Curing: frosty af, faded funk (I must be missing something)

[Apostatize]

During curing, Gorilla Cookies (elev8 seeds) harden, covered with frost. That's great, but Gorilla Cookies and other strains lose some of their smell during curing. That's not great.

I'm almost exclusively working with same phenos. When they're all the same, I'll collect data and make observations/comparisons with strains/density/hardness/smell. In the meantime, does anyone recharge the smell by, for example, selecting the good colas from what's been curing and, if they've lost some smell, recharge them with newly curing stuff for a week or so to add moisture/something simple to bring back the smell, and maybe pluck them out again later? As I type, I realize it's not scalable (so it's probably dumb). Everything looks so good, so I'm bummed that they don't wow with smell after a few weeks. Other strains come out bright red after drying, then fade to a common orange during curing (e.g., Taskenti). I'm not happy about that either, though it's probably just the crystals gluing to the bud.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

I'm not so sure that would work or make much of a difference. What's your dry technique before jarring? I'd first look into:
- Are you growing to maturity?
- Are they too dry by the time they go into jars?

Some may need a full month before the smells are bright.

 

[Apostatize]

I'm not so sure that would work or make much of a difference. What's your dry technique before jarring? I'd first look into:
- Are you growing to maturity?
- Are they too dry by the time they go into jars?

Some may need a full month before the smells are bright.

Hang-drying whole plant 12+ days. As I make plant size uniform across my 1 pheno per strain, I'm going to dial in the specifics or at least record
- days drying
- bud moisture (drywall moisture meter with pins)
- get as close as I can to 60 RH/60F, record data, and see how it fluctuates over the year.

I may be underestimating a step like burping. Initially, I wasn't drying long enough; so, I was burping all the time. Then, I was drying for what seems to be about the right time (looking at frost, color, moisture, smell) and burping less frequently; I'll be taking measurements here, too.

I guess I'm just trying to tease out a few tricks/idiosyncrasies someone might have, that I might adopt/modify. Generally, I'm taking a data-driven approach to curing. It's just that I've only now reached the point where I can focus this much on curing.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Hang-drying whole plant 12+ days. As I make plant size uniform across my 1 pheno per strain, I'm going to dial in the specifics or at least record
- days drying
- bud moisture (dry wall moisture meter with pins)
- get as close as I can to 60 RH/60F, record data, and see how it fluctuates over the year.

I may be underestimating a step like burping. Initially, I wasn't drying long enough; so, I was burping all the time. Then, I was drying for what seems to be about the right time (looking at frost, color, moisture, smell) and burping less frequently; I'll be taking measurements here, too.

I guess I'm just trying to tease out a few tricks/idiosyncrasies someone might have, that I might adopt/modify. Generally, I'm taking a data-driven approach to curing. It's just that I've only now reached the point where I can focus this much on curing.

You dry just like me. Low and slow. You might consider burping less often. And consider what the room RH is when you burp. If you're burping in 60%, then it probably doesn't matter at all if you burp too much. But if your burping in 40%, you're going to dry them out if you burp very often.

The only thing I'm doing a little differently than you is I have a stage after the hang and before the jars. I use pizza boxes and sometimes other types of boxes if pizza boxes are not deep enough. This is kind of my pre-cure step and allows a large margin of error. If the flower is still too wet, the cardboard will absorb and help regulate it. If it's too dry, it helps provide some additional moisture. They remain in here for around a week and then I jar and I don't really have to burp at all.

I don't see any problems at all with your technique. Maybe just be more patient? No matter what I grow, the smell is always loud as hell so I hesitate to say it's genetics.

 

[Apostatize]

I don't see any problems at all with your technique. Maybe just be more patient? No matter what I grow, the smell is always loud as hell so I hesitate to say it's genetics.

Collectively, the stink. But if you smell an individual nug, preferably a larger one, I wouldn't say it's loud. Consistency issues to work out, probably more.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

Do you have any pictures of the live plants right before harvest? I'm not saying you are, but if they are not grown to maturity, that could be one possible reason.

 

[Apostatize]

Do you have any pictures of the live plants right before harvest? I'm not saying you are, but if they are not grown to maturity, that could be one possible reason.

