Tips / advice on harvest

Hey Guys

I hope I can get as much information regarding this as this is my 3rd grow
My 2 previous grows were ruined by hay smell and honestly not very strong either, although they looked pretty decent imo pre harvest
This is making me think i am doing something wrong with harvesting / drying / curing.
I would like to avoid this hay smell at all cost this time around so i need as much knowledge as possible for my setup

I had a stunted autoflower that I harvested about 2 weeks ago and starting curing about a week ago now, which also has the hay smell, so i am scared for my northern light automatic which is looking pretty good,I am planning on harvesting This saturday.

The stunted auto dried for about 6 days and is now curing for about 6 days, still smells like hay if i smell it upclose.

I would like to get as much details, my friend tells me he dries for about 3 days due to low RH and never gets the hay smell, so im not sure what I am doing wrong
my two previous grows, I wet trimmed, so i assumed the issue was from that. My stunted auto, I dry trimmed, but still giving out the same odor.

I create a DIY dry box from a card board box, with a 12V PC fan as intake
I poked some holes at the top for extraction, is this an OK setup?

I will be drying in my living room.
RH Varies from 40-60 RH
Its starting to get hot here though, around 26 - 27 during the day, but I can put on the AC
AC will obviously drop the RH, but I can atleast control the temp
is it better to have lower end RH but decent drying temps? or should i place by dry box somewhere were there will be no AC so humidity stays around the 40-60RH of my area?

Would love you guys help on this

I watered her the last time on tuesday plane water for the first time, before that she was getting her regular nute schedule.
i see different opionions regarding flushing so honeslty im not sure
Thanks guys, im high off dealer bud right now which is pissing me off lol

Here is a pic of the lady for reference around 4 days old

Pics

I've read on here people say 10-14 days slow dry then start curing, I'm just a noob so hopefully someone with actual experience will help you out. Can also use the search bar and type in harvest curing and multiple threads will pop up.

tee90 said:

Pics

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If you are planning on harvesting this plant in Saturday I would say that’s your issue.

You are harvesting early.

These are what I would consider to be in the window for harvest but I am not harvesting yet. Day 70 of 12/12.



Yours would say still have at least another 10-14 days left before they are even within the window for harvest.


this is the same strain but a different phenotype Again at day 70 of 12/12 but further behind the above 2 but not what I would consider within the harvest window



You’re issues are not caused by anything other than you harvesting early.

For drying i would steady an area with 60% RH and 65F/18C and allow them to hang for a minimum of 10 days.

When your buds feel crispy to the touch you can try jarring them.

Personally I hang dry until crispy and then box up my harvest and start to partake straight away.

My freshly dried harvest is always tasty and does its job at getting me hammered.

I may be wrong, but i assume the cardboard box could be one of the culprits for drying too fast, besides the temperature and humidity.. Cardboard absorbs moisture

Need more details. You can dry in 5 days and still have a great product. You have a heavier more solid product imo if you can slow dry down and make it take 10+ days. Wet hanging the whole plant helps if you have the space. I don't most of the time so I wet trim branches right off the plant and hang as I go. They take 5 -7 days to dry enough to splinter and then go into jars. You are probably putting to much airflow onto your buds and also letting them dry to much before jarring if you get hay

Let the pistils disappear back into the bud before harvesting. Don't even worry about a "timeline". I notice everyone likes to put things on a calendar date. The plant will be ready when it wants to.

I dry in a cardboard box and it is certainly NOT the reason why your weed sucks. Your weed sucks because you don't keep it cool enough, long enough. Freeze some water bottles and swap them out every 10-12 hours and put a clean damp rag in there too draped over a bottle or two. I use a frozen gallon jug and a couple frozen 32oz Gatorade bottles. I live in the desert and I can keep my drying box in the low 60s at 50-60% humidity. Pull all the big fan leaves off but leave everything else and if you can hang the whole tree, do that too. That will slow down your drying. Then do a dry trim once the smaller branches start to snap. Make sure the fan is not blowing directly on the weed and you may have to bite the bullet and turn your house AC down to help out.

Thanks Guys for the feedback
I am going to let her go another week or so
hoping to no hay smell this time around

I'm noob too so take my opinion with a grain of salt. My drying improves with each run. Last one was 5 or 6 days around 69 F and 57% RH. Jars have maintained 60-62% so far. In my opinion yours look too green for harvest. Can't make out trichomes or pistils in pics but there is a lot of chlorophyll there. Also not sure how your strain is supposed to behave but looks like leaves are in early stage of losing color. Mine were purple, yellow, brown, some withered to the point of falling off by the time I harvested. Looks to me you have considerable time before harvest. If so I would continue nute schedule and revisit the urge to harvest after she panics and cannibalize her leaves....with an eye on the trichomes of course. My last one was in flower for 12 full weeks and got only water the last 10 days.

