Bud Washing

Hiker;1851036 said:

First off, I did not come up with the idea of washing buds as part of harvest. I'm not sure where the idea originated, but I learned of it via Curso and DocBud.

I've read with interest as several members have tried this technique. The idea already appealed to me on a logical level, but it was the endorsements of other members that really sold me. Granted, my sample size is only ~6 growers, but the responses I've read have been pretty unanimous. Every comment I've read has been something along the lines of, 'now I'm spoiled and don't want to smoke unwashed buds anymore'. That kind of rhetoric caught my attention!

I can't yet say if I will have that same reaction, as my first attempt is still hanging to dry. I'm creating this thread as a place to discuss the techniques and/or principles involved with this practice. The what, why, and how if you will.

First, What are we talking about?

It's pretty simple. We're washing the plant during the harvest and curing phase. I honestly can't think of anything else to say about 'The What' without getting into the why and how, so let's get to it.

Why wash your buds?

Just like you wash your vegetables before eating them, it's probably a good idea to wash Cannabis before consuming it as well. How big an impact it makes will depend on the environment the buds were grown in. Was it outdoors or indoors? Was the indoor garden sealed or ventilated? Was any sprayed on the plant, ie food or pest control?

My flowering room is sealed, and I don't spray anything my plants. I certainly understand why it's important to some of the growers here that spray their plants weekly. My wash water actually didn't get too dirty. Yes, it certainly appeared to have cleaned something off. Even in my sealed room there will be dust and dirt on the plants.

How do you do it?

My technique was based off instructions from Curso.

I use 3 5g buckets. The first bucket has room temp, ie not cold, water with the lemon juice and baking soda. The second bucket has the hottest water I can get from the faucet. The last bucket is the coldest water I can get.

I do a pre-trim on each branch to remove any leaves without crystals. Then I dunk each branch several times and swirl them around a bit. When I dunked the branches, I did it fast enough to get the water sloshing around real good. I imagined I'm trying to get the water to get into all the nooks and crannies with some force to help clean out the dirt. I do each bucket for 10-30 seconds including a few second to let them water drain off before moving them to the next bucket.

After the last rinse, I hang them on a string above the bucket so it can drip back into the bucket. As I wash more buds, I slide the others to the side to make room so the freshest is always dripping over the bucket.

I let them dry about 24 hours before trimming. If I tried to manicure sooner than that, they felt too wet.

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So that's all I have to get things rolling. I really hope others will join in the discussion and share their experiences.

I have a question for anyone that knows. What is the reasoning behind the lemon juice and baking soda?

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