Question about the smell

No drying period at all? Don't put wet buds into a jar.

better dry a little to prevent mold. GL

Sorry, I forgot to say that I kept them hanging 4 days in cardboard boxes to dry up.

4 days is not long enough.Is your box vented or have a fan?When drying buds you want about 50% humidity(70°f)for a slow even dry process.

You did not dry for long enough, IMO don't use a cardboard box, use a rack, and fan in a dark room.
When the stems snap easily, then you can start to cure.
GL

4 days is just about long enough so if you were to quick dry it the rest of the way (DON"T DO IT, I"M JUST SAYING HYPOTHETICALLY), it would taste pretty good (relative to quick drying fresh cut).

It's not dry enough to go into the jar though. Since the buds are already cut up and manicured, put them on some newspapers and cover it with some more newspapers for a few days.

PS: maybe you could quick dry a tiny popcorn bud and smoke it

Good thing the jars were open or you'd have totally cut them off from air and killed the cure completely. I've seen some newer growers totally ruin their harvest by sealing it in an airtight bag too early... then my dealer (who was buying from him) didn't want to buy his crap for the same price as before it was sealed and ruined!

Put the jars in a brown paper bag.

Put the jar in a cupboard (a dark place).

Open the jar every few hours (to let out moisture).

Do this for a week or so.

Then once a day for a week or so after that.

Hello,

thanks for the advices. The humidity in the cardboard boxes was 50-55%. They had small holes for ventilation. I've read that when they are at 55% I should put them inside jars and burp them. I just couldn't burp even tho I left them inside a box. I am in no hurry. I will wait to see if they are ok . Someone said that the hay smell will go away after one month.

How are they doing?

Learn to harvest at peak maturity rather then guessing or being impatient,learn to dry properly in a dark room,65-75°F & 60-65% RH.Do a dry trim rather then wet trim,hang whole plant to dry for 5-7 days,then breakdown individual branchez to dry an additional 3-5 days or until stems snap,then trim,nugget up,paper bag em to sweat evenly,let breath,jar em with a mini hygrometer making sure the RH in the jar doesn't get above 65% and no lower than 55%.

Read Simon's A Perfect Cure Everytime thread....