Drying Dummy!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant quite figure out what I'm doing wrong when I'm drying. No matter how long I let my harvest dry when I put it in the jar and it always winds up smelling like hay. My last harvest was Lemon Skunk and Mkage I dried for 9 days at 71 degrees and and a 40% RH. They have been in the jars for 3 or 4 days and every single time I burp them it reeks of the hay smell. WHY?

chopping too early maybe ? i think 40% rh is too low would dry a bit quick,
i hang dry for 5 days in 55 - 60 rh paper bag for a day jars for a week turns out perfect

how would you hang it in a paper bag

lightitsmokeit420 said:

how would you hang it in a paper bag

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Lmao say way i hang it a jar

I personally hang the plants for 3 days, then cut all buds from the stalks and put on a drying screen for 3 more days, then jar it all. It always comes out perfect, only time I have gotten a hay smell was when I had to harvest early. Early harvested plants never seem to get the full smell it should have.

BatCave said:

I personally hang the plants for 3 days, then cut all buds from the stalks and put on a drying screen for 3 more days, then jar it all. It always comes out perfect, only time I have gotten a hay smell was when I had to harvest early. Early harvested plants never seem to get the full smell it should have.

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Cool man, that's a very good possibility I have only been growing for a couple years so I have a lot to learn and I am sometimes impatient. I will have to learn to be a little more patient. I gotta tell ya if it wasn't for this RIU forums I wouldn't know jack shit about growing, you guys have been great help. Thanks.

I have my drying rack hung by a fish scale. I weigh it wet do the calculation for 25% moisture and wait for the scale to reach that number. That is the point where I jar it and place it in a cool dark place and continue to burp.

Drying out too much is almost as bad as leaving too wet IMO

Sir.Ganga said:

I have my drying rack hung by a fish scale. I weigh it wet do the calculation for 25% moisture and wait for the scale to reach that number. That is the point where I jar it and place it in a cool dark place and continue to burp.

Drying out too much is almost as bad as leaving too wet IMO

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That is a very smart way of doing it and it makes alot of sence and I will diffinatly try that, but my question is where do you come up with 25%. Because my buds sure seem to shrink up more than that,lol, but I guess if that works for you then I will give it a go. Thanks man.

leaves are filled with chlorophyl.. that is the stuff that is evil.. smells like hay..

if you trim the leaves before the chlorophyl has evaporated, it will ooze all over the buds.. leaving them to smell like hay for all time...

its a pain in the ass, but wait until they are dry at least a few days before cutting the leaves..

Ummm, I've trimmed most all of my plants before drying, and I never had a hay taste after curing, and how would chlorophyl ooze onto buds from leaves that have already been cut off?

superbaby said:

leaves are filled with chlorophyl.. that is the stuff that is evil.. smells like hay..

if you trim the leaves before the chlorophyl has evaporated, it will ooze all over the buds.. leaving them to smell like hay for all time...

its a pain in the ass, but wait until they are dry at least a few days before cutting the leaves..

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Come on man. I know I've only been growing for a couple years and even I know that's not true. You know I really dont mean to be an ass at all but I know what I'm about to say is going to be mean, so I'm sorry in advance. Its people like you on this forum that is giving bad advice only because you are not that knowledgeable in this field so its like my dad used to tell me if you DONT know then stand back and listen because somebody does and if you listen then you will become just as smart as the person talking. If that makes sense to ya.......If not then I'm sorry.

I am convinced that I have been doing exactly what gogsyc and Batcave has said I get entirely to happy around week 14 or 15 and I get chop happy when I need to start checking my trikes a bit better. Thanks Everyone.

gogsyc said:

chopping too early maybe ? i think 40% rh is too low would dry a bit quick,
i hang dry for 5 days in 55 - 60 rh paper bag for a day jars for a week turns out perfect

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40%rh is ideal. but you can settle for higher rh...it just takes longer to dry/cure

Sir.Ganga said:

I have my drying rack hung by a fish scale. I weigh it wet do the calculation for 25% moisture and wait for the scale to reach that number. That is the point where I jar it and place it in a cool dark place and continue to burp.
Drying out too much is almost as bad as leaving too wet IMO

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the dif is you can't put moisture back into your buds. better to be wet than dry. you can always take the buds out of the jars and dry them out for an extra day. not the case if you overdry.

oldleave53 said:

That is a very smart way of doing it and it makes alot of sence and I will diffinatly try that, but my question is where do you come up with 25%. Because my buds sure seem to shrink up more than that,lol, but I guess if that works for you then I will give it a go. Thanks man.

