Outdoor growers. Bud washing

Ok, who washes all their outdoor harvest? I’ve never heard of it unless you have a PM problem or something, but I’m seeing a few folks saying it all has to be washed. What gives. Bro science?

Thx!

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Spends months out there with all the dust, dirt, the shit its roots are in, bugs landing and pooping and all just blowing around in it with a resinous sticky texture. I mean I dunno about u but I spent all the time growing a wonderful product, def don’t want to be smoking a bunch of crap that collects on it

Try 1 plant and u will be sold in the process, buckets are nasty after of all sorts of crap

I do 3 buckets 1st one with lemon juice and baking soda and the following two just plain water. Dunk the buds in and let it flow around the buds like hair flowing through water, nice and gentle and rinse same way in following two buckets and immediately let it hang dry for it’s cure, stops dripping after about an hour and realistically all the extra dry time it adds and can feel good about it knowing u have a dank clean product

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Interesting. Any amounts for the lemon and soda?

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I do 2 to 3 lemons per 5 gallon and just dump baking soda by eye of prob a 1/4 cup give or take. Just enough it’s giving some grit to pull the crap off but not over doing that it’s a concern of it staying on after two more rinses.

Dump and change buckets as needed, some plants u might not get through the whole thing before it looks like it needs to be dumped and refilled

Just like cooking and acidity bringing out colors in vegetables it actually helps ur weed stay greener longer too washed vs unwashed

Water temps are important to, just room temp water is best. Too cold u will lose trichomes and too hot and it will evaporate ur terps

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Why lemon juice and baking soda. One is acidic the other a base? I’m really curious about the mixed used in washes. The dirt grim reason and potential anti bacterial effects

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Just an old school organic method for cleaning veggies that’s been around for years, haven’t dove that deep into the science of it, just applied it with my buds with excellent results. Something about the two together make for a great cleaner for alot of stuff, not just weed

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Sounds good

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The funk is all part of the magic! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Yeah once you see how the water looks before and after washing trust me you wont want unwashed outdoor buds again… :grimacing:

You do lose a few terps IMO but very very worth it.

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you wouldn’t say that if you had seen some of the shit i have smoked in the past…

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I don’t think any noticeable terps are lost by washing. I’ve done side-by-sides. I make sure my water is room-temperature and not cold or hot.

I’ve gone down to two buckets, both 5 gallons. I wanted to eliminate spores and bugs in addition to just getting the grime off. I swirl around/soak in the first bucket while I buck leaves off the next cola to go in. Then, freshly bucked goes into the main wash bucket, while the washed cola gets a simple swirl in the rinse bucket and onto the drying rack.

Bucket 1: Main wash bucket - filtered water, 2 quarts 3% H2O2
Bucket 2: Final rinse/disinfect bucket - distilled water, 2 quarts 3% H2O2

I honestly feel like the lemon juice added a flavor - but I only realized this after curing the herb. I tried it for the first several washes, they all have a hint of citrus. Someone here recommended cutting that step so I did before I even noticed that. My original setup was the classic lemon/baking soda-H2O2 bath-rinse water. I feel the H2O2 bubbling does a great job of getting the dust off, better/equal to the lemon-soda mix. The reason for the H2O2 in the rinse is that it isn’t harmful, and it requires several minutes to kill any spores that may exist still. No reason to rinse it off, only reducing the efficacy if there are any spores in there. I don’t want any of those.

My 2 cents. For free :rofl:

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Spores are floating in the air all the time, they’ll get spores on them again while drying anyway.

And I doubt Afghan hash farmers rinse their crop, best hash ever. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I dont rinse buds. Tried it once, only cuz there was some pm. Got a good product, very clean and green.

But, my outdoors dont get washed. If they get pm, I trash the affected areas.

I just wait for a big rain, and try harvest right after the rain. Set dehuey fo %50 for the first day, then up to 60

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You all are the best. Thanks so much for your 2 cents :+1:

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Maybe I’m just lackadaisical about the whole dirt factor thing but I’m not concerned and in my oh so personal opinion, I think it’s total bro science. Bug poop? They’ll get trapped in the trichomes before they get a chance to poop and run off. Now bud worms can poop on buds but if your buds are getting worms you have bigger issues imo, and you can always toss the individually messed up buds. Dust? Unless you run an intake filter, indoors is plenty dusty. My bookshelves can attest to that lol. I eat my berries and peppers off the vine, and I treat my bud the same.

This is another thing, the whole lemon water, baking soda water thing. At this point you aren’t just washing your buds as much as you’re performing an acid/base extraction of all the water soluble molecules in your buds. Not that I’m knocking it per say, just calling a spade a spade. It’s like the reverse version of QWISO- instead of washing the good chemmies out of your bud and isolating them, you’re washing the boring chemmies out of the bud and tossing them. Kinda cool in a way when you think about it, but just not my personal style.

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I think what’s going on with the lemon juice/baking soda rinse is it’s carbonating that wash. The CO2 in the wash would help dislodge foreign matter. (my SWAG)

Cheers
G

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Who says I don’t wash my indoor buds too? It gets the same love as I live in the dustiest part of the country

Again I challenge u to do it on one plant and see the water after and tell me it’s still a pointless step, I’ve seen the crap that comes off and seeing is believing

When it comes to bugs pooping and landing on it those trichomes are only present 5-6 weeks out of the whole several month grow cycle so what about all the rest of the time being exposed to the elements and growing in nature? What about the lady bugs and praying mantis I release in my grow area for pest control, do they just politely hold it and find another plant to shit on? The ants that crawl all over everything, were they nice enough to wipe their feet on the rug before trampling all over my plants? It’s outdoor and exposed to just about everything, I ain’t trying to smoke that or have it end up in my edibles.

Just like veggies not everyone washes em when they get em from the store and making their food. Don’t expect everyone to do the the same with their weed. But when someone asks if it’s suggested, just like buying their produce from the store I’m also gonna suggest they wash their veggies too cuz being cleaner about our consumables is never a bad thing.

I’ve NEVER had a wash a affect potency or effect from the buds, just a smoother smoke and flavors :person_shrugging:

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Pm or not bugs are shitting all OVER outdoor plants

Do one wash, for that firsthand knowledge, then make up your mind

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I did a lot of things in the past. Not all wise to repeat. Some I was lucky to survive.

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I saw how quick you were to respond with good info @AzSeaindooin420 . I was busy or would have gotten to it 1st. Once was all it took to convince me on the outdoor. Shit…what I had come off the 1st big branch. I wash even if it’s for butter.
I’d wash my indoor if I was concerned. I haven’t done a foliar feed after about week 5 for a few batches now. Or had to spray for any reason. I might rinse a batch. My energy level has me not wanting to to do anything extra. Had some health crap kept me from my outdoor this year. Pissed me off.

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