Urgent! Mold I think on curing buds

[Cyberbong]

I have some bud from a couple of outside plants curing for a while now, just saw these weird white dots appear on them. Are they mold? Mite eggs? they seem powdery.. Somebody please tell my I can save these, I'm on the verge of crying about now

I'm curing the bud in large zip tie bags, right now I opened them and put them on the attic where its cold, don't have much options also my area is very humid, the room where they were curing having 75 - 80% humidity.

 

[iwltfum]

It kind of looks like mildew, but not bud rot. Kind of weird. I wouldn't doubt it has something to do with your room's humidity. That's pretty high. Kind of invites mold or mildew to propagate.

 

[Cyberbong]

I'm hoping I caught it fast enough, whatever it is, and that I can maybe wash it off, water cure it for a day or two and re dry it.. maybe even wash it with a light hydrogen peroxide solution before water curing.. but any input on this would be welcome, as I've never water cured my weed before.

 

[Rifleman]

If you are storing them in plastic bags and they are moist and damp, mold, mildew will grow. Never use plastic bags when green.

 

[Cyberbong]

If you are storing them in plastic bags and they are moist and damp, mold, mildew will grow. Never use plastic bags when green.

Damn, didn't know that, stored them in zip-tie bags for simplicity's sake, as I'd need a lot of glass jars.

 

[Rifleman]

They will do the same in glass when damp. Be aware of the moisture content before putting into the curing process to avoid mold, mildew, and rot.

 

[Major PITA]

Let them dry more before you put them away in anything. Hopefully you can find someplace for them under 80% RH.

 

[Xipp]

Dude DO NOT WASH those buds all you will do is increase the moisture content and the mold will grow. The buds need to be dried. The only way to save the ones with mold spores is with heat if it were my bud and i wanted to save it i would spread the infected buds out on a oven safe tray and put them in 120 degree heat till dried.WATCH THEM CLOSE, I Know that's a BS way to dry out buds but if you don't stop that mold you will lose it all, Or make Wax-Oil out of it..Good luck

 

[Cyberbong]

Thanks for the tips guys, I definitely screwed up by putting them in the bags too soon. With such a high humidity (I live on the edge of a marsh) I'll have to employ a drying rack after the final manicure next time.

Dude DO NOT WASH those buds all you will do is increase the moisture content and the mold will grow. The buds need to be dried. The only way to save the ones with mold spores is with heat if it were my bud and i wanted to save it i would spread the infected buds out on a oven safe tray and put them in 120 degree heat till dried.WATCH THEM CLOSE, I Know that's a BS way to dry out buds but if you don't stop that mold you will lose it all, Or make Wax-Oil out of it..Good luck

That's why I'd wash them with hydrogen peroxide before curing, to kill off all the mold and wash it off. Then I'd have to build a good drying rack and get a very good ventilation going, and dry them out completely.. Sadly I don't have access to an oven, as I'm in my parents house.. So I have to be stealthy.

 

[Major PITA]

You don't need (or even want) an oven. Just get plenty of air circulation. Do you have a small fan you can use to help?

 

[Cyberbong]

I have a clip-on fan, a large house fan and one of those bathroom ventilation fans that I can use. Should I even concern myself with removing these things or should I just stop it it from spreading and leave it as is? I know they are just little dots, and no rot has formed whatsoever, but I'm still a bit hesitant.

 

[Xipp]

You will need to at least get your temps into the 90's to kill those mold spores. Botrytis Cinerea, the dreaded gray mold. This Mold is caused by a fungus, and a tough one at that. It can survive temperatures from 28°-90°F.Gray mold goes dormant to defy eradication efforts and harsh conditions.
It travels on wind, interior air movement, tools, clothing and plant parts, and it survives attempts to remove it via mechanical methods, such as trimming out affected parts of your marijuana buds.Gray mold can tolerate temperatures below 70°F better than it tolerates temperatures warmer than 70°F. So put them in a box put a light bulb and a fan in the box with some vent holes and warm above 90 degrees and let them dry out.

 

[iwltfum]

I don't think it's botrytis. Just looks like a house mildew to me. If you get mold or mildew into a dry environment, it won't be able to propagate no matter what temperature it is.

 

[Cyberbong]

Sorry for the late update.

