The Grow Awards 2026 🏆

The plants smell bad and sour; they don't smell like cannabis. Where do you think I went wrong?I don't know if they got moldy. I'm waiting f

blakcman2
blakcman2started grow question 2mo ago
I harvested my Northern Lights auto plants. I had 9 plants in the tent, and I harvested 2 that were ready. They tasted, smelled, and gave a good high. Two days later, I harvested the remaining plants and dried them for 5 days in a sealed tent (20 degrees and %50 humanity)
Solved
likes
00110001001001111O
00110001001001111Oanswered grow question 2mo ago
aroma and taste can evovle quite a bit toward end... i wouldn't judge until fully dried and cured for a couple weeks beyond that. There's variation to this, so don't be too confident about early speculation. Don't use a sealed tent.. just asking to incubate mold and bacteria. A tent frame is conveient, and that is fine to use,but don't zip it up. A small room is better - one that is easy to control humidity and temperatures. In a tent you need a lot of gax exchange which will only result in a breezy environment and faster drying buds than you want. A slow dry (10-14 days) is a good goal. As long as it takes at least 5-7 days it shouldn't be a catastrophic effect, either. Circulation is important, but don't cause direct wind over the plant material. A little circulation in the room is even out humidity. Direct wind is not ideal. if you smoke it all within 3-4 months, it'll make even less of a difference. All we do is slow down degredation. It is inevitable. If you smoke it within a few months, won't notice anything too different compared to a more ideal drying/curing process. Just to put it in perspective. Do your best but it's not the end of the world, either. 60s F and 60% rh will generally result in a 10-14 day drying cycle. I get ~12 days from upper 60F / 57-60% and wet-trimmed buds, which would speed up the process a bit. You can do small things that further impact drying rates -- trimming, cutting down to similarly sized buds or leaving entire branches attached... or even hanging an entire plant. Numerous options to impact how long it takes to dry. One of my tastiest plants was dried within 7 days, zero flush and just generally not done in the best way, lol... best tasting weed i ever grew. Again, just to put it in perspective. Do your best, and it'll be fine even if not ideal. Can tweak the process in future to create consistency.
1 like
Complain
Selected By The Grower
GoodWeedBerlin
GoodWeedBerlinanswered grow question 2mo ago
If you have a microscope (or something like that) to check your trichomes, this might help you. Compare the microscopic view of a healthy bud with the view of a bad tasting bud. Stuff like powder mildew or mold would be visible, but I am sure there are things on a smaller scale than a microscope can get, but it could be a help.
1 like
Complain
HighHolidays
HighHolidaysanswered grow question 2mo ago
Based on what you describe, the sour or unpleasant smell usually indicates that the plant material began to break down due to excess moisture, rather than a genetic issue with the plant. When several plants are dried together and still retain a lot of internal water, bacterial fermentation processes or early mold development can occur, which are often detected first by smell, even before any visible signs appear. This can happen even if temperature and humidity seem “correct,” especially if some plants were greener or denser than others at harvest time. If the smell is not the typical one and comes across as acidic, moldy, or rotten, it generally means the material is no longer safe to use. Carefully check the inside of the flower to see if there are signs of botrytis or any other fungus.
1 like
Complain