Mouldy, both inside and out.

A friend has just had a problem in losing three plants to serious mould. Two Northern Lights (Nirvana) were outside, and a cloned Bomb-something was inside. He has never has a mould problem before. It seems to me odd: 2 strains, and 1 in and 1 out. The obvious clue is that we have had a record-setting long heat wave recently. Could that be the cause, both in and out??? Thanks for any wisdom.

How's your humidity looking there, wet and hot?

The past two weeks have averaged about 90° F.. Humidity was fairly high as usual around the Great Lakes area, but not extremely high.

Now he's lost another, that 2 Bomb-something, 2 Nirvana NL, 2 outside, 2 in. Weird. Maybe the buckwheat field next door is mutating or something.

I don't know these strains but are they Indica dominant? Indica suffer here (Oz) from mould.

Fungus/mould is everywhere. I have trouble from time to time because I 'm in a Eucalyptus forest where there is mostly fungus decomposition. So environment is a factor if not the MAJOR factor.

It matters what is being used for mulch. Mulch that stays wet is no good. Like, I used forest leaves and they matted together and stayed soggy wet. Not only did they contribute to the growth of fungus (as yet unknown) on my plants, the mat of leaves sucked out Nitrogen.

Moulds/fungi (eg: Fusarium, anthracnose) are transmissable via your secateurs, or even your hands. Hygiene very important when your having this sort of difficulty ...

Treevly said:

Now he's lost another, that 2 Bomb-something, 2 Nirvana NL, 2 outside, 2 in. Weird. Maybe the buckwheat field next door is mutating or something.

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Is there black mold on the ground? Grains, especially when baled, are bad news for mold.

I;ve had mould trouble before, but with plants which were excellent producers - too much so! The buds were extremely thick and dense. I don't know if Nirvana Northern Lights is on that category, or the Bomb-something. Even so, it's pretty early in the year to be getting mould outside, but as I said, we've had record setting heat and fairly high humidity. It's about 10 miles from Lake Erie, so the air is never particularly dry.

Humans are vectors for contamination.

Perhaps your buddy is doing more of the spreading than realized.

Sulphur solution works like a charm.

To really understand what's going on you'd need to post pics and in depth descriptions. The mould most of us fight, that ruins flowers, is boytritis. Grey Mold. I've lost entire plants when it rots through the stalk. 90 degrees is too hot, it's sweet spot is 63-75 degrees F. I'm almost certain it's not what got his plants.

There's quite a few other molds and wilts that do well in hot temperatures. They seem to be more common in the midwest, east coast, and parts of Europe that get hot and humid. Brown rot, white rot, black rot, fusarium, pythium, vermicullum wilts, plus other fungi and bacteria. I'm name dropping; each type takes specific conditions and temperatures but most thrive when it's moist and warm to hot.

Some are easy to cure, many of them take a bit of research to diagnose and cure, some are incurable. There's a few that pass the disease on to progeny, even seeds. There's certain soil types, regions, and companion organisms that cause the diseases to be endemic. I'd look at the local vegetation, see if the garden plants and weeds have a similar disease.

Even without a diagnosis of a specific disease there's quite a bit you can do to fix the problem. Improving plant health by fixing the soil to provide better nutrition, a proper balance of NPK plus providing micro-nutrients like calcium, magnesium, sulphur, and the rest. Checking PH, increasing the amount of direct light, transplanting root bound plants to larger containers, changing your soil mix, better drainage, get rid of old recycled soil.

Ganja diseases thrive in gardens that aren't properly maintained. A lot of people keep their plants barely healthy enough to succeed, then when something goes wrong it's often catastrophic. Tighten things up and some problems will fix themselves. A little peroxide mixed into the next watering isn't a bad idea. If there's rotten plant parts you can treat them with rubbing alcohol or peroxide, at least kill the visible infection.

I have an 88G13HP with a weird rotten looking spot on the lower stalk. It could be brown rot or boytritis but I'm not sure. Otherwise it's healthy and vigorous. I can see it healing itself, the same strain last year healed itself from boytritis stem rot. I'll still probably hit it with alcohol and anti-bacterial salve. You can never be too careful. I'll try to post a picture in the next few days.

