I had a problematic grow this last time. I had some seeds that were gifted from a friend, that were regular seeds. I grew 4 and 3 turned out to be male. In hindsight, I wish I had let the whole crop go seedy, but I didn’t. The 3 males were culled, and I learned that the threat of a male plant isn’t quite as ominous as I supposed. They let themselves be known, and it’s not really so subtle that if you are paying any attention you will miss.
In December, I had another friend who tried supercropping, but was surprised by the crazy looking revegging plant, which made him think he had a hermaphrodite. I took on his problem child and grew it out. I wasn’t prepared for the density that the supercropped plant took on and didn’t take the necessary steps so that airflow wasn’t impaired. My white powdery mold problem started there, but I didn’t know what I was looking at. I think growing this plant is a constant learning experience.
Both plant ended up with infections of white powdery mold. I tried to treat it, and it seemed like I had some success. External signs of WPM are pretty easy to get rid of.
This particular plant I didn’t know the genetics, but based on the thin leaves I guessed that it was sativa dominant. When the trichomes were mostly cloudy, I harvested. Given the problems with the WPM, I washed everything. I used a quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide to 4 gallons of water and a rinse in plain water. 5 minute soak, then rinse, then I used a fan for 2 hours to try and dry everything. Given the risk of reinfection, I dried the plants aggressively at 50% humidity with all fan leaves removed. By 4 days later, the buds were pretty crispy. Using a microscope to look at the buds, everything looked good.
Tonight, while doing the final trim, I took apart the biggest colas, and I’m finding mold deep in the buds. Without really looking with the microscope, everything would look okay.
I don’t smoke very much at all myself, and I grow mostly for my wife so she can sleep better. It’s a fun hobby for sure, and I feel good about growing thinking that prohibition cannot come back when everyman can grow. This plant is harvested, but I wouldn’t feel good about anybody smoking it.
So for now, my plan is to extract it all in coconut oil. I read that the real answer for this problem is a BHO extraction, but that sounds kind of flammable, so I am not really down with that. But polar is polar, so if mold isn’t extracted in butane, it shouldn’t be in coconut oil.
I’m already planning on my next grow but have a lot of sanitizing to get through. I ordered an ozone generator to nuke the area in my tent and am looking at filtering options for my intake. I’ve decided to have a grow journal for the next one with known genetics to get more input and learn about training plants for better airflow.
But, this harvest is done, and it’s a failure EXCEPT man have I learned a lot about airflow and what mold looks like. Win some lose some.
