Buds smell like earth

Third year now of drying and curing, and each time the buds turn brown and smell earthy, not the pungent skunky, piny or fruity aroma I know they are capable of. So hopefully someone can tell me why I'm having this issue. I can verify there is no mold of any kind.


Past two years I'd cut by branch, trim down to the bud and hang in a closed closet. Within three days they get crispy so I jar. Even at this point there isn't much smell. Open up the jars and air them out regularly, at this point they are kind of spongy but not wet. But they begin turning brown and just have that earthy smell.

This year I bagged after they started crisping, worked well, I was able to dry another week and the buds compacted more. Jarred per usual but same deal...earthy smell and turning brown. I have heard that initial drying temps may be responsible for losing the smell, it's dry where I live and in October indoor temps are mid to upper seventies. And not sure about the browning.

Any ideas?

obijohn said:

Past two years I'd cut by branch, trim down to the bud and hang in a closed closet. Within three days they get crispy so I jar. Even at this point there isn't much smell. Open up the jars and air them out regularly, at this point they are kind of spongy but not wet. But they begin turning brown and just have that earthy smell.

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Try hanging the bud WITHOUT trimming it down to the bud first, trim off the major water leaves (only huge ones) I use to trim down to the bud and then hang dry and then cure and it was always having an earthy/hay type smell, then i tried hanging WITHOUT trimming off the leafs, I wait til its fully dry, then trim , then cure, then fruity smell, but everytime I try to trim all the leafs off then hang dry, it seems like that wet leafy earthy smell gets stuck on the buds, try letting it dry next time without trimming anything off, and make sure it drys fully, or 90% fully dry, then trim, then cure, you should notice a difference, I did

Could it be the genetics? cn

I did try leaving the leaves on a few branches per some advice i read here past few months...made no difference. And the trimming was a nightmare, leaves folded over the buds...took forever and wasn't a close or good trim job at all.

CN, don't think genetics had anything to do with it. Did six different strains this year, and five different ones last year. Same story on all of them. I read somewhere an opinion that drying with temps over seventy degrees or something messed with the terpines and smell. Unfortunately that's not something I have much control over and the browning is a puzzler. Compressed Mexican brick weed is brown, but this shouldn't be.

verty strange, what is your medium and nutrient regiment . . .. has to be somthing you do to all the plants .. how hot is your jar cure area

Sounds like you might be drying far too quickly and thus jarring too soon. The bud should not change character or consistency in the jar. Average dry time IMO is about a week at least before jarring. You describe crispy at 3 days. That is not right or good.

i agree with harley, 3 days and jar is not correct. they should still be rather moist at 3 days, i feel that is contributing to alot of your problem, def the smell, not so sure about the browning, try drying somewhere else. and curing as in store the jars somewhere else as well.


ps. when your buds are curing in the jars are they in a dark cool place? does light hit the buds at all?

All dark during drying and jarring. Sometimes I actually worry they are too dry when I jar...they are dry enough to smoke, but they regain some moisture and are spongy after jarring. They still are somewhat spongy even now. I actually pour the buds out of the jars every few days and spread them out on a table for fifteen or so minutes versus just burping the jars.

The crisping after three days is why I bagged them this year for a slower dry, so after the initial three days hanging, the bagging evened out the moisture and allowed another five or so days before they started crisping again. As I said, the closed dark closet is subject to the house temps, so definitely mid seventies or so. Same temps for jar cure. But they all seem to lose the smell within a day of the initial closet hang.

Ocean Forest soil, outdoor grow, used Grow Big, Tiger Bloom, and this year Vermi T...which the plants loved, so I I fed FF nutes maybe once a week and Vermi T almost every watering other wise. The Vermi T seemed to almost e enough on its own.

In regards to the smell that your getting. I'm certain the odour and taste is held in the oils contained in the stems of the plants. When I harvest I cut down the main stem in sections from the top so that each piece of the stem is coming out with two branches then cut up the middle to it makes a hook for itself cut the fan leaves off and hang to dry out. Using this method it usually takes around 14days before its ready to cure (you can tell when the branches snap cleanly when you bend it) this makes sure as much of that oil passes through the bud as possible.

obijohn said:

I did try leaving the leaves on a few branches per some advice i read here past few months...made no difference. And the trimming was a nightmare, leaves folded over the buds...took forever and wasn't a close or good trim job at all.

