Good harvest none the less, and your produce is now so fresh and so clean clean!
Your picture made me think a bit more on this. I am now thinking it might be a good idea to use small totes with air stones and another equally shaped basket or bread crate container to put the colas on and set them down into each phase of the wash, similar in nature to french fries being submerged into a deep fryer. It might be a year before I get another grow going to try this, but I know from experience that it takes a fair amount of added hours to wash a pound(ish) of colas. By pound(ish) I mean when the nugs are dried and the amount of colas it would take to produce that volume. I for one am still searching to put together a larger scale grow and to be tasked to wash a lot of produce on top of the other duties would make life difficult so I'm of course looking into ways to streamline this process if possible.
Any thoughts?
I used buckets for washing 1 pound producers and I estimate that I added 4 pain in the ass hours to the harvest process which for me was murderous on my spine. So much pain that I skipped the wash on my final plant which I also regretted. My advice is unless your washing a QP producer, search out the method that gets this process done in as little time as possible. With that said, the next grow I do and successive wash, I will be looking to use the large totes that another poster suggested on the previous page of this thread to wash the whole plant, or large portions at on time.
I do mine in huge Rubbermaid bins so I can do the whole plant at a time instead of tiny branches. Very fast that way
I can see I'm gonna have to get some big buckets! That looks a whole lot faster and easier than my tubs.
garbage cans work for washing whole plants..
I use some kitchen trash cans. They are taller and narrower so I can dunk large branches. I did consider using large yard trash cans, but that would use a LOT of lemon juice and baking soda. This would be practical if you were running a large operation and were processing multiple plants at a time. Since I typically harvest, at most, 4 plants a day, the larger wash container would waste a lot of water, lemon, and bicarb.
Basically, size your wash bin based on how you harvest.
I cut my plants into single large branches, or maybe a couple smaller ones, such that they can hang on a string to drip dry. I like to trim the buds about 1-4 hours after washing. We manicure them on the stem just because it's easier, but I do remove the stems completely and dry the buds only on a rack. Since I am already going to cut the plant into branches (let's be realistic here, we ALL cut them down eventually), The washing doesn't add too much time to my process anymore. The manicuring is still the bottleneck for me.
There wouldn't be much advantage for me to go to a larger wash bin. I can harvest, at most, 4 or 5 plants in a day. It depends on the size of the plants, but I can usually wash at least 3 or 4 before the water gets disgusting. I'm sure a large trash can would let me wash 6 plants between water changes. Sure, the washing would take less time, but I still have to cut up the plant into branches and I think single branches will get a better wash than a whole plant. Also, how long will it take me to setup, and more time consuming for me, teardown the larger wash containers. I wash in my basement, so I pump the water out. That would take hours, even with my 1.5 hp sump pump
I don't think there is one right or wrong answer. Use the container that works for YOUR situation. For me, that's a 'tall kitchen' trash can. I think they hold ~10-12g
Seems like the bud washing practice has been going on for a while now. Are there any lab results to confirm/deny the best washing practices? How do the trichomes hold up compared to the unwashed? I'd like to see more pictures.
...
Also, I remember that some of my growing friends a long time ago where experimenting with misting their buds in order to have a different cure on them. Has washing the buds evolved from this practice? apparently adding water to the curing process has been around for a long time and some swear by the smooth results.
Someone did post some lab analysis of both and there was no difference. I thought I had the thread subbed, but I'm not seeing it.
Several people have taken photos of the same spots on buds before and after and show no, or minimal, trichome damage. I think the pictures are on this thread.
I don't think this evolved from misting during drying/curing, but I'm sure some of the benefits we get from washing would also be had from that technique. Like most others, I think washing makes the buds dry faster, but more evenly. I suspect your friends that use the spray bottles are trying to keep the moisture levels more even since the outside will always dry first. IMHO, if you feel like you want to spray your drying buds, it's time to put them in the jar.
thnks. wow so a salad dryer sounds like a great idea for the popcorn buds. i would imagine though that the aggresiveness of the spinning might wash out some triches, but it sounds like its fine for u.
1)what average heat should the heated water be on?
2)does washing make the curing proccess shorter since the smoke becomes smoother quicker?
3)does washing make the initial drying procces longer than unwashed buds?
Leave popcorn on the branch, and/or use a drying rack (ie mesh cloth).
1. I use my hottest tap. By the time I get to washing, it has cooled enough.
2. I don't think so, but maybe. I think it makes the time from rack to jar shorter, but I wouldn't say the cure is shorter. Curing is important and takes weeks IMHO.
3. No. See above. This process will shorten the drying time. I believe it's due to the citric acid breaking down cell walls, but I'm not sure where I got that idea now.
I can say from experience that the buds are in the jars sooner than unwashed.
Pomass, i use a 4 bucket wash.
4 x 5gal food grade buckets. The orange ones from depoe is food grade
1st and last are plain water. I use slightly warm in 1st. Cool -cold water in 4th
2nd bucket gets 1 cup lemon juice. Bottled is great. Filled to 2" from top with warm 75+ degrees F
3rd bucket gets 1 cup baking Soda. Aka as sodium bicarbonate dissolved in slightly cooler temp as lemon juice bucket.
Dunk cut and initial trimmed branches for 15 times up and down. Let drain slightly before proceeding to next.
Place hanging to drip over sink or wherever you won't get yelled at.
Dry according to your choice.
Am I understanding your technique correctly?
1st bucket, plain water
2nd bucket is lemon juice and water
3rd is bicarb and water
4th is just water
I thought I've kept up on this thread, but this is the first time I recall seeing this method. Do you think there is an advantage to keeping the lemon and bicarb separate? What's the idea for the first plain wash? Is that sort of a first rinse to keep the lemon water cleaner?
IMHO, I would add one more plain water wash. My last bucket is certainly the cleanest, but it's still rinsing stuff off. I think the lemon and bicarb are great and do good things for the buds, but I also think it's best to rinse them off as completely as possible.
Re "crackheads smoke it, so it's fine" discussion...
I don't care if crack smokers are smoking bicarb too. They probably make LOTS of life choices I would not choose.
I'm not sure I agree with the idea that it's causing them no ill affect. How would you know when anyone researching it would probably be focused on the affect of the cocaine?
