African Orange - LED SoG

Harvested on day 62. Earlier then wanted to but I just noticed my intake air filter was F’d up and allowing light leaks. There are a few hours that this dark tent overlaps with another veg tent in the same room. Rookie mistake. Noticed some regenerative growth and trichomes were already milky to 10% amber across the board so it’s not the end of the world that I’m chopping 3 days ahead of schedule. I am a firm believer in bud washing. I grow organically, in soil, with intake filters and a very clean room. However it’s undeniable that with all the air movement within the tent, with carpet fibers being sucked into the tent anytime it’s opened, Etc,. that shit lands on sticky buds and gets stuck. Dust, soil, hair, carpet fibers, etc. I see it in nearly every photo posted here even by the best growers. You can see hair on their bud. You can’t see the dust and shwag. Bud washing is controversial, but I am a convert and firm believer after seeing what comes out the wash. Case in point - look at the photos I posted. There is a shot of three clean buckets, the first contains 5 gallons of warm water with 1/4 tbsp of fresh squeezed lemon juice and baking soda each. Look at the after shots. The entire plant stalk is dipped and gently swirled In bucket 1 (lemon/soda) for 10-15 seconds. Excess water is allowed to drain off for a few seconds before this process is repeated in buckets 2 and 3, respectively. Buckets 2 3 contain clean, and cooler water than bucket 1. After the third dip the plants are treated the same as I would had I not washed them. Hang dry in my small dry chamber at 60% Rh and 55*F for 10-14 days. Then onto cure with bovedas and glass jars. I’ll post update on this with dry harvest weight in about 2 weeks. Bottom line - I take pains to ensure a clean environment. I also recognize it’s not a sterile/sealed environment and shit gets thru. I grow sticky icky buds. Stuff gets stuck to it that we can;t see with our naked eyes. Wash your buds, just like you would your food, and it will taste better. Taste cleaner. Burn cleaner. Will blow your minds when you see the crap stuck to your buds that is left behind in the water buckets. No major terp loss in my experience. Key is being gentle and following the temp protocols. I’ve run the dirty water through bubble bags and found next to no Trichome heads kicked off during wash. After all, outdoor flower gets rained on late flower all the time and it doesn’t fuck up the trichomes - though it can bring mold issues.