Clem Hoot

Perhaps somebody here can help me with a problem that has got me completly baffled.

I had to abort my first grow early, for security reasons, when the flowers were just starting to grow. I cut the plants and hung them upside-down in the growbox, with lights out. The large leaves dried quickly, so I turned off the fans for 24 hours to raise humidity and dry more slowly. Big mistake. They developed a horrible putrid smell and when I tried smoking some it made me sick as a dog.

The second grow went to maturity. Again I hung them in the growbox for the initial drying, so the ozone generator on the exhaust would kill the smell. This time I left all the fans running, including a desk fan for internal circulation. There was a pretty stiff breeze, enough so the plants were swinging a bit in the wind.

This batch isn't as bad, but it's bad enough to be unsmokable. It has a nasty acrid odor. The dry colas are now in a plastic box, opened every day for airing out. When I open the box and put my nose inside, the smell actually burns my eyes.

If I had some idea of what I was doing wrong I could correct it, but I don't know.

Too high a temperature? There isn't a cool place in the apartment, so they were dried at normal room temperature.

Some fungus lurking in the growbox? Maybe so, but if it is in the box it will also be on the plants, so moving them to another location probably wouldn't help.

Bad genetics? These were two different variaties from two different companies.

So I am really stumped. Unless somebody has a better idea I'm going to build a drying box with holes on the top and a hair dryer blowing into the bottom. If that doesn't dry them quickly enough, nothing will.

smokinrav

J/K.
Thats some pretty serious humidity you must have to mold plants that dont have flowers. Or like you said, maybe theres some residual of something or other in the drying room that latches on to organic material and chows down.

Sorry I cant be more help

later

Smokin

icemane

did you stop fertilizing for 3 weeks before harvest and did you flush the soul before harvesting?

Clem Hoot

I didn't mention flushing, but the first time I didn't have a chance.

The second time the stigmas took longer to turn than expected, and they got plain water for three weeks. On top of that, the last ferts given were hydro nutes, which are supposed to dissapear from soil more quickly than the regular stuff.

So I don't think it's that.