Did i mess up :/ ???

Okay so recently my friend i grew some nice looking (and smelling) but under some CFLs. We let it hang dry for a couple of days then put it into a big glass jar that sealed up very nice.

After a week or two we starting getting this yucky hay smell. After a month it isnt as bad as it was but nothing near what it should smell like or what it looks like.

Where did i go wrong???

Were still curing it in the jar hoping that it will get better. But shouldnt i be smelling more of a dank smell a month into curing?

did you burp your jars for two weeks,

if you did not do a proper flush then you will get the HAY smell for a longer period of time. I made that mistake on my first grow and found out that my bud was too moist before i put them into the jars so they eventually got mold. make sure to keep burping the jars. i like to leave the lids off my jars until the outside of the buds dry out. then cover them and the next day they will be moist again. i do that for a week and then the dank weed smell will come out when all the starches are converted and by that time my weed is pretty dry but sticky. it sounds like you are not letting the jars air out enough

A couple of days is not enough dry time...burping would not have inhibited mold and mildew growth if it was jarred too soon....hope not, but it does answer your question....

I did flush for a week and a half with water. And i did burp :/
Should have mentioned that sorry.

Ive checked for mold but i cant see anything that looks like it so i think i should be okay but ill check for sure here in a bit.

You may not have cured it properly. There was a thread recently here, that linked to an article using a hygrometer. The Caliber III digital model was recommended. It says to cure at 60-65% RH using the hygrometer in the jar. This takes the guesswork out of curing, and gives you excellent quality everytime.

How much is a hygrometer and could i purchase this from a local HD/lowes or would i need to order online?

I don't think you get the good ones from a hardware store. Try ebay or Amazon. Caliber III is the recommended model.

I sent you a private message with the link to the artlicle about using the Caliber III hygrometer. Not sure if I was allowed to link to another forum.

If you got a hay smell then then though you only dried a few days you dried to fast. It was either too hot, the humidity was too low, or both. Once you do that you could cure for a year and it would not make up for it.

I grew in a stacked rubbermaid and then dried in that same container. What would you suggest drying them in next time to keep them from drying to fast???

Brick Top said:

If you got a hay smell then then though you only dried a few days you dried to fast. It was either too hot, the humidity was too low, or both. Once you do that you could cure for a year and it would not make up for it.

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I agree, normal air hang drying should take 4 days at least. If the outside of the buds are crusty on the second day, you need to get the buds into a cooler room with more humidity. The reason it smells like hay is because the chlorophyll inside the fan leaves and stems isn't given enough time to escape, so it gets trapped in the bud. This is another reason why trimming off all leaves and stems before hang drying is the best way to get non-hay smelling bud. (more exits for the chloro to escape).

purplehazin said:

I agree, normal air hang drying should take 4 days at least. If the outside of the buds are crusty on the second day, you need to get the buds into a cooler room with more humidity. The reason it smells like hay is because the chlorophyll inside the fan leaves and stems isn't given enough time to escape, so it gets trapped in the bud. This is another reason why trimming off all leaves and stems before hang drying is the best way to get non-hay smelling bud. (more exits for the chloro to escape).

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It is impossible to really talk proper drying times because some people grow using CFLs and low wattage HID lighting that often times is kept to far from plants and they have light airy buds that will, even in proper drying conditions, dry quickly, too quickly. Large heavy thick dense buds, under proper drying conditions, can take two weeks or more to dry.

There is no one size fits all answer for drying because so many people grow using extremely different setups.

As for the chlorophyll basically being; "trapped" is it, you are correct. Once the natural process where it is being broken down ends early, there is no restarting it again to finish the process. A long slow cure can help slightly, but not much. If the buds are over dry when put in jars no miracle can occur because curing is the last step of a long slow drying process where various unwanted chemical elements break down into ones that are more wanted and the large percentage of THC that is in a non-psychoactive form become psychoactive through decarboxylation.

Thanks guys, your exactly right they were cfls (always were 1-2 in away but still not alot of power) and they were small airy buds. But i think i could have dried them better if i reduced ventilation in the box. Next time!

How long do you guys usually cure in the jar for?

BlazedMonkey said:

Thanks guys, your exactly right they were cfls (always were 1-2 in away but still not alot of power) and they were small airy buds. But i think i could have dried them better if i reduced ventilation in the box. Next time!

How long do you guys usually cure in the jar for?

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Since I did not see the buds I cannot say for sure, and I do not want to seem argumentative, but my guess is if compared to buds that were grown under a 400-watt or 600-watt or 1000-watt HID ... they would seem small and airy in comparison.

I like to cure for no less than one month. Some strains will seem to do fairly well in two weeks, but the longer you can wait the better off you will be. Once after curing a crop of Neville's Haze for a month I started dipping into it and always going to the same jar until it was empty so the rest would cure longer. I had one small jar that had gotten pushed to the back of the long deep drawer they were in. I found it about 6 months after I thought I had finished it all, so it cured for many months longer than the rest, and there was a big difference. What had been great turned into REALLY GREAT.

The decarboxylation process is slow.

Thanks for the tips brick top, its been about a month and im still getting the hayish smell so most likely they wont get to that dank that i want :/ oh well already starting the next grow!