How come weed loses its aroma while drying?

Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
thinkingreen said:
I read several papers on Terpene production in trichrome bearing plants and how terpene/terpenoid production has been observed to increase in low light conditions/high sleep cycle temperatures. I like to simulate fall time for the last 2-3 weeks before harvest, cooling the room overall is one of my steps to get the plants where I want. Dark time before cut is also not a myth when it comes to smell if you ask me. If you have problems keeping the RH up like I do, a colder room also helps extend the dry time by a couple of days as I also gradually lower the RH being careful for mould.
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This is quite interesting, could you add some specifics regarding "low light conditions/ high sleep cycle temperatures"

Does the high sleep cycle temp need to be all throughout flowering or just for the last week or so.

Also what is meant by low light? Do you cut the light wattage at the end of flower? Or give plants a 48 hour dark period before chopping? How does this low light manifest itself?

Wouldn't cooling the room overall be the opposite of high sleep cycle temperatures?
 
Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
Update: So I've completed the 7 day whole plant dry. The buds were probably a little too dry at the end (and probably really finished in 5 days), as the rh I measured in the jar after trimming and jarring was about 58. Humidity should be increased to extend drying even further I think. The really interesting part was that immediately after trimming and jarring, the buds smelled really good, exactly the way I wanted them too. However after curing for a day, I noticed that most of the smell had faded and I noticed that hay smell creeping back in. The humidity in the jar did not increase, so I'm not sure what this is all about? It was definitely an improvement over the old method of trimming and drying in 3 or 4 days, but still not quite there. Does this mean I still need to extend the drying period and raise the ambient humidity to retain more of the smell?

What's so strange is that I remember a very successful harvest where the smell was awesome, and I trimmed and dried in my veg room which is totally lit 18 hours out of the day, but also comparatively more humid due to the presence of plants. The constant light didn't seem to matter much. It must've been this humidity that made the smell so good. I don't know, I feel like I'm clutching at straws.

Is it the chlorophyll that's ruining the smell? Or just that the terpenes are being broken down if drying occurs too quickly?
 
M

medical/420

Active Member
Ever since i switched to all natlral/organic growing, my SHIT stinks before harvest , at harvest, after harvest, 4 months in a jar, it only gets sweeter
 
Nay47

Nay47

Active Member
Like jcd said the longer the better i use to trim wet and would always get some shitty smelling bud but if you just make on cut at the base and hqng the hole thing up it should be pretty hard to dry to quick the way i see it is every cut u make on the plant is another iopening for moisture to get out and u dont want it all come out straight away gradually last time my plant took 3andd half weeks to hang dry buut it was a massiv plant like 4and a half foot tree but it smelt like fire and smoked so smooth dont go through all th effort and time of growing it and then rush the final sqtge and fuck it up
 
Whey2Sly

Whey2Sly

Active Member
7days of drying... you can manicure before or after depending on what ya want the mess on the floor or Your hands... (wet-->hands)Dry--->everywhere....
 
Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
I am currently running an experiment with my last plant where I give at 48 hours of continuous darkness before chopping. Some say it increases resin production, some say it doesn't do anything at all. I am doing it because I am hoping it will improve smell and flavor more than actually increase potency. Something about allowing the sugars to dissolve and possible some of the chlorophyll to atrophy before cutting may help the terpenes to come alive. We'll see. I figure giving two more days after all this time can't hurt anything.

I have put a humidifier in my drying room and will hopefully maintain a constant 55-60% RH level. This may seem high but my buds are small and will dry out quickly if adequate humidity isn't maintained. I'm shooting for 7-10 days of drying before trimming.

The one variable which no one seems to agree on is the timing of the final trim and jar. Last time around, I waited until the leaves were relatively crisp and dry and buds were dry to the touch but still had some give to them before trimming and jarring. The stems did not snap when tested, as I believe that this is going too dry unless you have some huge rocket sized buds with a lot of inner moisture content. Trimming at that point was easier than I thought....too easy in fact, which is why I think drying may have gone on too long and wasn't done slowly enough. These leaves did not stick to the buds at all, they sort of flaked off in many cases and I didn't even have to use a scissors for about 30% of them. I could just pull or flick them off. RH content in the jar over the first 24 hrs was about 58-60% which seems on the low side.

So, should the leaves still have some moisture content when the final trim time arrives? What consistency should they be...dry, crisp, limp, droopy, sticky, gooey? There's an art to telling when buds are ready to be jarred and I have not nailed that part yet.
 
U

unknown1231

Well-Known Member
Redoctober said:
Perhaps I am not drying correctly, but when the weed is freshly cut and hung to dry, it seems to lose most of its characteristic aroma, and takes on a wet hay sort of a smell instead. The pot smell doesn't seem to return until a after a week or two of curing. Any reason this happens? or does this mean I'm doing something wrong?
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cutting everything down first locks in the sugars and chlorophyll. If you hang the whole plant the plant cells are able to transfer these things into the stem. Perhaps as a last ditch effort to survive? Pump all the water/food to the stem?
 
Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
Interesting. Maybe this is the basis for the 48 hour dark period as well. Forces the plant into survival mode and transfers sugars out of the leaves and buds, and without light, the chlorophyll may begin to break down. This is just a theory as I have not read any scientific literature on the subject. Perhaps this is why flushing is useful too, something I haven't really been doing lately, probably to my detriment.
 
U

unknown1231

Well-Known Member
flushing is useful to get the nutrients and any salt build up out of the soil. the theory here is that if you leech the soil the plant will start to intake only water and will eat away any stored nutrients. plants that are flushed will not have a 'chemy' taste or the taste of unused nutrients in the buds.
 
