Found some mold

BAKIND

BAKIND

Well-Known Member
Hi

I found some mold in my plants and decided to cut her. Already near the 11th week in flower. She's a Mexican Sativa from Sensi Seeds

The mold infected some of the flowers extensively. I am trying to save as much as i can.

It's one plant DWC. Pretty nice harvest. what should i do with the buds i can save closest to the mold ? Should i give them a bath in water with some hydrogen peroxide? i am cutting away a lot of the brown stuff, however i dont know how to treat the buds that were near by. Please someone help it's urgent.

Thank You
 
Check out the bud washing thread if you want to wash them. Bud Washing

Personally I would keep anything that looks unaffected. Some people are super squeamish about mould spores. I’m not and think the worry is totally overblown but that just me. Another possibility is to use it for making hash or edibles if you like the idea as a compromise
 
Weaselcracker said:
Check out the bud washing thread if you want to wash them. Bud Washing

Personally I would keep anything that looks unaffected. Some people are super squeamish about mould spores. I’m not and think the worry is totally overblown but that just me. Another possibility is to use it for making hash or edibles if you like the idea as a compromise
Click to expand...

this

exactly what i did. washed what was closest to the infected bud and dried in fan. seems ok.
 
Plus you get like concentrate in the end, moldy bud in, concentrate out. Doesn’t sound like a bad trade off to me right lol
 
Dutchiedog said:
Just a thought, I got hit with powdery mildew at the end of an outdoor grow. I sacrificed what was gone but lightly misted the "iffy" buds with a fine spray of Apple Cider Vinegar then washed.
Had a slight difference in taste but kept my mind from going down the mold in my lungs rabbit hole.
Click to expand...

mildew and mould are two completely different animals

important to understand for one affected
 
At one point I was compiling info on the risks of mold. Here’s some info from those notes.


Mold, mildew and yeast are all types of fungi. Mold in particular is very common on agricultural products. Certain types can grow on live plants; others, termed saprophytes, generally grow on dead plant material. Cannabis is host to many mold species of both types. The molds that are common on living Cannabis, such as Botrytis cinerea, are plant pathogens, not human ones.

Botrytis is probably the most common mold on Cannabis plants, and although there are reports of hypersensitivity reactions to it, these are rare, and usually involve extremely high exposure levels.
In addition, among tobacco smokers there is no evidence of increased allergic reactions to microbial antigens, which argues that such antigens are either degraded by smoking, or not mobilized by it.

Non-pathogenic molds can be a source of allergic hypersensitivity reactions, but there is no evidence associating such reactions with smoking. A number of pathogenic mold species have been isolated from Cannabis kept under extremely poor conditions. Spores of these species are ubiquitous, and Cannabis presents no special risk for fungal infections caused by them. However, certain molds of the genus Aspergillus do present a risk, mainly to those who are immune-compromised.

As far as I know Aspergillus is not something that is regularly tested for with cannabis. It is the main, if not only, species to worry about. There are four subspecies of it. In general I haven’t been able to find out if it how common it is on cannabis though there was speculation that it’s quite rare.

There is no evidence that any problems caused by any mould species are associated with smoking it.

The common petri dish mold tests for cannabis, the sort that standard thc level type lab tests give, don’t seem to really provide any useful info except maybe a general ‘cleanliness’ level, but that’s very debatable too.
 
The information seems conflicting. Nivek’s article says that PM infected plants should be binned. Since the spores are microbial I assume that PM will have spread to everything in a grow area even if it isn’t visible. Based on what is written the entire grow should be thrown out. It talks about prevention as being the best cure, but offers nothing in way of addressing the problems after they have presented themselves.

I’ve read a number of articles about how to deal with mold, but none of them particularly scientific. I’ve had PM in the last two grows. Apple cider vinegar kills it. It’s also good for preventing it. PM can’t exist on an acidic surface. I’m still very nervous about the whole thing.

Anyone recommend any more articles that address mold and mildew and what to do about them?
 
Calvados I was mainly trying to address the idea of toxicity or danger to health from mold. Powdery mildew isn’t an issue I seem to have in my grow, though it seems like every other kind of fungi is beating on my door waiting to pounce if my conditions get right for it.

PM isn’t toxic to humans, according to anything reputable I’ve read. It’s just unsightly and destructive.

It’s a very common issue on all sorts of food crops and there are a ton of articles on it. I just skimmed through a bunch. I would link to some- but none stood out immediately as being best. And it’s the middle of the night for me when I should be sleeping, I’m at anchor on a sailboat that keeps rocking around annoyingly, and my phone is about to die :laughtwo:

I’d suggest you search for articles on prevention in organic agricultural crops. I usually skip the info from cannabis grower articles and forums for the most part- or at least leave them for seconds.

For some reason a lot of the short articles, and especially threads on grower forums which may or may not be full of crazy teenagers, etc (not this forum of course I mean the other ones ;)) seem to be long on fear mongering and short on facts.
 
