Welcome to the hunt,
@Haroldviii !
When you say you lose your flavor after harvest, How does it end up smelling and tasting?
What's your harvest process? Whole plant cut and hung, and dry trimmed? Branches at a time, wet trim to drying rack?
There's different details to consider, depending on your particular way of doing things.
There's also usually a short window of time during the initial curing stage where it might just smell green or grassy, and you might wonder WTF.
That is usually just a short time though, and as it cures, you should get good smells back.
Buuut... You can fuck up the end product either letting it get too dry, or staying too moist for too long.
Like some have said here earlier, there are temperature and humidity goals you can shoot for.
A popular sweet spot seems to be 60*f and 60% rh.
The cooler temperature would help slow the drying process, and conserve terpenes that would start gassing off the higher temps go.
Below 55%rh (buds in jar) the decarboxylation, or curing, process is supposed to slow or stop because it's too dry.
Above 65%rh, you're a lot more likely to get mold and bacteria thriving in the humidity.
So, people shoot for about 60% to be safe.
If you can dry your harvest in a climate controlled area, with hygrometers, the whole drying and curing process should be more of a science you can read, and adjust accordingly.
If you don't have thermometers and hygrometers small enough to fit in your curing containers, the drying / curing process will be more of an Art.
Being in Colorado, I'm going to assume your problems are from drying out a little too fast or long.
You likely won't need the week or two generally recommended for drying times around the web.
As fall weather moves in, the humidity drops outside, as well as inside, as the furnace starts running again.
Even hanging a full plant inside, you'd likely be ready to break the buds down into jars within 2-4 days, depending on heat and humidity in the house.
If you leave your harvest too moist for too long, your buds will likely smell like ammonia, or piss, and turn dark green to brown. This will not go away, and can happen in less than a day. Congrats- Now you can tell people you have Cat Piss, and they'll believe you! ?
It happened to me last year when I had a grocery bag full, trying to control dry it inside the house.
I figured it would be airy enough to wick the moisture out evenly, but within 12hrs, there was already anaerobic bacteria munching away, farting out ammonia, or whatever combination of chemical reactions happens to fuck your harvest.
You also might run into this when you first break the buds down into jars, if you don't air them out properly, or on time.
Jar sized hygrometers come in real handy, but jars need opened regularly, at the very least.
I personally prefer to empty the jars into paper bags at least once or twice the first day or two, to ensure there's fresh air around all buds, and they're not stuck together.
Mold loves those nooks and crannies!
If you have all the meters and jars, follow the numbers above, with at least 1 burp/shake/emptying jar per day.
Without meters, just going by feel, this is what I would personally do:
-Remove all leaves with visible stems / without useable resin.
-Cut plant whole, or in branches. (Whole will dry slower)
-Trim sugar leaves, or not. (Untrimmed will dry slower)
-Hang until trimmed buds or untrimmed sugar leaves are dry to the touch. Waiting until stem snap like widely recommended can be slightly too long for some buds, depending on bud density.
Buds should be dry feeling on the outside, but still spongy and moist just below the surface.
-Cut / trim buds down to go in jars, and cap them up.
After a few hours, there will likely be visible condensation, and the buds will be stuck together and all humid again on the outside.
-Gently shake, roll, jiggle the jar to start loosening the buds.
-Open and empty jars into a single layer on something wide and flat. Window screen or a drying rack will dry more evenly.
-Put buds back in jars when the buds again feel dry on the outside.
-Repeat this process with shorter airing out time in between jar time. The more dry it is, the quicker it will dry if you leave it out.
Basically, the first day or two, you'll want more time out of the jars, and the next day or two, they'll be more in the jars.
Feel moist? Air em out. Feel dry? Back in the jar.
After a few days of this in-n-out, you'll notice that they don't come out moist anymore.
They should be dry to the touch, but at least slightly spongy on a squeeze.
You shouldn't have to worry about mold forming, and jar time from here should just be curing and storage.
This is just personal opinion based on readings and experiences I've had.
Everyone's got their own way things work best for them, because all of our environments are unique to us.
Good to have you with us- Best of luck with harvest!
