Hey man, sounds like you're doing everything you can to prevent bud rot, but it’s frustrating when it keeps showing up anyway. Outdoors, it’s pretty normal to have to deal with some level of rot, especially with all the rain and humidity that can come with it. You’re definitely not alone in having to trim off affected buds regularly. But I get it, the constant trimming can make you wonder if it’s time to chop.
Here’s my take on it:
Timing the Harvest:
Trichomes: You mentioned the trichomes are a bit cloudy with some amber, so they’re maturing. Ideally, you’d want to let them go a little longer to get to the peak, but with the rot progressing, sometimes cutting early to avoid further losses is the better move. If the rot is spreading fast, you might not have much of a choice but to cut your losses and chop them now, even though it’s not quite perfect timing.
Weather: Since it's an outdoor grow, you can only control so much. If the forecast shows continued wet or humid conditions, that’ll make it tough to slow down the rot. At this point, if it’s getting worse every day, chopping sooner rather than later might prevent more of the crop from being compromised.
Bud Rot and Salvaging:
Cutting Around the Rot: If you find rot at the bottom of a bud but the top looks clean, it’s usually okay to keep the non-infected sections. The key is to inspect thoroughly—make sure there’s no mold on the stem or inside the buds. What you’re doing, drying out the good parts separately, is smart. Just keep an eye on them as they dry to ensure no mold appears during the curing process.
Caterpillars: Those little guys can cause rot themselves by weakening the plant and creating openings for mold. Spraying with Dr. Zymes every few days is a solid approach to keep the pests in check, but it might be tough to completely stop the rot at this point.
To Chop or Not to Chop?
Holding Off: If you can manage to slow the rot and are only trimming off small sections of the plant, you could try to hold on for another week or two to get the best ripeness.
Cut Your Losses: If you’re losing a noticeable amount every day, it might make more sense to chop now and salvage what you can. Losing a bit of yield for slightly earlier trichome ripeness could still result in a quality harvest.
At the end of the day, it’s all about weighing how fast the rot is spreading vs. how close the buds are to being ready. If the rot is outpacing the maturity of the plant, better to chop than lose too much. And don’t worry, early harvests can still produce some solid results.
Hope that helps! Keep me posted on what you decide to do.
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In the future you can try constructing something like this
