Super Malawi Haze, 6 weeks to go and possible mold!

maryjaneismyfre · Oct 3, 2020

DONT GO IN YOUR GARDEN WITH A FLASHLIGHT WHEN FLOWERING!@

BT bacteria I can vouch for, beauvaria fungus also..Spinosad in veg, too late for that now to spray most likely. Use trichoderma Harzianum in your spray mixture to colonize the plant, also there are other bacteria and fungi you can colonize the plant with in the tiny window you have left for spraying, this to prevent any spores germinating and infecting your plants further. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, the bugs are your main botritus contamination vector, you have to start with the moms and in veg with a complete IPM to prevent most troubles in flower. Your options now are very limited. Also beneficial insects can and do work, you can purchase them retail now around the world.. They dont in my experience work as a complete preventative, but as a spot treatment and flower preventative they are worth their weight in gold, actually at what they cost they are worth more! LOL...

Wait till temps start dropping late season and humidity starts climbing, and the thrip larvae start hatching and munching in the middle of your top colas...whoa boy...bot city! One thing to remember also is botritus overwinters normally as truffles in the soil so treat or disinfect old soil/medium thoroughly before using again, or toss far away or burn and DO NOT toss rotten botritus buds into the compost pile, burn in a bonfire!

Montuno · Oct 3, 2020

Hombre del mont said:
Thank you Gentlemen for your input.

I have many years of indoor gardening experience but bloody catapillars are completly new to me.

Thank God for ICmag! when i first saw the mold i was shocked, as the temps and humidity were fine and the buds not nearly as developed as one would expect when finding mold indoors.

Unfortunately, since getting back from the grow shop, it's been blowing a gale, so no spraying today.

Hola, Hombre del monte.

As they point out, I believe that your real problem is the caterpillars; and that the BT, apart from eliminating those you see by hand, is the solution.
As you also say, "our" climate doesn't make it easy to have mould on such sativa and underdeveloped buds either.

I live on the northern slopes of the Sierra Morena (38° N) at about 900 metres above sea level, and I rarely see mould on the more sativa plants.
But damage and faeces from caterpillars can attract it after a rain, so I always use BT as a preventive (even if there are no caterpillars yet; it's the best); and more so in "our" area, with so many butterflies.
And if you're in a mountain in the south of Spain, only the mountains of Cadiz and Huelva are wetter than my area ("wet" from the relative point of view of a southern Spaniard, of course; for a Spaniard from the northern third or a Brittish, they're "dry" areas...)
Last night there was also a lot of wind and it rained here, but today the Sun has returned....

I leave you some pictures of the biggest butterfly (two diferents butterflies of the same spicies) we have in my area (its species is the biggest in all Europe and the third of North Africa). Imagine the size of its caterpillars...

Saludos montunos !

Hombre del mont · Oct 3, 2020

Maryjaineismyfre, Monturo, Thank you both for the advice. This is a step learning curve for me; And i thought "it's just a case of sticking it in the ground and giving a bit of organic feed".

I'm only at 600m in Las Alpujarras but my friend up at 950m has grown for the last couple of years without getting any mold.

Last night the temps really dropped. I dont know how cold, it was but it was chilly. One of my students said it was 4c at his place in the night but i'd be suprised if it was that cold.

Looks like this evening i'm going to be sitting outside with the torch and twissers.

What do you guy's do with the bud that has been damaged. If it was Botrytis, I'd be removing 2" above and below the damage and burning it. The damage doesnt appear to be botrytis, although i read that it can become so. Can I just remove the damaged bud site/s or do i have to do the 2" above and below.

Thanks in advance

Hombre

Montuno · Oct 3, 2020

I think you don't have botritys yet, but only the damaged bud, half dried out by the caterpillar (I don't appreciate it well in your photos). For me the best thing would be to cut the damaged one.
Don't forget to use BT as a preventative every year when the flowers start to grow.

Your type of crop, at ground level or "rastrero"(as we says here), is logically more exposed to humidity than the "normal" one, but here it is used a lot in guerrilla, especially with the sativas.
There are both copper and microorganism based products that claim to prevent and even cure mould. But I think scissors are the best solution...

