Advice On What Not To Do 2nd Time Around

[unkied]

Hi. It's been 1 year since I did my first grow, 4 White Widow Fems. I learned a LOT - some good some bad. First the good: All 4 girls grew up big fat and happy. Got just shy of 470g dry.

Now the bad: The weed tasted like shite. I mean bad. I mean unsmokable bad. The buzz is great, as advertised, but... crap! Take a pinch of steel wool, stuff it in the bowl, light it and pull. Yup. Almost that bad (I imagine, having never tried smoking steel wool). Truth be told, 1 plant actually was smokable, piney taste, a little harsh but smokable. (Note its wasn't a total loss, I figured out a great way to make the stuff virtually tasteless and made some kick-butt cannabutter).

So, you might guess why I'm here now. I just started a new grow, this time Cali OG Kush/Haze. I DEFINITELY don't want to screw up again. It's too much work (and stress). It's now week 4 since planted in FFOF, and so far I have given only straight ph'ed water.

I know there are at least 2 things that contributed to the "failure" last year. Improper harvesting and improper flushing. Not sure what else or which is the most likely cause - guessing probably both.

I had a big long write-up on the details of how & what I did last grow, but I think I will just wait and let you ask me the questions, so I don't end up dumping a bunch of unneeded or impertinent details on you all.

Hoping somebody would be generous enough to work with me a bit on what I should do this time around, before it's too late.

 

[BobbyZ]

I have grown that calioghaze. I got huge buds from it. And some of the best tasting and smelling weed. That is a very good strain...
Start a journal and I'll see if I can help. A journal is the best way to get the best help. And yes, you must post photos for accurate advice. Good luck.

 

[Stunned]

What do you suspect you did to harm the harvest?
Drying or curing?

 

[BobbyZ]

Did you cure that bad tasting WW? Why do you think the flavor is off?

 

[pontiacman]

It's in your drying and curing process. How do you dry and what duration? How do you cure? Paper sacks, mesh trays, glass jars?

More info on your process needed......

 

[vyserage]

Those buds look great, sounds like its very likely as everyone else is saying (the cure). In what way did you cure exactly? The cure is the most important part after harvest. Without cureing you get left with mediocre stuff

 

[Liquidintel]

Hello, I'm interested in trying to help, Posting to keep watch, looking forward to getting a bit more info on the cure process.

 

[pontiacman]

Here's what I do:

Slow dry in dark room, hanging from the ceiling on coat hangers. 16" fan pointed at a wall, just to keep air moving. Rh at around 40-50% and temps of 62-72 degrees. 7 to 10 days to dry. Go longer if it permits.

Cure in glass ball jars, with boveda packs 62%.
Keep in the dark for minimum of 30 days.

Smooth as silk....

 

[vyserage]

Since i dont control my temps and they range in the 80's and mid 70's at night (now its winter so its even colder), i place a small fan in the corner of my closet directly next to the humidifier. The small fan blows straight up so it blows that mist even higher up into the closet (probably helps cool a couple degrees too, who knows). My humidifier is set at 65%. I have the fan/humidifier in opposite corner furthest from bud cause you don't want air hitting the buds, it'll dry them too fast. Optional: buy 2 hygrometers and place one at top of closet and 1 down as low as the buds are hanging or close to it. Then you can see where the RH stands at the top vs near bottom of closet and adjust your humidifier if need be.

The very first day i have closet door open 4 inches. A day later 2 inches. A day later completely closed. By day 4 or 5 they would be ready to dry trim. To buy myself an extra day or 2 at most to give me time to trim and not over dry the other buds, i would place them into a cardboard box with the lid closed and back into the closet. I placed a hygrometer (a humidity reader) inside the box just to be sure the RH was high and it went up to 70% which was perfect in my case cause i wanted to buy that extra day or 2. A day later and the hygrometer was already down to like 66% so in the cardboard box they sweat out fast (the moisture deeper inside the bud).

For curing if you want the best results, you want to get your bud inside a mason jar and the RH inside the jar should be at 65% and as low as 60% (62% ideal, which you can buy boveda humidipak's that slow release moisture inside the jar at the perfect 62% zone, i use these every grow with great results). If you buy a single hygrometer and place it into a jar, you can check it an hour later to see if its greater than 71% which is the danger zone for mold and means you need to let them dry more outside of jars. Usually in that case if i find i jarred it up too soon, ill place the jar's bud onto a drying rack for 2-4 hours and try again.
60%-65% perfect cure zone where your bud will continue to gain aroma and potency?. This is where those humidipak's come in handy and keep those buds at 62% all the time.
55%-59% you quite low and in danger of ending the process that goes on with the buds. at 55% the cure is over and nothing will bring it back. You can re-hydrate buds but miss out on the good curing.

