Week 17 indoor grow of supposed Lavender auto flower and Jack Herer Auto. I noticed mold on my biggest lavender bud. Upon further inspection I opened it to find bud rot. See pics. I feel like these autos are taking way too long to be ready for harvest. Trichomes are all still clear. Last week after getting fox tails I backed the light cycle down from 24 hours on to 12/12. Humidity was about 60% at the highest a month or two ago, but the current environment is 75degrees and 40% humidity. I have a fan inside as well
Is it worth it to continue this grow or did I get screwed with some non-auto seeds. This is frustrating. Help?
That’s a bummer, Definitely bud rot. I would finish an salvage what I could Buds with rot toss. Also you might consider two circulating fans too help Prevent mold an bud rot. As far as autos I’ve had some take as long as photo plants to finish.
Good luck Welcome to the community
I follow what spliffseeds DOT NL harvesting-cannabis-with-bugs-or-mildew/ recommends
I can’t post the direct link. The article is under Blog Growing Cannabis scroll toward bottom
Admittedly so. I recently read a forum posting mentioning that some ladies stay white, longer, as opposed to turning brown. I have some that went white, never got full to my desire and now have no brown or white onhairs on buds. Hence my RE-VEG experiment. Harvest and re-veg. More air and flowers below 50% RH during lights on. Good growing to you. @beardless has it right, in my vote.
One other point. The amount of foxtailing I see makes it difficult to get an accurate read of the trichomes unless you search for and cut out to view an older bud that is not a foxtail.
I harvested them today and as I went through my trimming process I was liking what I was seeing. No more bud rot from what I saved. Im glad I caught this early. The wash was helpful info. Turns out when I had switched my lighting schedule from 24 on to 12/12 to fight the fox tailing I was inadvertently shutting off the ventilation which let the humidity rise plus 70% for a week straight. Doesn’t take much with these dense buds.
But they look tasty and I’m stoked. Happy growing.
I am glad to hear the rot was limited. You are correct about dense buds and humidity. Once mold gets a foothold it can get ugly fast.
Great looking harvest.
I would definitely open and split up the big ones for mold, personally. From personal experience, the outside can be completely fine and the inside can be fuzzy. Take it from personal experience, those big giant nugs take much longer to dry out and therefore hold onto moisture the most. They have the highest risks of developing or worsening rot while drying, especially after being dunked in water.
@CatDadPower is right. When I find any mold I bend to open and inspect every bud. Once while harvesting, second during rough trim, again while washing them and lastly during final trim. You do not want any contaminated bud going in the cure jars. That really F’s the day.
Smelling your buds is also one of the next easiest ways to identify mildew / bud rot if you can’t see it. To me, it has a very distinctive, stale smell that reminds me of an old mop and bucket. If you can smell any off scent whatsoever underneath the normal cannabis smell, there’s a good chance your bud is affected. If you missed any, you’ll find it quickly during curing because the jars will take on that same scent.
When I did my harvest and preliminary trim I opened all the buds and did the smell test. They smell really great, nothing but pungent terpenes. But I am still wondering whether I should wash them or not. I just don’t want to create more mold from all the water they might absorb. And does a wash make them less potent?
That is why peroxide is added to the water. It is a strong antifungal and antibacterial. It evaporates with no residue. I would say the risk is much higher if not washing with peroxide.
I was skeptical at first but once I did it I have absolutely no hesitation from that point on. In fact, the buds are nicer than unwashed ones. Simply growing in a clean tent dust settles on the flower (they are sticky to begin with). Just to wash the dust off makes them feel good.
Im just really having trouble getting my dry space below 60% humidity. A dehumidifier is really the answer if I want to get serious but I’d be lying if budget wasn’t a factor here.
My question here now is what is considered an acceptable amount of bio growth on a bud that will need to be stored for a long period of time? There’s gotta be a small amount in even the purist buds right? Mold experts?
I think in your case a wash would be prudent because the spores are (literally) on all your buds and have likely inoculated a few flowers at the microscopic level. Best to disinfect and wash away all that crap so they don’t linger once dry and in cure jars.
