Bud Washing

[Happyjoy]

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.

hey ziggy. it looks like u seperated the baking soda from lemon juice. i wanted to point out to you, that lemon juice and baking soda work together hand in hand. try putting a spoon of baking soda in a cup, then pour lemon juice on it and watch what happens. its activates the cleaning power of teh baking soda. theres alot of DIY cleaning products that work with lemon juice (or vinegar) and baking soda together. im not sure if ur getting teh full benifit when u use them seperately the way that you wrote in two differnt buckets

 

[DrZiggy]

hey ziggy. it looks like u seperated the baking soda from lemon juice. i wanted to point out to you, that lemon juice and baking soda work together hand in hand. try putting a spoon of baking soda in a cup, then pour lemon juice on it and watch what happens. its activates the cleaning power of teh baking soda. theres alot of DIY cleaning products that work with lemon juice (or vinegar) and baking soda together. im not sure if ur getting teh full benifit when u use them seperately the way that you wrote in two differnt buckets

i appreciate the notice. i tried both ways and prefer the separated one
the reaction gives you CO2 and the Sodium salt of the anion in lemon juice
I've read that baking soda helps to decarboxylate the acid form of THC..i don't know if its accurate but i have been happy with my washing of my herb ...VERY

 

[Happyjoy]

I've read that baking soda helps to decarboxylate the acid form of THC..i don't know if its accurate but i have been happy with my washing of my herb ...VERY

wow, that is really cool. if that true, then that would mean that its like decarbed weed? which means it should be more potent, correct?
cool. and u think it only has that effect if done seperate from the lemon juice?

 

[Hiker]

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?

 

[DrZiggy]

Hey Hiker . Yes. I do that the way you wrote it. The 1st bucket is like a prewash. My last bucket with only water rinse the baking soda off. I'll try another one this harvest and see if a difference is noted. There's no sodium left on it.

 

[BrixKlinger]

I question terpene loss constantly now fuckers

I hate you guys. You decide the hot water treatment is no good a week after I do it, but you string this thread out for years and tons of pages. You bastards. I went in fully trusting.

2 things:
-my product came out fantastic
-next time bucket#1 will be lukewarm (a good 20-30degrees cooler) with only baking soda no lemon.

*shakes fist!

*grin

 

[Robert Celt]

Hello all, and thank you hiker for starting this thread.

I read the first 15 pages a few days ago and it was enough to convince me to try washing my bud. I don't spray or treat my plants with foliar spray but have had problems with gnats. After washing the first few buds and seeing the gnats coming off, I will never NOT wash my bud again. I followed Docs recommendation of drying without trimming, something I will not do again.

Today I cut another plant and washed it but trimmed after the water had a chance to run off and actually found trimming the wet bud easier than unwashed green bud. It was still sticky to handle but it didn't gum up my scissors so I wasn't having to stop every few minutes to clean them.

Again Thanks

 

[DrZiggy]

wow, that is really cool. if that true, then that would mean that its like decarbed weed? which means it should be more potent, correct?
cool. and u think it only has that effect if done seperate from the lemon juice?

Decarbed weed is what you are consuming when you cook it, and or smoke it. Curing decarbs weed also.. and air-oxidation, time...

no, i don't think i can tell the difference in effect. to me an acid wash and then a caustic one to neutralize the acid and then a rinse made sense.

Im Ziggy. Things make sense differently to me than others..

 

[Happyjoy]

hey there everyone.
so i just tried my first bud wash.
i just wanted to check that i did it correctly.

heres waht i did:

being that the whole grow was organics, and i didnt use any foliar sprays during flower, and i had a clean indoor inviorment, and i only had 3 buckets, i chose to try just with three buckets.

Three 5 Gallon containers

bucket 1) cool water with 1cup lemon juice, 1cup baking soda the cool water was from faucet, but our water right now from faucet is cooler than room temperature, since its summer, and the room is hotter than the water. (was this bucket supposed to be warmer, like not as cool as bucket 3?)

bucket 2) warm water. about 85-90 deg Farenheit

bucket 3) cool water (same water as bucket 1) (was this bucket supposed to be cooler than the water used for bucket 1?