 

[unkied]

Hi everybody. Wow, bigger response than I expected. Thanks.
I did cure the plants the best I could, as close to conventional methods as possible. My grow is in a detached heated garage. After harvest and trimming, I hung the plants inside my grow tent as can be seen in the pic in my original post. The temperature was around 65-75, humidity was maybe 30%. Temp and humidity is an ongoing struggle for me; I planned on creating a second post on this topic. Anyhow, the buds hung for 4-5 days, until the branches were brittle. I then placed them in mason jars with Boveda packs.

I will say that the buds never really smelled good either, but more like hay. I assumed the cure would solve that. It did not. As of this writing, about 9 months since I started cure, they still smell funky, like hay, and taste as described in my original post.

I am not sure if the cure is really that sensitive to temp and humidity, and that is the cause, or if its the fertilizers and lack (I guess) of proper flushing. Or both. The plants were in 5 gal smart pots, and the only times I did a flush was when I had problems with what looked like leaf burn or some nutrient lock-out; it wasn't, and the problem resolved itself. As mentioned I grow in a detached garage with no easy access to running water, so its kind of a PIA having to haul 5 gal buckets with water from the house to the garage (esp. in the winter here in the north woods). I use a plastic crate (like rubbermaid) inverted on a 5 gal bucket as my "sink" and place the plant on top to flush. I will say that the last week or so before harvest I did a"final" flush, and measuring runoff when I started the PPM's were in the 1200 to 1400 range, and after flushing, the PPMs were in the 200's.

 

[Bilbobudkin420]

Hmm could be the flush then or they were too dry when you jarred. I dry until theres a crack when you bend a branch but it doesn't break and then trim and jar it up.

Hi everybody. Wow, bigger response than I expected. Thanks.
I did cure the plants the best I could, as close to conventional methods as possible. My grow is in a detached heated garage. After harvest and trimming, I hung the plants inside my grow tent as can be seen in the pic in my original post. The temperature was around 65-75, humidity was maybe 30%. Temp and humidity is an ongoing struggle for me; I planned on creating a second post on this topic. Anyhow, the buds hung for 4-5 days, until the branches were brittle. I then placed them in mason jars with Boveda packs.

I will say that the buds never really smelled good either, but more like hay. I assumed the cure would solve that. It did not. As of this writing, about 9 months since I started cure, they still smell funky, like hay, and taste as described in my original post.

I am not sure if the cure is really that sensitive to temp and humidity, and that is the cause, or if its the fertilizers and lack (I guess) of proper flushing. Or both. The plants were in 5 gal smart pots, and the only times I did a flush was when I had problems with what looked like leaf burn or some nutrient lock-out; it wasn't, and the problem resolved itself. As mentioned I grow in a detached garage with no easy access to running water, so its kind of a PIA having to haul 5 gal buckets with water from the house to the garage (esp. in the winter here in the north woods). I use a plastic crate (like rubbermaid) inverted on a 5 gal bucket as my "sink" and place the plant on top to flush. I will say that the last week or so before harvest I did a"final" flush, and measuring runoff when I started the PPM's were in the 1200 to 1400 range, and after flushing, the PPMs were in the 200's.

 

[BobbyZ]

How old were your seeds?
What nutes did you use?
Did you look around your grow area for things that may have contaminated the environment?
It could be that you got some poor genetics. Who are the seeds from?
You can always turn it into oil...
Check out the refrigerator cure also.

 

[unkied]

How old were your seeds?
What nutes did you use?
Did you look around your grow area for things that may have contaminated the environment?
It could be that you got some poor genetics. Who are the seeds from?
You can always turn it into oil...
Check out the refrigerator cure also.

Hi Bobby, the seeds were purchased from Crop King and planted right away. They sprouted perfectly (used the moist towel method) and were then planted in 4" pots with typical seed starting mix. Subsequently transplanted to FFOF with no amendments.

For nutes I used a variety of things. During veg, I used a very weak solution of Jacks 20-20-20, and maybe every 10 -15 days I gave them a drink of Maxicrop seaweed (soluble powder). I also occasionally gave them a foliar spray of Maxicrop - every plant I have ever grown (veggies, others) Loves Maxicrop. I fed every other time I watered. I checked both PH and PPM before watering every time, with the PH right around 6.3, and never exceeded 600PPM total. During flower, I gradually cut way back on Jacks, and switched to Flora Bloom. I also used a small bit of African Violet food 8-17-9 maybe every 4th feeding. At one point maybe midway through flower I also gave them a tea made with Dr. Earth Flower Girl Bud Bloom Booster. I may have given them a shot of Epsom Salts at one point when I was worried about some minor discoloration on leaves.

