Bud Washing

[PurpleGunRack]

That seems like a long way round of doing things. Washing, drying, curing THEN trimming?!? I agree with washing first but would it not make more sense to trim next, then dry then cure. Never heard of anyone trimming last although i have heard that some people dry then trim but to me that just makes trimming sounding like a much harder job.

Ps never washed before but am gonna try it and do blind tests with my mates to see if they notice a difference, only i will know which is washed and which is not.

Before wash I remove all leaves with no or very little trichomes, after this trimming is really unnecessary but I like to it anyway for the bag appeal.

I usually trim 12-24 hours after washing when it's done drip drying, it's like trimming a fresh cut plant, and then move to the actual drying area for the next 5-10 days.

You can dry the trim on a sheet of baking paper or something like that.

 

[BCgrown]

That seems like a long way round of doing things. Washing, drying, curing THEN trimming?!? I agree with washing first but would it not make more sense to trim next, then dry then cure. Never heard of anyone trimming last although i have heard that some people dry then trim but to me that just makes trimming sounding like a much harder job.

Ps never washed before but am gonna try it and do blind tests with my mates to see if they notice a difference, only i will know which is washed and which is not.

In response to your query, we have found that if you hang dry your product, then sweat in totes still on stalks for a few days, then finally trim and take off stalks, you get a better product. Hang dry for 4 days, sweat in totes for up to one week, then trim and bag.

 

[BrixKlinger]

In response to your query, we have found that if you hang dry your product, then sweat in totes still on stalks for a few days, then finally trim and take off stalks, you get a better product. Hang dry for 4 days, sweat in totes for up to one week, then trim and bag.

i'm going to have to do this as my stuff tends to dry too quickly and I havent found a solution yet, although I was already considering something like it, ur post inspires me to go for it!

vis a vis the process of wash trim discussion, heres mine:

big leaf, j-hook

wash

hang

trim wet branches 30min-hour after wash

buck nugs off branches days later when dry

*i've found I don't need gloves and my scissors don't really gum up when I trim wet branches, its quite enjoyable

*trimming anything dry really gives me alot of allergy problems I'd rather not deal with, not to mention you can see the trichomes "poofing" off brittle material when you agitate it.

 

[BCgrown]

Yet another question but first, here is my method thus far for a large garden.

Bucket 1: 15 gallons water and 1000ml 29% hydrogen peroxide
Bucket 2: 45 gallons water and 9 cups of lemon juice and 9 cups of baking soda (room temp)
Bucket 3-4: 15 gallons of cold water

Note, all water is r/o, and I changed out water from bucket 1-3-4 after each 4*8 table of plants was done. The larger 50 gallon resi was used for all 3 table.

So, I washed an entire 4*8 table with the above mentioned recipy before exchanging water.

Here is what I found.

We run a very clean no spray garden. My ipm consists of predator bugs which are very tiny. The buckets were not that dirty once done, but I bet there were a lot of microscopic bugs and dirt. The product looks great and is now in totes. They did dry out 1 day faster.

Question. How important is it to have the lemon juice tote being warm. Which a large operation, and 11 tables coming down next week, it will not be possible unless I set up a hot water tank in the shop, which, for now, will not happen till after our shop expansion. In your opinion, is this still a viable solution without change of water temperature.

 

[Doc Bud]

Yet another question but first, here is my method thus far for a large garden.

Bucket 1: 15 gallons water and 1000ml 29% hydrogen peroxide
Bucket 2: 45 gallons water and 9 cups of lemon juice and 9 cups of baking soda (room temp)
Bucket 3-4: 15 gallons of cold water

Note, all water is r/o, and I changed out water from bucket 1-3-4 after each 4*8 table of plants was done. The larger 50 gallon resi was used for all 3 table.

So, I washed an entire 4*8 table with the above mentioned recipy before exchanging water.

Here is what I found.

We run a very clean no spray garden. My ipm consists of predator bugs which are very tiny. The buckets were not that dirty once done, but I bet there were a lot of microscopic bugs and dirt. The product looks great and is now in totes. They did dry out 1 day faster.

Question. How important is it to have the lemon juice tote being warm. Which a large operation, and 11 tables coming down next week, it will not be possible unless I set up a hot water tank in the shop, which, for now, will not happen till after our shop expansion. In your opinion, is this still a viable solution without change of water temperature.

I use room temp in all buckets. No cold, no warm. Room temp.

 

[BCgrown]

I use room temp in all buckets. No cold, no warm. Room temp.

