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    Drying in tent and taste of the flowers

    Rasta_k_

    Hey guys, Hope everyone is great. I am now fully involved in growing my own medicine at home. Thanks to DGC I have been able to successfully set up my 4×4 tent with the environment dialed in.
    *** Thank you SOUP and LitnGrn .***
    I am now looking to set up my old 2x2x4 vivosun tent into a drying tent. I have done this with my last harvest and the buds still dried in about 6-8 days and I cured for at least 2 weeks and i am finding that my bud all taste the same….it smells different and has some very faint differences in taste but when smoking it i feel like its more on the grassy side.. Now this could be due to genetics. But I have seen and read reviews on other growers using same seeds but getting fruity tasting buds. Is this a nutrient issue? I am flushing and getting at least a min. Of 150 PPM runoff before harvest. I was wondering if drying and actually growing with a carbon filter will weaken the taste? I know that topic has come up and discussed about whether the filters capture the trichomes or not. But with this community i want to know whether or not on your own experience if it matters? The flowers i grow are amazing smelling and sticky as hell but after dry and cure it smells great in the jars, But taste isn’t there. I am normally growing Expert Seeds and Fast Buds genetics at the moment. This went more towards fixing the taste of my bud but I think its a drying to quick or not right Temp and RH? What do you guys think? I have a 205 cfm (set to medium )on top of the tent pulling air out into a filter and then a small 6in fan to circulate air inside the dry area, not blowing in the buds. I have a dehumidifier in the room now set to 55% and a humidifier if needed to place into the tent to increase RH. Temps sit around 70-75 and I know that’s warm for Drying but I don’t have a way to really cool it down yet other than taking ambient air from the room.
    Thanks for any suggestions and sorry for the rambling. Took a fat dab before writing this.
    Stay Irie Friends

    Comments

    11 responses to “Drying in tent and taste of the flowers”

    1. Coach Steve Avatar
      Coach Steve

      Temperature has a lot to do with it. Running a leaf/bud temp in the 80s during late bloom may reduce some flavor and drying in the 70s certainly can too. I consider 6-8 days too quick of a dry, though getting then in jars before they over-dry then curing properly can preserve some of that. All day, if you get hay taste, chlorophyll is still present. Leafy bud will exaggerate that taste.

      Turn the filter fan on low, up the RH to 60% and do what you can to cool the tent. A couple buckets of ice could help…60-65f is ideal imo.

      You won’t get hay smell/taste from nutrients.

      1. Rasta_k_ Avatar
        Rasta_k_

        Thank you Coach! I really do think this is a drying issue rather than nutrient. I do a slight wet trim of the large fan leaves and then after 4 or 5 days they seem dry enough to do a final trim. I will wait until i pull a bud off the stem and it snaps off before putting in jars. The ice bucket thing may have to work or I need to invest in a portable AC with a duct fan to push air in? I really hate cutting myself short on final product

        1. Coach Steve Avatar
          Coach Steve

          I would cool the room and allow the filter fan to pull the cool air into the tent. Maybe run a Humidifier in the room too if you have to, a/c may lower humidifier. Hard to just say what’s best for you without being in there with you, but I think if you work on temp you’ll notice the results.
          The dry and cure is an art in itself. Too many variables for a guy on the other side of the screen to be any help other than some tips that has helped him/her. Hope I helped with those tips lol 😁

          1. kelly long Avatar
            kelly long

            We put a portable ac in tent and our numbers are right on point!
            This is our first serious dry and cure.was tired of dried out weed and hay smell. Finally on tack! Definitely get ac

    2. SOUP Avatar
      SOUP

      Heres my drying guide:

      https://growerslove.com/blogs/grow-tip-of-the-week/ideal-drying-conditions?_pos=1&_sid=0059b3780&_ss=r

      You want your dry to go slower and take a bit longer than you are doing currently. I like at least 10 days, 14 is even better.

      Getting temps down in the drying tent would help a lot. If you can find a way to keep it below 70 during drying that should make a big difference. (Although I know this can be tricky to achieve). I actually don’t think temps are your biggest issue tho, I think chopping the plant up too much while its wet is what’s hurting you the most.

