THC is water soluble, and at around 3.3% per liter at room temperature to be exact. Go ahead and bump that up, as YOU warm it up. Lemon juice is also a very powerful solvent. I have used it in the manufacturing of "spice" and the ease to break down chemicals JWH-018 and the such is phenomenal. So even though THC may not be very soluble in water, you people are adding lemon juice to the mix, and even heating it up in some cases. Kind of hard to make me look like an idiot when the science is on my side... I think you've been in that "basement" too long. Washing may as well be "stripping". In many cases in this industry that we all know and love the two terms co-relate quite often. If water and lemon juice were not solvents, this method wouldn't remove a thing from your precious flowers, and they would come out exactly the same way they went in.
I also understand that THC "testing" is expensive. I was just hoping this new community I joined consisted of more than just basement and closet growers. Is it unfair for me to think that someone on this board has money? Looking at Colorado, I would think not.
I will be using this technique from now on, but I know there is a loss, there HAS TO BE if science has it's say. Is it going to be substantial?, probably not. Is anyone going to notice the difference in strength, I personally wouldn't think so, but that's why I asked. Not as much for myself, but to make my ease of passing on the "knowledge" to some hard headed old men a little easier. For them, myself and many others "seeing is believing". The pictures are good enough for me, but nothing would ease EVERYONE's minds better than a high dollar bud analysis!! THIS THREAD NEEDS MORE LOVE!! KEEP IT GOING!!!
Peace an Love,
Chaotic
Yes, THC has a measurable solubility in water. Water IS the universal solvent. The solubility is very low though. Also, this value is for a particular isolated isomer, or maybe many isomers. We don't have that. We have trichomes. The THC molecules are still contained within the heads of the trichomes. I'm unsure what that does to the solubility in water, but I can't imagine it increases.
You're also right that lemon juice, a weak acid, is also a solvent. I didn't see anywhere that THC was soluble in acids. If you know of some, could you point me in the right direction. The idea behind the lemon juice, I think, is that it IS a solvent for some of the things we're trying to remove. We use solvents everyday. In each case, we choose the correct solvent for the job. I wouldn't wash my hands in butter or oil, but it dissolves THC great. I also wouldn't use some hand soap on my buds to clean them.
The MUCH bigger issue IMHO, is knocking off those heads! High magnification before and after pictures would be a great way to see just how many we're losing.
I'd like to see the source for the 3.3% number you cited. I found some references to 2.8mg/L, but the only mention of 3.3% is a post, on another forum, mentioning a NORML study. I was unsuccessful finding any other mention of that study. Can you help me find it?
Lastly, How did I try to make you look like an idiot? If that was your take on my post, you have my apologies.
If it was about testing, then I was making sure you understood that the samples get destroyed during the process.
I had written more, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume I am misunderstanding some of your reply. If I don't do that, I would feel offended by some of your comments.
what is the purpose for waiting till after the wash to cut off sugar leaves? is this so no washing solutions permeate through the newly opened wounds of each leaf?
I think it's personal preference. My rough sequence last time was: trim off the large fan leaves, wash one branch at a time, hang to dry for 12-24 hours, manicure, rehang for ~1 week, cut buds from branches and jar for a few days (length depends on many variables), then burp jars and add Boveda pack.
Immediately after washing, the branches were too heavy to manicure. I don't like to trim dry. I tried to manicure them after they have had time to drip dry enough so the branches can hold up the weight while trimming. I hand trim though, so I'm not sure how this would incorporate if you're using a machines of some sort.
My trim helpers thought it might work better to do wash after manicure, so I might try that next time. I am going to dry in a rack instead of hanging branches on a string this time, but I'm unsure yet how I will incorporate the wash into the sequence.
To me, the advantage of washing first is, my sugar trim (saved for bubble bag hash) is clean too. I made hash from both trim, and it definitely affected the hash positively. The clean trim's hash was lighter in color and the texture in the bags was slightly different. It seemed more uniform. This was my first time making hash though, so I have little to compare too. I know it tastes awesome!
I'll continue to experiment. If I learn anything related to bud washing, I will share it here.