Why does my cured bud taste crappy?

[xthursdayx]

Hi all, about three months ago I finished up a grow of some Mephisto Genetics Sour Stomper autoflower plants. The buds are covered in trichomes and smell fantastic, but when smoked they taste basically like schwag/low grade "dirt" weed. Any idea why this might be or what I should change?

For context, I was growing in 5-gallon fabric pots with Pro-Mix HP, under 240w LED QBs, used Greenleaf Mega Crop nutrients, flushed during the last week, and had no nutrient deficiencies or other problems during the grow. I may have allowed the buds to get too dry during the initial drying before curing, but I added humidity packets to keep my curing jars at ~55-60% RH.

 

[Pbass]

HIya xthursdayx I'm not much of a connoisseur myself, if it's mine and it gets me high I'm happy! After the first hit off a fresh bowl it pretty much all tastes the same to me anyway. I have 5 strains to choose from atm...some of it tastes better than others, but it all works!

We've all heard (and many swear by) that flushes before harvest helps but I don't bother I want my girls sucking up the go juice right to the end. I have a tendancy to do what I want not what is suggested! I'd guess it's possible the too dry scenario locked in some flavor which I think becomes unfixable by adding humidity back...some big pot brain will chime in soon to expound I'm sure.

Does it get you high?

 

[TurboBucket]

Dried too fast. You can't restart the cure once you have dried too far and stopped it.

 

[xthursdayx]

Dried too fast. You can't restart the cure once you have dried too far and stopped it.

Thanks, that's kind of what I figured.

And yes, Pbass, it definitely does the job, so I'm not too upset about it. Just wondering what I could do on future grows to improve the final flavor. It smells so good that it's a shame more of that flavor doesn't transfer to the smoke.

 

[Quality G]

Mine will be dew down in few weeks any tip for curing/dry should I hang full plant upside down or just branches and should I have fresh air circulating

 

[Pbass]

So many ways to do it Quality G just read up and choose what looks most interesting. I cut mine into sticks, let hang till the buds just break off the stems...not snap like dried tinder and fall to the ground, not bend and almost break, but just break. Of course I check for this every day after say the 3rd day hanging. Then I cut them down, pop them into jars and burp them. I've done it in the dark or light, I don't think it mattered. I don't bother with all the scientific stuff like RH or humidity packs, just pop in the jars and burp regularly.

I also don't use a fan, I think less circulation is better. I dried some in my flower room with fan, they dried quicker, I think I pulled them in about 5 days hanging. Almost maybe close to too dry already.

 

[TurboBucket]

I hang the whole plants upside down in the tent 50-55%rh ≈70°f. It usually takes about two weeks for mine to dry out. Small oscillating fan pointed at the floor to stir the air around a bit.

The more full of plant material the space is the longer it will take to dry.

 

[scrogster]

I hang dry up to 4-5 days then jsr with 62% humidity packs no prob. Here

 

[xthursdayx]

Dried too fast. You can't restart the cure once you have dried too far and stopped it.

Thanks, that's kind of what I figured.

And yes, Pbass, it definitely does the job, so I'm not too upset about it. Just wondering what I could do on future grows to improve the final flavor. It smells so good that it's a shame more of that flavor doesn't transfer to the taste.

 

[xthursdayx]

I hang the whole plants upside down in the tent 50-55%rh ≈70°f. It usually takes about two weeks for mine to dry out. Small oscillating fan pointed at the floor to stir the air around a bit.

The more full of plant material the space is the longer it will take to dry.

This was about the same environment I dried mine in, but in a closet rather than my tent. I ended up going about a week because the smaller branches/stems were still quite pliable, but when I took them down to trim I found that the buds were much drier than expected. Once in a jar my hygrometer was reading around 40-45% RH. Next time I guess I'll go around 4-5 days and see how it works out.

 

[Althegardener2]

Also try looking up the 'lo and slow' methods here in the forums as well as Sweet Sue's stuff, including paper bags in the fridge for the first drying stage. I just cured my first Amnesia using the fridge, then into jars. Retains all the terpenes and so forth and the taste is superb. Look on her threads.

 

[Hdinkleman]

flushing is for toilets

 

[EhCndGrower]

I did my first grow and dried it in my tent on a mesh drying rack. I too ran into some of my buds drying way too fast. I just finished my 2nd grow and tried the paper bag slow dry method and everything seem to work great. The buds look yummy and smell pretty great already after about 4-7 since being placed in their new mason jar homes in the basement. Bought a few of them small electric humidity readers and all my jars are sitting between 58-62% They really haven’t budged more than 1-2 points up or down but always between that 58-62 marking. Will fore sure be using the paper bag method going forward

 

[Hdinkleman]

too fast dry

 

[Barney86]

flushing is for toilets

Yup, slowly but surely the world is realising

 

[xthursdayx]

flushing is for toilets

Yup, slowly but surely the world is realising

I've heard that and I've also heard otherwise... Based on anecdotal reports like this, I figured it was worth flushing/watering with plain pH-ed water for the last week at least. I know that there is often a lot of unfounded "bro science" used to justify flushing, so wasn't convinced by that, but anecdotal reports from folks who have tried both flushing and not made it seem worthwhile to me.

