Mold

[Norby]

First time this has ever happened to me.

Beautiful Grapestomper OG X Purple Kush that I took down at 8 weeks, maybe a little overdone for my tastes.  Looked beautiful.  As it was finishing dry I noticed one or 2 spots on a bud.  I took out the 30x loupe and saw a spot of mold.  I started looking thru and found about 10% to have a few hyphae in one spot on a bud. Thought it was spiders crawling across or fibers from clothing brushed against.  Without a loupe you'd never be able to tell, I was quite surprised.  I had seen moldy but before but nothing this subtle.

Conditions have been perfect.  With the new mini split it's between 72 and 78f and from 42-50% humidity.  I immediately culled the one clone I had.  This was the first plant from seed and I was waiting till I moved it to a bigger bucket. 

Either it took the genetics of a desert plant and wasn't able to fend off the mold or it was a bit past prime but I checked everything else and i get them tested, so someone else checks too.  Not a strand on anything else. This one that had hyphae on it is the most dense stuff I've ever grown. Absolutely no hyphae inside any buds, which is weird as that's always where it started for me, it was only on the surface of a few buds.

Anyone else have anything mold under "optimum" conditions?  Is it desert strain genetics?  Do you think it would've made a good winter strain when the humidity is in the 30's or did I overwater/not water enough?  Neither of her sisters show any mold under the exact same conditions.

[suneday11]

Really hard to believe it was the room. I'm assuming air circulation is good?

 

I dry in a homemade box that has a small computer fan that pulls air through a filter on the bottom and then through a filter in the top. I generally dry faster than most people I know tho.

[phaquetoo]

I dont have my tents set up, but ive been getting whole plants from my c.g.  I go over and pick one from the flower room and he cuts it at the dirt, we put it in a big plastic bag and I bring it home and dry and cure it,  I had this last one drying in my gr/basement, I had fans on it and the heat at night, it was not drying to good, I went camping at my pops house and brought it with me, I hung it in his garage upstairs and it was dry in 2 days, I jarred it, i pulled it out of the jars the next day to make sure their was no wet budd in the jars, and they were perfect, so im curring, when I came home I pulled all out of one jar to weigh it and it was all good,  I left one part of the plant home to dry and it is still not dry. no mold,  I always take and cut off branches next to the stalk in the middle of the plant and hang it, I left the out side of plant hanging for some magic potions,  Im happy to say I have some realy nice meds at this time and it looks like im actualy gonna be able to cure most of it!

 

my c.g does not cure it, nor dry it like I like it, plus it makes him happy for me to take it home it leaves him more room for drying for his other pt's who dont get plants!

 

Peace

[Wild Bill]

It's been so humid around here it's taking forever for my last harvest to dry and cure. Mold has been a major concern for me. When my jars are opened for burping there's been a couple times they seemed to absorb more moisture than they dissipated.

 

Any time a plant has gotten mold while growing has been outside when we got rain right before a harvest. It's usually something you notice right away, the buds look like they're rotting.

[GregS]

Keep in mind that you will use heat to consume it with, whether to vape, smoke, or decarb. Nothing sterilizes better than fire.

 

I've never known anyone to be harmed by weed in all the years I have seen it used, and to think none of it had mold is a real stretch.

[Indigro]

Its been shown that pulling a hit through a water pipe (using a lighter to burn it), still has viable spores that makes its way through. But I agree it is very unlikely one can notice this through any possible adverse effects. Think of it this way, every cubic foot of air has several hundred to several thousand spores... All the time, everywhere. Even at the polar station they count 50 or so spores per cubic foot of air. We take in viable spores with every breath... All of us, all of the time. Each of us has mold growing on our bodies at this very moment, however unnoticed as it might be.

 

That's just a factual fyi to freak ya out.

 

But iv seen places where thick buds touch up against each other, resting and growing in contact over time, where mold has developed on the outer surfaces where they were in prolonged contact. But that place, although they said 50%rh reqlly had spikes at dark that went to almost 60%. It depends on where and how and when u measure rh. Iv seen picks of gm growing on stems even... Dont exactly know how they did that.

