First harvest smells like hay

  • Thread starter SaltyJane
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SaltyJane

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Hello all!
I did my first harvest yesterday. It’s hanging in a dark closet, humidity is 52%. It smelled strong when I hung it at 4:00pm yesterday, and today the closet smells like hay. What did I do wrong?
Please advise. Thanks
 
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Moshmen

Moshmen

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First off be patient the hay smell will go away with proper dry and cure 52 is a little low but will work just fine what your temp? Around 65/70 works good for me - let them hang and dry until the outside feels a little crispy dried and the stems snap or break not bend .I guess this would take 5/6 days with your buds Then get ya jar for the cure
 
Moshmen

Moshmen

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Also there seems to be a lot of tan leaves left on ? I know some guys dry the whole plant I personally do not , I remove all fans and most bigger sugar leaves then dry trim before curing
 
Moe.Red

Moe.Red

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I *think* that the hay smell is typically the degradation of chlorophyll, a necessary process. It's sorta like when you cut the grass, at first there is a strong smell (some of which believe it or not is the grass's way of signaling distress and trying to summon beneficial insects) and then it just turns to that hay smell as the blades cook in the sun and dry out.

If it stays this way, you may have a problem.

Also, you don't mention temps. If you are below 70*F, generally terpenes are not excited and do not gas off at a high rate. This is actually a good thing at this point.
 
Shaded_One

Shaded_One

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Also there seems to be a lot of tan leaves left on ? I know some guys dry the whole plant I personally do not , I remove all fans and most bigger sugar leaves then dry trim before curing

You dry the whole plant when you are dealing with low RH - helps slow the moisture loss 🤙
 
2Bad

2Bad

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I dried at 55% humidity and 69f. It took me two weeks . You should be good. Your smell might not even come back. Not all strains smells come back depends how good of bud it is. But it shouldn't smell like ass once you dry and cure it. Where/how is your fan circulating? I keep a fan outside faced toward my closet oscillating back n forth so no extra dry spots.
 
Almostthere

Almostthere

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In my opinion it is from to high of temps. Anything above 70 and u will get hay smell. 69 is to close to my liking. 60-65 temp ideally 60 and 60%humidity. Slow cool dry for the win. 2 weeks it should take.
 
Johnlandy420

Johnlandy420

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From my experience it was hard to dry til break not bend. Slower is better but every time I take it that far the buds are too crispy. (Wet trimmer so yes I know) . I pull at 5 days and burp extra the first week. Terps come back for me at about week 2 cure.
 
D

dean1963

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i agree with moe. that's the smell of chlorophyll breaking down.
anyway you could up the RH a bit?
everything i've read says 62 and 62 for a perfect dry.
my 1 and only crop (so far) turned out fantastic at those numbers or so i've been told
 
Buzzzz

Buzzzz

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Hello all!
I did my first harvest yesterday. It’s hanging in a dark closet, humidity is 52%. It smelled strong when I hung it at 4:00pm yesterday, and today the closet smells like hay. What did I do wrong?
Please advise. Thanks
Persistance of aromatic principles is genetic and shelf life is too,sometimes it comes on a bit after cure.
 
Madbud

Madbud

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Its probably those two hanging right of middle. You trimmed them more, cutting all the leaves, its like mowing a lawn. I let the leaves dry then trim before jarring. Don’t cut leaves, stems only and there is no hay smell.
Image

Edit: get a scale to weigh a couple of those branches. When they stop losing weight they will be dry enough to jar and cure.
 
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SmokinJo421

SmokinJo421

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Dried to fast? That's what I thought my problem was on my first harvest too
You gotta slow roll that shit man, keep the closet door slightly cracked and have an oscillating fan on the opposite side of the room the closets on and have the fan pointed toward the wall & oscillating.
Be patient. Also keep in mind how wet the pots were when you cut, and how much foliage you have on the branched.
Looks like you still had a few big ones still.
Check out Medical Growers Bible by Jorge Cervantes it's a te changer I swear
 
SmokinJo421

SmokinJo421

315
43
Hello all!
I did my first harvest yesterday. It’s hanging in a dark closet, humidity is 52%. It smelled strong when I hung it at 4:00pm yesterday, and today the closet smells like hay. What did I do wrong?
Please advise. Thanks
Also when ur drying you can hang the plant with the branch holding it on the hanger.
 
S

Sameperson775

37
18
Hello all!
I did my first harvest yesterday. It’s hanging in a dark closet, humidity is 52%. It smelled strong when I hung it at 4:00pm yesterday, and today the closet smells like hay. What did I do wrong?
Please advise. Thanks
Congrats on the first harvest. Shoot for 60°f and 60% humidity with at least 10 days of dry time. That's ideal, do what you can and just have patience. I'm in nevada I dry in a tent @ 68°f and 50% humidity and I can get a good 14 day slow dry done still. I don't have a fan in the dry tent at all, my intake to my seedling tent pulls from the dry tent so it is a very mellow air exchange.
 
K

Knight

8
3
Hello all!
I did my first harvest yesterday. It’s hanging in a dark closet, humidity is 52%. It smelled strong when I hung it at 4:00pm yesterday, and today the closet smells like hay. What did I do wrong?
Please advise. Thanks
Buy some clothes pins for hanging. You can increase the humidity by wetting a rag, dish towel, etc. and leaving it on a pan or bowl on
the floor. For me I could increase the RH about 2 to 5 percent with a partially wet cloth left balled up. More cloth, wetter cloth and more RH.
 
SmokinJo421

SmokinJo421

315
43
Buy some clothes pins for hanging. You can increase the humidity by wetting a rag, dish towel, etc. and leaving it on a pan or bowl on
the floor. For me I could increase the RH about 2 to 5 percent with a partially wet cloth left balled up. More cloth, wetter cloth and more RH.
Just avoid light and stagnant air!
Inthe house in the basement or a closet cracked open.
I put oscillating fan on opposite side of room on low oscillating pointed at the wall.
10 days usually you'll have dry stinky weed.
Dehumidifier helps but do what u can.
Multiple sources of de humidifying devices for cheap. Best of luck, hope it turns out rite
 

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