Thank you for the sharing your experiences. Much appreciated.
So I decided to roll the dice this year and go for the bud wash. The bud wash is now complete and the buds have been drying for about 40 hrs. I have some doubts for sure, but I’m going to wait til after the cure is complete and evaluate the final product before i say if im a bud washer going forward.
This year I grew four plants in coco inside a 4x4x8 tent with GeneralHydropics nutes. Everything went well, not bugs, no mold or mildew, yet Im willing to give the bud wash process a go to remove unwanted debris like dust and hairs, etc…
The strains this year are Tangie1, purpZkittles, Tangie2, and ballnout. Tangie one and two, are the same strain and not some sort of variation. I just labeled that way for discussion. All four plants were switched to the 12on/12off light schedule at the same time in the same tent, and under the same conditions, but Tangie1 and purpZkittles matured faster, displaying about 15 percent amber tricombs where the other two Tangie2 and ballnout had none. No big deal, I still harvested and washed all four plants at the same time, and look forward to the pepsi between the two Tangies down the road.
Prior to the bud wash, I stopped providing water to two of the four plants (tangie1 and purpzkittles), and also wet trimmed those same two plants more aggressively. The other two plants (tangie2 and ballnout) each got a gallon of water a piece and a light wet trim prior to harvest and wash. Meaning i left all the sugar leaves and just knocked off any big leaves with easy to access for cutting stems. One other thing to note, i found using an exacto-knife to be quick and accurate for doing the wet trim. FYI.
Then I cut down the plants into manageable v shaped stem configurations prior to the wash. The wash consisted of two buckets of filtered and ph 6.5 water. The bud wash was really more of just a rinse wash where each bud sat for about 1 min in each bucket.
After dunking all the buds in the second bucket, I removed the buds and gave a light shake to remove excess water, then headed over to my fan to dry more. I rotated the buds in front of the fan til i was satisfied there was no visible drops of water. Kind of like when you dry your hands in a public restroom.
Then I did what you might consider a truly unforgiveable sin. With a single chopstick, I carefully levered each of the buds ever so gently away from the connected stems to help improve the airflow in those inbetween crevices. Even going so far as to gently lever the bigger colas apart, just enough to allow air to flow in. Once i finished violating my buds, i hung them on fishing line back in the tent. Please say a prayer for me.
Take aways so far, after the bud wash the buds are clean and hydrated. Im hoping for a slow even dry as a result. That being said, this means that taking the time to dry out two of my four plants prior to harvest by denying them water was probably an unnecessary step. And the second note is that there was little debris left in the water after the bud wash to convince me that it was necessary. To be honest, there wasn’t a lot of visible debris or hairs on the buds prior to the wash, but its worth mentioning.
Now the buds have been hanging via fishing line in my grow tent. For the first 12 hours i left my lights on at 50% then lights off for following 36 hrs. Lights will be out for the remaining time it takes to dry.
People have mentioned one of the risks to bud washing is that the plant matter can turn a little bit brown in color. I knew that before doing the wash and a little brown is not ideal, but its not the end of the world to me either. Infact, two plants buds and foliage (tangie1 and purpzkittles) turned a little more brown in color then the other two plants (tangie2 and ballnout). But after closer inspection, the tricombs had the biggest color changes. Tangie1 and purpzkittles tricombs turned from milky and 15 to 20 percent amber color to a dark brown with a few amber tricombs. Tangie2 and ballnout tricombs were mostly milky and some clear, turned to a light brown or dark amber color. I’m unsure if it’s just an ascetic thing or what, but I was not expecting to see that. I some pics to post in the near future.
Please excuse my grammar and spelling. 
It’s your call as it’s your grow. Try it and see for yourself. I didn’t always wash my bud but once I tried it, it became the new method. Not goin back either, lol 