[Norby]

Wasn't at spore stage yet.

  No other plant has done this under these conditions. With the new mini split it's consistently dryer than ever and now throughout the whole basement.

It was the first of that seed to run and it's 2 sisters were drying with her and nothing on them or the Ghost train Haze had a spot, strand, nothing.  I've had plants take 2x as long to dry at over 80f and over 60% humidity and not get a speck of mold. This one was cracking dry at 6 days, mostly. 

1/4 of it is turning into oil as we speak and the other 3/4 will soon too.  I haven't seen any progression since it's been drying.  It seems to be individual calyx' that died and not throughout, upon further inspection.  Maybe if I picked it at 7 weeks it would've been fine.

And the 3 tests I just got back, one was HP cannatonic and it burned bad and there was dead leaves attached in the sample and it came up no mold.  Maybe the density of the flowers killed some calyx'? Wish I had a 30x dig camera.  They look so beautiful under 30x i got a headache looking over them all. .  Still have 6 GSOGPK seeds and it looks like I'll be going thru the rest of them.  The 3 females so far have been solid smoke.

I am setting 1/4 aside and vacuum sealing it in a mason jar.  I have been smoking it, I just check it over with the 30x beforehand.

[GrowGoddess]

 

Anyone else have anything mold under "optimum" conditions?  Is it desert strain genetics?  Do you think it would've made a good winter strain when the humidity is in the 30's or did I overwater/not water enough?  Neither of her sisters show any mold under the exact same conditions.

 

I have experienced it. In the past, well over a decade of growing, I have experienced 2 types of mold. Of course I solved it by perfecting the conditions of my grow room.

 

About 5 years ago I came across a phenotype where I noticed a new type of mold that I had never seen before, grown under perfect conditions. It was not as damaging as mold that I had seen in the past. This mold was only on the out side of very dense buds. It never penetrated to the inside, which was different to me. I really liked the phenotype and wanted to solve the issue. I wanted to be able to grow it in the summer. I am still growing this strain. Once the buds are dry, there would not be any potential of mold. The issue was only in the grow room, even though grown under perfect conditions. So far so good, it has not happened again. I only made a couple of small changes. One, I put in 2 small 6" clip on Air King fans below the canopy. They stay running 24 hours. The big difference was putting in the air exchange fan. The air exchange fan also stays running 24 hours. The air exchange fan just removes the air from the closet and puts it back into the main room. Keeping the airflow going at all times seems to have solved the issue. Basically, keeping the airflow going during lights off has solved the problem.

 

The downside of the air exchange fan running during lights off is the temperatures stay at good growing conditions. My purple strains do not get to see a cool enough temperature to purple up nicely, but, no more mold. If it is not the airflow that makes the difference during lights off, it is the fact that it keeps the temperature evenly balanced on the warm side, around 72 degrees F during lights off.

 

You can see the exact design of my air exchange set up in my grow room blog. It is hooked up on an 8" fan, but I have a controller hooked up and I dial it down to about 400 cfm for night use or lights off. During day, or lights on, I dial it up to about 750 cfm to pull more heat out and keep the closet and room evenly balanced.

 

The air exchange fan has been a great benefit to my grow room.

[rockinlespaul]

I have. Moldy weed and a compromised immune system do not mix well, trust me.

 

It will kill a person.

 

Keep in mind that you will use heat to consume it with, whether to vape, smoke, or decarb. Nothing sterilizes better than fire.

 

I've never known anyone to be harmed by weed in all the years I have seen it used, and to think none of it had mold is a real stretch.

Edited July 1, 2015 by rockinlespaul

[Wild Bill]

Making bubble hash is a good way to use moldy meds. The mold is smaller than the trichome heads so it washes off and falls through with the waste water.

[trichcycler]

moldy marijuana is unacceptable medicine to me and I wouldn't use it for anything but a lesson and outdoor compost.  

