HARVEST
Last night I gave one of her leaves a kiss and thanked her for blessing my life with her presence.
I woke up at 4:30 AM. I made myself go back to sleep.
At 6:00 I got up and went straight to work.
This harvest report is as much about the art of DocBud's bud washing technique as it is the celebration of Buddha's ultimate gift. Let's get to work.
STEP ONE: Prepare the buckets.
Bucket #1 is food-grade white plastic. Into that goes 1 cup of baking soda.
Next up, 1 cup of lemon juice, NOT from concentrate.
It's cool the way it foams.
Begin to add water.
At this point I chose to whisk it all together before filling the 5 gallon bucket with warmish water.
The next two buckets are hot and cold. Just the hot from your faucet and the coldest from your faucet. It's not necessary to take this trouble. I liked the idea that a swish through the hot would wash off the first and the cold would set everything. Just a woman's instinct.
Everything is moved into the living room - my staging area. We're in stealth mode now.
Buckets go in position next to the drying rack.
The cutter and twine (loops already tied) are over by the closet.
Buddha's waiting silently in the darkness.
Time to get started. I reached down under the bottom and snipped off the closest branch, cutting right at the stem.
The first cut of your first harvest is a sobering moment. Expectations will now be confronted by reality. I'll be honest and admit that it made me pause for a moment. There was a palpable relief at getting the first cut done. Hard part's done. Slip a twine hanger on and hang her in the staging area.
Sun's getting ready to pop above the horizon. Let's keep the momentum going.
Branches are chopped and the sun is still rising. That went smoothly.
Everyone is just hanging around now, waiting for a trim. I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing here.
This beautiful piece is the main cola. Yummy!!! Time for some trimming.
Trimming for bud washing requires you to take off the fan leaves and anything obviously lacking in trichomes. Finish trimming will be done in two days after they dry out a bit. Doc has me convinced to reign in trimming. There's no need to force the buds to be something they're not. I like handling them as little as possible and as gently as can be accomplished. I believe this gentle handling is one of the reasons homegrown is so superior to cannabis bought on the street. Our goal is minimal trichome damage.
Oops! I was doing my best to avoid that. Looks like I'll be smoking some after all.
Trimming completed. On to bud washing.
I'll be working from right to left.
Let's start with a little one to get the feel.
Into the lemon/baking soda water.
My technique was to dip and gently twirl between the fingers for back-and-forth as I also did a gentle up and down. I used a slow count of 15 complete twirls and then lifted to drip.
Repeating that whole process in the warmer water (by now it was no longer hot).
Finishing up with cold.
When I began working with the longer colas it became obvious why Doc chose 5 gallon buckets. Plenty of space to dunk the whole thing without fear of damage to trichomes.
Dip....
..... and swirl. Buddha's final dance.
Before attaching the clothes pin I quickly wrapped the twine around the bar for extra security.
All done. That went quickly and smoothly. I could actually see the branches perk up while I worked. They look fresh and clean.
THIS is why we bud wash. The picture says it all. Zoom in and see the floating gnats. What you don't see is the dust and dander that dissolved. Yuck!
The harvesting/bud washing session is complete. Only clean up remains. It is now 10:30 AM. That time just flew by! I was totally immersed in the job and lost all sense of time.
Impressed myself.
I tell you honestly, everything left is covered with frosty trichomes. Yeah, surprised me too beautiful branches.
Here's a good look at the cross-section of the branches. I assume this is what the inner workings of a happy plant look like because this girl was brimming with life and vitality.
I close this segment with some pictures for Dale. He was insistent that his train be a part of the party.
I'll do the rest as a separate post.
I think this grow should change many minds. You can't blame it on the lights anymore. As I move forward I need to upgrade some though. Eventually I'd like to get to LED, but I may do a T5 first.