M

monkeybones

Well-Known Member
keep the drying area as dark as possible, that is the most important factor in my opinion

if all goes well, most of the time you will get your aroma as soon as you crack open a dry bud. drying before manicuring helps also
 
C

cannabiscultivation

Active Member
Redoctober said:
I am currently running an experiment with my last plant where I give at 48 hours of continuous darkness before chopping. Some say it increases resin production, some say it doesn't do anything at all. I am doing it because I am hoping it will improve smell and flavor more than actually increase potency. Something about allowing the sugars to dissolve and possible some of the chlorophyll to atrophy before cutting may help the terpenes to come alive. We'll see. I figure giving two more days after all this time can't hurt anything.

I have put a humidifier in my drying room and will hopefully maintain a constant 55-60% RH level. This may seem high but my buds are small and will dry out quickly if adequate humidity isn't maintained. I'm shooting for 7-10 days of drying before trimming.

The one variable which no one seems to agree on is the timing of the final trim and jar. Last time around, I waited until the leaves were relatively crisp and dry and buds were dry to the touch but still had some give to them before trimming and jarring. The stems did not snap when tested, as I believe that this is going too dry unless you have some huge rocket sized buds with a lot of inner moisture content. Trimming at that point was easier than I thought....too easy in fact, which is why I think drying may have gone on too long and wasn't done slowly enough. These leaves did not stick to the buds at all, they sort of flaked off in many cases and I didn't even have to use a scissors for about 30% of them. I could just pull or flick them off. RH content in the jar over the first 24 hrs was about 58-60% which seems on the low side.

So, should the leaves still have some moisture content when the final trim time arrives? What consistency should they be...dry, crisp, limp, droopy, sticky, gooey? There's an art to telling when buds are ready to be jarred and I have not nailed that part yet.
Click to expand...
Left in dark for a solid week once. such a very sweet pleasing smell. plant lightened and smelled dreamy...
 
U

unknown1231

Well-Known Member
Redoctober said:
Update: So I've completed the 7 day whole plant dry. The buds were probably a little too dry at the end (and probably really finished in 5 days), as the rh I measured in the jar after trimming and jarring was about 58. Humidity should be increased to extend drying even further I think. The really interesting part was that immediately after trimming and jarring, the buds smelled really good, exactly the way I wanted them too. However after curing for a day, I noticed that most of the smell had faded and I noticed that hay smell creeping back in. The humidity in the jar did not increase, so I'm not sure what this is all about? It was definitely an improvement over the old method of trimming and drying in 3 or 4 days, but still not quite there. Does this mean I still need to extend the drying period and raise the ambient humidity to retain more of the smell?

What's so strange is that I remember a very successful harvest where the smell was awesome, and I trimmed and dried in my veg room which is totally lit 18 hours out of the day, but also comparatively more humid due to the presence of plants. The constant light didn't seem to matter much. It must've been this humidity that made the smell so good. I don't know, I feel like I'm clutching at straws.

Is it the chlorophyll that's ruining the smell? Or just that the terpenes are being broken down if drying occurs too quickly?
Click to expand...
No kidding, the exact same thing happened to me! I'm letting my next girl hang for at least 10 days, probably closer to 14 before trim and jar. My recent hang was 7 days and then trim and jar, and sure enough in 24 hrs i had the green smell :/ It IS getting better as I dry the buds more but definitely should've left it hanging longer. I just cut my next girl yesterday so will let ya know in 2 weeks how its looking!
 
Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
Update: Last plant. Chopped the entire plant last night after 72 hours continuous darkness; hung it intact, upside down. Didn't trim any leaves. Put a humidifier in the room with a fan blowing indirect air. Humidity is about 55-58%. I'm considering even bumping it up to 60%. Trying to time it so that drying takes 10 days. When I turn on a flashlight I can see the humidity in the air which is a good thing. The leaves are already feeling a little dry after only 24 hours so I think I might need to raise the RH slightly.
 
Canibitual

Canibitual

Well-Known Member
er0senin said:
the most important is that you start drying when buds are mature alrdy. ofc it will be less harsh with more days to dry but 3 days is ok imo. the rest is fixed while cureing anyways :). a Tip is to hangdry the whole plant with leaves and all and trim after its dry so that it dryes up slower :). also its less time consuming and easyer to trim a dry plant. best regards :)
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you hit it on the head... I suspect he didn't hang the whole plant to dry...

50% humidity is good, and a fan blowing either directly (on low) or indirectly (against a wall first) is fine... but leave the leaves on... it keeps it from drying out too fast... and Make sure it's ABSOLUTELY DRY before trimming... otherwise you'll make it smell like wet hay again... an extra day of drying will not hurt as long as the room humidity is 50%
 
Redoctober

Redoctober

Well-Known Member
ledgrowing said:
smellsike hay you picked earley
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This is the only possible factor left that I can think of because I still have a hay smell on that one strain. It definitely looked ready though when I examined it. Mostly cloudy trichs with a few ambers and a few clears. This is when I usually harvest, but I am going to go double check right now because its still a bit spongy and I think I'll be able to tell. It's an unknown clone of a strain that I got from a friend. I think it's chemdog but I can't be sure. Do strains lose their smell over time? This clone has been perpetuated for anywhere from 2-4 years.
 
polyarcturus

polyarcturus

Well-Known Member
yo dude... you harvested too early, end of story. no genetic thing, im not saying you didnt see cloudy trichs, but that shit is deceiving(thats why i dont buy into all these "methods" to tell when a plant is done), experience is a teacher next time giver her more time.
 
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