The morality of mold...

[ydijadoit]

I am just gutshot. After 2 months of patience, an all the care that goes into a crop, I got my first taste of bud rot.
The strain I am growing is Dinafem Shark Attack.
I brought it back from the dead (DWC reveg), and this is my first run in my full hydro setup, under 2400w.
This strain makes the hardest, fattest colas I have ever pulled from hydro. I was thrilled!
It's harvest day, and I found mold. At first I thought it was only a couple small nugs, and, indeed, those are the only ones that can be seen with the naked eye.
However, if I get out the 60x scope, I can see a few white hairs, here and there, in and among the trichomes. This seems to be prevalent all through my crop. Otherwise, the buds look great, and smell fine. No nastiness.
I have read quite a bit about bud rot, and the jury seems to be out on the dangers of smoking it. That said, I do have a conscience. I care about all the people who smoke my herb, as they are all close friends.
Long winded explanation, simple question for the experts out there.
What would you do?
I can stomach chucking it all, if it poses a threat to my people.
I sure as hell don't want to do that. But if that is the consensus, then out the door it goes.
I can try to take some pics but they won't show much, I'm afraid.
Please advise, and thanks in advance.
Regards

 

[canna woop!]

Perhaps do an ISO extract with the parts that are not too bad?

And no amount of prevention can stop a mold if it's gonna happen but there are some methods of gardening where prevention is a major emphasis. I can think of a few things for prevention using natural means.

Good luck

 

[ydijadoit]

Thanks, Cannawoop. I was wondering about that. Obviously my usual dry ice/bubble bag method wouldn't get rid of spores, but I had also thought of doing ISO, as it would make sense that the alcohol would kill the mold dead.
The guys at my local hydro shop recommend "Actinivate", for my next run, and I think I will try that. I am also going to filter my air intakes, and bleach/repaint my room.
I have been reading about a diluted milk mixture as well. It just seems, so...Strange???
Thanks again.

 

[vapor]

get your humidity down for next run.

 

[ydijadoit]

Thanks, Vapor. I had the RH at 40-45%, all through bloom. I am in the high desert, so it's usually not a problem. I might invest in another dehumidifier, and see if I can drop it to 20% or so.
Perhaps, the rock hard, donkey dick cola's are not my friend, after all. I had a knockout strain going, (Dinafem Critical Jack), but several people said it was "Fluffy".
Now, I have buds you can't hardly crunch with pliers, and need a presto-log to light, but they mold.
What's a dumb old grower to do?
Thanks for the tip. I'll use it

 

[Jbomber79]

I have smoked plenty of mold...would I rather not have.. YES.

Here it is: If you won't smoke it your friends shouldn't either. Nice rule of thumb to go by and even then I would let them know that it has some mold in it.

 

[ydijadoit]

Thanks, Jbomber.
Once I saw the mold, the actual buds were pretty much out of the question. I couldn't live with myself, if one of my buddies got some weird-ass lung infection. I've always prided myself in producing small batches of top shelf bud. Mold not included!
I will either trash this, and just take it like a man, or maybe turn it into QWISO. I am curious if that would completely sanitize the product. (I am googling it right now).
What is alarming, is how many people would never say a word...My internal sociopath's desire to cut, dry and shut up, is speaking to me. I have a fairly intact compass, of what is wrong or right, and yet, I grow pot. So, I "Out" myself here, and look for feedback, and a reality check.
It helps keep me honest, and able to look in the mirror when I shave.
All input is appreciated!
Regards

 

[LyryC]

I like your attitude. Your soul is hte in the right place.

I can't give you solid advice and feel bad

 

[ydijadoit]

Thanks for the kind words, LyryC.
More sinner than saint here, but I am gonna finish chopping tomorrow, with just a fast, loose trim, throwing out any obvious yuk. That gives me a week, while they dry, to research the ISO method for this stuff.
Go forth, and sin no more... they say. At least with some measure of mold protection, next time!
Regards

 

[ydijadoit]

Dumpster run day...

Dumpster run day...

Well, I finally forced myself to hack these down. I dug into a good selection of colas, and found mold fur inside every one I checked.
Just a little, here and there, but from the research I've done, once it's in there, it will only grow.
Biting the bullet, and throwing out what I estimate to be 2+lbs...
I looked at every angle, from dry ice extraction, to QWISO to BHO. I read up on some homebrewing sites, that alcohol does not kill mold spores. Pretty much only bleach, high heat, or a small nuke will kill spores, once they take hold.
I had a good friend hospitalized a couple years ago, with a mysterious lung infection. He made it, but it was ugly. He's a chronic pot smoker, but also a workout junkie, who never got sick normally. I have no proof it was moldy bud that got him, but he believes it was.
Not gonna pass that on!
Thanks for the posts on this one guys.
I am rebuilding my room this week. Gonna use a good strong bleach solution on everything, repaint with mold-inhibiting paint and install intake air filtration, for starters.
I picked up a pouch of Actinovate, and will try that next run, along with paying scrupulous attention to trimming undergrowth, and maximizing airflow through the canopy.
Hows that song go "Every dog has his day dog, but today just aint yours"?
Regards

 

[Gelado`]

Botrytis is different from the molds that gives people lung infections...if it isn't too bad you can salvage the bud. You'll know botrytis by the sweet smell it gives off. Amazing that your buds molded at 40-45% humidity. Do you have good airflow in your growroom?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botrytis_cinerea

It CAN make some people sick, so it's definitely best not to sell/give it away/smoke it unless you or they know what they're getting into and accept the risks. I lost a solid main cola to it a few months ago. I wasn't happy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersensitivity_pneumonitis

Not a pleasant condition...

