Better Smell

I have a pretty decent bud growing. My clients (all legal medical clients of course) all enjoy it and its of fairly high quality as far as potency goes.

The problem I have, is not one of medicinal value or even something anyone has commented on, however, I don't like the smell of it. In the jar as a whole it has a very mild but not unpleasant stink. The problem is with the buds themselves. Individually when you take them out they have almost zero scent and on occasion have hay smell. I am currently using General Hydroponics Lucas formula, so just bloom and micro, the only additive I use is Rock Resonator, which for how little I use adds a nice amount of frostiness. This works great for growing. Can anyone recommend a good additive they know PERSONALLY works well to enhance smell and therefor bag appeal?

For drying and curing, if you feel that is the issue I do the following:
I cut the plant at the bottom and hang in a dark humidity controlled (around 50%) room for 3-4 days. Once the outer leaves are crisp I trim and leave on a rack for a day or until it feels fairly dry on the outside. Around day 5 or 6 I then jar it for 12-24 hours to bring out the inner moister and then alternate in 12 hour shifts from the drying rack to the jar until I have reached the desired moister consistency. I then, around day 10ish leave it in the jar which is breathed once a day or so. At this point it is pleasant to smoke and at the optimum dryness. It will sometimes stay in the jar as is for up to a month but is usually gone within a week or two.

TLDR version: I need a good additive that you PERSONALLY know to enhance the smell of the plant.

Edit: I use hydro DWC recirculating 40 gallon 6 bucket system x2

Its all about genetics if ya ask me... ur drying method sounds spot on, almost identical to mine... have u had this problem with other strains or just this variety? I feel not enough credit is given to genetics when bud turns out good and not enough blame is given to genetics when it doesn't turn out so great.

I have good gentics. The bud is top notch. At the moment I am growing Kosher and violator kush, as well as purple kush and pineapple chunk. The kosher and the violator are less than a year old cloning from seeds, the pineapple and purple are almost 2 years and being phased out.

So is it happening to all the strains ur running or just one in peticular? Also do u trim wet or dry? I've noticed that trimming wet can negate the smell n give it that fresh smell ur talkin bout.

Hay smell = still too much chlorophyll.

organic soil will do better

southsacboy916 said:

So is it happening to all the strains ur running or just one in peticular? Also do u trim wet or dry? I've noticed that trimming wet can negate the smell n give it that fresh smell ur talkin bout.

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Every strain some worse than others, but none have that pungent smell.

Anjinsan said:

Hay smell = still too much chlorophyll.

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And whats the best way to fix this?

Trousers said:

organic soil will do better

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For better or for worse I will be sticking with hydroponics. Also, to each his own, but from every bit of research that is backed up by facts that I have ever read, organics means nothing. At best it is the same price and never cheaper but often more expensive. All studies show there is not yet any link between organics producing healthier anything. And yields and quality ar once again AT BEST equal with non-organics but often not as good. I understand the philosophy behind organics and I agree with the principles. But so far the most compelling thing I have heard is "dude its just better" isn't that compelling.

So do u trim wet or dry?

Let hang dry for a good week. Then cut buds into chunks. Let the chunks air out in a dark closet for a 1/2 day or so. Then move onto jarring.
First filling a jar halfway and leaving top off. Stir the buds the next day. Seal the jar. Every day open and rearrange the buds in it.

Basically a good dry/cure = no hay smell. Read up is all.

southsacboy916 said:

So do u trim wet or dry?

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Mostly dry, at least dry to the touch. I give it a good 3-5 days generally of hanging before I cut anything.

Anjinsan said:

Let hang dry for a good week. Then cut buds into chunks. Let the chunks air out in a dark closet for a 1/2 day or so. Then move onto jarring.
First filling a jar halfway and leaving top off. Stir the buds the next day. Seal the jar. Every day open and rearrange the buds in it.

Basically a good dry/cure = no hay smell. Read up is all.

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So basicaly I should just be stretching out my current process and add another week into the mix over the steps. Bellow is how I currently do it.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

I have a pretty decent bud growing. My clients (all legal medical clients of course) all enjoy it and its of fairly high quality as far as potency goes.