      Cutting and hanging WHOLE plants instead of just branches will help slow down your drying. The larger the chunk of plant you hang up the slower it will dry, and a nice slow dry is what we are after. With smaller plants like you are growing, I’d strip most of the fan leaves and then hang the WHOLE plant up to dry.

      I would NOT do any wet trimming or mess with the buds at all until they’ve had a good 10+ days to dry. You wanna leave all the sugar leaves and bud leaves on there during the drying. They will help protect the buds and slow your drying time.

      Be patient! Hang up WHOLE plants and give them a full 10+ days of slow drying before you start trimming or messing with them.

      1. Rasta_k_ Avatar
        Rasta_k_

        Wow. Thanks so much for this information. It clears up a lot and now that’s its here i can always come back and hopefully it helps others too. I will be trying my hand at photo period soon. I do have 1 obsul33te alien Orange Gum in veg. Not sure whether male or female yet. Its still a bit young to tell but I just don’t have the room to do a perpetual photo period grow. Autoflowers are easiest solution for my habit and meficinal use. Once this shit goes rec here in my state or I decide to move I will grow photo periods and cant wait to be honest. I would be able to make some great yields then. Anyway. Thanks again for the support brotha.

        1. SOUP Avatar
          SOUP

          I hear ya, and you should definitely grow whatever works for ya and makes ya happy! That’s definitely what’s most important.🙂👍

          I’m curious why you feel like you need to grow autos because you have a small space tho…

          I grew in a 2x1x3 shipping crate for my first two years as a grower. Photo period plants were ideal for this because I could flip them to flower super early while they were still small. I had control over when they would flower, so I could control the size and keep them small enough for my little grow crate.

          I really don’t think autos would have been the right option for me back then. I mostly grew from clones because they were available, but I grew a lot of fem seeds in that little crate too. I can see there being good reasons to grow feminized seeds, but I still don’t really see any advantages to growing autos indoors or for small spaces.

          Years later I tried growing some autos indoors in a different small space and it still didn’t really make sense to me.

          My experience growing autos indoors:

          – I no longer had control of plant size or flower timing, which made everything more complicated. Not knowing when exactly things are going to flower and finish made timing things way more stressful.

          – They were waaay less reliable as far as quality, consistency and general health. The auto plants I grew were fairly hardy and durable, but they were really inconsistent. A few refused to flower, a few grew really leafy buds with not a lot of frost, and some of them came out ok.

          – Growing them indoors required 50% more electricity because you are running your lights 18/6 through flower. As an indoor grower who has some guilt about how much electricity I consume, this made zero sense to me. If I’m gonna burn 50% more power, why not hang up another light instead? Why use MORE power to grow the same amount of canopy? Especially when the overall quality was lower. Why burn more power to grow less reliable, lower quality bud than I was growing before?

          D) while some of the autos I grew tasted ok and some yielded pretty well. I was just never that excited about smoking them. The flavor and high was always kinda disappointing compared to what I was used to. This is probably at least partially caused by me being totally spoiled by all the great local flower in my area. Back then the Cali medical dispensaries were in their prime, so I could get all kinds of exotic strains for like 35-40$ an 1/8, or choose from a wide selection of clones. So yeah I got kinda spoiled lol. But then in this modern age… why settle for anything but the dankest stuff available?

          Anyhoo… not trying to bash auto growers or hate on anybody, just sharing my experience. I’m all for people growing whatever makes them happy.