I feed right up to harvest.

The last watering is three days before chop. Up till then they were taking a gallon every two days.

Harvest is when ALL the white pistils have turned color and receded. AND the trichomes are all at least white, some amber is good.

I chop when lights normally come on, no dark period other than regular lights off.

My last crop I wet trimmed on the plant, seemed to be quite a bit faster.

Then I cut off the branches and hang in the dark. Best I could do was 45% RH and 70 degrees.

I had a staggered harvest so I built a frame and threw a tarp over it

And had a 50cfm fan blowing in. Takes six to seven days for the buds to feel "crispy", I never did get the hang of the "snap the branch" thingee..



Cut the buds off the branches and loose fill a food grade container to at least 3/4's full. Anything less is too much air.

OR multiple jars, your choice

Pop in a hygrometer (less than $20 for 5 off Amazon) and check it the next day. Takes a while to get a good reading, the crispy parts will absorb moisture from the bud interiors.

Ideally it won't be over 70. If it is leave the top off the contain for a half hour, three times a day. Much over 70% is mold area and I would either paper bag it or lay it out on newspaper for a while. You will get the hang of this part, no pun intended !

It's handy to have an extra container the same size. Place on top of the original and flip. Less harsh than fluffing up the buds and gives the bottom of the container access to the burp.

When RH hits the high 60's burp the container twice a day for a couple of minutes until it reaches 58%.

Hopefully this will take at least two weeks.



Then I vacuum seal in 1 L mason jars.

Some prefer 62% but 58% works best for me to grind for joints or pipe.

The KEY to a good cure is paying attention to the RH !

Cheers

Fishmon said:

I'm noob too so take my opinion with a grain of salt. My drying improves with each run. Last one was 5 or 6 days around 69 F and 57% RH. Jars have maintained 60-62% so far. In my opinion yours look too green for harvest. Can't make out trichomes or pistils in pics but there is a lot of chlorophyll there. Also not sure how your strain is supposed to behave but looks like leaves are in early stage of losing color. Mine were purple, yellow, brown, some withered to the point of falling off by the time I harvested. Looks to me you have considerable time before harvest. If so I would continue nute schedule and revisit the urge to harvest after she panics and cannibalize her leaves....with an eye on the trichomes of course. My last one was in flower for 12 full weeks and got only water the last 10 days.

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When did you strip your plant of the majority of its leaves?

Fishmon said:

I'm noob too so take my opinion with a grain of salt. My drying improves with each run. Last one was 5 or 6 days around 69 F and 57% RH. Jars have maintained 60-62% so far. In my opinion yours look too green for harvest. Can't make out trichomes or pistils in pics but there is a lot of chlorophyll there. Also not sure how your strain is supposed to behave but looks like leaves are in early stage of losing color. Mine were purple, yellow, brown, some withered to the point of falling off by the time I harvested. Looks to me you have considerable time before harvest. If so I would continue nute schedule and revisit the urge to harvest after she panics and cannibalize her leaves....with an eye on the trichomes of course. My last one was in flower for 12 full weeks and got only water the last 10 days.

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Not all strains fade. I've only had one fade and I think that was because it was winter and temps were low

Fishmon said:

I'm noob too so take my opinion with a grain of salt. My drying improves with each run. Last one was 5 or 6 days around 69 F and 57% RH. Jars have maintained 60-62% so far.

Click to expand...

What rh were they when you put them in the jars ?

In my opinion yours look too green for harvest.

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It is possible to have a healthy grow right to the end.

Can't make out trichomes or pistils in pics but there is a lot of chlorophyll there. Also not sure how your strain is supposed to behave but looks like leaves are in early stage of losing color. Mine were purple, yellow, brown, some withered to the point of falling off by the time I harvested.

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That is not a sign of ready to harvest, it is a sign of multiple deficiencies !

Looks to me you have considerable time before harvest. If so I would continue nute schedule and revisit the urge to harvest after she panics and cannibalize her leaves....with an eye on the trichomes of course. My last one was in flower for 12 full weeks and got only water the last 10 days.

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Great, you starved her when she needed it the most.

Good luck with your trimming...

Cheers

hey guys
I see the general note is that i al harvesting too early, but idk perhaps my previous photos are deceiving because of my phones camera flash
Here she is today, let me know what you think.

tee90 said:

hey guys
I see the general note is that i al harvesting too early, but idk perhaps my previous photos are deceiving because of my phones camera flash
Here she is today, let me know what you think.

Click to expand...

Looks early to me.

This is being harvested this week.

today is 74 days of flowering.

tee90 said:

hey guys
I see the general note is that i al harvesting too early, but idk perhaps my previous photos are deceiving because of my phones camera flash
Here she is today, let me know what you think.

Click to expand...

Hard to tell but I only see the odd white pistil.

Now I would start checking the trichomes to see if they are all cloudy.

Cheers