Bud Washing

Dutty Panty said:
Thanks again guys I'm humbled by learning from people obviously as experienced if not more than myself. I love this site. Long day of trimming ahead
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Dutty .. imagine how I'm feeling .. before I got here, I never grew. I started growing because I saw people here have success with CFL's ... I feel like I found an unguarded jackpot :) What I learned here from people sharing their experience, is hard to put in words. It's the culture here, where everybody wants the others to succeed as well.

Btw .. my journal contains an update showcasing my 'CO2 upgrade' .. they are a week from arrival through the mail now, and the first day is lost in adding water and waiting till it gets to temperature. (21 - 25 C).
 
Dutty Panty said:
Damn you! Damn you all! #+&; myself I should of done this so long ago. I just did my smoke test and it's way better. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...?......... Why didn't I do this earlier....


Damn I now need to expand my drying areas so I no longer hang whole plants. ;&:$ my life!

Doc bud. And hiker I'd like to split all my rep points between you two Damn.
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You can still hang whole plants, just do your wash in 60 gallon garbage cans instead of 5 gal buckets.
You look like you have the forearms to dunk big plants :)
 
Graytail said:
I believe the first commandment is "Thou shall pH everything thouest may find". :laughtwo:

Of course, that depends on your denomination. :;):
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I'm an organic gardener and my pH meter has dead batteries. I guess that makes me a fundamentalist and everybody else a heathen.

Is Doc Bud now our patron saint?
 
Dutty Panty said:
Damn you! Damn you all! #+&; myself I should of done this so long ago. I just did my smoke test and it's way better. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...?......... Why didn't I do this earlier....


Damn I now need to expand my drying areas so I no longer hang whole plants. ;&:$ my life!

Doc bud. And hiker I'd like to split all my rep points between you two Damn.
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You're welcome.
I'm just happy to know your flowers are higher quality now. :high-five:


Doc Bud said:
I didn't ask.....but most people recoil at the idea of washing buds so I doubt it.

It appears I have at least one good idea I can write on my tombstone: "He washed his buds because he preferred clean produce."

As far as I'm concerned it's a no-brainer.....wash em.
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Ya I get nervous when I tell people I wash my flowers. I've gotten mixed reactions, but the smoothness in the smoke says it all. :thumb:

the green part above... :biglaugh: :rofl:

Radogast said:
You can still hang whole plants, just do your wash in 60 gallon garbage cans instead of 5 gal buckets.
You look like you have the forearms to dunk big plants :)
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I thought about getting large trash cans! It would actually be easier on the back as I wouldn't have to bend over as much. My issue is vertical. I don't think I could get my taller plants in and out. My ceiling is only 6'6".
 
I harvested a couple plants on the weekend- washed some and left some unwashed for comparison. Its one of those things that sounds weird but do it once and then it's so obvious. It was kind of like washing the windows in my house, a sort of dirty haze I barely knew was there is gone, and everything looks bright and clear. The bud looks and smells great. (No smell of bleach either, lol!). Thanks Doc Bud, and everyone else! Major low tech breakthrough
 
OttawaGreen said:
Bleach? Did you use bleach?
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No! No bleach! Don't worry. It was a joke sort of. I meant never to bring up the B word in this thread again, but if I have to explain...
A few pages back I kind of put my foot in it a bit. I read that chlorinated water might be a useful part of the process and was thinking of "making" chlorinated water by adding a few drops of bleach. Somehow I managed to go my whole life till then thinking that bleach and chlorine are the same thing. I got set straight quickly though. This talk of bleach prompted cries of concern from the general bud washing crowd. And rightly so.
Anyway- after I washed my buds the other night, the smell was so amazing and I was laughing to myself about how it would be if they smelled like bleach! I got a good laugh out of it and hence the comment.
 
Weaselcracker said:
No! No bleach! Don't worry. It was a joke sort of. I meant never to bring up the B word in this thread again, but if I have to explain...
A few pages back I kind of put my foot in it a bit. I read that chlorinated water might be a useful part of the process and was thinking of "making" chlorinated water by adding a few drops of bleach. Somehow I managed to go my whole life till then thinking that bleach and chlorine are the same thing. I got set straight quickly though. This talk of bleach prompted cries of concern from the general bud washing crowd. And rightly so.
Anyway- after I washed my buds the other night, the smell was so amazing and I was laughing to myself about how it would be if they smelled like bleach! I got a good laugh out of it and hence the comment.
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Oh those dangerous conversations with yourself that slip out into the world at the most unexpected moments :)
 
Weaselcracker said:
I harvested a couple plants on the weekend- washed some and left some unwashed for comparison. Its one of those things that sounds weird but do it once and then it's so obvious. It was kind of like washing the windows in my house, a sort of dirty haze I barely knew was there is gone, and everything looks bright and clear. The bud looks and smells great. (No smell of bleach either, lol!). Thanks Doc Bud, and everyone else! Major low tech breakthrough
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Grats! Enjoy the improved flowers :)
 
I told myself I would do a side by side the first time....then I went ahead and wished it all anyway. I don't know any other way now!
 
Going to try washing on my upcoming harvest!
 
Ok guys, getting excited here. I'm chopping down Rita this coming Tuesday (2-17) and have another question. Can I fill the 1st bucket with the baking soda/lemon juice cocktail and then just do a warm rinse then cold rinse under the tap? I think I can but wanted your expert opinions. When I fill the 1st bucket I don't want the baking soda foaming all over the place, how do you guys get around this? Thanks, you guys are the absolute fucking best on the net! :thanks::thumb::420:
 
Add baking soda to hot water, then add lemon juice. Little to no foam. I would do the baking soda and lemon juice in the hot bath ... sure you can experiment, but DocBud did that already ;)

Full method here: Bud Washing (leave out the hydrogen peroxide unless you have mould)
 
Hiddenkoncept said:
I found it spend it up by about 30% I just rose the humidity in the dry room a little bit to account for this.
Love washed bud!
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I learned from reading the FDA docs on drying and processing herbs and spices that the acidic solutions (like lemon juice) opens pores on the plants and allows for easier passage of water across the plant's cell walls. They say the plant material often gain weight during washing due to water uptake, but will dry faster because the pores remain open.

To clarify what I wrote about using tap water for washing, The FDA now warns farmers about using well or irrigation water to wash their harvests because this is how recent deadly outbreaks of food contamination happened. If a few plants are contaminated, and the wash water from their cleaning is reused, then the whole harvest can become contaminated. This problem was recently studied and there's lots of new information, guidelines and regulations on preparing farm goods for public consumption.

They only allow farmers to rinse in untreated water when it is discarded immediately and not recirculated or stored. If all you have is untreated well water, it is safe to use it, but you should discard the water after each "batch". City tap water is antiseptic and will kill MOST of the mold and bacteria that washes off the plant. The 2nd plant that gets rinsed in the same water does not get a bath in living mold and bacteria from the first plant if you use "tap water". Farmers who harvest many plants obviously have to be more careful than someone growing 1 or 2, so use your common sense.

In summary, the FDA claims the way to a better quality harvest is to:

Use an initial rinse to remove bulk contamination from the plants.
Wash the plants in an antiseptic solution (like dilute lemon juice) to kill most surface bacteria and mold.
Use a final rinse in clean water to remove traces of the antiseptic solution from the plants.
Never reuse dirty rinse or wash water.
Clean and sterilize washing equipment between harvests.
 
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