So I dried it out completely. I see no signs of continual growth. I actually see less of the mold, maybe it shrunk, fell off, idk. There is some left though, still some 5 - 10% of the buds are affected; and I'm not sure what to do with it. I agree with @iwltfum about it not being botrytis. To me, botrytis has more of a cotton look to it, and there is no rot whatsoever, and as I understand botrytis likes to attack from the inside. Also the conidiophores (the white dots) are too large. Here's a macro of a really ugly one:

Compare it to the Botrytis cinerea conidiophore:

I could be wrong, but in the end it doesn't even matter all that much.

This probably doesn't have any mycotoxins, it doesn't smell bad and you can barely see the dots as they are in average about 2 - 3X the size of the trichomes. I still want to get rid of it though...

I'll probably pick out some of the worst buds, and try the peroxide wash followed by a 24h water curing and a good drying chamber. If it works out, I'll do it on the rest of the herb as well.

I'll keep this updated for future reference, but It will probably be slow.

 

[steppinup67]

DUDE!!! 75-80% humidity?! Hang some rice in nylon stockings, a couple of handfuls per stocking. use pair of pantyhose and fill , cut, and tie them. You can probable get at least 6-7 bags per pair of pantyhose . That will absorb some of the moisture. I would say use white rice , it doesn't take as long to absorb water/moisture, Brown rice doesn't absorb as fast. I know this because white rice only takes 20 min to cook and brown rice takes 45 min. So I figure the easiest way, other than a dehumidifier is hang rice through out your drying room/attic. I did it in ours. Do you have a humidity gauge?
I'm having a major problem here with white powdery mildew! I think I'm gonna cry too! Ours is in the garden. so far only one small bud with mold got all the way to the drying room. But we're gonna have to trash probable 7 , what used to be beautiful, plants that are still in the garden.

 

[Cyberbong]

DUDE!!! 75-80% humidity?! Hang some rice in nylon stockings, a couple of handfuls per stocking. use pair of pantyhose and fill , cut, and tie them. You can probable get at least 6-7 bags per pair of pantyhose . That will absorb some of the moisture. I would say use white rice , it doesn't take as long to absorb water/moisture, Brown rice doesn't absorb as fast. I know this because white rice only takes 20 min to cook and brown rice takes 45 min. So I figure the easiest way, other than a dehumidifier is hang rice through out your drying room/attic. I did it in ours. Do you have a humidity gauge?
I'm having a major problem here with white powdery mildew! I think I'm gonna cry too! Ours is in the garden. so far only one small bud with mold got all the way to the drying room. But we're gonna have to trash probable 7 , what used to be beautiful, plants that are still in the garden.

Hey! Cool idea with the rice, never thought about it Though I'll take your idea a bit further, you can get packets of silica gel on eBay real cheap. They are the little packets you get in shoes, but you can get it in larger bags or even boxes. Also you can buy relatively cheap box dehumidifiers, not exactly sure how they are called in the states, but they use different kinds of fillers, like tablets that absorb a lot of moisture and some even last for as long as 2 months before you have to refill them. My parents have a few throughout the house and they work great, not sure why I never thought about putting one in my drying room, so thank you for that!!

 

[steppinup67]

Yeah you can go on ebay, or go to ...Lowe's, Home depot? But,....I live 25 miles from the closest hardware store , just busted the ball joint on my Chevy blazer, Just found that my new old truck has a busted bracket that holds the transfer case for the lift kit, when it rains here it is so muddy we are mudded in. Even with a working 4X4 truck ,you ain't gettin out to go anywhere! White Rice Works Great!! FOFLMAO(Fall On Floor Laughing My Ass Off) FOFLMAO

 

[somestiner]

Hey man, hope you're okay. The same problem, I can totally relate to that want to cry moment. But I have some bad news for you, I think this is very likely to be Aspergillius strain, the worst mold you can possibly get on your cannabis.

If the mold is dead because of that peroxide washing, that's cool but still there are dead spores, dna, proteins but most importantly mycotoxins. Aspergillius produces aflatoxins which are poisonous and carcinogenic. They might not be there, but if it's heavily infested the odds are very likely. You can quick test for that with UV light, they are fluorescent. So if your weed glows, you'd better not even touch that and throw it out immediately. Otherwise you risk serious health problems.