Curing for looks, smell, and taste (assuming potency's already there).

Do I just have to keep waiting for my buds to smell and taste like something? I hang-dry whole plants for ~12.5 days and think maybe I can capture more smell and flavor by leaving slightly more moisture in the jar to work off through extended burping.

In my limited experience, frostiness seems to show up better after a 12+ day dry hang; and flavors start to take shape 3-4 weeks into curing (nothing amazing yet); but smell seems to disappear after about day 8 of drying and only sort of comes back when flavor does. So, when does it all come together -- three months?

I'm trying a handful of strawberry, grape, peanut butter, and other strains with names indicating they're supposed to taste like something. If I want looks, smell, and flavor, should I either
(A) jar in fewer days, leaving more moisture to work off during curing; or
(B) just wait because it takes 2 to 3 months to achieve max smell and flavor?

Regular seeds. Genetics shouldn't be the limiting factor.

I think when you're putting it into jars it should be stinky already, curing isn't going to make midz good.

If you dry it properly and it's decent weed it'll be ready to smoke 2-3 weeks and be tasty/stinky, further improvement might be possible idk.

I've got a bucket buds about 8 months old it was pish when it went in and it's still pish now.

Apostatize said:

Do I just have to keep waiting for my buds to smell and taste like something? I hang-dry whole plants for ~12.5 days and think maybe I can capture more smell and flavor by leaving slightly more moisture in the jar to work off through extended burping.

In my limited experience, frostiness seems to show up better after a 12+ day dry hang; and flavors start to take shape 3-4 weeks into curing (nothing amazing yet); but smell seems to disappear after about day 8 of drying and only sort of comes back when flavor does. So, when does it all come together -- three months?

I'm trying a handful of strawberry, grape, peanut butter, and other strains with names indicating they're supposed to taste like something. If I want looks, smell, and flavor, should I either
(A) jar in fewer days, leaving more moisture to work off during curing; or
(B) just wait because it takes 2 to 3 months to achieve max smell and flavor?

Regular seeds. Genetics shouldn't be the limiting factor.

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My best has been super stinky even during flower. Dried and smoked immediately it was dank.
All jarring/burping does imo is mellow it out a bit or eliminate some harshness. Dont get me wrong, i love cured pot. Just dont buy into the jaring makes it better argument

Mine smells and tastes great as soon as it's dried. I don't cure. No way I'm waiting months to smoke my weed. I've usually smoked and given it all away by then. Not a fan of old weed that's been sitting in jars for months. Fresh is the way I prefer it. If you're waiting months for smell and taste to show up then something went wrong during the drying phase or the plants were harvested too early.

Once the early hurdle is cleared it happens way less frequently

About 7 days into drying, it smells and has some flavor (I sample it throughout drying). I'd been basing 12+ days on what others suggested; plus, 12+ days makes the moisture more manageable and it was a smoother smoke sooner. So, yeah, I may try to jar in 7 days and just stay on top of burping for a round or two until I find a balance.

Apostatize said:

About 7 days into drying, it smells and has some flavor (I sample it throughout drying). I'd been basing 12+ days on what others suggested; plus, 12+ days makes the moisture more manageable and it was a smoother smoke sooner. So, yeah, I may try to jar in 7 days and just stay on top of burping for a round or two until I find a balance.

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Kinda depends on what temp and R/H you're drying at. 12 days is a long hang before jarring/storage, unless it's very cool and the R/H is relatively high. Curing pretty much stops when R/H drops below 50-55%, so once jarred/stored, if it's below that percentage no amount of time or burping is going to do much. The main reason for curing is to get biological action to break down the chlorophyll, but that stops at around 50% r/h. Most people agree that the "low and Slow" process produces the best smoke. Chlorophyll is what gives fresh pot that "Mowed grass" smell and it also imparts a harsh taste.

Apostatize said:

About 7 days into drying, it smells and has some flavor (I sample it throughout drying). I'd been basing 12+ days on what others suggested; plus, 12+ days makes the moisture more manageable and it was a smoother smoke sooner. So, yeah, I may try to jar in 7 days and just stay on top of burping for a round or two until I find a balance.

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Depending on what your humidity situation is, some slowing of the drying process by brown bagging or rubbermaid storage containers, can go a long way. A few weeks drying before jarring has produced the best results for me

Phytoplankton said:

Kinda depends on what temp and R/H you're drying at. 12 days is a long hang before jarring/storage, unless it's very cool and the R/H is relatively high. Curing pretty much stops when R/H drops below 50-55%, so once jarred/stored, if it's below that percentage no amount of time or burping is going to do much. The main reason for curing is to get biological action to break down the chlorophyll, but that stops at around 50% r/h. Most people agree that the "low and Slow" process produces the best smoke. Chlorophyll is what gives fresh pot that "Mowed grass" smell and it also imparts a harsh taste.

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65F and ~60% RH. The portable ACs can go down to 60F but I thought I'd wait to go full throttle until I can fill up more of the drying space at once.

Apostatize said:

65F and ~60% RH. The portable ACs can go down to 60F but I thought I'd wait to go full throttle until I can fill up more of the drying space at once., e

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That's about perfect, but a question, how do you get 60% humidity out of an air conditioner? The air from my A/C units is dry, dry, dry.

