BUD WASHING- the truth

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drgroove

Well-Known Member
so I washed these buds :

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and was surprised how clean the water stayed :

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left is wash, right is rinse.

growbox and 1 or 2 neem spray in veg.
 

hillbill

Well-Known Member
I have actually seen with my own eyes how plants have come through heavy downpours and still have trichs and even chopped while still wet and the weed still was quite nice.

Indoors it never rains. Plants don't get rinsed unless the farmer does it. If you sprayed for pests in mid to late flower, it may be prudent to rinse. Neem tastes like NÉEM! It does seem though like stuff that is just chopped and dried slow dried slow slow is richer tasting and smelling. Seven to ten days before the jar.
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
I just tried this with a couple branches. Then scoped them. It removed about 1/3 of the trichome heads. Most of the heads at the top of each bud. I will not being doing this again.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
A guy on a YouTube channel had powdery mildew so he sprayed his harvested bud in a sink with a hand sprayer and tap water and then showed it in microscopic view and it was clean of mold and trichome heads were intact. Then he sold it to dispensary and it tested clean. They never even knew it had PM and was sprayed in a sink. BTW, you can buy small lettuce spinners with hand crank for a few bucks. Might be helpful in getting water off.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
A guy on a YouTube channel had powdery mildew so he sprayed his harvested bud in a sink with a hand sprayer and tap water and then showed it in microscopic view and it was clean of mold and trichome heads were intact. Then he sold it to dispensary and it tested clean. They never even knew it had PM and was sprayed in a sink. BTW, you can buy small lettuce spinners with hand crank for a few bucks. Might be helpful in getting water off.
The presence of PM was hidden by washing? You've just given the best reason ever to grow your own. Yuck.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
Those little white blotches that people see when they recognize the problem are just the fruiting bodies of the mildew growing in the leaf.

With determination, you can wash the white stuff off but you can't wash out the microscopic mycelium.
This is an SEM micrograph of PM in the fruiting body stage of its life cycle. The long stalk with spores on the end is what can be washed off.


This iSEM micrograph shows what PM mycelium looks like when it growing but hasn't come out for sex:

Labs have pretty good procedures for testing for mold. Mycelia won't wash out. I don't know if that grower on u-tube had a really bad infection or if he had just a few spots. Its possible that the grower didn't have any PM in the samples he sent to the lab. In any case, his plant was infected and his "wash" was only cosmetic. It did not get rid of the PM growing on the plant. If this is what a commercial grower does when he gets a PM infection late in the game, then its the best advertisement for home growing equipment and seeds ever.
 
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BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Those little white blotches that people see when they recognize the problem are just the fruiting bodies of the mildew growing in the leaf.

With determination, you can wash the white stuff off but you can't wash out the microscopic mycelium.
This is an SEM micrograph of PM in the fruiting body stage of its life cycle. The long stalk with spores on the end is what can be washed off.


This iSEM micrograph shows what PM mycelium looks like when it growing but hasn't come out for sex:

Labs look for this when they "test" for mold. Mycelia won't wash out. I don't know if that grower on u-tube had a really bad infection or if he had just a few spots. Its possible that the grower didn't have any PM in the samples he sent to the lab. In any case, his plant was infected and his "wash" was only cosmetic. It did not get rid of the PM growing on the plant. If this is what a commercial grower does when he gets a PM infection late in the game, then its the best advertisement for home growing equipment and seeds ever.
I don't think PM is harmful to human health though. Washing may also dissolve aflatoxins if any are present.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
I don't think PM is harmful to human health though. Washing may also dissolve aflatoxins if any are present.
I think we both agree to avoid having it in the first place. Otherwise, there isn't anything definitive about harmful effects of PM if smoked or ingested with MJ. On the other hand there isn't anything that says its OK. Your opinion is just that and I don't know if its informed by medical research or not but I don't think so. Also, what about patients that are immune deficient?

All I'm saying is that I'm glad I grow my own and don't have mold on my weed because I don't want to be a mercy of a grower making a business decision about an infected crop.
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I think we both agree to avoid having it in the first place. Otherwise, there isn't anything definitive about harmful effects of PM if smoked or ingested with MJ. On the other hand there isn't anything that says its OK. Your opinion is just that and I don't know if its informed by medical research or not but I don't think so. Also, what about patients that are immune deficient?

All I'm saying is that I'm glad I grow my own and don't have mold on my weed because I don't want to be a mercy of a grower making a business decision about an infected crop.
Since Aspergillus mold can infest your lungs, it's also not be a bad idea to heat weed enough to kill any spores.
 

waterproof808

Well-Known Member
I don't think PM is harmful to human health though. Washing may also dissolve aflatoxins if any are present.
PM is an allergen and can create problems for people with sensitive allergies but for the most part not harmful to human health. It can be very bad for people with serious medical conditions and auto-immune disorders though, so if you are actually growing for patients then you do not want to give them any contaminated meds.

I hear aspergillus will fluoresce under UV light, so its a good quick way to screen your own person meds for anything harmful molds.
 

CrocodileStunter

Well-Known Member
I just tried this with a couple branches. Then scoped them. It removed about 1/3 of the trichome heads. Most of the heads at the top of each bud. I will not being doing this again.
bro earlier in the thread you were talking about gentle agitation for hash now you somehow agitated the fuck out of the plants when all you had to do was give them a quick swirl. It's not hard it's a better product period. It adds about 15 more minutes per pound on the trim. How are you fucking this up?
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I've sprayed buds with deionized water in a spray bottle set to fine mist. I didn't see any missing heads with a mag glass. Fine spray is very gentle. Just gotta make sure it's room temp. With the spray bottle there's no changing the water required as with dunking. You just need something to catch the runoff. You could probably hang buds up on a line and do it with garbage bags on the floor under them.
 

hyroot

Well-Known Member
bro earlier in the thread you were talking about gentle agitation for hash now you somehow agitated the fuck out of the plants when all you had to do was give them a quick swirl. It's not hard it's a better product period. It adds about 15 more minutes per pound on the trim. How are you fucking this up?
I barely submurged them in the water and as gently as I could for 15 seconds. No swirling, no repeat dunking. Trichome heads are designed by nature to fall off very easily on their own. I was correct in my original post. I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I'm sure it washed away the mono terpenes as well. Have you scoped your flowers right after a wash?
 

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
I barely submurged them in the water and as gently as I could for 15 seconds. No swirling, no repeat dunking. Trichome heads are designed by nature to fall off very easily on their own. I was correct in my original post. I thought I'd give it a try anyway. I'm sure it washed away the mono terpenes as well. Have you scoped your flowers right after a wash?
Wouldn't the heads get broken off in nature the first time a rainstorm happened? Yet outdoor weed seems as resinous as indoor. Anyway, just get some bubble bags and spray the buds off over the bag (or pour the glass of water through it after washing) and separate the heads later. My guess is that you'll see very little.
 
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