The room is clean, it's a fairly new, well insulated, radiant floor heated garage which is basically just used for storage, so I'm pretty sure there was no unusual contamination.

The air in the grow tent was clean I am pretty sure, just a mix of fresh outdoor air (cold outdoor air) and air from the room.

As for what I'm doing with that crop, 1 girl did produce smoke that is actually smokable - cautiously. I got around 5oz from her. As for the others, I figured I would use them in edibles but given how horrible they tasted and smelled, I was hesitant. I then stumbled on the topic of water curing; I think that was spawned by a video I watched where a guy, demonstrating how to make cannabutter, recommended that beforehand, soak the weed in water for 48 hours. It supposedly removes the "pot" taste. I said "hmm" and googled further and discovered that water curing really is a thing. So I tried it. I have a 1 gallon jar (like used for commercial jars of pickles, mayo, etc). I put 2oz of weed in the jar, fill it to the top with distilled water and let it sit 24 hrs. 24 hours later, the water is dark, mucky brown. Pour out the water, refill, wait 24 hours. Rinse, repeat for 7 full days. By day 7 the water was clear. I set the pot on a screen to dry. The buds had turned turd-brown, and shrunk to half their original size. I thought Great! No more nasty smoke. Wrong. Nasty still, but not so much. The GOOD news is the cannabutter I made knocked my socks off, and the butter had 0 (zero) cannabis taste or smell. More like peanut butter crossed with some other nutty but dank flavor. I've made two batches thus far and exactly same great results. A one inch square brownie will put ya on another planet.

I'll check out refrigerator cure.

So, I guess I am back to my original worry(s). What should I be doing different with my new crop? I KNOW this is a loaded question since there are as many "right" ways as there are growers. They are now 38 days since sprouting, are in the tent, planted in Ocean Forest to which I mixed in a little lime (last crop I noticed the runoff PH was always a bit high (low 7s)). They have been given nothing but straight PH'ed water and once a week last few weeks a foliar spray of the Maxicrop. They look ok. Well, 2 look great, 1 is a little stunted (but was that way since seedling) and 1 that I think is an ?? Alien ?? More on that in another post when I get a chance to get a picture.

 

[Calvados]

Didn't read all the way through so not sure if you mentioned bud washing. Aside from the hygiene it makes it a smoother smoke.

Bud Washing

 

[unkied]

Didn't read all the way through so not sure if you mentioned bud washing. Aside from the hygiene it makes it a smoother smoke.

Bud Washing

Yeah, I can be too long winded sometimes (most time I am told). I did do a "wash", a.k.a; water cure. Like you say the claim is smoother smoke, all nasties removed. It is supposed to be an alternative to conventional drying and curing. Those who do it claim its great, and the smoke is more potent; really its just that the buds get compressed and hard, concentrating the trichomes. In my case I did it post-dry/cure to try to salvage otherwise unsmokeable stuff. It kinda worked, was definitely less harsh, but as mentioned in other post, I ended up making canna butter with it, which came out great.

 

[BobbyZ]

Switch strains... I sure I don’t have to tell you.

 

[unkied]

Switch strains... I sure I don’t have to tell you.

I did. I am growing Cali OG Kush/Haze this time. Am I to understand you think White Widow has bad taste/harshness? That surprises me a little. I chose that strain last time because I had no clue what I was doing , and it seemed to be super popular and was reported to give the kind of high I was looking for.

 

[BobbyZ]

My WW wasn’t bad, but I can’t say it was anything special.
Now I do like that COGH. I had great success running FFOS and FF trio nutes. I wish you could smell a jar of it!
Are you comfortable posting photos? Start a journal, it will help dial your grow in and help avoid wasting some time and missteps. Looks like you did good, something just went sideways on you.

 

[MrSauga]

Am I to understand you think White Widow has bad taste/harshness?

I hope you figure out what went wrong. I had the CKS WW Fems and they turned out delicious. Fat sticky colas that smell awesome and give the high I was expecting.
I used 7gal fab pots, MegaCrop nutes and that was it. Didn't flush, fed right up til harvest. Fridge dried then cured in turkey bags. Awesome.

 

[Calvados]

Yeah, I can be too long winded sometimes (most time I am told). I did do a "wash", a.k.a; water cure. Like you say the claim is smoother smoke, all nasties removed. It is supposed to be an alternative to conventional drying and curing. Those who do it claim its great, and the smoke is more potent; really its just that the buds get compressed and hard, concentrating the trichomes. In my case I did it post-dry/cure to try to salvage otherwise unsmokeable stuff. It kinda worked, was definitely less harsh, but as mentioned in other post, I ended up making canna butter with it, which came out great.

It doesn't replace anything. It's done at harvest before you hang them.