I harvested this plant at 13 weeks after noticing some browned sugar leaves around the buds. (I examined with magnifying lens on camera and determined that most of the trichomes were cloudy, maybe a few amber.) After a little research, I feared mold and so cut these from the rest of the plant, but now I’m not sure it’s rot. If it is rot, should I assume the rest of the plant is infected? Is there any way to salvage the buds in the photo or should I toss them? Also, sometimes I accidentally cut off a bud when trimming; how does one dry single buds effectively? Hang with a clip? Thanks for any advice.
Outdoor grow in a pot for pot 5 gallon containers (PNW).
Seeds are LSD from ILGM.
Autoflower.
Water source: garden hose.
PH and TDS/EC Unknown.
A pot for pot system with some added molasses/kelp at flowering time.
See 6.
Sunlight.
Temps have been high, high 80s to low 90s during day; 50s overnight.
RH unknown.
Outside grow.
Outside grow.
CO2 unknown.
Second year of growing; germinated 13 weeks ago.
15.-16b N/A.
Toss the bud rot stuff and check the remaining stash. Make sure the moisture level is correct before you try to cure it or mold will be a battle. That is absolutely bud rot. It probably got the whole plant but some parts may not be as affected as bad. When you see the brown coming from the actual bud and not just some dead sugar leaves it’s bud rot. Mold can be a bit harder to identify but if you pay attention you’ll see it. Where i work we get bud rot or burnt nugs. It happens. Even to the best. You are growing outdoors so it’s harder for you to control the climate. Now, where i work the moldy bud and bud rot stuff doesn’t get thrown out- they use it for other stuff. Personally, i wouldn’t do it. A single nug i throw in a small paper bag and put it inside another one so light cant get through and i leave it in the grow room for a few days and the heat helps it dry out in the paper bag. This is also my method to dry the larfy popcorn buds.
The rest of the plant is still hanging in my shed. I have examined it closely three separate times and could not find any other evidence of the rot. But I will keep checking as it dries. Unfortunately, we had rain this morning and cooler temperatures, so that has me worried, especially for the autoflower still out in the garden. I did learn another important thing from reading posts on the forum regarding rot and mildew: don’t grow your plants next to squash, which apparently are mold/mildew factories. Of course, that’s exactly where this plant was (I’ve moved the remaining plants away from it). Although it was in its own separate grow bag, the squash leaves were sometimes touching it. And yesterday, I noticed that one of my two photoperiods, the Gold Leaf, is showing signs of powdery mildew on a few lower fan leaves. Can I clip those off or should I just give up on her too? She’s struggled from the beginning and is just starting to show some buds. With the weather changing, I doubt I can bring a harvest home from her.
The powder mildew can be dealt with i’d get rid of those leaves and then figure out what to do from there. My experience with this is limited as i’m on a lower RH issue rather than a higher RH issue causing PM.
Also, these are common issues. Power mildew especially but bud rot as well. On the forum there is a search topics thing. I’d search up whatever the issue is and see if you can find something related. I’m going to tag one name i know who is just an overall really smart person and has taught me a ton about weed.
@Graysin it’s me. Tagging you again. Hope it’s not an issue. OP has some bud rot and powder mildew. I’m not familiar with prevention or rectification tbh thought maybe you had some knowledge. Thank you in advance
I’m honestly not too versed on either. I keep airflow high and temperatures low as possible. That’s the key. If you can’t achieve that, there’s other products out there to help. Lost Coast Plant Therapy, Agrowlyte, others perhaps. Maybe @JaneQP@Caligurl@MeEasy may know or have additional suggestions.
Thanks for the tag, I would recommend reading a little on it because I don’t have enough experience to trust I wouldn’t miss the most important part of explaining about it I like the growweedeasy site Nebula has a way with words 4sure it makes it easier for me to get it, I can’t link anything but here’s where I would start
Since you grow outside it could be caterpillars. The little buggers will mine into a bud and bite off stems at the base causing parts of the bud to look dead. I only grow outdoors and have to battle them every year.
You can check if it’s rot by pulling it apart. Will have mold inside if it is.
Yup, 2 reasons for bud rot… high humidity with no air flow (and heat) or caterpillars.
Caterpillars won’t necessarily show signs of damage on the leaves (or very little) Certain caterpillars prefer to b ore into the bud and hide bringing with them a fungus called Botrytis cinerea.
Whatever the cause (only you will know) those pics are definitely bud rot. You need to remove all of the affect bud immediately and spray the plants with something like Lost Coast Plant Therapy, Dr. Zymes, or (better yet from what I understand) Agrolyte. You will need to remove a good chunk of healthy plant around it as well since you can’t see the undeveloped spores around the rotted area.
Put a baggie over the suspected area first so not to spread the spores.
Inspect plants constantly looking for dying sugar leaves or pistils that suddenly dry up quicker than normal (or the rest of the plant).
Sorry for the bud rot. I’m dealing with Caterpillars right now (it’s just the season for them and they seem bad this year). Watch for little moths landing on your plants as they are laying the larvae.
If it’s just humidity and heat, not much to do outdoors except make sure you defoliate really bushy plants to create airflow. If you aren’t in an area that gets wind for at least a few hours a day (enough to blow the plants around pretty good) then you may consider running a fan over them during the high heat and high humidity parts of the day (of course, that depends on the size of your grow if that would be feasible.
PS… please don’t try to use anything that has signs of rot or mold. Not worth it.
In the vineyards around here, Botrytis can affect the grape vines and it produces a disease in humans called winemaker’s lung’. You don’t want to smoke or ingest this mold.
Thank you so much for this useful information. I’m not taking a chance on the ones I can see, and I’m inspecting the rest daily (twice daily, actually).