A theory: Water Cure meets Good Old Fashioned Sanitation

[passerbye]

I traditionally wash my harvests just after pulling. The idea was always to wash away dirt, dust, grime, bugs, bug poop. It doesnt seem like a big deal, but you should see the water after a quick bath.

Tepid water. Whole plant or chunks, gently place in water and submerge. Gently rock the plant being careful not to overdo it. It is a very soft technique, as trichomes can be knocked off. One must not brush bud against bud nor dunk or pull too quickly.

I have been reading up on water curing. This kind of takes what I do to a whole new level. I read 7 days underwater. I did mine for a few minutes. My goal was not to cure but to clean.

Even though you cut the plant it is still alive. I would think quick dunks for a minute or two, done x numbers of times, would allow the plant to flush out anything in a positive way. Anything over 10 minutes I would imagine would suffocate the plant. I surmize a cut plant expends its last efforts towards flowering even to the last breath. A plant left to dry naturally allows it to expend everything trying to survive. lol weird, but I think I can think like a plant.

So the question is does soaking fresh bud in water hurt it?

 

[Whitejack]

So the question is does soaking fresh bud in water hurt it?

It depends on your definition of "it". It could be the flavor, nutes, trichomes or THC and other cannabinoids in your bud. As a whole, it will not hurt your bud in way of potency. It will however, wash away some of the taste and some of the chlorophyll, meaning less weight. The THC and trichomes however, remain unharmed by the water. You will lose trichomes due to surface contact and agitation, but this is inevitable as you will need to change the water regularly which means either dumping it out or draining it. A cooler or something with a drainspout on the bottom works best.

 

[passerbye]

Well I think of this this way. The plant, like a piece of furnature, has been there for 3 months. If I dont dust my coffee table in 3 months, theres a pretty nasty buildup of whatever on the surface. So wouldnt it seem logical to give them a rinse to get off what has settled on it?

I am not saying 7 days underwater is good. I was surprised to see the length of time. It got me thinking if I soaked them a little more, it might remove some of the chorophyll or any nutrients left in the plant.

Wow. If I spent as much time thinking about rocket science as I do these plants, I could go to the moon. : P

 

[Vr6T]

I water cured a ounce once. The bud was dark, had little smell and taste, but the ashes were 100% pure white. On my next grow I'll water cure some more again. The water that you drain the first few days is really gross with lots of shit in it. It definitely cleans them out.

The lack of smell in the bud and the smoke makes it even better if you need extra stealth. If I sold bud I'd sell some water cured stuff as "stealth bud" and charge all the paranoid stoners extra.

 

[SwissCheese]

Subscribed this is an interesting topic I've never heard much about.

 

[growwwww]

there arent the right questions... i dont want to answer...i dont think plan ts should be as dry as possible when you chop em, but should be dry once they are chopped, the whole point is to get rid of moisture...I wonder if dipping them in water increases ur yield??? i dnno i guess not because you are getting the same amount of dry cannabis.
Peace

 

[passerbye]

The yield is the same. I get them wet to rid the plant of anything not bud. lol @ wrong questions, I'm not answering.

I used to get compressed bricks of pot. The buds were nice but smashed together to make easier to transport. I would take this dry bud, soak it in water for 2-4 hours to let the buds reconstitute. This allowed me to pull the buds apart and fluff them up. This stuff also had seeds in it, alot of the seeds would dislodge and float up.

I would then put them on screens and dry it back out. The result was a much cleaner smoke and nicer looking bud. Didnt affect the potency. And on some of them, the amount of dirt that came out was disgusting (they called it dirt weed for a reason).

I apply the same principle to washing new harvest. Most people spray them down. I like to dunk them. You cant tell me dirt and bugs make it taste better? Get all that crap off. Plus you may give them a bit more life with the final watering. I dunno.

I am curious. Does anyone know why 7 days? Did anyone ever try 3 days? or 15 days? just curious.

 

[Vr6T]

I am curious. Does anyone know why 7 days? Did anyone ever try 3 days? or 15 days? just curious.

When I did it the water didn't start to run on the clear side till day 5

 

[growwwww]

The yield is the same. I get them wet to rid the plant of anything not bud. lol @ wrong questions, I'm not answering.

I used to get compressed bricks of pot. The buds were nice but smashed together to make easier to transport. I would take this dry bud, soak it in water for 2-4 hours to let the buds reconstitute. This allowed me to pull the buds apart and fluff them up. This stuff also had seeds in it, alot of the seeds would dislodge and float up.

I would then put them on screens and dry it back out. The result was a much cleaner smoke and nicer looking bud. Didnt affect the potency. And on some of them, the amount of dirt that came out was disgusting (they called it dirt weed for a reason).

I apply the same principle to washing new harvest. Most people spray them down. I like to dunk them. You cant tell me dirt and bugs make it taste better? Get all that crap off. Plus you may give them a bit more life with the final watering. I dunno.

I am curious. Does anyone know why 7 days? Did anyone ever try 3 days? or 15 days? just curious.

I dont undestand, you are saying you get the same yield, yet you are saying you are defintely cleaning shit off, and saying that normal drying method doesnt clean this shit off...Which means that this shit, either gets off in the drying process...Or thats just a wrong statement, and you get less ( id presume so ) but less shit...

peace sorry for italics was an accident

 

[SwissCheese]

I dont undestand, you are saying you get the same yield, yet you are saying you are defintely cleaning shit off, and saying that normal drying method doesnt clean this shit off...Which means that this shit, either gets off in the drying process...Or thats just a wrong statement, and you get less ( id presume so ) but less shit...

peace sorry for italics was an accident

He was probably was referring to volume not weight. What washes off is most likely insignificant weight.

