Bud Washing?

[CaptainOrganicsCO]

I was discussing bud washing in my grow log and I figured I'd start a new thread here.

So does anyone wash there buds before harvest? Some people are doing it and giving the process rave reviews.

I cleaned out my attic and probably got my plants a bit dusty. That's the reason I figured I'd give it a try.
Guys who foliar feed there plants into flower came up with this idea.

A lot of people are probably thinking dunk my buds in water after harvest? I've had bud rot before without doing that. Why the f*ck would I do that? Well watch and see. I'm going to harvest a SLH plant and wash the majority of it, leaving some unwashed as a control. See how it works for me.

CaptainOrganicsCO Reviewed by CaptainOrganicsCO on 12-11-2013. Bud Washing? I was discussing bud washing in my grow log and I figured I'd start a new thread here. So does anyone wash there buds before harvest? Some people are doing it and giving the process rave reviews. I cleaned out my attic and probably got my plants a bit dusty. That's the reason I figured I'd give it a try. Guys who foliar feed there plants into flower came up with this idea. A lot of people are probably thinking dunk my buds in water after harvest? I've had bud rot before without Rating: 5

[CaptainOrganicsCO]

Here's the recipe:
Keep the plant in branches, not buds and trim as u normally would.
Get 3 5 gal buckets set up.
The first bucket is room temp h2o and 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup lemon juice.
The second is hot water
The 3rd is cold water.
Dip branch in first bucket, agitate lightly, cycle through remaining buckets and hang to drip dry for a day. Continue drying as u normally do.

[Weezard]

Great!
I love a good experiment.
But I'm still scratching my head and wondering.

Can you explain the logic behind this?

"The first bucket is room temp h2o and 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup lemon juice."

Why in the blue eyed world, would anyone do that to some poor, innocent, buds?!

Where did you find this method?
I'm a micron away from calling fnord on it.

Aloha,
Weeze

[tlranger]

Now I can see a little rinse before harvest, mother nature and all, bet you guys figure it out though

What's a fnord, something about G. Ford??

[Shovelhandle]

I've never done this and likely will never do so. The buds in the bucket sound more like removing the trichomes from the plant to make hash...
I do foliar feed sometimes so I have rinsed living plants down with a hose or spray bottle, but way before harvest.

[Weezard]

@tlr:
Surprised that you didn't google it,
Google is our friend.

Fnord:
The word was coined as a nonsensical term with religious undertones in the Discordianreligious textPrincipia Discordia.
Fnord was originally the typographic representation of disinformation or irrelevant information intending to misdirect, with the implication of a worldwide conspiracy.

I have seen trollish types give horrible advice to newbies, just to see if they were dumb enough to act upon it.

@Shovelhandle:
Not a problem as long as the water is not < say, 40 F.
The trichs are quite flexible at normal temperatures.

I know this because I took macro images before, and after the wash.
Got progressively rougher with each cola.
Then dried, photographed, and compared.

At 70 F.
You can thrash them like a red-headed stepchild and suffer no capitate gland loss.
Gotta get 'em cold to knock them off for hash.

Notice:
No red-headed stepchildren were harmed in these experiments.

@Captain Org:
Nevermind, I googled it.
The Bicarb and lemon is touted as a "produce wash".
It's for fruits and vegetables that one hardly ever smokes.

Gotta say that it sounds really dumb for bud, but what do I know?
Precious little if truth be told.
So, you have my attention.
Gonna watch closely while you do this.

Might have unimagined merit.
Might be a epic fail.
Former? I get to learn something, risk free.
Latter? Hmm, better you, than me.
That is, unless you bail.

Geronimooo!

Weezard

[CaptainOrganicsCO]

I am going to quote my source here. I hope it is okay to reference a grower on another forum. I won't mention the specific forum, that might be better.

I have been following this guy Doc Bud for a while. I am real interested in his High Brix grows.
He is the one who came up with the lemon juice baking soda wash, along with the hot then cold water.

I now have to read though a shit ton of material again to find the "why" for using this stuff. I am doing this now and I will post here as soon as I can.

Brb...

[CaptainOrganicsCO]

Btw, I washed a small sample of super lemon haze last night using weezards 3% hydrogen peroxide an room temp water bath. They buds are now drying. They seem to be drying just about the same as the unwashed buds. 2 wks to smoke and see if there is any noticeable difference.

Photo washed:
Attachment 296619

Unwashed:
Attachment 296620

[CaptainOrganicsCO]

I really am having a hard time finding info explaining the reasoning behind the lemon juice and baking soda. Google doc bud bud washing... I'm still working at it...

[CaptainOrganicsCO]

Here is the recipe from the creator himself: credit to doc bud,

For those who are new to this, here's my method:

4 buckets total. (5 gallon buckets are perfect)

Bucket 1: 3 parts RO water to 1 part 3% H202.
Bucket 2: 5 gallons of RO with 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup Lemon Juice
Buckets 3 and 4: RO only.

Cut down plants, pull off fan leaves by hand, remove any necrotic leaves. Leave sugar leaves and anything with frosting on the plant.

Fully submerge in bucket 1 (H2O2) for 30 seconds. Submerge for a full minute if you had ANY sign of PM or bud rot. Let water drip from buds and then.....

Fully submerge in buckets 2 through 4 for 30 seconds each...lightly agitating the whole time.

Allow produce to drip dry. You can blow a fan on it if you like, just make sure it's blowing clean air.

Hang and dry per usual.

Final manicure of buds is best done after they dry. It goes very fast and you're left with washed, highly resinous trim....makes superb joints. I'm also educating my customers to select untrimmed buds, which are actually better than the manicured ones because they still have sugar leaves attached. The trichomes in the leaves have more THC than those in the buds.....so it's good to get the whole spectrum in there.

I give instructions for this in my journals, as I do it every single week, on every single harvest. Once you try it, you'll never go back.

This works so well for a couple reasons:

1. takes off dirt, foliar sprays, bugs, fiberglass dust, etc.
2. fully hydrates the leaves, allowing photosynthesis to occur for a day or two on cut and trimmed buds. I recommend leaving a light on the buds for the first day or two after washing.