and for about 5-7 days they still just smell like warm plant smell. But around 7-10 days the smell starts coming on. And yeah around 30 days things are dank to the point where they kinda sting your nose.

Patience daniel-san.

Of course.. there is the random plant that got too many nutrients. I grew one plant like that once. It neve smelled or tasted good. Just looked killer. Hopefully it's not one of those.

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Speaking of patience, you trim too early, you need to wait until they are dried
to trim, you say they smell dank after you trim, and then you dry them,
well that dank smell is lost, you need to trim before you JAR, than the smell
is contained.

Shrubs First said:

Speaking of patience, you trim too early, you need to wait until they are dried
to trim, you say they smell dank after you trim, and then you dry them,
well that dank smell is lost, you need to trim before you JAR, than the smell
is contained.

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Thanks for the tip my friend!

jigfresh said:

Thanks for the tip my friend!

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Ya no doubt, I was hopin you would understand I wasn't trying to be a dick, glad
you got the message

Shrubs First said:

Speaking of patience, you trim too early, you need to wait until they are dried
to trim, you say they smell dank after you trim, and then you dry them,
well that dank smell is lost, you need to trim before you JAR, than the smell
is contained.

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i actually hang for around 4-5 days on branches, then trim them into nugs, dry them for another day or so, final trim of the nugs if necessary & jar them up. my stuff always smells danky

i too get rid of my stuff before its cured completely. no one can ever tell really, i just tell them to keep it in a jar and it will only get better....and it does

j wizzle said:

taste and smell come with the long cure in the jar. 30 days at least

Click to expand...

j wizzle said:

i actually hang for around 4-5 days on branches, then trim them into nugs, dry them for another day or so, final trim of the nugs if necessary & jar them up. my stuff always smells danky

i too get rid of my stuff before its cured completely. no one can ever tell really, i just tell them to keep it in a jar and it will only get better....and it does

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I'm not there to say your nugs don't smell great.... I'm just helping some folks
with their own problems, if it's not broken don't fix it.

But mine don't take 30 days to taste good.

I always trim everything then hang for 4-5 days then into the jar. Ive never had grass or hay smelling buds.

anhedonia said:

I always trim everything then hang for 4-5 days then into the jar. Ive never had grass or hay smelling buds.

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This is all circumstantial, I'm not there to refute. Lets just say I don't quite believe
that your buds will be at the same odor level I am talking about.

Shrubs First said:

I'm not there to say your nugs don't smell great.... I'm just helping some folks
with their own problems, if it's not broken don't fix it.

But mine don't take 30 days to taste good.

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my stuff tastes good right after its dried, but after 30 days, its amazing. i dont know how anyone can argue against curing for 30 days.


and as for trimming and then hanging. i dont think thats a great idea. i think its best to trim the sun leaves and then hang it up.

like was said by shrubs, moisture needs to leave the plant at a certain rate. if the moisture escapes too quickly, it will affect the taste.

j wizzle said:

my stuff tastes good right after its dried, but after 30 days, its amazing. i dont know how anyone can argue against curing for 30 days.
.

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I can't good job on the chron... And I mean, now that I think about it
thats just my experience, here in colorado it is dry as hell, no moisture,
0-5% humidity, so i gotta keep my shit real humid and leaving the plant
whole helps. But if you're in a humid environment, you gotta chop that
shit up or else it could mold!

LOL.... I wish all you guys would have told me this stuff a month ago. Oh well. Next time.

Is drying my buds hanging in a cardboard box ok... or is that bad too, haha?

And here I thought I knew everything.

jigfresh said:

LOL.... I wish all you guys would have told me this stuff a month ago. Oh well. Next time.

Is drying my buds hanging in a cardboard box ok... or is that bad too, haha?

And here I thought I knew everything.

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I do everything in a spare closet, a pretty small one, like a hallway closet just for
jackets... I wouldn't do cardboard

Shrubs First said:

I do everything in a spare closet, a pretty small one, like a hallway closet just for
jackets... I wouldn't do cardboard

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Well shit. At least I grow good plants. (i think, hahaha)

Great info everyone. I hope the OP is happy too.