Yes, on other threads. Not much has changed plant size-wise, and RIUers didn't make that comment about the plants. I recall there were a few pics of plants on a green chair just before hanging.

Posting more all at once later, in a diary I guess, just waiting on a few things like converting all my base liquid nutes to dry maybe (still using liquid supplements and some dry...), and for my desired plant #s per strain in both tents. Stuff like that. Anyway, thanks for your insights. I've got at least a few months of data to collect to work this out how I want it. Thanks.

 

[Hot Diggity Sog]

I'm usually very methodical and scientific with how I approach everything. But I have a fool-proof and super simple way of knowing when a minimum cure has been reached. I open a jar for 5 seconds and then close it. Wait 5 minutes. If my entire 2500 sq/ft house reaks, in every room. Then I know I'm there.

 

[waterproof808]

Terpene content doesnt peak during the curing process. Terps only degrade after a plant is fully dried, until eventually they are gone.

 

[Apostatize]

Terpene content doesnt peak during the curing process. Terps only degrade after a plant is fully dried, until eventually they are gone.

Do you think some strains benefit from curing more than others?

For example, between the two strains I mentioned -- Gorilla Cookies and Taskenti -- the way the frost glues to Gorilla Cookies during curing looks great. Currently, that strain's my best. On the other hand, Taskenti is red after drying, and the bud structure's more indica (a mass of small, hairy triangles); I could see curing it for a week or two.

 

[RancidDude]

It's in the genetics or more importantly the pheno you select. If it doesn't have terps before and after get rid of it. That's my motto anyway. Same with high

 

[xtsho]

Terpene content doesnt peak during the curing process. Terps only degrade after a plant is fully dried, until eventually they are gone.

Some people think it does.

Weed that's been slow dried and put in a jar should reek the next day. Terpenes don't increase during the curing process. As you stated they degrade over time. There is plenty of science to back that up. Some of us don't bother curing. In fact outside of cannabis forums it's not a practice done by most growers.

Curing is overrated.

 

[waterproof808]

Do you think some strains benefit from curing more than others?

No, unless you prefer less smelly weed. There was an interview with Ivan of Jungle Boys and he mentioned they do a ton of lab testing and subsequent tests of the same batch of flowers come back with lower terpene's the longer they sit.

Once a plant is harvested, it is headed towards decomposition. Us growers try to delay that process by drying it to a specific water content so that it can be consumed or stored safely, but either way, there are biological processes at work trying to break that frosty goodness back down into the earth...THC begins to oxidize into CBN, green chlorophyll oxidizes into yellow or brown, terpenes off gas, etc... Everything is downhill once a plant has been fully dried.

 

[Apostatize]

Cannabis Seeds for Sale since 2003 | Seedsman | Seedsman

Cannabis seeds available right now from Seedsman. Buy medical, feminized and auto-flowering seeds from world class breeders with fast worldwide shipping and free seeds with every order. Explore the world's biggest seed supermarket.

blog.seedsman.com

Why Does The Smell Of Cannabis Fade Over Time?
To determine how [volatile sulphur compounds (VSCs)] influence the strength of a plant’s aroma over time, the researchers measured the concentration of these compounds in several cultivars that they grew inside a greenhouse. Results indicated that VSCs were completely absent until about the seventh week of flowering, at which point several of these molecules began to appear in low amounts.

The skunky smell of these cannabis plants then strengthened over the following three weeks, correlating with an increase in the concentration of VSCs. At this point, the researchers harvested, dried and cured their bud for 11 days, noting that VSC levels “reached a maximum at the end of this process.” Unsurprisingly, the plants’ aroma was also at its strongest at this point.

However, concentrations of VSCs declined rapidly over the next ten days, corresponding with a noticeable decrease in scent. This, they say, indicates that these compounds are highly volatile, which would explain why cannabis has such a strong smell – especially when it is recently cured.

Oswald IW, Ojeda MA, Pobanz RJ, Koby KA, Buchanan AJ, Del Rosso J, Guzman MA, Martin TJ. Identification of a New Family of Prenylated Volatile Sulfur Compounds in Cannabis Revealed by Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography. ACS Omega. 2021 Nov 12. – https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.1c04196

 

[Apostatize]

"[H]arvested, dried and cured their bud for 11 days" doesn't sound like they cured at all. Consequently, the article isn't very helpful.

