Bud Washing

[Big H]

Hi everyone. I wanted to see if anyone reccomends washing their buds at harvest? I've done some research and thinking of using a cup of lemon juice and a cup of vaking soda in warm tap water. Then followed by a cold tap water rinse. Agitating lightly and pulling fan leaves off beforehand. lf it is so great why doesn't everyone do this?
Note I grow in a small outdoor setup.
Thanks!

[DirtyNerd]

Hey Big H,

I wouldn't recommend it. Are talking about "water curing"? I personally see no point in it. Unless you sprayed some fungicide or a pesticide on your flowers, a good cure is my preferred method. Hang your buds until sticky and a little moist in the center, jar them up and open the jars daily a couple of times for 10 to 15 minutes to breath until desired moisture is achieved. Around 62%.


Peace and good luck,

DirtyNerd

[kingfish]

I've never heard of Bud washing. Could you please enlighten me? Thanks

[Royal Nugs]

The idea behind bud washing is to remove all the dust, dirt, your skin cells, etc from the plant. Even in a "clean" environment, there's still tons of dust and crap floating around. In my case, my cat thinks she owns my grow tents so everytime I open them, she runs inside and starts purring. Crazy cat.

Anyway, there's different variations of the process but the one i'm familiar with involves 3 buckets, baking soda, lemon juice. You put the lemon juice and baking soda in the first bucket with room temp water. Swirl around your fresh chopped cola in the solution for a bit and move it to a 2nd bucket with hot water. Same thing, swirl it around like you're trying to clean it without touching it and letting the water do the work. The 3rd bucket has cold water in it, same thing. Hang and dry, then cure.

I haven't done the process yet but I plan to with my next harvest coming up in 5 weeks or so. I plan on doing just plain water. Room temp, hot, and cold. The baking soda and lemon juice scares me. I'm worried it may change my flavor profile despite people saying it doesn't. Maybe I'll experiment with a smaller cola with the baking soda and lemon juice.

[kingfish]

Thanks for the lesson. I would be afraid of washing away Trichomes during the process.

[Big H]

As royal nugs explained. Im washing them to clean them so to speak. Ive heard good things that you wash away a lot of particles you wouldn't want to smoke/ingest. The trichs are not water soluble and therefore dont get removed in washing process. Im thinking you wouldnt want very hot water but a warm water would work. Also i have heard it assists in drying process as it seems to produce a more even drying effect. Ill let everyone know how it goes. Thanks

[9fingerleafs]

It's better if u use H2O2 rather than plain water. That way even fungus gets killed.

[SiriusFourside]

I've read up on bud washing before but never tried it. Here's a few hang-ups I have with the process:

1. What's the purpose? It's supposed to make your bud cleaner, but to what end? Does it actually smoke smoother or remove dangerous particulates? The results I've seen don't seem very convincing if you're looking for tangible benefits.
2. It's virtually impossible to keep skin cells off of anything at the rate humans shed them (1/4oz every 10 days!); dust is even worse! However, using a tent, carbon filter and a no-kitty policy has kept my bud relatively clean with no washing necessary. (My cat rules with an iron fist everywhere in the house, but the grow room is off limits. We bribe her with plucked leaves to keep our peace treaty going.)
3. Water and agitation will definitely remove trichomes. Not very many if you do the process correctly, but some. This means you will have grown a plant to maturity and then just washed away a little of that potency. Plus you don't want buds covered in baking soda and lemon juice (which can alter the taste), so you have to rinse the buds off which means more lost trichomes. Even if you don't use baking soda, juice, etc., every rinse is a tiny loss in potency. That's literally how you get trichomes off of your plant for bubble hash... water and agitation. Granted, correctly done bud washing means low agitation, but it's still a risk for intangible rewards.
4. The water content of your buds is incredibly important during the dry/cure process and it seems like washing your buds will only add an extra unwanted variable.

That being said, I'm skeptical since it's hard to pinpoint what you get out of it, but I'm not necessarily against the idea...plus I've been wrong many times before! It'll be great to see results from any of your trials; I'm especially interested in your 'plain-water' version Royal Nugs since it sounds like it would be just as effective and a lot less scary. I'm sure you won't mind testing the end product since it's strictly for scientific purposes.

[9fingerleafs]

Better let Jorge explain it in his newest book Cannabis encyclopedia

[Mañ'O'Green]

WOW just the thought of doing that sends a shiver down my spine.

Lemon juice is acid, Baking Soda is a base together you are back where you started = well ok lemon flavored water?

Be sure when you do this to keep some "Dirty Buds" as a control so you can smoke some and determine (although somewhat subjective) if it was worth it.

And please follow-up with a report.

[Royal Nugs]

A friend of mine did the method I mentioned, but he primarily did it because he had a mite infestation. He said the buds seemed smoother and the potency was good. It was his first time with the strain though so it's hard to say.

I'm doing it because my grow is in my basement with my cat litter boxes in proximity and the aforementioned feline issue. My pre-filter on my co2 scrubber after my first grow was pretty filthy. While the product from my first grow was fine, maybe this could help.

[Flockshot]

I am the kind of guy that still drinks out of a garden hose and I don't have anything in my grow room that I am afraid to smoke, so I won't be trying it soon. But if anyone has any evidence to support a better bud, well than I am willing to learn.

[Weed Pharma]

I've used NPK- Power Wash, right up to the day before harvest-with no issues.
Hard to tell if it makes a difference though.

[DirtyNerd]

Hey guys,

From what I've read(above) you all made valid points, some of which I had never put into consideration. I guess that's the point of this forum. Everyone has their own way of doing things, that's what makes us individuals.


Peace and good karma,


The Nerd