Thanks for reply

What if water coming out of tap is cold. I can heat it to room temp overnight in a 150 gallon resi, or can I simply use my tap water as is for all treatments. In short, if water was all colder than room temperature, do you foresee any issues with this practice.

 

[Graytail]

The only concern with cold water is making the trichs cold enough to be brittle. That's not an issue with tap water at its typical 50-60 degrees. No worries.

The hot/warm water isn't necessary, and it's not even clear that it's a good idea. Warmer water will dissolve stuff better, and I still use it for that reason, but hot water from the tap can be too warm in my opinion. I've smelled terpenes and felt a gritty ring in the sink when I've used really hot water, for instance - best to stick to water that doesn't feel "hot" on your skin.

 

[BrixKlinger]

In my mind u wanna keep those water temps in realistic growing temps, maybe a high of 105-109 as you could sort of imagine a blazing hot day even in nature getting like that, but also even our body temp is a good metric, as well as we know that some fragile terpenes are lost between 90-110f.

Did hot washes first 2 times, great produce, but wash water and bucket was sticky by the end. Now room temp all the way.

to be fair my buckets are a little sticky after a room temp wash too, but guess what, during this time of the month, so are my hands, clothes, shoes, scissors, whole room, car, wifes mood........the herb still turns out good despite this massive loss of "product" hahahaha

 

[Graytail]

... coffee cup, camera, glasses ... ... mouse, SD card ... ... lighter ... dog ...

 

[Gaffle]

The only concern with cold water is making the trichs cold enough to be brittle. That's not an issue with tap water at its typical 50-60 degrees. No worries.

The hot/warm water isn't necessary, and it's not even clear that it's a good idea. Warmer water will dissolve stuff better, and I still use it for that reason, but hot water from the tap can be too warm in my opinion. I've smelled terpenes and felt a gritty ring in the sink when I've used really hot water, for instance - best to stick to water that doesn't feel "hot" on your skin.

I did a wash last night and I almost did hot water in second bucket, but I just was to darn scered to do it!

I went hella simple with 1/4 lemon juice and 1/4cup baking soda. Bucket 1 had 1.5 gals, as did bucket 2. Both were done with room temp tap that has sat out for a few days. Doc does a 3rd bucket as well but I didn't research much so I went easy! Going to harvest and wash plant 2 tonight. Aw, snap...

 

[Graytail]

And screw the gentle treatment. I thrash the crap out of my colas (literally). CareStaker does too. Have you seen our buds maybe in some of the contests? The trichs sure look like they're all still there, right?

I agitate 'em enough to cause suds, if the water had soap in it - like that. Swishswishswish ... swishswishswish!

 

[BCgrown]

Thanks for the replies doc and graytail.

Here is another style of bud washing that I might try next week with 11 other 4*8 tables worth of weed.

Cut and defan buds. Trim before washing. Then submerge for 25 seconds in 1) h2o2 bucket (15 gallons RO water and 1000 mls hydrox 29%) , then 25 seconds in lemon/baking soda bucket, then 25 seconds in straight water. All water is about 60 temp.

Then I will lay buds on large screens with 1 centimetre holes to allow lots of air flow for 3-4 days.

Lights on at 50% on first day!?! Temp will be 75 degrees with light fan action

For dry racks, I simply roll out 1 centemeter hole mesh over scrog cage where plants used to be

Then sweat for a few days, burping every 12 hours


What do you guys think

 

[Graytail]

Thanks for the replies doc and graytail.

Here is another style of bud washing that I might try next week with 11 other 4*8 tables worth of weed.

Cut and defan buds. Trim before washing. Then submerge for 25 seconds in 1) h2o2 bucket (15 gallons RO water and 1000 mls hydrox 29%) , then 25 seconds in lemon/baking soda bucket, then 25 seconds in straight water. All water is about 60 temp.

Then I will lay buds on large screens with 1 centimetre holes to allow lots of air flow for 3-4 days.

Lights on at 50% on first day!?! Temp will be 75 degrees with light fan action

For dry racks, I simply roll out 1 centemeter hole mesh over scrog cage where plants used to be

Then sweat for a few days, burping every 12 hours


What do you guys think

I have a couple questions.

That sounds like a lot of produce. Eleven 4x8s? How big are the branches you're going to dunk? If you're doing a trim first you must be reducing them to colas. And how big are your buckets? You mention 15 gallons? You might want to think bigger.

