Growing weed with good flavor

I've been growing for a good few years now and I grow some of the best weed for miles where I am.

The only negative I am getting lately is people saying my weed doesn't have as good a flavor as others.

They are covered in crystals, everyone loves the effects that's my only improvement I'm trying to figure out at the moment.

I've ordered in a few new seeds hoping that BOG will do me proud with his strains.

I'm thinking bog blue moon rocks, sweet cindy, bogglegum, and lifesaver as my new go to strains.

Other than switching strains can anyone recommend any natural ways to improve flavor?

I currently grow in hydro with dynagrow nutrients bloom and pro-tekt.

I know there's a few nutrient lines that say they increase flavor and terpines but I could do with some actual experiences with them as they are probably just snake oil.

Cheers

Best thing to do is dry/cure properly...if youre not doing so already.

A steady dry and a good cure helps taste hugely.

Lower temps, or more so temps that are not high(which can hinder terp production)

^ Yes, average genetics that have been cured properly will taste far better than stellar genetics that have been fast dried. The chlorophyll must be broken down or it will mask whatever terpenes are present. It is as easy as taking 10-14 days for your weed to dry to no less than 65% rh. At 65% rh your weed goes in containers for burping that should take another 10-14 days to reduce to 60% rh. If you do this and it still tastes poor, you need different genetics.

Bugeye said:

^ Yes, average genetics that have been cured properly will taste far better than stellar genetics that have been fast dried. The chlorophyll must be broken down or it will mask whatever terpenes are present. It is as easy as taking 10-14 days for your weed to dry to no less than 65% rh. At 65% rh your weed goes in containers for burping that should take another 10-14 days to reduce to 60% rh. If you do this and it still tastes poor, you need different genetics.

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Right I could use some good advice then as due to the amount i harvest I use a trim pro. No way around that unfortunately.

But I would like to improve the rest of my process.

Currently I trim them and then the buds are left on a drying rack for a couple of days turned every so often and then put into jars and when they are moist again I put on rack for another couple of days.

Bare in mind they are already trimmed what is the best way for me to slow the drying process?

George2324 said:

I've been growing for a good few years now and I grow some of the best weed for miles where I am.

The only negative I am getting lately is people saying my weed doesn't have as good a flavor as others.

They are covered in crystals, everyone loves the effects that's my only improvement I'm trying to figure out at the moment.

I've ordered in a few new seeds hoping that BOG will do me proud with his strains.

I'm thinking bog blue moon rocks, sweet cindy, bogglegum, and lifesaver as my new go to strains.

Other than switching strains can anyone recommend any natural ways to improve flavor?

I currently grow in hydro with dynagrow nutrients bloom and pro-tekt.

I know there's a few nutrient lines that say they increase flavor and terpines but I could do with some actual experiences with them as they are probably just snake oil.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Dyna Grow is a good product and makes for some great flowers, but ......

It's all chelated salts. And it needs to be flushed very thoroughly. On top of that it has been proven that plants grown with a highly active rhizosphere, or high microbial activity, contain higher brix levels. Or simply put have more flavor. I would suggest adding beneficial bacteria that are appropriate for your style of growing, and incorporating a sugar to feed that microbial heard.

My suggestion would be to add. Earth Juice catalyst and GreatWhite Myco to your feeding schedule.

Best of luck.
Peace

Gquebed said:

Best thing to do is dry/cure properly...if youre not doing so already.

Click to expand...

I agree, I have really screwed up weed that I had previously had success with so I know it was me not getting it right.
Still this is the phase I continue to
Work at the most.

There is plenty of data out there as far as temp, humidity and timing.
Study that and do your best to emulate it.

However I feel it is art and science in that there are still a ton of variables.

Buds on the same branch are different thickness so they move faster or slower.

Even if you hang individual buds in a room still they will dry at a different rate.

I trim over the coarse of a few days to a week, as a consequence I have to dry and cure in batches.
Meaning daily I pull the next dry batch and move it to a cure phase.

It takes time and resources like jars, bins, bags or whatever you use.
And space to house batches.

My point is dry and cure isn't a freebie
You have to study and PRACTICE it.
Myself included.

Nothing you feed the plant will change this

No experience with hydro, but the best tasting is always organic in my experience.
Anything else I can think of has been stated. Flush with just water before harvest, dry as slowly as possible, and a month or two in jar certainly helps.
Cheers

So if I trim my buds and lay them on a rack in a room and cover them slightly with a dome for example so they dry slower.

I get really big dense buds so my concern was letting them dry too slow would cause mold

George2324 said:

Right I could use some good advice then as due to the amount i harvest I use a trim pro. No way around that unfortunately.

But I would like to improve the rest of my process.

Currently I trim them and then the buds are left on a drying rack for a couple of days turned every so often and then put into jars and when they are moist again I put on rack for another couple of days.

Bare in mind they are already trimmed what is the best way for me to slow the drying process?

Click to expand...