Phytoplankton said:

That's about perfect, but a question, how do you get 60% humidity out of an air conditioner? The air from my A/C units is dry, dry, dry.

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It's humid here and I live near water. I used to use a dehumidifier. Now, I just have a fan and two portable ACs out the dry/cure room window.

I've only been in this space for a few months, so I'm keeping an eye on fluctuations in room temp/RH, throughout the year, that would make me adjust.

xtsho said:

Not a fan of old weed that's been sitting in jars for months.

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Tell us you grow mids without telling us.

I swear if more pot growers turned off the Adam Dunn and listened to educated people who are not retarded regurgitating sheep clones of each other, they might actually grow something worth their time.



Can anyone tell me what this is? Hint: Starts with a B. Ends with a K. Has real information in it. Unlike the The Bro Grow Show, where they say you have to fresh freeze an armpit to smell BO.

GrodanLightfoot said:

Tell us you grow mids without telling us.

I swear if more pot growers turned off the Adam Dunn and listened to educated people who are not retarded regurgitating sheep clones of each other, they might actually grow something worth their time.

View attachment 5208755

Can anyone tell me what this is? Hint: Starts with a B. Ends with a K. Has real information in it. Unlike the The Bro Grow Show, where they say you have to fresh freeze an armpit to smell BO.

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Fools like you mean nothing to me.

xtsho said:

Fools like you mean nothing to me.

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Dont beat around the bush

Fresh weed isn't nearly as pleasurable to me as a cured product. You don't need a three month cure either. One is enough.

As for "curing for smell," that isn't possible. Terpenes are synthesized for protection from wind, pests, light, etc. Once you chop the plant, there is some metabolic activity still occurring but no more secondary metabolites will be created. From that point it's about preservation. Temperatures over mid-60s F, light and oxygen are your enemies.

After a short cure, vacuum seal and store in a cool, dark place for preservation.

At 65 rh ,drying should take at least 10 days.Jarring early will ruin the bud .GL

Finally started using my drywall moisture meter. It gives me a measurement before jarring. Hopefully, something like 35% moisture at a meaty part of a hanging whole plant's stalk equates to just under 70% RH in the jar and I can burp from there.
I'll find out.

The whole branch snapping thing isn't that helpful. A more experienced grower probably develops a feel for that sort of thing.

Apostatize said:

Regular seeds. Genetics shouldn't be the limiting factor.

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This statement greatly oversimplifies how genetics work, and your understanding of seeds. To som extent seeds are always a crap shoot. You can't just assume every seed is going to produce a quality plant, unfortunately. I've ran through plenty of packs of seeds and didn't find any keeper plants. I used to do testing for a seed company and had lots of just ok plants, but did manage to get a special girl I kept for 5ish years. Anyway its very possible that genetics IS THE limiting factor.

Another major issue that newer growers experience is early harvesting. Early plants haven't reached their full terpene and flavonoid production, so they just won't have as much to start with. If the plants haven't reached their peak they often times dry too fast and don't actually retain much of the smell the fresh plant may have had.

I usually take off all the big leaves, and hang dry for 10-14 days, depending on current temps and humidity. I keep an eye on them and give them a little squeeze every day. Once the outside is just slightly crispy but the inside still has some softness to it, I cut the nugs off the stem and put them in a paper grocery bag. They stay in there usually about another week. I will open the bag and shake them around every day. Once they seem close I'll start pulling out a little bud and break it down to smoke test it. If it breaks up properly, doesn't clog my grinder, and smokes properly I know its ready for storage. Thats when it goes into jars. I only check them the first couple of days just to make sure they aren't damp somehow then they stay sealed until I smoke them. My buds are dank, tasty, and smelly as hell as soon as they are ready to smoke, because I phenohunt good genetics, grow them to their best potential, harvest them when they are FULLY RIPE, and dry them slowly.

Thanks. Spent the past six months phenotyping a dozen strains from seed, 1 to 10 seeds per strain (mostly 6) (purchases, a few came free with purchase, and one was gifted). I selected against what I had, narrowed it down; now I've got 1 to 2 phenos per strain, almost all are down to 1.

Breeders:
Dark Horse
42
Kickflip
Elev8

The drying/curing room's coming together: 2 portable ACs, 2 dehumidifiers. It's humid here.

Thundercat said:

This statement greatly oversimplifies ... your understanding of ... a crap shoot....

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How many times have you grown these "selections", have they ever given you the flavor and smell you are hoping for or has this been an ongoing problem? Have you ever grow plants that produced the flavor and smell results you wanted when you finished them? I'm just asking these questions to help you narrow down where your issues might be. Genetics, environment, ripeness, and drying/storage in that order are the main driving factors in the quality of the outcome.

My point was partly that 1-10 seeds of any strain is a small picture of its genetics and really isn't likely to produce a keeper in my opinion. Maybe my standards are higher then others, but I've personally grown hundreds of seeds, and helped grow a few thousand more and only found about 10 plants I'd call keepers. However one of those was from a single white widow freebee seed. So if you've grown through 12 strains hopefully you have 1-2 keepers among the bunch, but I wouldn't expect to get 1 from each.

True keeper plants won't leave you questioning if your buds will smell or taste good. They will be frosty, potent, smelly, tasty, and should yield decent. I don't ever select plants based off yields though, I always look at flavor, smell, and quality of the high.