          I think autos are great for special projects like outdoor growing in the off season, or growing one in the middle of your living room. But as far as growing them indoors in a tent under lights… I still just don’t think it’s the best option. I see way more disadvantages than good reasons to do it.
          🙂✌️

          1. Rasta_k_ Avatar
            Rasta_k_

            The reason ive chosen to grow only autos is honestly because when starting to grow my own i was looking for most discreet way to grow my own meds. I wanted something simple and after doing research i found autoflowers are my best choice. Putting under 18hrs of light and never having to change it was ideal for me.(At that moment atleast) I am willing to try my hand at photo periods along with my autoflowers. With the knowledge i have gained from DGC i have confidence in my abiltites to grow a photo period out with ease. I have an Alien Orange Gum in veg still and plan to train and top her once before going into a seperate 2x2x4 tent to flower. Once I move to a rec state or it becomes legal here I will move them outside into my green house and replace my veggies with cannabis. I think I’ve stuck with autoflowers because of the cost to have 2 set ups if i want a perpetual grow and the fact i can stagger the grows and see different pianos growing. I think it’s a good way to learn too. Having to frow from seed everytime gives me training in germinating among other things.

            So to end this, really I grow autos because im im prohibtion land and the cost to run them is lower(at least for my setup) I think if i can setup my dry tent to run colder than my ambient temps I can slow my dry time and thus making my buds taste a little better. Dont get me wrong they dont taste bad. Its just ive tasted street weed that taste better and i dont like that. I want to grow fire tasting cannabis..

    3. SOUP Avatar
      SOUP

      Also… GENETICS!

      Yes autos have come a long way and the flavors have improved a lot. but I still haven’t personally smoked one that really blew my mind as far as flavor. I’ve tried a few that were decent, but most were pretty similar in the flavor department. Most of the autos I’ve personally smoked have had a really earthy/kushy undertone and the terp profile was fairly limited.

      (This isn’t me being a hater… its just how genetics works. When you breed everything with ruderalis… You are going to end up with a lot of ruderalis flavors. Bringing out great flavors in autos requires a lot more breeding work, because you’ve got to overcome that ruderalis flavor. Kinda like if you breed everything with cookies… its gonna have a strong cookie undertone. The way to get diverse flavors in your genetics is to…. grow diverse genetics!)

      When breeding autos the priorities typically go:
      1) does it autoflower
      2) is it potent
      3) flavor
      4) everything else

      When I breed regular seeds, my priorities go:
      1) flavor
      2) potency
      3) everything else

      So while breeders definitely CAN breed great tasting autos, flavor pretty much always has to take a backseat to other priorities.

      Autos are great for a lot of things… but if you wanna grow something thats gonna really blow your mind in the flavor department… its probably not going to be an auto. Not saying you can’t grow great tasting autos… just sayin you’re a lot more likely to get strong distinct flavors from photoperiod plants, because thats what they are bred for.

    4. BostonBAKEDbeans Avatar
      BostonBAKEDbeans

      Everyone already hit on the key factors.

      Also when you flush you are getting 150ppm but if you are at say 1500 and you flush down to 150 in a few days then chop your soil is at 150ppm but without the leaves fading out a bit you are in the same predicament. Soil is flushed but the plant is still full of stored nutrients and chlorophyll. I now grow in soil so for me, I just watch the around mid flower and wait for a little yellowing, then I hit them with a top dress one more time to stop it dead in its tracks. They then have food in the dirt for a few more weeks and once they yellow out again, I let them run those last few weeks and thrive off the stored nutes (some people feed right through, I personally just don’t its what works for me) this gives me a great fade on things so when it comes down to harvest all you have is bud and terps and no other nonsense. Makes for a great smoke as far as smoothness and if the genetics are good the aroma is there.

      In your case like others mentioned I think the aroma and taste is there but you need to clear out all the trash overpowering it. (aroma could not be there as well with fly by night genetics or autos)

      Example would be driving by a fast food restaurant and smelling the burgers on the grille from the kitchen exhaust, now have someone run over a skunk in the parking lot and good luck smelling anything but that. hahaha stoner thoughts over here lol.

    5. Rasta_k_ Avatar
      Rasta_k_

      I love all the information given here and will use this as my guide now. It being still about 2yrs into growing and less than a year with DGC I have learned so much and this community is the first one I have been part of that isnt hostile and actually know tried and true growing methods and techniques. Thanks again to of course Dude, Scotty and Guru and also the DGC. Soup, Coach and Boston thanks for this information brothas

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