My weed doesn't smell strong?

Hey peeps

I've been growing almost exactly a year and I've had several harvests I started with white widow, critical cheese and LA confidential all of which were great results in yeild and I took clones from each and that's how I made my 2nd harvest. After the 2nd I had poor results and decided to buy and start with seeds so I bought 5 Northern Lights 3 white widow x big bud and 2 Amneisia haze all of which are in final stages of completion. Now I cut down the 3 amneisia and 2 white widow 6 days ago now. For 3 days I had them hung on mesh hangers with a low power fan near then they were almost totally dry so I decided to jar them. All the buds are nicely cut ready but don't have a very strong smell, it's just earthy. I've had this problem before which annoys me as let's be honest we all want stinky weed. Anyway the smoke is good and they're covered in thycromes also after a month or so the smell does increase would it get stronger with more time? I'll attach some photos of the Amnesia and Widow X Big bud below just so you can see my results at very least.

amnesia haze


White widow x big bud.

Final not when cutting down they smell extreme! But then it fades

ASSUMING your growing properly I think it's the drying method. You don't want fans blowing on drying plants.

What I suggest is when complete you cut the plants at ground level. Then hang them upside down in a dark space. This space should maintain a temp of 68-70 degrees. The humidity should be held around 50%. Every area is different. During the summer I need a dehumidifier to do this. During the winter I need a humidifier. Use SMALL fan(s) to circulate the air WITHOUT blowing directly on the plants. The hard part is learning when to put it on the jars. To wet and you risk mold. To long and it's to dry and smell gets sucked out.

Drying environment is JUST as important as growing environment!!

You can't tell if it's genetics until it's dried and cured properly. It's surely a possibility. But most weed smells!

If it has little smell then its bummed out a little probably, shit happens all to easy in this game.

this issue could have begun in early flower maybe.ph off, lock out, too much, not enough, too hot, too cold, to wet, to dry, all the way to harvest early harvest late, too much food to the end, or not enough, too much water "flushing", to drying with a fan blowing on your buds, in a musty closet, high rh, low rh. its crazy/ Lock down each and every parameter and allow for no errors, and then even....its a plant, a weed, it can grow in a driveway crack, so we got that going for us....

DobhythebakedElf said:

Hey peeps

Click to expand...

3 days sounds too fast for drying. Check some other topics on how to do it, the direct fan may not be a good idea.

Some off beat tips I guess.

Maintaining a steady out take airflow with heater keeping temp at 60/65F. In winter the out take fan may be on low setting, summer on high.

The left over fan leaves and stems also give off moisture when drying. The pots if still in room will suck in moisture if bone dry or give off moisture if wet. You can use either to your situation as a free passive way to reduce or increase rh.

You can also try this tactic. Cut the big main top colas off every plant day 1. Mid level stuff day 2. Lower level stuff day 3. They all then have a better chance of being at the same dry stage by day 7+. Then you use the stem bend trick to know when to bag em up. Better to do it too early than too late as you can always dump them back out if too wet still.

I assume the quick dry is the reason for poor smell.

I agree with flowki, there's a good amount of solid info on here. This is an easy way to get a nice slow cure every time, this is what you do. Many things can cause that starting with your drying/curing method. If your Humidity is generally high in your area you might wanna trim before hanging. Like Goldberg said, that temp and humidity needs to be right. Also make sure you're not cropping early. This has happened to me many times. Your buds look nice and fat in your tent only to dry out for 1 day and end up with airy ass bud that taste like hay. What I do is I crop my buds and throw them in my trimmer. Once they're nice and trimmed I lay them out with a fan oscillating on a timer. 30mins on 30 mins off, or whatever works for you. You're going to have to play with it a little. After that about the 4th day or so I grab jars and put a humidity sense at the bottom of each one. I drop nugs inside the jars, very lightly don't pack them or fill them and don't seal them. Keep them under that fan on a timer. Every time you hear the fan go on, check the humidity to see how high it went when the fan was off. This will help you gauge the time frame that will work for you. As you get closer to day 10 of drying you'll notice your humidity is not climbing as high as it used to. Once you have it between 55%-60% seal the jars and put them in a dark cold place. I place a portable ac unit inside my closet at about 60-65 degrees (must have piece of equipment where I'm at, plus it's good for purple stains during flower). At first your weed will smell like you been cutting glass, but give it time and it will start to dank up.

While genetics play a role in smell just as much as every other aspect of the plant. A good dry and cure as everyone has said is key. I dry using the paper bag method then jar with boveda packs. Like most things it gets better with age.

goldberg71b said:

You don't want fans blowing on drying plants.

Click to expand...

You absolutely do want fans blowing/air circulating around your drying buds. It ensures that you won't have a "humid zone" and prevents botrytis (bud rot). Not heavy, but some air circulation is necessary (especially with larger scale). The rest of your advice is solid.