People don't mention agitation very often but I think it's necessary - you're not going to get everything off unless you swish 'em around a bit. I can picture holding 3-4 colas in my fingers and plunging them up and down in the water. A few up and downs, a few swishes around, more up and downs ... like that ... then shake 'em off and plunge 'em into the next bucket. You should be able to do all that in 25 seconds. I just do one plant at a time so I dump everything into the wash side of the sink to soak, then I agitate each one and dump it into the rinse side to soak - when I'm done I pull 'em all out of the rinse side and hang 'em to drip and dry.

You should be able to get a similar system going for a big harvest. You'll want to replace your water as it gets dirty, too.




[Edit] They'll also dry a little faster, remember, so watch them that last day or two.

Oh, and RO water isn't necessary unless your tap water is awful.

 

[BCgrown]

I see. Some good points. Allow me to answer in billet format to save time.

1- from what I've read on this thread and the originator of this method, 30 seconds per bin seemed to be the magic number. From what y are saying, it's all about the agitation and the swish, and the whole process of the 3 buckets should only take 25 seconds,and to not be afraid to be a little rough etc...

2- my first three tables I defanned, then dunked then dried then sweat, then trim
The next 11 tables I was thinking that I defan and trim into buds, the wash the buds in large quantities, then drying them, then curing them,
3- yeah, it's a lot of tables, wh Ch is why I'm interested trying out new methods at making our medicine. Love experimenting.
4- we exchange the water in the 15 gallon buckets every 3 tables. Seems to work fine, got a very clean room and we do not spray. We simply use tons of predator mites, both soil and leaf predators, whitch is why i want to wash my buds. I use tons of predator mites to keep a clean garden, but want to make sure I can remove the fallen soldiers before they make it to your lungs. Water still seems pretty clean after three tables, but dirty enough to warrant a change.
5- our most successful method of growing has been the scrog method, so we are clipping individual branches from the top of the screens, then processing (which used to be hang dry, cure, then trim. Then I bumped into this thread and am taking the plunge ;-)

 

[BCgrown]

Just to add to why I am attempting to bud wash trimmed weed is precisely because of the sheer number of buds, in the hanging room, there will be 3 levels of string spanning. 28 feet long. The soaked buds will drip on top of one another for the first few hours. I assume that this is ok but still worth mentioning.

I will be using a spaghetti mesh drain pain to remove large quantities of bud and move on the next sections or dry rack

Anyone see any problems with this

God, if I showed some of conservative grower friends this thread and the stuff I'm writing about, they'd think I've lost the plot...

 

[Doc Bud]

Just to add to why I am attempting to bud wash trimmed weed is precisely because of the sheer number of buds, in the hanging room, there will be 3 levels of string spanning. 28 feet long. The soaked buds will drip on top of one another for the first few hours. I assume that this is ok but still worth mentioning.

I will be using a spaghetti mesh drain pain to remove large quantities of bud and move on the next sections or dry rack

Anyone see any problems with this

Google/Bing/Search "Commercial produce washing"

 

[Gaffle]

Looking for some insight! I read some of the curing thread, but I would like advice on drying/curing from the bud washing peoples. On Monday i cut, washed, and hung plant 1. Yesterday I transferred plant 1 to drying net (it hung for about 24hrs), and then cut, washed, and hung plant 2. My room temp is steady at 73F with 50rh. My plan is to wait until stems snap before I transfer to jars. Someone let me know if I'm being a dumbass. Thx!

 

[Graytail]

Looking for some insight! I read some of the curing thread, but I would like advice on during/curing from the bud washing peoples. On Monday i cut, washed, and hung plant 1. Yesterday I transferred plant 1 to drying net (it hung for about 24hrs), and then cut, washed, and hung plant 2. My room temp is steady at 73F with 50rh. My plan is to wait until stems snap before I transfer to jars. Someone let me know if I'm being a dumbass. Thx!

That always works for me!

In that atmosphere, I'd expect the stems to snap within 4-5 days.

 

[DrZiggy]

Sounds like lots of clean excellent produce is being consumed

 

[TheFertilizer]

So I went to wash my filters on my tent and hood for the first time since I finished flowering... This is from 8 weeks pretty much. Notice all the hair on the filter of the hood INSIDE the tent.

Guess who's washing his buds next time... The filter on the hood kept my fan mostly hair free though but I mean, it seems just opening up the tent flaps to do general public plant maintenance let's so much past the filters in the intake vents.

So you know just in case anyone needed to see what could be inside a unfiltered tent. To be fair I do own three cats though lol