I'm washing them after harvest. It's a 3 bucket system. Over the weeks of the flowering period, your plants will gather all sorts of contaminants. It can be dust, dirt, bugs, eggs, fertilizer, hairs, ext. all of which will affect the final flavor and quality of your buds. To get a good clean product, you can wash your buds after harvest, to remove these contaminants from your flowers. They do not loose any trichomes or terpenes from the water. They are not water soluble. After you’ve smoked clean bud you'll never go back. It's THAT big of a difference.