I'm fortunate with no need to stretch my cannabis supply.

 

 

stay healthier my friends

[MORE COWBELL]

Lots of dry air during the night cycle.
usually when the lights go out there is a big jump in humidity and the plants are still perspiring even to the amount you can find them dripping (i have seen this) on each other!
warm dry air during dark cycle with lots and lots of air circulation usually will keep the mold at bay-mold spores are everywhere
good liuck

[Indigro]

Just a heads up on processing moldy nugs...

 

- water filtration doesnt work (bubble hash)... Spores are in the resulting hash each time, and if dried slowly or incompletely, they will germinate to the point of seeing mycelium on the surface.

 

- solvent extraction still passes the mycotoxins, which is what can potentially cause adverse health effects, not exactly the spores themselves.

 

- often extracts (whichever method) still have noticeable differences in taste/flavor.

 

You can't really get it out of the product. An ounce of prevention...

[trichcycler]

Jorge Cervantes provides a chapter devoted to proper cannabis drying. Summarized, buy a dehumidifier and set it to an RH that will not facilitate mold growth. I use a dedicated drying tent/ unused grow tent in  a closet.  Its got its own carbon scrubber(important for more than smell reduction ya know), its own dehumidifier, tons of refreshed air movement, and digital temperature control.  Like zap says mold spores are ever present. When the flora thrives though, it can only be blamed on the atmosphere management. 

 

when the stems crack, my patients are on it!  Cervantes settings result in useable, but not snappy, cannabis within 4 days, with a total finish within 10. No jars here!

Edited July 13, 2015 by grassmatch

[Norby]

Allright, we're jumping a bit off topic.  I said that the air was dry, I said it didn't happen to any before or after.  Again, I believe it was the individual plants genetics.

I also said it was only spots on about 10% of the buds.  I did an extract and there weren't enough mycotoxins to worry about since you needed a loupe to even find it.  It wasn't covering the buds it was a spot here and there.

Anyone ever have one plant mold right next to a plant that does fine under the same conditions?  That is because of a difference in genetics, a difference in the terpenes present which fight off mold or just a difference in the climate that the genetics were set for.

Yes mold spores are everywhere so I wouldnt see how you'd know if the mold on the final product grew because mold spores survived or got into the product post handling.

bleaching may reduce the spores but it won't eliminate them.  Carbon filters and dust shrooms may reduce them but if you have bad conditions you'll have mold grow there.  Again, why I asked if anyone had this strain specific thing happen under good conditions.

[trichcycler]

I was responding to cowbell, sorry to go off topic.

didn't see it with mold but have witnessed the same with pests.

 

I think we can agree that specific conditions are necessary for flora to flourish/report. If those conditions are avoided grow room mold cannot flourish.

 

Its very difficult in a full room to keep parameters at bay 24/7, and expensive too. Its nobodys fault if a arm size cola gets bud rot I think, except for growing  arm size colas ?    I saw a grow room literally attacked by fungus, in the veg and flower room. The dehuey was set to 45 and didn't even run all the time, seemed like a solid set up. Then........the operator feeding schedule came into view. Holy moly, I didn't know someone could use that much nitrogen in the garden....THE culprit in his room.

Sometimes we harvest without a "dry out period time", and I know this can also a risky bet, especially without a solid drying area.

 

the most susceptible plant (pests) I've grown was Jesus Og, a distant memory now.

[Norby]

So nutes can contribute to mold under normal humidity? Interesting.   I do remember something about excess nitrogen making plants more susceptible to powdery mildew. And stress like wilting.  And overwatering, but I thought that was more for bud rot rather than on the outside of the buds showing up while drying.  For the small percent and stage it was at I'm thinking it was strictly a drying issue but excess nutes could be at play in drying to I'd imagine.

  Never over fertilized till recently.

  This one was barely starting to yellow at the bottom if at all for the one that molded.  Maybe too many nutes left in the plant coupled with genetic predisposition were at play?  May have done fine if it yellowed up and didn't have nutes left at the end.  Good info, thanks.