drying and harshness problem

I have been growing for a while. My problem has been getting a good quality smell and taste to my bud. Typically it smells like hay, and tastes very harsh. The high is great, but I would prefer something that smells and tastes like weed. I bought a hygrometer, and it looks like my drying environment is 70% humid, however my buds tend to dry very fast. I tried a drying box on the last harvest, but same problem. I am considering using a cigar humidot humidifier to add some humidity and get a slower drying. Any input? Thanks.

are u flushing prior to harvest
i find 10 days phed water
bringing the ppms down to like 90ppm
will provide tasty and good smelling weed
i dry on flyscreens
slowly over a week then jar up for a cupla days
back onto rack thjen cure
all the best
bil

After you dry your bud you need to cure it. Once the weed is dry, put it in jars with the lid on and put it in a dark, cool place such as the fridge or a closet. Take the jars out once a day, remove the lid, and let it air out for 15 to 30 minutes. This lets the chlorophyll out that has evaporated from the bud. Chlorophyll makes harsh smoke. Do this for two weeks and your buds should be more to your likeing. If your bud smells like hay it has dried to fast. Don't dry it all the way before cureing it. Drying the bud too fast traps chlorophyll in the plant material. Slowly drying the last of the moisture out in the curing process alows more chlorophyll to escape. I hope this all made sense. Also do a search on this site for cureing bud and there will be more detailed information.

Thanks for the prompt replies. I do both of the above, although a do add a tablespoon of sweet to my flush, and also use clearex a few weeks prior to harvest. I air out my cure for about a half hour a day. I think it has to be that I am drying too fast/drying too much prior to jarring the buds up. I think I will experiment with my next harvest, with taking buds to cure at differrent days, and see which turns out better. Thanks.

Plus it can depend on type of seeds you use, the fertilizer that you use and how much of it you use.

I use earth juice sometimes but has a different taste even when flushed. I mostly use good ole h2o and fish emulsion and end product taste is nice. Strain=dynamite.

Good luck

It's all about the cure. My nugs get 4-6 weeks in jars before anyone gets to em'. I also make sure that I manicure them as good as possible. I spend a lot of time taking off every bit of leaves I can get to on every piece.

You don't say how you are cutting your buds for drying, but if you are cutting into individual buds or sections of branches you might try drying the entire branch or plant as a whole. I personally hang the entire plant whenever possible which increases your drying time several days but provides a nice even dry before curing. I also put them in the cure jars and don't touch them for at least a month and don't put them into the everyday rotation for at least 3 months. Best of luck to you solving your problem.

[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Drying and curing (when done right) have proved (In many studies) to have a major impact on taste and flavour, by breaking down chlorophylls and converting starches into sugars. Most attributes blamed on un-flushed buds may be the result of unbalanced nutrition and/or over fertilization and improper drying/curing.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Pre-harvest flushing puts the plant(s) under serious stress. The plant has to deal with nutrient deficiencies in a very important part of its cycle. Strong changes in the amount of dissolved substances in the root-zone stress the roots, possibly to the point of direct physical damage to them. Many immobile elements are no more available for further metabolic processes. You start losing the fan leaves and damage will show likely on new growth as well.

The grower should react in an educated way to the plant needs. Excessive, deficient or unbalanced levels should be avoided regardless the nutrient source. Nutrient levels should be gradually adjusted to the lesser needs in later flowering. Stress factors should be limited as far as possible. If that is accomplished throughout the entire life cycle, there shouldn’t be any excessive nutrient compounds in the plants tissue. It doesn’t sound likely that you can correct growing errors (significant lower mobile nutrient compound levels) with pre-harvest flushing.

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