Jungle Boys participated, perhaps this is what Waterproof808 referred to earlier. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.1c04196

"[H]ung to cure and dry for 11 days at a temperature and relative humidity of ≈22 °C and ≈45%, respectively" sounds like they just dried it to me. I'm not sure we'd refer to that as the separate process of curing.

 

[RancidDude]

"[H]arvested, dried and cured their bud for 11 days" doesn't sound like they cured at all. Consequently, the article isn't very helpful.

Jungle Boys participated, perhaps this is what Waterproof808 referred to earlier. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.1c04196

"[H]ung to cure and dry for 11 days at a temperature and relative humidity of ≈22 °C and ≈45%, respectively" sounds like they just dried it to me. I'm not sure we'd refer to that as the separate process of curing.

According to that study Bacio Gelato was the loudest Also could be because of the plastic sealed jar instead of mylar. Interesting read.

 

[oill]

During curing, Gorilla Cookies (elev8 seeds) harden, covered with frost. That's great, but Gorilla Cookies and other strains lose some of their smell during curing. That's not great.

I'm almost exclusively working with same phenos. When they're all the same, I'll collect data and make observations/comparisons with strains/density/hardness/smell. In the meantime, does anyone recharge the smell by, for example, selecting the good colas from what's been curing and, if they've lost some smell, recharge them with newly curing stuff for a week or so to add moisture/something simple to bring back the smell, and maybe pluck them out again later? As I type, I realize it's not scalable (so it's probably dumb). Everything looks so good, so I'm bummed that they don't wow with smell after a few weeks. Other strains come out bright red after drying, then fade to a common orange during curing (e.g., Taskenti). I'm not happy about that either, though it's probably just the crystals gluing to the bud.

I find that all.my stains seem to smell more when I take them out of long term cure and put them into more breathable bags.... when I do this they start to stink way more after 24 hours

 

[Brettman]

Any pics of the plants before harvest?

 

[xtsho]

"[H]arvested, dried and cured their bud for 11 days" doesn't sound like they cured at all. Consequently, the article isn't very helpful.

Jungle Boys participated, perhaps this is what Waterproof808 referred to earlier. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsomega.1c04196

"[H]ung to cure and dry for 11 days at a temperature and relative humidity of ≈22 °C and ≈45%, respectively" sounds like they just dried it to me. I'm not sure we'd refer to that as the separate process of curing.

I've read numerous studies on terpene degradation. Most of the ones using cannabis seem to reference what is commonly considered the drying period as drying/curing and at the end of that the terpenes are highest. They all go on to say that after that period terpenes start to degrade. There are no studies on terpenes that show terpenes increase after that time. It's pretty much a proven scientific fact that terpene degradation starts as soon as the weed is dry. That's the same for for all plant matter that contains volatile oils including spices, herbs, flowers, etc... Cannabis is not some anomaly where the terpenes get stronger the longer it sits.

Some people may prefer cured weed better as it mellows out and may become smoother but that mellowing out has nothing to do with an increase in terpenes but due to a decrease in terpenes and other compounds.

Another thing is that so many seem to think that terpenes are a cannabis thing but don't understand that when you smell pine needles you're smelling terpenes or the smell from a stick of cinnamon is the terpenes you're smelling. The pine scent that you smell in some cannabis is the same pinene terpene found in pine needles. Everyone that's had a Christmas tree in their house knows that the smell diminishes as the tree sits and was little smell by the time it's taken down and disposed of.

 

[Apostatize]

Some people may prefer cured weed better as it mellows out and may become smoother but that mellowing out has nothing to do with an increase in terpenes but due to a decrease in terpenes and other compounds.

Wine tannins and cannabis terpenes aren't perfectly analogous, but wine aging mellows tannins + alters flavor/aroma. I can see how longer cure times are commonly assumed to deliver best results. The data isn't widely-known, initially I'd based my assumptions on unrelated things I guess. But tannin degradation is taking place there, too. Helps to have a better understanding of what's happening during curing before maybe you can lock down your dry/cure process. Thanks.