For drying and curing, if you feel that is the issue I do the following:
I cut the plant at the bottom and hang in a dark humidity controlled (around 50%) room for 3-5 days. Once the outer leaves are crisp and its dry to the touch I trim and leave on a rack for a day or until it feels fairly dry on the outside. Around day 5 or 6 I then jar it for 12-24 hours to bring out the inner moister and then alternate in 12 hour shifts from the drying rack to the jar until I have reached the desired moister consistency. I then, around day 10ish leave it in the jar which is breathed once a day or so. At this point it is pleasant to smoke and at the optimum dryness. It will sometimes stay in the jar as is for up to a month but is usually gone within a week or two.

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I'm a retard I didn't even realize u already said when u trim... do u keep ur plants nice n dark green all the way til the end or do u back off on feeding and let them yellow up a bit? I find that when ur plants r all dark n green til the end their smell will be affected because of all the chlorophyll still in the plant. A slower dry may help cuz the chlorophyll needs time to break down n once its too dry it stops breakin down. but I suggest cuttin out any nitrogen for the last 3 weeks or so if u don't already.

I would say during the last few weeks the tips of the leaves start to yellow or brown but as a whole the majority of the plant is still green.

That may be the culprit... I'd try cuttin off all food for the last two weeks or so. I don't give my plants nothin but ph'd water for the last two weeks and they lighten up quite a bit n always taste/smell good.

i like using carbohydrate supplement humboldt honey hydro recipe haven't gotten to taste it yet but the smell is wonderful, can't wait to chop

Nizza said:

i like using carbohydrate supplement humboldt honey hydro recipe haven't gotten to taste it yet but the smell is wonderful, can't wait to chop

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Keep me posted on that dude. I appriaciate all the advice I am getting and I will consider it, but the real goal was to find a good supplement. So tell me how that works out.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

Every strain some worse than others, but none have that pungent smell.



And whats the best way to fix this?



For better or for worse I will be sticking with hydroponics. Also, to each his own, but from every bit of research that is backed up by facts that I have ever read, organics means nothing.

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I have grown with both. Soil grown weed is better than hydro. I used the same genetics, it wasn't even close.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

At best it is the same price and never cheaper but often more expensive.

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I have grown both, so I am not relying on interwebs for information.
Soil organic is about the same cost, if not cheaper. If you produce your own worm castings, it gets cheaper.

Organic soil is also much, much easier. No ph, no dicking around with reservoirs. I water every 3-5 days. Some days I do not even look at my plants. I am too busy for coco/hydro.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

All studies show there is not yet any link between organics producing healthier anything.

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I would read them if they existed for cannabis. From my experience, soil organic produces healthier plants than hydro. Better color, vigor, etc. Healthier plants will have more smell due to them being healthier.

From my experience soil and organic soil produce better buds than hydro and I used the same gentics.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

And yields and quality ar once again AT BEST equal with non-organics but often not as good.

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Once you have organic soil dialed in, you will get the same, if not better yields than hydro in about the same amount of time. I think you have been reading hydro apologists sites. i am not a huge "ORGANICS" guy. It is just way cheaper to mix your own soil and teas than it is to use synthetic ferts on your soil. I still think soil grown weed with synthetic ferts is better than hydro.

To answer your original question, I think soil makes for better smelling weed than hydro, even if synthetic ferts are used.
That is my opinion based on my own results and a dispensary I know that switched from flood trays to soil organic.

Organic soil also has a much easier learning curve. The "hard" part is mixing the soil and cooking (aging) it properly. The rest is really easy.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

I understand the philosophy behind organics and I agree with the principles. But so far the most compelling thing I have heard is "dude its just better" isn't that compelling.

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Yet at the same time, you offer me nothing but, "Dude, hydro is just as good."

with soil organic you

do less work
it is less complicated
it is cheaper (you can easily reuse soil and it comes out better, organic teas can be produced much cheaper than store bought fert)


it was just a suggestion beased on my experiences with soil versus hydro using the same genetics

Maybe I was a crappy hydro grower and got lucky with my first organic batch?
I do not know. the main reason I ditched hydro is to lessen my work load.
getting better smelling/tasting/stronger weed is just a bonus.

