Bud Washing

LORIMAYFIELD said:
Thank you for all the reply’ s to my questions. Each reply helps me make a more educated decision on what is best. Experience is always the best!
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Bud washing (I believe) accomplishes several things:
  1. Washes off dirt, debris, and bugs
  2. Promotes even drying
  3. Produces a cleaner flavor / smoke.
For CBD you may not need to wash buds as you will be extracting the oil - correct? For a large commercial grow it is labor intensive. No way around that.
 
LORIMAYFIELD said:
Hi Doc Bud, we are trying to adopt your bud washing technique and are in the middle of a five acre outside harvest in Texas. I have a couple questions. Is it necessary to use hot water or can cold from the water hose be used? I am concerned about the trichomes.
Do you think it is cost effective to wash the buds when there is 10,000 plants in your harvest? I like the bud washing but I am concerned about the labor cost of washing 10,000 plants.
Also, do you recommend wet trimming right after you wash and then hang them for a bit to get the excess dripping water off? Or do you recommend hanging and let dry? or Wet trimming the individual buds and placing on a drying rack to dry? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Lori
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Not sure if you will be extracting or not, but if you are extracting, I would skip the washing.

I would imagine for hemp/CBD you would be most likely sending the plant material as biomass for extraction?

If one assumes you are using the plants for extraction, then washing really is an unnecessary step as when the solvent runs through them, it will extract the CBD and with filtration, distillation and other processes anything other than CBD should be removed as it moves from crude oil to final product. If you are sending off for extraction, you may want to speak with the extractors to see what they prefer for biomass consistancy such that some "by-products" of extraction such as terpenes are also marketable and more plentiful if you "flash freeze" the biomass and have the fresh frozen extracted.

If you decide to wash, make sure your drying room has the correct humidity levels and air circulation (under 63%) generally is the threshold that is favorable for molds to grow. Adding extra moisture and not having a proper drying environment with 10,000 plants could drastically raise the humidity levels and invite unexpected mold growth.

Wet trimming generally will increase the "green" "grassy" taste of the buds because it breaks up the cells and disrupts the chlorophyll in the leaves. Best to wait until after drying to trim (plus its much easier).
 
I like to put my buds between 2 clean towels and press together lightly to take the heavy water out. Seems to work pretty good for me. You may need extra towels as they get soaked pretty fast.
 
GratefulBud said:
FYI it takes me about an hour to wash, lightly trim, and hang one small plant to dry.
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OK I must have been really high when I wrote this. I just did a 4 bucket wash and trim for fridge dry. It took me over FOUR hours. Two of us. One plant. Looks to be over four ounces after cure.
 
Some years ago, I got some great advice here when I thought I spotted some mildew. It was suggested I use Hydrogen Peroxide in the first cleaning tub, but I can't recall what the measurement is.

I have food grade 3%. What amount of water to what amount of 3% hydrogen Peroxide do I use?

Side note: One of my ladies attracted some "inch worms", very tiny green worms in some of the buds. Where those critters get in, it gets brown and creates what looks like bud rot. I've been pruning the bad ones and worms off the best I can these past weeks and the majority of the plant looks fine. To play it safe, I'd really like to use Hydrogen Peroxide in the cleaning vat for this one. I remember when I last used it, it did an incredible job in both cleaning the plant and ALSO in driving unseen worms/critters out of the buds I never would of seen otherwise. In fact, it did just a wonderful job, I wondered out loud why it isn't used all the time. Most folks said to only use it when having mold or rot, etc and have followed that advice, however I really think, in the correct proportion, it's absolutely benign. What is the correct proportion?

Thank you and hope you all have having a wonderful year, despite the insanity our planet is under.

Peace,

Zafu
 
I used a 4 bucket wash -
#1 4 quarts (1 gallon) hydrogen peroxide 3% + 3 gallons water.
#2 4 gallons water + 1/4 cup baking soda + 1/4 cup lemon juice concentrate.
#3 water
#4 water - room temp.

If you see worms / caterpillars I would strongly suggest you spray BT immediately. It is safe to use and will kill caterpillars. You may see buds wilting / drying out. Cut those off and discard them. They will have bud rot. Spray BT at least once per week until a week before harvest.
 
GratefulBud said:
I used a 4 bucket wash -
#1 4 quarts (1 gallon) hydrogen peroxide 3% + 3 gallons water.
#2 4 gallons water + 1/4 cup baking soda + 1/4 cup lemon juice concentrate.
#3 water
#4 water - room temp.

If you see worms / caterpillars I would strongly suggest you spray BT immediately. It is safe to use and will kill caterpillars. You may see buds wilting / drying out. Cut those off and discard them. They will have bud rot. Spray BT at least once per week until a week before harvest.
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I have a 5 liter bucket. Are you saying 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide, 3 parts water? Just trying to understand proper dillution. So if 5 liters, 1.2 peroxide and 3.8 water?

Thank you.
 
Zafu said:
I have a 5 liter bucket. Are you saying 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide, 3 parts water? Just trying to understand proper dillution. So if 5 liters, 1.2 peroxide and 3.8 water?

Thank you.
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Hiya Zafu!
Yes you are correct 3 to 1.
 
GratefulBud said:
Hiya Zafu!
Yes you are correct 3 to 1.
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Thank you Grateful Bud. Quick question. Is there any good reason I can't combine a small amount of baking soda & lemon in the mix with the water & Peroxide? I'd prefer to do the cleaning in one and rinsing in following two tubs I have. -Zafu ChinaCat Sunflower the 3rd :hookah:
 
Zafu said:
Thank you Grateful Bud. Quick question. Is there any good reason I can't combine a small amount of baking soda & lemon in the mix with the water & Peroxide? I'd prefer to do the cleaning in one and rinsing in following two tubs I have. -Zafu ChinaCat Sunflower the 3rd :hookah:
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It is my understanding the peroxide must be in a separate bucket in order to be effective (kill bugs and mold). You want to rinse really well, so two buckets of water at the end. I gently dip and swirl in each bucket for about 20-30 seconds.
Rock on!
 