OP, you want drying to take place over the course of 5+ days before "debone" and storage. The dry/cure room should be able to maintain the cure, meaning that you can leave your buds hanging without them getting too dry, proper temp. Drying it too fast kills the "nose" and doesn't allow it to cure properly (cure ended prematurely).

DobhythebakedElf said:

Hey peeps

I've been growing almost exactly a year and I've had several harvests I started with white widow, critical cheese and LA confidential all of which were great results in yeild and I took clones from each and that's how I made my 2nd harvest. After the 2nd I had poor results and decided to buy and start with seeds so I bought 5 Northern Lights 3 white widow x big bud and 2 Amneisia haze all of which are in final stages of completion. Now I cut down the 3 amneisia and 2 white widow 6 days ago now. For 3 days I had them hung on mesh hangers with a low power fan near then they were almost totally dry so I decided to jar them. All the buds are nicely cut ready but don't have a very strong smell, it's just earthy. I've had this problem before which annoys me as let's be honest we all want stinky weed. Anyway the smoke is good and they're covered in thycromes also after a month or so the smell does increase would it get stronger with more time? I'll attach some photos of the Amnesia and Widow X Big bud below just so you can see my results at very least.

amnesia haze

White widow x big bud.

Final not when cutting down they smell extreme! But then it fades

Click to expand...

Do you chop lights on or off. Chop right before lights on. Terpenes are highest then.

Are you drying in the dark? Light evaporates terpenes.


If you want smell go with a cheese or skunk strain.

I reccomend cheese bomb from bomb seeds. I will never grow it again. It required two filters to handle the smell. I had a power outage and the whole house reeked in a matter of thirty minutes or so. A small nug would stink the house up.

goldberg71b said:

ASSUMING your growing properly I think it's the drying method. You don't want fans blowing on drying plants.

What I suggest is when complete you cut the plants at ground level. Then hang them upside down in a dark space. This space should maintain a temp of 68-70 degrees. The humidity should be held around 50%. Every area is different. During the summer I need a dehumidifier to do this. During the winter I need a humidifier. Use SMALL fan(s) to circulate the air WITHOUT blowing directly on the plants. The hard part is learning when to put it on the jars. To wet and you risk mold. To long and it's to dry and smell gets sucked out.

Drying environment is JUST as important as growing environment!!

You can't tell if it's genetics until it's dried and cured properly. It's surely a possibility. But most weed smells!

Click to expand...

i agree yes yes and yes . its also genetics but even the worst shit on earth doing it the way posted above it will smell . did you chop all up wet then trim it right away or let it dry then trim ? trimming it really fast will bring out a wet grass like the out side lawn

Tell ya what.
Yer prolly just used to the smell. Mail it to 104-a stach st Elgin tx 78621

I'll tell you if it's lost its smell

Curing is like the icing on the cake but if the cake aint good then 'no bueno'....

If it aint good after drying then dry some more and screw the cure.

I have grown white widow and white widow big bud and neither of them are super smelly. I have some that has been jared for over a year with boveda and it still smells the same. I wouldn't worry about it

You should still send some to me.
Just to be sure.
I'll even post a pic of the product being tested.

i like the idea of taking in samples i am more then willing to try some too that way you have 2 opinions .

Question, did it smell while growing or are you noticing it during cure?

If it never smelled, it could be too much light. Just what I've heard. Bleaching your buds can have a lot of bad juju.

What type of light do you use? I get better terpines when using my 400w hps over CFL or inexpensive LED. I also use Terpinator. I feel it helps. I've had grows that just smell like hay so I feel your pain..

All that being said it's probably too fast of a cure. Keep your hygrometer in your space and dry slowly. When you're just harvesting a few ounces it can dry really fast. Large scale growers may be drying pounds at a time so the humidity may be higher and more stable.

Best////

I always actually found cfl to produce better bud ime

Of course not enough so that I'll run em.

I run hps 24/7 and rotate crops to dark room/move light
Simply due to cost and efficiency. Bulb life overall structure at the finish and it stall veg good



Just a penny

Odin* said:

You absolutely do want fans blowing/air circulating around your drying buds. It ensures that you won't have a "humid zone" and prevents botrytis (bud rot). Not heavy, but some air circulation is necessary (especially with larger scale). The rest of your advice is solid.


OP, you want drying to take place over the course of 5+ days before "debone" and storage. The dry/cure room should be able to maintain the cure, meaning that you can leave your buds hanging without them getting too dry, proper temp. Drying it too fast kills the "nose" and doesn't allow it to cure properly (cure ended prematurely).

Click to expand...

I didn't say you don't want fan in the room. I said you don't want fans blowing ON your plants. Maybe read the whole post before quoting in it.

goldberg71b said:

I didn't say you don't want fan in the room. I said you don't want fans blowing ON your plants. Maybe read the whole post before quoting in it.

Click to expand...

Good to know. What about when they're flowering?