Can this harvested crop be saved? Fungus

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Narsbars

Narsbars

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I am growing outside and have been inspecting my plants obsessively. I think I know each bud and branch by name. I was about two weeks from harvest on an AK47 photoperiod, about 3 feet wide, ft. high, that was producing exceptionally snowy buds. Yesterday on one bud I spotted 4 or five of the tiniest leaves at the bottom of one bud looking twisted but still green. I cut the bud off and under inspection the base of the leaf bunch was turning that frightening brown. I immediately cut off the whole branch, trimmed, and autopsied all buds on the branch. There were no other signs of bud rot but I tossed the whole thing away. I then harvested the plant and did a rough trim of all buds and anything with a brown leaf was removed, cut open and inspected. No other signs of rot. I then stripped all of the buds, popcorn and all, putting in a freezer bag getting about two pounds wet weight.
My question is if I can safely use this to make bubble hash as I would never smoke anything that had the slightest sign of rot in a joint or pipe.
My follow up is, if you don't feel it is safe, what do you think about extraction using a quick wash and 200 proof ethanol? I am not concerned about wasting weed but I am concerned about possibly sharing a bad product.
 
nashobaTHC

nashobaTHC

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Without pics it sounds like you found some very small buds with bud rot and harvested whole plant in a panic. I can’t comment on making bubble hash but it should be doable without fear of having bud rot contamination because you frozen the buds and stopped the mold growth. For future grows you should know that bud rot in small amounts (your situation) can be managed by selective trimming allowing the rest of the plant to grow and mature for several more weeks. Don’t hesitate to consult this forum and include pics before taking drastic action. Lots of good advice. Good luck on your bubble hash.
 
Narsbars

Narsbars

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Without pics it sounds like you found some very small buds with bud rot and harvested whole plant in a panic. I can’t comment on making bubble hash but it should be doable without fear of having bud rot contamination because you frozen the buds and stopped the mold growth. For future grows you should know that bud rot in small amounts (your situation) can be managed by selective trimming allowing the rest of the plant to grow and mature for several more weeks. Don’t hesitate to consult this forum and include pics before taking drastic action. Lots of good advice. Good luck on your bubble hash.
Thank you. Maybe it is my location but it has been my experience that bud rot is basically unstoppable. Living in Maine once the colder damp weather starts you will continue to get 2, 3, or 4 day stretches of wet and cold. Actually I only proved one small bud with a tiny amount of bud rot starting and a couple with only possible starting rot with no internal signs. I grow enough that I have to toss out, use for hash, or give away a pound a year just to get rid of old weed so the harvest was not in a panic but in an abundance of caution. I won't take any chances with anyone's health.
I will have to report in on how much bubble I get.
 
Ponky

Ponky

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To salvage fungus damage you need to distill the product. Then it's fine.
 
PauliBhoy

PauliBhoy

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My question is if I can safely use this to make bubble hash as I would never smoke anything that had the slightest sign of rot in a joint or pipe.
If there is fungus on your buds then there will be fungus in your hash, only at even higher concentrations. This is why it's so hard to find legal hash; it often fails microbial testing, even from good looking plants.

Fungus doesn't dissolve in ethanol like Cannabinoids and terpenes do, so mold and mold spores can be filtered out of an ethanol/cannabinoid/terpene solution, but very fine filters are required, like a 0.2 micron syringe filter.
 
Narsbars

Narsbars

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If there is fungus on your buds then there will be fungus in your hash, only at even higher concentrations. This is why it's so hard to find legal hash; it often fails microbial testing, even from good looking plants.

Fungus doesn't dissolve in ethanol like Cannabinoids and terpenes do, so mold and mold spores can be filtered out of an ethanol/cannabinoid/terpene solution, but very fine filters are required, like a 0.2 micron syringe filter.
Are you saying the Ethanol won't kill the spores? Damn it. I had just decided I could make bubble hash, then that idea was shot down, then I thought I could use a pure Ethanol extraction. Now it seems as if I have two pounds of stuff not even fit for compost. Better to toss it than take a chance on poisoning someone.
 
Narsbars

Narsbars

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To salvage fungus damage you need to distill the product. Then it's fine.
Please check the reply below telling me that I will still have fungus. I would rather toss it than make someone sick.
 
Dirtbag

Dirtbag

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Buds with PM can be safely processed into bubble hash since PM spores and mycellia is smaller than the smallest micron size of any bags. Like 3-5 microns I believe, so as long as you wash the resin heads adequately with plenty of very cold running water, it can be cleaned up. I've smoked pounds of bubble hash made from PM tainted weed over the years.
Botrytis, I'm usually more prone to toss it in the compost. No saving that shit.
 
Narsbars

Narsbars

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To salvage fungus damage you need to distill the product. Then it's fine.
Please check the reply below telling me that I will still have fungus. I would rather toss it than make someone sick.
Buds with PM can be safely processed into bubble hash since PM spores and mycellia is smaller than the smallest micron size of any bags. Like 3-5 microns I believe, so as long as you wash the resin heads adequately with plenty of very cold running water, it can be cleaned up. I've smoked pounds of bubble hash made from PM tainted weed over the years.
Botrytis, I'm usually more prone to toss it in the compost. No saving that shit.
I only found a tiny spot at the base of a few tiny leaves on one bud, and none in any of the several buds I dissected. I am worried that this was Botrytis due to the coloration which is why I cut and trimmed immediately. I probably threw away 30 % percent of the plant as pure caution and cut open every tossed bud but still tossed them. Do you think making bubble and multiple clean water washes through a final bag of 45 microns would be safer or do you think the 25 would still be OK? Currently drying at about 2x my normal rate.
 
Ponky

Ponky

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Where I live things like kief and bubble hash are undesired. We literally sweep up under the trimming machine and drying racks and it goes in the garbage. So it's been a long time since anyone's made any. PM BHO has a taste. In fact if the pack is inferior in any way it shows in the final product. But as a distillate it doesn't. Distillation can be done with almost any grade of product. And still creates the same clear gel like substance. I have seen bubble hash a long time ago that was molding on the inside of the pucks. It's never been all that popular. Even back then it was honey oil. So I don't know. But maybe if the screens are of high quality. Filtered is filtered.

Powdery mildew, with spores 1-3 microns in size (unseen by the naked eye), exists as one of the most formidable airborne foes for indoor growing environments.

Cannabis trichomes have a shape similar to a mushroom. A stalk supports a bulbous, spherical head. They are tiny too, at around 50-100 microns wide (1mm=1000 microns).

The last two paragraphs have me thinking it's pretty much on there once you see it. And you can't filter it out.
 
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