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Sounds like it wasnt FULLY dry, when the leaves fold over the buds that sounds like you was trimming wet to me, let that shit get DRY, the leaves should be so brittle they just fall off if you rub them with your finger, the buds will hold moisture inside them, they will feel CRISPY on the outside , no worries, after it all goes in the jar, it will get moistened back up by a few buds that still werent fully dry.. TRIMMING WET GIVES THAT EARTHY/HAY/OUTDOOR SMELL, let those fuckers dry, do this: when you think "damn these are dry" wait another 2-3 days, that should help, or let them dry a full 7 days, no matter if you think their getting to dry... if you try to cure when you trimmed the buds wet, its always going smell like hay and leaf

obijohn said:

I did try leaving the leaves on a few branches per some advice i read here past few months...made no difference. And the trimming was a nightmare, leaves folded over the buds...took forever and wasn't a close or good trim job at all.

CN, don't think genetics had anything to do with it. Did six different strains this year, and five different ones last year. Same story on all of them. I read somewhere an opinion that drying with temps over seventy degrees or something messed with the terpenes and smell. Unfortunately that's not something I have much control over and the browning is a puzzler. Compressed Mexican brick weed is brown, but this shouldn't be.

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My crop last year was dry enough to jar within days as well. What saved me (I think) was that i did initial drying in containers with loose lids, which slowed the dry.
Even so, the weed was harsh after a coupla weeks in the jars.
I'm pleased to note that after 7 months in the jars undisturbed (dark, warm) things improved.
But I want to try an even slower dry and cure. I'm thinking "just short of molding" is the target ... but i am not sure about that. cn

Bravo job everybody. Why can't every post be like this. I'm 7-14 days from harvest and this post was indefinatly helpful thanks everyone

aknight3 said:

i agree with harley, 3 days and jar is not correct. they should still be rather moist at 3 days

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This is really my last breakthrough I need to make. I have great results, right up to the drying stage, where I pretty much blow it ever time -- Southern AZ -- There's no way anything is "moist" after 3 days, period.

could be just a shit plany gen and you gtew it well but thats it

UnderBelly said:

This is really my last breakthrough I need to make. I have great results, right up to the drying stage, where I pretty much blow it ever time -- Southern AZ -- There's no way anything is "moist" after 3 days, period.

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that will def end up being a problem for you, it takes my bud anywhere from 7-10 days AT LEAST before i consider the jar. i live in the northeast, i dry in a insulated basement, avg temp 60-70 or so, its a liveable basement so it doesnt get cold, but not hot either. ive noticed winter time the buds do turn out nicer than summer, but thats just personal prefrence. what you should do instead of just feeling the outsides of the buds to make sure they are crispy, take one of the buds when you think its ready for the jar, a nice golf ball size one not some little shit at the bottom try to find one that you think best represents the majority of the buds, break that entire bud up with your fingers and really get inside the middle of the bud and feel it, it should be dry on the outside but as you work your way in it will get stickier and more moist, almost to the point where it is very sticky and almost to wet it seems, but around this is the perfect time. if your buds crumble all the way through then they are way to dry and will smoke harsh and not smell very good. i hope this can help someone im not sure if i made much sense. ps. underbelly there are ways to stop the buds from drying so quickly, i know where you live its warm and dry so it doesnt take long to dry but you need to create the right condition for them to slow dry, drying and curing is JUST AS IMPORTANT as the entire growing process in itself, it doesnt matter how good the pot is grown if its dried to fast or cured incorrectly it just frankly wont be PRIMO (or good) bud. period. if you need to create an enviroment for a slower dry, do it! you create the environment for the plants to grow in so whats one more step, right?

UnderBelly said:

This is really my last breakthrough I need to make. I have great results, right up to the drying stage, where I pretty much blow it ever time -- Southern AZ -- There's no way anything is "moist" after 3 days, period.

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IMO the only thing left that you can do is what i had to do as i was having the same problem. at first i thought it was genetics but it really is the dry, you have to have the right enviroment. you will have to spend some $ also unless you already have everything. you need to build a drying cabinet. i had to buy window ac and humidifier. i keep the cabinet 65-70f and humidity at 65-70%%. that range has worked for me so far and takes my buds at least a week to dry. i know it might be alot of money at first but taking care of your girl for months and coming up short each time is fucked up and disappointing.

^ listen to this gentlemen....hes got the advice you need

cannabineer said:

My crop last year was dry enough to jar within days as well. What saved me (I think) was that i did initial drying in containers with loose lids, which slowed the dry.
Even so, the weed was harsh after a coupla weeks in the jars.
I'm pleased to note that after 7 months in the jars undisturbed (dark, warm) things improved.
But I want to try an even slower dry and cure. I'm thinking "just short of molding" is the target ... but i am not sure about that. cn

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Read somewhere that some of the breeders will cure for a yr their entries in the cannabis cup.