In Northern CA we don’t get rain during the growing season typically from June through October. I water from pot level so my leaves never see moisture from above. Now we have all these fires and hazardous air but my concern is ash all over everything including my plants. Should I not worry about it?
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You should do a hydrogen peroxide rinse of the buds after harvest (before drying, of course). That will remove any ash and related contaminates from your buds. I most often rinse my buds even though I grow indoors.
@Myfriendis410 is an outdoor/indoor grower and he rinses all of his buds, I think.
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Hi and welcome I agree with @merlin44 if your concerned about ash or nasty bits in or on your buds a peroxide bath and rinse is the way to go there are a lot of very detailed videos out there that will guide you step by step or like merlin44 said other ILGM members who have done this may be able to help guide you through
Stay well stay safe 
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I just want to say I am so sorry and heartbroken by what you guys on the west coast are enduring. I cannot even imagine. I literally cry when I see photos out of it.
As far as ash, keep an eye on the leaves and gently dust off any ash you see. Ash will impeded their photosynthesis. If you have a sable artist paint brush or a soft paint brush that would work great.
I am a novice and I live in northern ca too. I grew a Blue Dream plant from a clone. The plant was outdoors and totally covered in ash. I put her outdoors on June 16 and harvested on September 26. I washed the branches in 4 5 gallon buckets. First contained HP and water. Second was water 1 cup lemon juice and 1 cup baking soda. The last 2 buckets were plain rinse water. I dried outdoors for 3 hours to get the majority of the water off. Then into a dark closet temp 70 F RH 55/60.
Buds were on a circular mesh dry rack.
I put the buds in 2 quart amber mason jars with Boveda 62% RH packs to cure. I’m very pleased with the results even though the yield was low and the buds were very small. The washing freaked me out but it tastes great and is very smooth. This was my first grow and despite it starting on an impulse with little to no planning after buying a clone on a whim I’m hooked now.
Just got a 2.5x2.5x7’ tent with 200 watt LED and am starting a SFV OG clone.
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Thanks for the notice. I’ve already harvested 3 of my 6 plants including my two blue dream plants and the plants were huge. One took me 5 hours to trim the other only 3 hours. But the first was 221 grams wet while the second was 169 grams. I think the first one is tougher as I get used to trimming too.
Anyway I did not wash these. I was anxious to harvest. I’m also dealing with too much heat and am drying in a tent with the same circular mesh dry sack (so far I like it). My pot is going to be far more affected by heat and humidity than what is on the buds. Still I’m thinking of doing it for the other three. One of the others harvested was a Fire OG that was attacked by caterpillars. It was such a drag but I’ll be ready. I had picked out all the caterpillars on the Fire OG while it was growing. Very hard to find but I did not find any when I harvested the Fire OG…oddly enough the Blue Dream I harvested had three. As I’m wearing those magnifying headset things when I trim I’m looking through the buds carefully (not touching), I use the scissors to let me look in the gaps
Because of the caterpillars and the fire ash, I may try. I’ll have to come up with a dry method. From what I have read, you don’t have to worry about mold. If I dry in the same tent it may help if I’m having dry RH readings. Drying outside in a tent is absurdly difficult to control temperature. I’m using fans. I tried ice packs on the tent floor for humidity but that may have worked too well. My wife will not let me get the pot near the house…or garage. She puts out chicken manure in the spring and then gets mad at me for cannabis smell.
Disclaimer - I don’t smoke very much. I grew two plants last year and had over an ounce out of each clone. I gave most of my good one away. The other I let dry. So I probably smoke 3 times in the last year. I started growing because it is subversive, I was pissed Trump got elected but on the same night they legalized growing pot and buying it. Let me put it this way my grown son gave me three strawberry banana joints for Father’s Day and I’ve smoked half of one joint since June.
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