High temperature and high humidity. Sounds like it's tropical.
As posted before, Indica types don't do well under these conditions, they mould.

And yes, Northern Light is Indica dominant. Better try next time a more Sativa dominant strain with a more open budstructure and/or look for strains with a high mould resistance.

You are over-watering your weed! Let the soil dry between waterings and keep the top inch or two lose and aerated with a hand cultivator. Those heavy fat leaf plants need a dryer soil environment.

Thanks for those replies. There is good info in there.

I do have one strain which is a bit more on the sativa side than most of my gear, although it is one of those OG X Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink strains. I think it has a dose of Thai in it. Nothing ruins that strain. No mould, it outgrows bugs. If a leaf gets attacked, it grows another leaf, bigger. I wouldn't be surprised to go out one night and find one with its roots around a coyote's throat, like an Ent.

Went out this morning to check the mold spot. It had spread to a lower node, I saw new grey mold spores confirming it's boytritis. Poured rubbing alcohol into the wound, down the stalk and over the mold spores. A earwig came stumbling out of the wound, dazed by the rubbing alcohol, I flicked him off onto the ground. A weird little gnat drunkenly flew out, God only knows what freaky perverted shit the two of them were up to in there.

Earwigs are both beneficial and a pest. They'll chew on young leaves and stems but devour quite a few pests. It was likely using the wound as a nest/sex dungeon, probably not chewing on the stalk. Didn't notice damage in the cavity besides the mold. I used a paper towel to wipe up the black shit left after the rubbing alcohol soak. I'll clean it again with rubbing alcohol then apply ointment. It should put a stop to the infection.

It's an 88G13HP, I had the same stem rot last year with the same strain. Both this year and last the natural immune system is fighting it off. With a little help from me I shouldn't lose the plant, it's big and vigorous. In this case a broken limb caused a wound that allowed the mold a route to get a foothold. This is usually what happens, always keep a close eye on plant wounds.

Sativa types often have better resistance then hashplants but it's not a 100% certainty. I've seen strains claimed to be 100% sativa end up covered in mold, total losses and Afghani dominate plants produce fat mold-free colas in the wettest of Octobers. Next to sativa dominate plants that rot. The more you know your strains and your local weather patterns, the more you use your own breeding instead of relying on the commercial guys to supply your seed, the better you'll do.

Indoor growers should never have mold problems, it's a bad sign if they do. I'm still curious what type of mold got you Treevly and what the root cause was. The strains your buddy's running aren't famous for mold resistance but they shouldn't be so susceptible they're dying off in July.

"Bomb-something"? That's a classic American strain isn't it?

JimMuscles said:

"Bomb-something"? That's a classic American strain isn't it?

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therevverend said:

Went out this morning to check the mold spot. It had spread to a lower node, I saw new grey mold spores confirming it's boytritis. Poured rubbing alcohol into the wound, down the stalk and over the mold spores. A earwig came stumbling out of the wound, dazed by the rubbing alcohol, I flicked him off onto the ground. A weird little gnat drunkenly flew out, God only knows what freaky perverted shit the two of them were up to in there.

Earwigs are both beneficial and a pest. They'll chew on young leaves and stems but devour quite a few pests. It was likely using the wound as a nest/sex dungeon, probably not chewing on the stalk. Didn't notice damage in the cavity besides the mold. I used a paper towel to wipe up the black shit left after the rubbing alcohol soak. I'll clean it again with rubbing alcohol then apply ointment. It should put a stop to the infection.

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This is the funniest description of a bug/mold situation i have read in a long time. Made the day. I have been trying to help a friend out from afar that is growing in a similar environment to the OP, sent him a wide selection of seeds to get going and pointed out what to stick outside vs indoors...should have only sent him outdoor stuff, bug and molds galore, lost 43 out of 50 so far. At least i don't need to worry about him being dumb and flouting plant counts at the location he is growing them anymore.

mean mr.mustard said:

Humans are vectors for contamination.

Perhaps your buddy is doing more of the spreading than realized.

Sulphur solution works like a charm.

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Is that for the plants or for the room? Is there a brand nameproduct? Thanks