 

[passerbye]

Well I am curing some buds now via water cure. We snipped about about a zip and on day3 now. I will post results.

ITs weird no smell. When you dump the water, they are smelly like skunk gorwing. cover with water and smell goes away. It is getting feinter each time. buds are turning darker.

 

[passerbye]

We did a water cure on about 1oz. Very odd process. The buds looked suspended in time and didnt change really. I changed the water once a day used purified water. Each day the water got less milky. We stopped after 5 days. Interesting no smell, then when you dumped the water an odiferous blast. It got lighter each day. By day5 we could smell nothing. So pulled it. Weird. Dried ultra fast, maybe 36 after coming out of a water soak. I didnt expect that.

The weed was darker, and it had no flavor. Not bad in any way, just absent. It also burned faster and crackled. Stone was the same. No loss of bud, same stone. good for quick cure, but really I like the flavor and taste.

I also had one girl for some reason had spidermites still. I gave it a rinse in the shower. no more bugs, but again weird. It turned dark like the water cured stuff and dried ultra fast once it got soaking wet. Havent tasted it, still curing.

So my theory is the plants are still alive as they are hanging. They spend every moment they can growing until they run out of water or energy. The drown plants, yah they die from the suffocation and thus dry faster. The regular stuff is being cured old school. 14 days now and the girls still arent dry enough to put in jars.

 

[laserbrn]

We did a water cure on about 1oz. Very odd process. The buds looked suspended in time and didnt change really. I changed the water once a day used purified water. Each day the water got less milky. We stopped after 5 days. Interesting no smell, then when you dumped the water an odiferous blast. It got lighter each day. By day5 we could smell nothing. So pulled it. Weird. Dried ultra fast, maybe 36 after coming out of a water soak. I didnt expect that.

The weed was darker, and it had no flavor. Not bad in any way, just absent. It also burned faster and crackled. Stone was the same. No loss of bud, same stone. good for quick cure, but really I like the flavor and taste.

I also had one girl for some reason had spidermites still. I gave it a rinse in the shower. no more bugs, but again weird. It turned dark like the water cured stuff and dried ultra fast once it got soaking wet. Havent tasted it, still curing.

So my theory is the plants are still alive as they are hanging. They spend every moment they can growing until they run out of water or energy. The drown plants, yah they die from the suffocation and thus dry faster. The regular stuff is being cured old school. 14 days now and the girls still arent dry enough to put in jars.

14 days! Where the hell do you live? I've never seen buds take that long to dry and if I were somewhere that it did take that long I'd be a bit nervous, okay, beyond nervous, about mold.

 

[Dr. VonDank]

This is going to sound stupid but you soak the bud for 7 days and then pull it out and smoke it???lol. Isnt the shit still wet???

 

[laserbrn]

This is going to sound stupid but you soak the bud for 7 days and then pull it out and smoke it???lol. Isnt the shit still wet???

He said he dried it again for 3 days after the water cure.

I did this "water cure" on my first batch of bud back in the day. Unless something is really wrong with your bud, all it really does is destroy it. No taste, no smell, no bag appeal, it's just wrecked. It gets you high, so it still works, but it's still wrecked by the standards of 99% of smokers.

 

[passerbye]

LOL sorry guys. It took 36 HOURS to dry once I pulled it from the water and let it drip dry. I expected it to take longer as it was sopping wet at one point.

I agree. Part of the experience is the smoke, the taste. All of that is gone. But you can carry it in your pocket without someone going, "Dude you reek" or burn one at a concert without attracting a lot of attention. It does have its advantages. I read online one guy does it so he can smoke on his work breaks and doesnt reek.

 

[passerbye]

Aha! I see the 14 days now. NO CRAP HUH? Well there is NO mold. I check them a lot. I just posted this morning it this.....

https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/290922-there-such-thing-too-dank.html

I would appreciate some comments. I am not worried looks good no mold. but it is a long time. check out the post

 

[NoRegrets]

I agree. Part of the experience is the smoke, the taste. All of that is gone. But you can carry it in your pocket without someone going, "Dude you reek" or burn one at a concert without attracting a lot of attention. It does have its advantages. I read online one guy does it so he can smoke on his work breaks and doesnt reek.

Exactly why I water cure some. For those times I have to be in public and for the work breaks

 

[Drr]

I think 7 days is just the general time it takes the water to run clear....

And I assume that's when your bud is done water curing..

Also in my research I read that N contributes to the bud smell, which makes more sense now if the water cure pulls all the nutes out then the smell would slowly disappear.

As for rinsing, as long as you didn't let the water pool up on the buds after your fine... remember outdoor buds get poured on sometimes.. and are wet for a day in some cases.. Just don;t keep it under too long. Regardless it will just be partially water cured if you do..

Also I think I will be trying it. 1. it rinses off the shit 2. one last foiler feeding before she dries and dies... (since it's pretty much a form of foiler feed)

 

[shermy]

i just harvested my first grow, and hung up my buds to dry yesterday, but i am trying out this water curing technique on about 3 grams (it was a small closet grow with small yield, so i'm only water curing a small amount in case i mess up). i was wondering if, after they have come out of the water and have dried, can i put them in a jar like the others to cure?...would this maybe bring back some of the taste, or is it just a waste of time?