No wonder you have taste issues, you're drying too fast and not curing at all. Your chlorophyll is not breaking down and your pot is going to burn the throat.

You need to change the environmental factors in your drying area, lower the temp or increase the rh such that you slow the process down. If you have to wet trim, then this is all you can do. Very simple really.

I went with 5 gallon sealable containers for my curing this year. Easy as sticking a hygrometer in each one and seeing where the rh is at. Above 65%, they get left out for an hour or two and then back in the containers for another rh reading in a few hours. When they hit that 65%, I start burping twice a day until rh is gets down to 60% and I'm done. Into vacuum sealed glass containers and store in cool dark place until needed.

My drying room is unfortunately in the corner of my flower room, light proof but is around 28c average. Is it better to dry in colder temps than this?

Bugeye said:

No wonder you have taste issues, you're drying too fast and not curing at all. Your chlorophyll is not breaking down and your pot is going to burn the throat.

You need to change the environmental factors in your drying area, lower the temp or increase the rh such that you slow the process down. If you have to wet trim, then this is all you can do. Very simple really.

I went with 5 gallon sealable containers for my curing this year. Easy as sticking a hygrometer in each one and seeing where the rh is at. Above 65%, they get left out for an hour or two and then back in the containers for another rh reading in a few hours. When they hit that 65%, I start burping twice a day until rh is gets down to 60% and I'm done. Into vacuum sealed glass containers and store in cool dark place until needed.

Click to expand...

Ok that helps thanks,

I plan on increasing my humidity to 60% in my flower room in future as I feel it definitely helps with a Co2 grow.

I'll get hygrometer and sealable buckets and start experimenting.

How long do you leave the hygrometer in the bucket before checking the RH to see if you need to dry a bit longer

Edit my bad you said a few hours.

If my temp is 28c should I aim for higher than 60% humidity for drying or would you say 60% is high enough?

George2324 said:

My drying room is unfortunately in the corner of my flower room, light proof but is around 28c average. Is it better to dry in colder temps than this?

Click to expand...

Way too fucking hot, this is your problem. RH and room temp are both factors that need consideration for you to get the slower dry time needed.

George2324 said:

Ok that helps thanks,

I plan on increasing my humidity to 60% in my flower room in future as I feel it definitely helps with a Co2 grow.

I'll get hygrometer and sealable buckets and start experimenting.

How long do you leave the hygrometer in the bucket before checking the RH to see if you need to dry a bit longer

Edit my bad you said a few hours.

If my temp is 28c should I aim for higher than 60% humidity for drying or would you say 60% is high enough?

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You need to dry someplace else! There are charts that have the rh and temp functions for proper drying. I don't have a link to them handy so do some googling, or maybe someone else can post.

I shoot for around 16c-18c or slightly less, and 50-60 rh. I trim wet, and at those temps and rh it takes atleast 10 days before the average and small buds are ready for jar burping.
Honestly dry as slow as you can without mold/mildew issues.

Alright I've found those charts you mentioned. Looks like I'm going to have to find another room to use.

Would the room need an exhaust or could I use a small carbon filter circulating in the room? With a small humidifier

George2324 said:

Alright I've found those charts you mentioned. Looks like I'm going to have to find another room to use.

Would the room need an exhaust or could I use a small carbon filter circulating in the room? With a small humidifier

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Whatever is needed to control temp and rh. Difficult to do without exhaust, imo. Set up the room and see if you can do it without exhaust, you'll know in short order if it is doable.

Good luck, you'll get a huge reward for improving this critical grow element!

I use an exhaust and a small circulation fan not pointed directly at the weed.

Bugeye said:

Whatever is needed to control temp and rh. Difficult to do without exhaust, imo. Set up the room and see if you can do it without exhaust, you'll know in short order if it is doable.

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An exhaust would probably increase my temps in the summer here as it will just pull in warmer air.

I'm thinking of using a small room with a small bathroom exhaust just big enough to keep air fresh and then use an evap cooler to cool the air as well as humidify.

Obviously I've been lacking tremendously so if people think my bud is good now, surely they are gonna be amazed when I start curing properly.

Thanks for all the help guys

Ok as for everyone here sayin drying and curing will fix this.... This may be true but I believe it's strain dependent.

I dry for 5-7 days or so above 70deg and my most flavorful strains taste best after a perfect dry and no more than a week in the jars. I believe it's genetics mostly, if the terpenes and terpenoids aren't there they aren't there.

No amount of curing or drying will make a strain taste good if it isn't a tasty strain to begin with. Maybe better than shit but not good.

Curing makes my smoke smoother and burn great but I believe when u let it go too long, (over a week or two curing) especially on strains that are super fruity and terpy, the buds start to loose the flavor and aroma that I'm looking for.

I grow strains that are super stoney but almost no taste or smell right next to fruity strains, same conditions, same everything really. The flavors don't just "show up" during a cure.

But I do admit if you're getting good taste and smell sometimes and others you're not, it should be in the slow dry process. You are loosing flavor if you dry too fast.