So I have grown my second batch indoors, my plants are absolutely gorgeous, my first one was ready to cut down on Friday the 14th, Gelato was the strain, I put it in dark for 30 hrs, then cut down and hung upside down, however as beautiful as my buds are they don’t have a smell. My drying tent only smells like a plant not a weed plant.
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Have you scoped your trichomes?
“But, what about her trichomes??!” Sorry, please ignore. A joke to myself.
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@gmac my experience has been…what ever smell it had when I harvest is the smell it will keep if cured right…if it did not have a smell at harvest then in my experience it won’t develop one later.
The reason it smells like hay while drying is the chlorophyll leaching out. I have found if you keep your dry time at around ten days with the right humidity and temp that beautiful smell will be noticeable by the end of drying and a week of curing.
@gmac this is because the smell of the terpenes are masked by the smell of the chlorophyll, plant proteins, and sugars being broken down by saprophytic bacteria.
The smell of the terpenes will come back again once everything is dried properly. Just make sure you keep proper airflow and humidity and everything will be right as rain.
It helps if you further allow for the break down in starches and chlorophyll pre harvest by reducing the photoperiod before the dark time. The last week or two cut back to 10/14 (10 on 14 off) a day just like what would happen before harvest outdoor in october/November. This will do 2 things. 1 it will break down more chlorophyll and starches before harvest. 2) it allows for other pigments to come through and helps get that really beautiful fall fade.
Then you just do your dark time as normal then harvest. That grassy hay smell of the chlorophyll and starches being broken down won’t be as strong and won’t last as long and you get the added benefit of extra terpenes because they aren’t off-gasing as long during the light ours. Terpenes are at their peak just before dawn or with indoor just before lights on. This is also what the dark period tries to mimic but I personally find that a reduced photoperiod the last week of flower plus the 24-48 hours dark time really kicks the terpenes into over drive.
Thanks for your insight, the only problem I have with changing my light cycle is that all my plants aren’t coming in at the same time and I only have 1 grow tent, I don’t want to shorten the flowing cycle of plants not ready for harvest, what do I do about that? Thanks in advance