Bud washing is great. I do it all the time. I didn't bud wash this year because I got COVID in the beginning of October. I hid up at my cabin so I could be away from everyone. Unfortunately I missed my harvest weekend by over two weeks. When I got home we had several days of rain and when the weekend came an I felt up to harvesting, it was pouring rain all weekend. I figured a week of rain was a good enough washing. But I'll be washing next year for sure.
 
Doc Bud said:
I'm glad to see people are adopting my bud washing technique!

Yes, I "invented" it. I shared it with you folks here on 420....and nowhere else. I've never met, spoken to, or heard about anyone else doing it before I tried it.....and I enjoy freaking people out by putting fresh buds in a bucket of water....

But as many have said here, the results speak for themselves!

Let me put it to you like this:

Let's say I grew lettuce, cucumbers, tomatos and carrots in my basement. It's dusty down there, I've got fans flowing all around....battled with some PM, had some mites.....every now and then I get some rot or other disease on my plants....bugs flying around, dead skin cells, hair.....and I spray the plants with compost tea, fish fertilizer, kelp meal, etc.

So, you wanna come over for a salad? We'll just pull the veggies out of the ground, plop 'em in a bowl and start eating! No need to wash.....right?

The first time you wash your harvest and see all that brown crap left behind you'll begin to see the light! Then, when you smoke your first washed harvest, you'll understand.

For those who are new to this, here's my method:

4 buckets total. (5 gallon buckets are perfect)

Bucket 1: 3 parts RO water to 1 part 3% H202.
Bucket 2: 5 gallons of RO with 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup Lemon Juice
Buckets 3 and 4: RO only.

Cut down plants, pull off fan leaves by hand, remove any necrotic leaves. Leave sugar leaves and anything with frosting on the plant.

Fully submerge in bucket 1 (H2O2) for 30 seconds. Submerge for a full minute if you had ANY sign of PM or bud rot. Let water drip from buds and then.....

Fully submerge in buckets 2 through 4 for 30 seconds each...lightly agitating the whole time.

Allow produce to drip dry. You can blow a fan on it if you like, just make sure it's blowing clean air.

Hang and dry per usual.

Final manicure of buds is best done after they dry. It goes very fast and you're left with washed, highly resinous trim....makes superb joints. I'm also educating my customers to select untrimmed buds, which are actually better than the manicured ones because they still have sugar leaves attached. The trichomes in the leaves have more THC than those in the buds.....so it's good to get the whole spectrum in there.

I give instructions for this in my journals, as I do it every single week, on every single harvest. Once you try it, you'll never go back.

This works so well for a couple reasons:

1. takes off dirt, foliar sprays, bugs, fiberglass dust, etc.
2. fully hydrates the leaves, allowing photosynthesis to occur for a day or two on cut and trimmed buds. I recommend leaving a light on the buds for the first day or two after washing.

This results in very, dense, clean burning, smooth tasting produce! That's the basic recipe....and I'm tweaking and changing it all the time.

Warning: Do NOT use an "organic produce wash" that is based on oils! They sell these in grocery stores and health food stores, and while they might be good for lettuce and cukes....the oil removes resin from the plants.....don't use it!

Water will not harm resin....oil can and does.

Anyone who wants to know more about my methods is welcome to ask me about them anytime!
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Can I wash buds that were harvested two or three days ago ? They are by no means dry , still very wet.
 
OldLady420 said:
Can I wash buds that were harvested two or three days ago ? They are by no means dry , still very wet.
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I would advise against.
You could get away with a few hours, but not days.
 
Zafu said:
Is there any good reason I can't combine a small amount of baking soda & lemon in the mix with the water & Peroxide? I'd prefer to do the cleaning in one and rinsing in following two tubs I have.
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You asked a good question so I looked it up. After quickly looking at several of the links that came up I can see that "yes, there is a good reason to not mix the Peroxide with lemon juice."

In summary the two can be used one after the other in cleaning but it is not good to mix Hydrogen Peroxide with an acid, even something as mild as lemon juice. What happens is that when combined they create peracetic acid which is corrosive. If mixed in high enough concentrations this peracetic acid can harm skin or eyes, or can cause some damage to the throat, nose or lungs.
 
GratefulBud said:
I would advise against.
You could get away with a few hours, but not days.
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I agree. I might be tempted to try it myself, but I'd never recommend it. :cheesygrinsmiley: A couple times I let them hang overnight before washing, but a couple days is different. They don't dry uniformly enough to know what condition the trichs are in. Brittle ones will end up in the wash water.

:Namaste:
 
OldLady420 said:
Can I wash buds that were harvested two or three days ago ? They are by no means dry , still very wet.
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I do not see why it could not be done if the buds are taken care of in the several days between cutting and then the wash. Just tried that out earlier this month.

Nov 5th I brought in two Blue Dream clones from the patio and let it sit in the unheated back room. On the 8th I cut all the buds off; all of them from the big plump ones at the top to the smaller ones at the bottom of the canopy. Trimmed them that afternoon and put in a brown paper shopping bag and left that in the back room. On the 11th the buds went through the 4 bucket wash and the water dried off in the basement grow room with indirect air movement from a fan. The harvest was then bagged after 24 hours and placed in the fridge to begin the low and slow dry.

If the plant was healthy and ripe at harvest time and then the harvested buds kept away from hot and dry air I don't see why a few days of storage under cool to cold conditions would do any harm.

Poor plants had to go through so many different experiments over the summer.
 
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