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you'll lose approx 75% weight to drying not 25%

superbaby said:

leaves are filled with chlorophyl.. that is the stuff that is evil.. smells like hay..
if you trim the leaves before the chlorophyl has evaporated, it will ooze all over the buds.. leaving them to smell like hay for all time...
its a pain in the ass, but wait until they are dry at least a few days before cutting the leaves..

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don't post shit you know nothing about.
1. chlorophyl does not evaporate. it breaks down and it's not evil. the plant needs it. you just can't smoke buds until the chlorophyl has broken down.
2. the misconception that chlorophyl oozes all over anything is ridiculous and you need to start reading actual books on botony and stay away from hyperbole on stoner forumns cuz you sound like an idiot.

oldleave53 said:

Come on man. I know I've only been growing for a couple years and even I know that's not true. You know I really dont mean to be an ass at all but I know what I'm about to say is going to be mean, so I'm sorry in advance. Its people like you on this forum that is giving bad advice only because you are not that knowledgeable in this field so its like my dad used to tell me if you DONT know then stand back and listen because somebody does and if you listen then you will become just as smart as the person talking. If that makes sense to ya.......If not then I'm sorry.

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don't be polite dude. tell it like it is. i'll back you up on this one.

oldleave53 said:

I am convinced that I have been doing exactly what gogsyc and Batcave has said I get entirely to happy around week 14 or 15 and I get chop happy when I need to start checking my trikes a bit better. Thanks Everyone.

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yes...some good advice there. genetics, trich color and receded pistils are all signs harvest window is near.
read ed rosenthal's book...avail on amazon. it explains a lot in very plain english

Mine is also smelling like hay, two weeks in jars now burp once a day, with that said it gets weaker and weaker each day. Bottom line, I smoke it I get stoned. lol


If it winds up smelling better than so be it, if not, I will wait longer to harvest next time.

My tech for this run

*6-7 days hang at 70 degrees 55-60 rh
*1 day papere bag
*then into turkey bags

Then i followed sub's tips for burping
*when flowers are at 70% rh or above, leave open for 30 mins/2x day
*once rh drops below 70%, open 15mins/day; this draws the moisture slowly
*below 65% 15 secs/ 1-2/week

first run in years, but by far the best dry i've ever got!! Flowers are extremely fragrent and never smelled like hay too bad. Hope this helps homie

oldleave53 said:

I cant quite figure out what I'm doing wrong when I'm drying. No matter how long I let my harvest dry when I put it in the jar and it always winds up smelling like hay. My last harvest was Lemon Skunk and Mkage I dried for 9 days at 71 degrees and and a 40% RH. They have been in the jars for 3 or 4 days and every single time I burp them it reeks of the hay smell. WHY?

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Cut main branches and hang.. this is the biggest thing I have done to get the A1 quality I am looking for. I used to trim and manicure and dry then into jars, only to get rock hard crispy hay smelling buds, or spongy hay smelling buds. Now I put in cardboard box to hang for 3 days then jar for 2 days burping with stems and then manicure and jar to burp/cure. Takes about 7 or so days depending on buds to get to jar, few days more then before but I never have hay smell and now only 2 days in the jars from this method my jars are dank smelling that everyone craves. It does get almost hay smelling but in 24 hours the smell is back, where before I could jar for weeks and still hay, its amazing what a few days with leaves on hanging can do for slowing it down and letting it dry evenly and slower.

My RH is 40-50 in the room too, and inducing the card board box with full branches drying slowed it enough to stop hay, people with higher RH can probably dry the way I used to but for me this is the method that HAS to be done for top quality feeling, smelling and tasting buds. PERIOD!

My SageNSour that are now at 58%RH in jars curing from week and half ago harvest.. smell more dank and delicious then any of my previous dry/cure method that has been in jars for months! Sad.. I basically crapped my crops before this method, not ensuring that the last part of your grow is just as important as veg and flower.. sad it took me years to figure this out. Don't let it happen to you.

What do you guys mean by rh?

relative humidity. the amount of moisture air will hold. warmer air holds more moisture.

Hay? I think my cured buds smell like cured doobie. Has to have a smell. After all it was very green when cut. Let hay smell like hay. I've dried and cured dozens of plants and many were clones. They all smelled different when cured. I just fried a bowl so i'm goofy enough to say, Mine smells like milk weed that grew on the east side of a hill with a south wind most of the time. If the hill was smaller it would have smelled like hollyhocks that were stunted due to a wind shear. If none of that happened then they would smell like hay? hahaha Just messin. Sorry.

Get your hands on some elite genetics. Some strains are just bunk.