 

[Nunyabiz]

I dry mine wet trimmed in 68 degree temp and 55 to 60% humidity in the dark.
Usually takes 10 to 14 days to get it to where if I jar it the humidity will settle between 60 to 65.
I check jars with hygrometers burping as needed until they stabilize as close to 62% as I can which usually takes another week then toss in a 62% Boveda pack.
I usually don't start smoking a harvest until at least 2 months after.
And it doesn't get good until at least 7 to 9 months cured.
I keep the jars in insulated boxes in the most temperature stable room in the house that stays within a degree of 70 at all times.

If you dry too quickly or if you had a nitrogen toxicity in flower then it could taste grassy.

 

[SmokingWings]

My basic drying method or system.

The buds are left on the sticks and stems and put in paper bags till dry to the point where the stems have that soft snap, usually about a week. Could be a day or two shorter or longer depending on the ambient humidity.

At this point the buds and stems are put into a large Mason canning or similar jar with a good sealing lid. The jars are opened once a day for the next month. Then I move the jar to the other shelf, put a humidity pack in the jar and close the lid. I might or might not take the buds off the stems.

Every now and then I will open the jar and make sure that nothing has happened. If the buds feel properly dried and smell right the lid goes back on the the jar. The jar is moved down the shelf.

Every jar is labeled with the name code of the plant and pertinent dates. These are the date the plant was harvested and the date the contents were considered bag dry and put in a jar. I can back track the name of the plant and get the dates of seed planting or the clone was cut, every time it was transplanted to a larger pot and then the date the plant was moved into the flowering cabinet.

On occasion I have rolled up a sample on the day the buds go from the bag to the jar or on the day the first stage of jar cure is done and I am putting the humidity pack in but this has happened twice in the past two years. For the most part it is like @Nunyabiz describes in the earlier msg.

This part I really go along with.

I usually don't start smoking a harvest until at least 2 months after.
And it doesn't get good until at least 7 to 9 months cured.

I have jars that have been on the far end of the shelving since October of 2017.
One jar is the mother plant and a smaller jar contains the buds that came off of the plants that grew from the cuttings/clones I had taken.

Every now and then I will take some of the buds from one of the many jars on the shelves and put it into a much smaller canning/jelly jar. Then it comes upstairs where it sits in a dresser drawer, labeled of course. These are the jars that I open and roll from. I now have enough of a selection that I will rotate the strain every 2 to 4 days. I might roll up a Blue Dream or two and then when I finish those in the next several days I will then roll up something from a Papaya or one of the other strains.

Kinda long and a lot of typing but it is my way of doing a good cure. One of the big reasons I quit smoking weed back in the mid 1980s was that I could not get anything that was properly dried. It was just over dried and packed in kilo bundles just as soon as someone figured they could get away with it. It was harsh, burned hot, tasted like dried grass clippings off the lawn or worse and the high or buzz was getting worthless. Even the higher priced stuff was not much better.

Good day outside, enjoy it if you can.

 

[Elvin]

Hi all, about three months ago I finished up a grow of some Mephisto Genetics Sour Stomper autoflower plants. The buds are covered in trichomes and smell fantastic, but when smoked they taste basically like schwag/low grade "dirt" weed. Any idea why this might be or what I should change?

For context, I was growing in 5-gallon fabric pots with Pro-Mix HP, under 240w LED QBs, used Greenleaf Mega Crop nutrients, flushed during the last week, and had no nutrient deficiencies or other problems during the grow. I may have allowed the buds to get too dry during the initial drying before curing, but I added humidity packets to keep my curing jars at ~55-60% RH.

Get a percolator bong (they have glass disks with small holes that "percolate" the smoke and water) and it will make it smokable.
I grew some White Widow auto (carpet of trichomes and smelled like citrus, but was harsh once dry) and I could not stand the taste with my normal beaker bong but the other one made it taste so much better.
Generally, I find lower temps, which prolongs the time it takes to dry (maybe that helps the chlorophyll to break down; I'm just guessing here) works better.
90 days in a jar will always taste better than the day you jar them up by-the-way.
Also, the maturity of the plant helps; more mature buds taste better and that is something photos have over autos especially if one is going for a quick crop with that auto and you plan to chop ASAP and then dry quickly