How to grow great taste and smell? What’s the secret? I’m about 5 weeks away from harvest, anything I can do?

Hey everyone and happy thanksgiving!!!

I grew and harvested my first grow this past summer, I grew 6 outdoor plants, 1 was destroyed from over loving, the other 5 came out great except 4 of the 5 smelled like citrusy grass and tasted like the devils ass! 1 plant smells pretty good but still a hint of earth smell and the taste is bearable not good! My friends say all my weed is way above average and taste and smell mean nothing “as long as it does what it’s supposed to do” the same people also grew their own nasty smelling tasting weed themselves! But yet they still get weed from people that grow the awesome smelling great tasting stuff they say “doesn’t make a difference as long as it does what it’s supposed to do” stuff! lol, just to ad I believe I’ve learned a lot from my curing process that led to the last plant I grew to turn out decent. In conclusion to this rambling, it certainly does make a difference !! Thank you for reading if you made it this far, I would really appreciate some help and feedback​:grinning::v:

So my current situation is this-

my 2nd grow is now inside, I’m growing the “fruity kush mix” from here, it’s the mango,banana and I believe blackberry mix? I’m about 3 weeks into flowering, grow in soil worm castings mix, and of course useing nutes, I’ve also been using bud candy since bloom.

My question is this-

Does taste and smell come from some secret Squirrel clubhouse Guarded recipe or handshake?

Are there certain strains that guarantee great smell and taste?

Is there anything I can do now or in the future to achieve this greatness that seams to mean so much to me?

Again thank you all.

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The squirrels will let you know the secret when you are ready to recieve it. :chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk::chipmunk:

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A bud wash to remove any foreign matter then…
Properly cured and dried

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But in all seriousness it depends. Genetics, Dry and cure have a lot to do with it. When i dried my last harvest it went through stages. Sometimes no smell, one day hay, next day cat pee on a lemon tree. Now that its cured one smells very citrus(y). The other smells like funk cant describe it. Those were 2 seeds of same strain from the same pack and they smell very different so genetics plays a big part too.

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when Skunk is the common reference to the smell of cannabis you have to expect funky

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Terpines drive the taste and smell. Each strain has a unique terpine profile.

Curing will bring out the good smell.

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Great question…
Don’t harvest too soon
Flush if you are using nutes
dont dry too fast
Read the above mentioned curing article, #1 thing you can do to get the best taste with what you have grown

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I’m not convinced that flushing truly does anything. I understand the concept, flushing out the extra nutrients, however seems to me that those would come out during the drying and curing process anyhow as the moisture evaporated. I’ve gone both ways now, flushing and not flushing, and for me, the not flushed bud was better tasting and smoking than the crop I flushed. Some of that had to do with me still learning what I was doing, but I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. Plus, these plants are natural, and certainly wouldn’t get a flushing near the end of harvest in the wild, and they seem to have done alright for themselves for thousands of years, if not millions. :person_shrugging:. I’m just high and rambling now :joy:

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Great question. Im very interested in this also. Ive only had 2 harvest and im not at all familiar with the different strains. some days when I burp my jars It smells kinda funky. lemons and diesel fuel, with just mild hints of the skunky smell I think of when thinking about how it should smell. My wife says it taste good but I worry she is just being kind since I cant test it myself. covid also wrecked my sense of smell.

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Other side of the coin is they also wouldn’t get people dumping fertilizer on them in the wild.
However with that said im not convinced flushing does anything but i try to make my last watering or 2 a water only. Doesn’t always happen and i never see any visual evidence to support or contradict.

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As stated, genetics is one part of a decent terpene profile. How it’s grown and handled another. Finally; drying and curing properly to bring out those same terpenes. Harsh taste is often due to harsh nutes like Miracle Gro.

I did a Durban Thai/Cindy 99 cross which from experience had a fantastic terpene profile. This particular plant (which I cloned) had almost no terpenes. So I ran out several clones in different grow mediums and experienced exactly the same thing with that plant material. So in that case, genetics was the deciding factor. Sometimes you get a good one and sometimes, not so much.