(I am 2° further North than you. Near 900 metres high.)
Saludos montunos desde Sierra Morena.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

vcasqui · Oct 3, 2020

I agree with Montuno. I think that what the pics show is that kind of "burn/dry" caused by the caterpillars, which should have a "stiff/rigid" feel to it. Bud rot/botrytis is kind of the opposite; mushy feeling that makes the flower "fall apart" (vamos, que el cogollo se deshace desde dentro).

Check for dying leaves that come from the inside of the bud, yellow or brown is a bad sign. That is usually the easiest way to tell if you have rot or not.

But again, I wouldn't worry too much. Just keep in check those little motherfuckers. I live in Galicia and it's been raining almost everyday since the 17 of September, and it looks like it's going to be like that for the next 7-10 days. No problems so far with the least-developed plants; I'm having problems with 2 of them (out of 6), only on those with the most dense and developed buds. (I chopped one today btw).

Good luck with the caterpillars!

Montuno · Oct 3, 2020

See, this could be/indicate the start of damage to a caterpillar bud. I have just (3-October-2020) taken the picture this evening, that I have taken a walk on my ganjanal...
(It's in my King Congo #2; (Congo Point Noire * South African Ciskei); Tropical Seeds Company):

Hombre del mont · Oct 4, 2020

Bueanas tardes a todo,

Both this mornings and yesterday nights inspections revealed no more damage ad no more of the evil little mf's.

I've taken some pics this morning of both the SMH and the GT and wil lpost them in the relavent forums. I'd really appreciate it if some of you more experieced outdoor guy's would take look and offer your opinions on defoliating.

H

Montuno · Oct 4, 2020

Yo, particularmente, no soy ningún fan de la defoliación (al menos con nuestro clima, cultivando sativas, y sin tener moho...). Pero solo tu puedes saber si realmente lo necesitas hacer en tu cultivo...

Edit:

I, in particular, am not a fan of defoliation (at least with our climate, growing sativas, and not having mold...). But only you can know if you really need to do it in your crop...

Hombre del mont · Oct 4, 2020

Muchas Gracias Monturo, Mi Espanol es no muy bueno, lo siento.

It is better that i write in English. Thanks for the advice. When i grew inside, i grew scrog and always defoliated. If you look at the photos in the SMH thread you'll see that it is simaliar to a scrog.

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dubi · Oct 14, 2020

Bienvenido Hombre del mont

Thanks for choosing ACE sativas for your outdoor grow. As our friends here correctly pointed out, the budrot shown in your pics is the typical damage from caterpillars. To spray with bacillus thuringiensis is a good organic way to eliminate most of them. BT has no toxicity with humans or mammals but it can modify the terpenes or leave a weird taste if you use it too much in very late flowering. You can safely spray it from the start until mid flowering flowering without any problem.

Caterpillars usually born from the eggs of the butterfly after rains (or during very wet days), so spray your plants with BT after every rain and inspect your plants in search of the little bastards.

Usually the budrot produced by caterpillars on pure sativas or very sativa dom hybrids like Super Malawi Haze is not as bad as with indicas and hybrids. The worm can damage the affected bud of the sativa with its bacterias and faeces, but the rot won't spread much from there unless the infestation is very severe. On the other hand, the rot will easily spread to other parts of the flowers with indica strains or with hybrids of thick long colas.

Hombre del mont · Oct 14, 2020

dubi said:
Usually the budrot produced by caterpillars on pure sativas or very sativa dom hybrids like Super Malawi Haze is not as bad as with indicas and hybrids. The worm can damage the affected bud of the sativa with its bacterias and faeces, but the rot won't spread much from there unless the infestation is very severe. On the other hand, the rot will easily spread to other parts of the flowers with indica strains or with hybrids of thick long colas.

Muchas Gracias Dubi,

I've grown 3 of your strains before and have been blown away by the potency in the past.

Looking at the SMH i'm guessing i'm still many weeks away. This morning i've been out inspecting and have found 2 live catapillars despite having sprayed them twice, most recently Saturday.