"The best treatment is to avoid the provoking allergen, as chronic exposure can cause permanent damage. Corticosteroids such as prednisolone may help to control symptoms but may produce side-effects.[15]"

I have a little bud I salvaged from the plant with the rotten main cola, and I can smell the difference from good bud from the same strain. I should probably throw it out ASAP...

 

[ydijadoit]

Thanks, Gelado. I think there were several factors that bit me on this one.
I didn't have a lot of time, or energy to put into this grow. A family member died of cancer last month (One of the people who was using this), and my wife and I were her only caretakers.
Needless to say, the plants suffered accordingly. The humidity was consistent, but I neglected to trim the undergrowth below the screen, and the way this oddball strain grows, it just makes fatty hard colas, all the way from top to bottom. I tried growing in 10" netpots this time, using waterfarm drippers. It worked great once before, but this time, without trimming undergrowth, some of the buds/leaves were touching the hydroton, and I believe from my post-mortem, that is where the mold started.
I also only had one 12" oscillating fan, in a 6x8 room. Outside conditions have been a freak this year as well. A lot of record setting rain, in the normally dry desert.
Like I said above, I'm going to redo things to the best of my ability, and make damn sure this doesn't happen again.
As for salvaging anything, I'm not going to risk it. I can find fine, spidery looking white fur in all the main colas, with my 60x scope. It's on its way to the dumpster this afternoon. Just a painful lesson!
Regards

 

[Gelado`]

It sucks to lose a crop! I feel your pain. I am keeping my place ultra dry and ensuring my plants have enough space so the buds don't mold! Thankfully I only lost about an oz, but when you grow for personal that's a big hit.

BTW, I'm sorry for your loss. I had just woken up from a nap when I replied. Since you and your wife took care of her, she'll be looking down on you from the other side.

The plant that I lost to mold went the same way. I was out of town, and we had very high humidity because of heavy rainfall, and I didn't have air conditioning or dehumidification at the time; just a powerful oscillating fan and passive dehumidifiers. The plant was a single cola from cotyledons to tip too. I find topping plants so they branch out and have multiple smaller tops is a good way to prevent mold in susceptible environments. I am taking no chances this time!

 

[ydijadoit]

Thanks, Gelado. I found mold on the dirt floor of my crawlspace, where my top-secret grow cab is located. It's a typical house, with dirt floor crawlspace, covered with black plastic. The soil is slightly damp in spots, and there is white mold at the edges of the plastic only.
I have noticed it before, but, since I have never had bud rot before, I guess I never went after it like I should have! I will be busy with the bleach, and poking around Home Depot for mold preventative spray this weekend.
My cab is 99% sealed, but due to location, and the nightmare of working on it, I can't get to 100% air tight.
I will break out the foam tape, and spray foam, and revisit my sealing situation.
The room is fed from the HVAC system in my house, and, up until now, I had no filtration on my incoming air.
I think I will pick up a couple Filtrete filters, with the highest mold spore reduction I can find, and fab boxes on the wall, to seal the filters over the vents. I don't want to reduce my airflow too much, as the environment is perfect as-is, but I gotta keep out the nasties!
My next house won't have neighbors, that's for sure. We live in a high desert, and the tool that moved in next door seems to be trying to plant his own rainforest in his backyard. Constantly watering, on top of soil with a lot of clay in it, and his lot sits up-grade from me.
That's where the moisture under my house comes from.
I blocked most of the vents under my house, when I built this cab. I may have to open them back up, and possibly get one of those vent fans also.
Arggghh! I can't exactly knock on his door, and say, "Excuse me, Mr. Asshat, your over watering is molding my buds, please refrain from trying to turn the desert into a tropical jungle, until after I sell my place!"
Oh well, nothing like a little drama to keep me on my toes!
Regards

 

[Gelado`]

Tough situation, but cool that you have a crawlspace to grow in under your house. Where I am, nobody has crawlspaces (just concrete basements).

I figured you had high groundwater from reading the first part of your post, but couldn't figure out how that would be possible in NV. Then I read about your neighbor's tropical forest. lol

Colloidal silver works well to keep mold at bay I hear...or maybe you could add a dehumidifier down in the crawlspace (if you can fit it in) to keep the humidity down. Bleach will work for sure, but will probably raise humidity even more since you'll have to spray a solution.

Filtrete sheets are a good idea on your intake for sure, but to keep dust out more than mold spores, which will get in anyway. I use a Filtrete/carbon sheet on my intake and I no longer notice motes of dust floating in my tent!

Is there any kind of spray coating you could put over the plastic to seal off the moisture entirely? I just imagined duct taping the edges to prevent any moisture from getting through!

Opening the vents up alone may do the trick since you'll have dry desert air flowing through. Hopefully no funk or light makes it through the vents!

 

[trichrider]

ultraviolet light...

 

[AlterEgo860]

that sucks.. sad day for ya man. soryy for ur loss.. i had this happen a few years ago with my breeding room.. . i found that the healthier the roots the less it happens.. so lately ive ben hand watering so nothing gets overwatered.. an i havent had a single issue.

 

[Gelado`]

That's solid advice from AlterEgo. Root health is crucial, and overwatering causes increased humidity. Everything works together to make or break your environment.

 

[DinosaurCocks]

they make uv lights that are supposed to help a ton, and sulfer burners...

 

[Joaltman88]

I think one of the most painful things in the world is cracking open the bud at the end after all the work and finding mold. That makes for a sad day indeed.