Q: was i supposed to have the first bucket (lemon and baking soda) to be lukewarm, like a temperature in between bucket 2 and 3, or to have bucket 3 cooler than bucket 1. even though bucket 1 is already a nice cool temperature, its not fridge temp. just a nice average faucet temp of a house that has good insulation?

The Celt
I followed Docs recommendation of drying without trimming, something I will not do again.

hey the celt. what didnt u like about trimming when dried? this past time trimming (first time ever) i did right after picked, and it was interesting. when i read what doc said about trimming when dried, it actually sounded to me like it would be easier than after fresh picked...
on the other hand, trimming when a little wet after washing also sounds like it would help with the stickiness. however wouldnt u lose out on not being able to make any hash then from the goo from the trimmings?

 

[MassMedMan]

hey there everyone.
so i just tried my first bud wash.
i just wanted to check that i did it correctly.

heres waht i did:

being that the whole grow was organics, and i didnt use any foliar sprays during flower, and i had a clean indoor inviorment, and i only had 3 buckets, i chose to try just with three buckets.

Three 5 Gallon containers

bucket 1) cool water with 1cup lemon juice, 1cup baking soda the cool water was from faucet, but our water right now from faucet is cooler than room temperature, since its summer, and the room is hotter than the water. (was this bucket supposed to be warmer, like not as cool as bucket 3?)

bucket 2) warm water. about 85-90 deg Farenheit

bucket 3) cool water (same water as bucket 1) (was this bucket supposed to be cooler than the water used for bucket 1?


Q: was i supposed to have the first bucket (lemon and baking soda) to be lukewarm, like a temperature in between bucket 2 and 3, or to have bucket 3 cooler than bucket 1. even though bucket 1 is already a nice cool temperature, its not fridge temp. just a nice average faucet temp of a house that has good insulation?




hey the celt. what didnt u like about trimming when dried? this past time trimming (first time ever) i did right after picked, and it was interesting. when i read what doc said about trimming when dried, it actually sounded to me like it would be easier than after fresh picked...
on the other hand, trimming when a little wet after washing also sounds like it would help with the stickiness. however wouldnt u lose out on not being able to make any hash then from the goo from the trimmings?

I only used three buckets last night. They were grown organic, but, I also use neem. So, I wash without question.

 

[Robert Celt]

Hey Happy

Doc recommends just leaving the sugar leaves on and not trimming them. I like my bud trimmed and also intend to make hash with bubble bags later. I still save my trimmings, I just trim into a plastic container and freeze it for later use in bubble bags. Because I intend to separate the trichomes with the bubble bags I don't worry about drying the trim.

 

[Humanzee]

Take a leave of absence for a month from everything
Bring some bulletproof coffee made with canna butter,

Lol, the nerd in me feels like I have to say this.. Dave Asprey (Who trademarked Bulletproof Coffee) was given a huge platform on Rogan's podcast and has since been shown to be less than truthful in some instances - for financial gain. But please, keep putting that cannabutter in your coffee!

I hate you guys. You decide the hot water treatment is no good a week after I do it, but you string this thread out for years and tons of pages. You bastards. I went in fully trusting.

2 things:
-my product came out fantastic
-next time bucket#1 will be lukewarm (a good 20-30degrees cooler) with only baking soda no lemon.

*shakes fist!

*grin

What made you decide not to use lemon? I'll be washing very soon so am curious to know why.

 

[Happyjoy]

Hey there everyone.
I'm just wondering what average twnp the last bucket water should be? The directions in the post said cold but not too cold. I know people use ice cold water in making bubble hash to separate the triches from the bud, so I'm assuming its a temp higher than that, but cooler than warm....?

I added some ice to the last bucket (about 1.5 litre of ice to 5gal bucket) since it was a hot day and my faucet water was just a tiny bit under room temperature, which I didn't think was cold enough, but I hope I didn't make the water too cold, and accidentlt separate triches from the buds....

 

[DrZiggy]

Hey there everyone.
I'm just wondering what average twnp the last bucket water should be? The directions in the post said cold but not too cold. I know people use ice cold water in making bubble hash to separate the triches from the bud, so I'm assuming its a temp higher than that, but cooler than warm....?