Hombre del mont · Oct 14, 2020

Apologies Dubi, Thanks for the information. I've learnt a lot this season and already am already excited for next Spring!

I currently have no "night time" genetics on the go: What would you suggest that i order from your catalougue. I am a very hardened smoker of 45yrs and would like something to knock me out at night. i need to be carefull as there is a busy camino 30m away,

Saludos

dubi · Oct 15, 2020

You are welcome Hombre del mont,

For night time i highly recommend Bubba Hash, it's a very consistent almost pure indica Afghani strain, excellent to calm down the mind, avoid thought provoking and to relax body and induce deep sleep.
The feedback we receive from growers about this strain is very solid.

Other strains i would recommend for night time are Bubba Kush x Kali China, ErdPurt, ErdPurt x PCK, HashPlant S1 and Snow Moon, although if i only can choose one i would recommend Bubba Hash.

Hombre del mont · Oct 15, 2020

dubi said:
For night time i highly recommend Bubba Hash, it's a very consistent almost pure indica Afghani strain, excellent to calm down the mind, avoid thought provoking and to relax body and induce deep sleep.

Thanks Dubi, Buba Hash it is next Spring!

Been and sprayed again first thing this morning. No more visable damage.

Here's a couple of shots in the early morning sunshine.

maryjaneismyfre · Oct 17, 2020

Pics?

WHIPEDMEAT · Oct 17, 2020

hit quote and copy image link locations

and see the dots, pictures are in private album

Hombre del mont · Oct 21, 2020

Buenas tardes a todo!

A quick update on the catapillar situation. I'm still finding the occasional small bit of dead bud and some very small catapillars. I'm spraying every 5 or so days but as the buds swell i guess the penatration of the pray is not so good. I sprayed again last night and altered the nozzle of the sprayer so it was a stronger sray rather than atomized. We had a slight shower of rain last night so i'm guessing i need to spray again?

I should add that i gave them a feed last night and also included some BAC Organic PK Boost.

dubi · Oct 22, 2020

Hi Hombre del mont,

Not sure where are you located but Barbara storm is crossing the whole country so you can probably expect more caterpillars after the rains. Honestly, not sure whether recommend you to sprat BT again at this advanced stage of flowering. Sometimes is better to lose a few buds due to caterpillars than having the whole harvest tasting like BT spray, but that's just my personal preference. Looks like she is still reflowering and a bit hungry, so i would continue with the feeding at least one week more and evaluate after that her state of ripeness to consider start with the flushing.

Hombre del mont · Oct 22, 2020

dubi said:
Hi Hombre del mont,

Not sure where are you located but Barbara storm is crossing the whole country so you can probably expect more caterpillars after the rains. Honestly, not sure whether recommend you to sprat BT again at this advanced stage of flowering. Sometimes is better to lose a few buds due to caterpillars than having the whole harvest tasting like BT spray, but that's just my personal preference. Looks like she is still reflowering and a bit hungry, so i would continue with the feeding at least one week more and evaluate after that her state of ripeness to consider start with the flushing.

Thanks for looking in Dubi,
We're 37N and its looks like we've seen the worst of it now. I've just been out and again had to remove some buds due to dead budsites.

The stuff i took off the other day was dried in my wifes food dihydrator and i have been sampling it today. My wife doesn't smoke, but had a few toots on her vape and has been dancing to my jazz music and loving it! (normally she complains when i put it on!). Obviously it tastes like shit but already it is giving me, (wake and baker of 40+yrs), a really pleasant high. I'm really looking forward to the proper smoke in febuary/march of next year. Having had Malawi and Panama Haze last year, I know i'm in for a treat.

I'm thinking of giving her another dose of full strength bloom and another dose of organic pk boost and then flush her through.

Tomorrow i'll spray one last time.

Hombre del mont · Oct 25, 2020

A few shots from this moening. Storm Barbara has passed without incident. They were fed yesterday with organic bloom and organic pk.

Super Malawi Haze, 6 weeks to go and possible mold!

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