Hello OG’s,
After searching the internets far and wide, I have found a number of ways people recommend washing bud. Do people wash buds even if they never experienced situations like powdery mildew, pests, or trying to remove air pollutes? Also, how effective is bud washing? I’m tempted to throw some hair on a bud and wash it and see what happens. Seems like it might be good to fight powdery mildew, but I honestly find it hard to believe a bud wash will knock off much of anything considering how sticky buds get. That being said, I’m kind of new to this so what do i know. Of all the approaches ive run across, Doc Bud seems to have the most up to date and sensible process for washing buds. Here are just a couple bud wash approaches I found.
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Just water wash - two buckets each filled with reverse osmosis water. Dip buds in each bucket then dry.
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Lemon/Baking Soda approach: first bucket has 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup baking soda, and 10 Liters of clean water. Dunk buds into the bucket and gently jostle your buds about for a couple min. Then remove the buds from the first bucket, let the solution drip off the buds for a couple seconds, then dip the buds in a second bucket of just clean water. Again, swish the buds around for a couple min, then remove from the bucket and let the water drip off the buds for a few seconds. Last step is to dunk the buds in a third bucket that consists of clean water, swish around then remove and let dry.
*I’ve found variations of this process where you break up the first bucket into two buckets, with the 1/2 cup of lemon juice in one bucket and the 1/2 cup of baking soda both in separate buckets of water. Followed by a 2-bucket rinse.
*Another variation of the bud wash that has two large buckets each filled with 4 gallons of water. Added to the first bucket is 14 cups of lemon juice, 14 cups of baking soda, and 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide. Dunk buds in the first bucket for 30 seconds, then to rinse off dunk the buds for 30 seconds in the second bucket.
*Another version that uses 3 buckets each filled with 4 gallons of water, but instead of 14 cups of lemon juice and baking soda, they add only 1/2 cup of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of baking soda to the first bucket of water. The other two buckets are filled with 4 gallons of water each. With the option to add 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide to the second bucket if you have white powdery mildew.
Doc Bud’s approach seems to be the most popular and sensible way to wash buds. He uses a 4 bucket (5gallon buckets used) approach. The first bucket consists of Hydrogen peroxide and reverse osmosis water at a ratio of 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide and 3-part water. The second bucket has 5 gallons of reverse osmosis water mixed with 1 cup of baking soda and 1 cup of lemon juice. Buckets 3 and 4 are both just reverse osmosis water used to rinse off the buds. Dip the buds in each bucket for 30 seconds or 1 min if you have mildew issues. Again, lightly agitate the buds in each bucket to rinse off all the unwanted junk. Then drip dry, using a fan to help better dry the buds is fine, but make sure you are blowing clean air. Interesting note that after the buds are through the wash process, they are fully hydrated, and this allows the photosynthesis process to continue for a day or two on cut and trimmed buds. Doc Bud also recommends leaving a light on the buds for a day or two after the wash. Very interesting. Almost like leaving fresh cut flowers in a vase or something?
The varying number of buds washing approaches makes me a little less confident about washing my buds. Doc Bud’s recipe uses 1 cup of lemon juice and baking soda where another recipe uses 14 cups of lemon juice and baking soda in the same amount of water? I can’t imagine using that much baking soda and lemon juice wouldn’t have a negative impact on the cannabis. Also is it a good idea to mix hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice in the same bucket?
This year I grew indoor in coco and didn’t run into any issues with mold or pests, but I’m sure there are hairs, or dust that crept into the tent, but I’m on the fence if i should wash my buds for that reason? I’m honestly concerned about the amount of moisture that can be added when washing larger buds. Hell, I’m nervous about the moisture of larger buds even without a bud wash.
Do you still bud wash even if you don’t run into any mold or mildew or pests in an indoor grow? I’m interested, just hesitant to the idea and looking for more info. Thanks again.