I guess I am just lucky.

sure if your looking for an argument that has nothing to do with the original point to push your agenda based on your opinion that's cool. If all I'm giving you is "Dude, hydro is just as good." You misunderstood. I think hydro is infinitely better. What I was saying AT BEST organic dirt can equal a decent hydro system after, as you have said, you take the time to dial it in. The same time given to dial in a hydro system will work better. Hydro and Aero are both sciences built around improving plant growth. From everything nasa has told me, they seem to be better, but I dunno, I'm no brain scientist. I'm just a guy looking for an answer to improve my current set up, not change everything I do. Anyway, this has nothing to do with my original post. You do things the way you wish, and if it works, that's great for you and I wish you the best of luck.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

For better or for worse I will be sticking with hydroponics. Also, to each his own, but from every bit of research that is backed up by facts that I have ever read, organics means nothing. At best it is the same price and never cheaper but often more expensive. All studies show there is not yet any link between organics producing healthier anything. And yields and quality ar once again AT BEST equal with non-organics but often not as good. I understand the philosophy behind organics and I agree with the principles. But so far the most compelling thing I have heard is "dude its just better" isn't that compelling.

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I'm a complete noob grower, so what I'm about to say is just experience with tomatoes... But I guess it could apply:

You asked for smell, not "healthier anything". Organics always smell and taste better at least as far as fruit is concerned. Source: family used to own organic foodstore, even the best hydro tomatoes I would eat from supermarkets have not the same taste as soil organically grown tomatoes from the shop or from local gardens from the village. Just my two cents.

edit: To actually try to answer your question in a more helpful way, maybe you could try some blackstrap molasses or pure honey in your watering? I don't know if you're allowed to add those sticky things in hydro though. Supposedly they work wonders, I haven't tried growing without it though so I can't tell you if it does make any difference.

I'm surprised only 1 person even hinted at the "flush" as being the problem, even after you said you get some yellow and brown but mostly green leaves. Since you've ran these strains before you know how long they run, are you feeding until the last day? You should, 2 weeks prior to chop day, flush your plant with straight water (1 gal of water per gal of pot +1.... assuming your first flush is with a dry plant, a 5gallon pot would get 6 gallons of water ran through (the first gallon will most likely be absorbed in the dry media). You can do this in the bath tub to make life easier or do it with a shop vac handy. After that you will flush with PH'd water for the next few waterings, than I like to flush with straight water the last 2 waterings, the flushing forces the plant to use up all its energy it's stored. Another note, I go down to like 800ppm my last couple waterings prior to flush.

Consider switching from General Hydro nutes (which I've used in the past with great results) to General Organics line... better flavor for sure.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

sure if your looking for an argument that has nothing to do with the original point to push your agenda based on your opinion that's cool.

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Calm down. You asked a question and I answered. You don't like the answer so your shorts get bound up.

I'm not trying to push an agenda. It seems like you have an agenda against organic soil. If you had read and understood what I posted, I said the only reason I go organic is because it is the easiest.

IMO, organic soil produces a better smelling bud. You asked how to get a better smelling bud. Tell me again how my answer was not relevant.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

If all I'm giving you is "Dude, hydro is just as good." You misunderstood. I think hydro is infinitely better. What I was saying AT BEST organic dirt can equal a decent hydro system after, as you have said, you take the time to dial it in.

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Having grown in both, I disagree. Organic soil is better imo, hands down.

JoshTheMadTitan said:

The same time given to dial in a hydro system will work better. Hydro and Aero are both sciences built around improving plant growth. From everything nasa has told me, they seem to be better, but I dunno, I'm no brain scientist. I'm just a guy looking for an answer to improve my current set up, not change everything I do. Anyway, this has nothing to do with my original post. You do things the way you wish, and if it works, that's great for you and I wish you the best of luck.

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I'll trust my own results growing weed over nasa's growing something else.

I have grown using the lucas formula.

If you want an additive that improves smell, you are a fert company's dream. (My home made fertilizer is way cheaper than stuff in a bottle.)

Sugar/molasses will not help with smell, especially in hydro.
Flushing will make it smell less potent and stress your plants.


For hydro to get a better smell it comes down to genetics. If you do not want to change genetics, then you need to be a better grower. It is that simple.