Cheers Weaselcracker. I didn’t worry about powdery mildew when I didn’t know what it was :). I got it the grow before this recent one. I thought it was resin up until I realised it wasn’t. A spray of Apple cider vinegar diluted with a dash of hand soap is what I use to treat it although I did cut off an throw out the buds that were covered. Kills it dead. It’s also good for prevention. Powdery mildew can’t exist on an acidic surface. At least that was what the article said (which I can no longer find). Common sense tells me it can’t be fatal, or we’d all be dead. The article linked above says to bin the crop, but it’s not convincing as to why.

“Buds infected with powdery mildew or other molds and fungi are unfit for smoking. Many jurisdictions mandate laboratory testing of commercial cannabis for fungal and bacterial pathogens.“

I’d like to know what the effect of the apple cider vinegar is on the resin. Does it hurt it?
 
the article above i linked to,, i found this paragraph very interesting,, indeed,, they selcted 20 random samples

Recently, Steep Hill Labs collaborated with medical researchers at University of California, Davis - Medical Center, and found that of 20 randomly selected samples submitted for testing at the Steep Hill Facility in Berkeley, California all had detectable levels of microbial contamination, and many had significant pathogenic microorganism contamination (2). The variety of potentially harmful bacteria and fungi found was surprising and included:

  • Klebsiella, Pseudomonads (several, including P. aeroginosa)
  • Enterobacteria (including both pathogenic and non-pathogenic forms of E. coli)
  • Acinetobacter (several, including baumannii)
  • Aspergillus (in-cluding niger)
  • Fusarium
  • Mucor
  • Penicillium
  • Botryotini
  • And many other bacteria and fungi
  • Some of the samples studied harbored multiple potentially pathogenic microorganisms (e.g., Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas)
 
I saw that, but my brain could not absorb it. I don’t really know what those things are or how they interact when smoked. It’s not like asking how sausages are made, but it’s similar. At some point I’ll study them. Avoidance seeems to be about keeping the grow room temperatures below 72, but I imagine there is more to it than that. The flip side of low temperature and high humidity is powdery mildew.
 
powdery mildew is so common,, according to what i read,, outdoor veg crops too,, and i know from personal experience,, my cuke plants get covered in it,, and a few flower species are seemingly perfect hosts as well

i read that quote above this way

every random sample tested tested positive. this stuff is being smoked now,, by everyone.

we as growers have the advantage in knowledge because we see the stuff, and can take measures to ingest as little as possible

most everyone else ingests it unknowingly,, and in who knows how high of levels

powdery mildew, which i battle constantly,, i treat, somewhat effectively with a spray of one part hydrogen peroxide to five parts water, a touch stronger might be needed

i rarely get mould,, cept on buds in jars i did not cure properly,, i still have issues with that,, but my bud does not hang around long enuf to be that much of an issue
 
I do not know what the vinegar does to resin. I expect it won’t hurt anything except maybe flavor, and makes it too acidic for the PM. I also read a spray of baking soda or baking powder, mixed with oil. I passed some info on to Nivek about PM once last year. I think it was about using neem oil, as Bush Doctor mentored.

PM is a parasitic fungi and would be considered a plant pathogen. It’s not a human pathogen.

‘Pathogen’ sounds scary doesn’t it...

As to whether ‘Buds infected with powdery mildew or other molds and fungi are unfit for smoking’ I mean... use your judgement. How do you define ‘infected’? Probably common sense applies, and whatever your personal tastes are. Take a look at it and use your judgement whether it’s palatable, same as with fruit or lettuce.

If we expect any bud to be 100% free of any mold spores, we’d be best to start by growing in a laboratory on the moon. All this same info and potential concern applies to the food at your grocery store if not much more so.

I’m not a mold expert, by the way.
IMO the article is pretty fear-mongerey. But to be fair that is just its intent. It’s not saying anything that’s not true. The entire gist of the article is to point out the ‘potential dangers’, not to give any actual numbers or danger levels.

When you throw in so many words like ‘Harmful... toxins... cancer ...contamination everywhere ...fatality ...disease ...Surprising ...microbial contamination ...harmful ...pathogenic ...toxins’. etc etc, and measure it all with terms like ‘could’, and ‘has the potential’ it all sounds pretty scary.

All true, but keep in mind we could write similar articles about the dangers of breathing, or getting out of bed. What are the statistics on people getting sick from mold or PM on bud?

It’s totally true that in my grow I don’t provide the ‘necessary scientific rigor to ensure compliance with pharmaceutical standards’.

I’ve never met anyone who ever did. I’ve also never met anyone or ever heard of anyone getting sick from moldy weed.

There’s probably only one solution to this. Buy government dope.o_O
 
i lost10% of the crop to mold . IT was bud that had obvious evidence of the infection.

The bud that was closest to the infected was bathed for ten minutes in a pool of water with hydrogen peroxide, rinsed in pure water, and then fan dried for four hours.

Just in case, i am drying it separately from the rest of the crop.

Sorry about the double pics. The site is acting up. Wont let me delete one.
 

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