I added some ice to the last bucket (about 1.5 litre of ice to 5gal bucket) since it was a hot day and my faucet water was just a tiny bit under room temperature, which I didn't think was cold enough, but I hope I didn't make the water too cold, and accidentlt separate triches from the buds....

I use the water out of the cold tap.. 60-65F

 

[BrixKlinger]

What made you decide not to use lemon? I'll be washing very soon so am curious to know why.

Well alot of what differentiates lemon juice from water is oil, so I believe I'm avoiding the chance a solvent is hitting my buds with heat, seems like a bad combo.

 

[Maurice66]

Hiker and Doc Bud- Thanks for the info! Quick question: By RO water presumably you mean reverse osmosis water, or purified water, right? What's the thinking behind your recommended use of RO water when virtually everyone (or most of us) simply cleans their vegetables in tap/hose water (well water in our case)? Am I missing something?

Thanks again!

 

[Skybound]

Tap and well water has a lot of dissolved solids, some more than others, spring water also. RO generally has 5-10 ppm or less, so when rinsing with RO, the theory is that less of those dissolved solids will be coming back out on your buds and into your patients lungs. I use tap in the beginning stages of wash but finish in RO.

 

[Cannabliss89]

I don't have time to read 75 pages right now, has this process been updated/refined at all? I would love to try it but it seems like people use different water temps and some don't use the lemon juice or the baking soda so I'm not sure what to try. It'd be awesome if someone could post updated directions. Is there a minimum and maximum water temp that we should use to avoid disturbing the trichs. The baking soda n lemon juice help clean the bud right? Any negative effects or reasons why some people don't use either the lemon juice or baking soda? Is it best to mix them or keep them in separate buckets? It just seems like everyone kind of does it there own way. I guess no one can really say "this is the best way" since we have no way of properly measuring the efficiency of this process. It'd just be nice if there were some guidelines for those that haven't tried this yet, like "don't use water above ** or below ** degrees",
"use a minimum of 3 buckets, 5 is better",
"agitate buds in water for minimum of 30 seconds before moving to next bucket",
"tap water is ok, RO is best"
etc.

 

[Humanzee]

I don't have time to read 75 pages right now, has this process been updated/refined at all? I would love to try it but it seems like people use different water temps and some don't use the lemon juice or the baking soda so I'm not sure what to try. It'd be awesome if someone could post updated directions. Is there a minimum and maximum water temp that we should use to avoid disturbing the trichs. The baking soda n lemon juice help clean the bud right? Any negative effects or reasons why some people don't use either the lemon juice or baking soda? Is it best to mix them or keep them in separate buckets? It just seems like everyone kind of does it there own way. I guess no one can really say "this is the best way" since we have no way of properly measuring the efficiency of this process. It'd just be nice if there were some guidelines for those that haven't tried this yet, like "don't use water above ** or below ** degrees",
"use a minimum of 3 buckets, 5 is better",
"agitate buds in water for minimum of 30 seconds before moving to next bucket",
"tap water is ok, RO is best"
etc.

Not sure if you've read post #12 on page one yet, where Doc Bud gives a fair outline -> Bud Washing

You can probably get a good idea if you just searched his posts on the thread and read a handful. The cup of lemon juice and baking soda are in the same bucket. I used the Realemon brand like Doc suggests from the grocery store down the street. I personally used regular temp tap water for the first two buckets, and distilled for the last two. I only used 1 bottle of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. Other than that, I pretty much followed Doc's instructions. It helped to have a loop countdown timer set for 30 seconds.

It's worth noting that I still had a few gnats flying around while drying that I previously didn't know were there. I had some early to mid flowering that mostly went away after spraying with BT for hookworms. Also, what I presumed to be hookworm webbing on the drying buds. Or some type of worm/spider webbing. I haven't seen any mites with my microscope, but I did see a tiny worm hanging from a drying nug. Didn't know they made webs.. Or anything like a web. Anyone familiar with that?
I should have soaked for longer. I believe I dried it for about a half-to-full day longer than I should have. I have high temp and low humidity during the day that I didn't have the ability to regulate.

 

[Skybound]

This is my wash according to that mentioned post #12. There are other videos, plus if you'll read the 10 most current pages, you'll get a good idea of the ways people are adjusting the process and the results they're getting.