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Genetics of course play an important role, and the better you do with the grow the better your final product can turn out, but drying and curing properly is definitely the key to taking full advantage of the terpene profiles and getting the best smells and tastes.
Just to give you an idea how it went for me, I became a good grower a long time before I got good at drying and curing. A few more years went by and I became even better at growing, but I was still a long way from becoming good at drying and curing. Fast forward again and I feel I’m a great grower today, and I’m finally pretty good at drying and curing, but definitely still making small adjustments and trying to get better with every harvest.
One thing that helps a lot in my opinion is hanging the entire plants upside down for drying, and doing a dry trim. I used to cut them up at harvest time and wet trim, but unless you have an absolutely perfect environment for drying, they’re more likely to dry too quickly that way than if the entire plant is still intact.
Another thing is to get a good moisture meter for wood, and ditch those those little inaccurate hygrometers that we use in the curing jars or Grove Bags. They are inaccurate to the point that they cause us to make corrections for problems that don’t exist. After enough practice and experience, I can tell the second I open a jar if it it needs a long or a short burp, and since I jar it based on a reading from the moisture meter directly into a bud, there’s really no need for the hygrometers anymore.

The best smelling buds I’ve ever had only smelled half as good at the time of harvest and drying, the true awesome smells come out during a good successful curing process.

The last thing I’ll say is that depending on the climate where we live, the drying stage can be a big challenge to get perfect. My smoke comes out much better if the drying happens during the winter. It’s so easy to create the perfect drying environment in the cold weather. In the summer, drying can be a nightmare. You need to be on top of temp and humidity, and when it’s hot out AC is the only way to keep it cool enough for a slow dry, but AC also drys the air quite a bit, so it can dry too fast like that as well. I’ve found you just have to stay on top of it, and come up with ways to keep dialing it in when necessary.

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well I just pressed my wife for a honest critique of my latest grows’ taste. She said she dont care about the taste only the effect. LMAO so pretty clear I need to work on taste

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Thank you for all the comments so far. I’ve had some real nice smelling and super tasty bud lately, but those people will not share their secret and I suppose I understand? My conclusion from the comments so far is that most of you also grow the same problem lol, and please please do not think I’m being a jerk in anyway!! I’m only beating myself up! Weed has no value where I’m from due to everyone growing, I literally give it away and just enjoy growing, so my main focus isn’t the quality of the buzz anyone as that has proven easy to me, I want to focus on smell and great taste that we all want! And dammit I’ll figure it out someday? I just didn’t realize it was so difficult? I’ve tried a lot of stuff around town from growers that have been growing for years and honestly most it is nothing special? Different strains and names! But all pretty much the same taste​:joy::joy::joy::joy::v::v::v::v:

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You have received some good advice and information. I may have missed something but did not see much discussion regarding the nutrients and how they can affect the taste and smell of your buds.

I use epsom salts during most of the grow in addition to putting some in the soil as I prepare for planting. I use about 1 tablespoon of epsom salts per gallon of grow container in the soil. I add two or three tablespoons of epsom salts to the water/nutrient mix each time I water.

My buds are very smelly and tasty (based upon reports from a couple of friends).
I don’t anyone on this forum is trying to keep some secret about how to get the smell and favors.

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Great discussion…I love this place!

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So the only way I’ve found to always grow something tjat smells and tastes outstanding is when growing clones from a plant that was outstanding.
I’ve not found any other way to consistently grow “load”.

I can achieve good looking bud with a nice buzz consistently, but smell and tastes is a different story.
It apears to be mostly genetics to me.
My autos are all over the place with smell and taste and rarely is there a really load one.

I’m running a couple photo period strains now hopeing to find a nice super load one and once I do “hopefully :sweat_smile:” I will focus mainly on that one plant and grow multiple clones to consistently have the same load smoke on hand.

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Lol thank you for the tip, I do not think anyone on this forum is holding back info, I never posted that :v:

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Yeah, there are studies that show sulfur helps with terpene production so Epsom Salts would be a good choice.

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The other thing that was mentioned is a bud rinse in hydrogen peroxide water immediately after chopping. I exclusively grow indoors and always rinse even though it is more or less optional for indoor grows.

I think it is absolutely necessary for outdoor grows to get rid of all of the nasty bug crap and misc. pollen and dust that is always in the air. Rinsing will help eliminate the dirt taste.

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