1st time grower - mold?

[Pearl]

Hello, so I've been tending to a plant that my father was gifted. He planted it outside in early July and basically forgot about it - no watering schedule, no fertilizer (cringe...). Fortunately he is an expert gardener so the soil is excellent - that's probably why this plant grew at all.

By "tending to it"..I have zero experience/no idea what I'm doing and I'm thinking something may be off? Mold maybe? I'm very eager to learn more so I can attempt to grow next year from day 0.

Pictures of plant (healthy part..I think)

Pictures of plant (unhealthy parts...I think?.. which I clipped off)

 

[Madbud]

Yeah, either from a caterpillar or botrytis. If you find more on a plant, carefully trim it and the adjacent parts out, then brush a little peroxide on the area and moldy bud to kill the spores and prevent spreading.

 

[freezeland2]

Be sure to clean your trimmers before using them again. You’ll spread the spores otherwise.

 

[Pearl]

Thank you @Madbud and @freezeland2 ! Not great news, but it is what it is. I just did some surgery on the plant using your guidance. After some inspection, I noticed some caterpillar chomps so could be due to caterpillar and/or botrytis. Fun times.

It's not too bad yet, but if it spreads, what do you suggest? I am still learning so am unsure how to decide when it's ready to harvest.

 

[Brotofsky]

I hope you make it to the finish line. This will not help you this yr unfortunately, but with climates changing so drastically( I’m in the US NE) I lollipoped my outdoor to ensure great fresh airflow. I know the method is outdoor controversial, but I have no large buds and can really examine my big bud that I do have!! Her inside is hollow!

 

[Pearl]

I hope you make it to the finish line. This will not help you this yr unfortunately, but with climates changing so drastically( I’m in the US NE) I lollipoped my outdoor to ensure great fresh airflow. I know the method is outdoor controversial, but I have no large buds and can really examine my big bud that I do have!! Her inside is hollow!

Oh wow. She's pretty I'm in US NE, too. The recent ~75F days and ~58F nights, and random humidity levels have been a blast to deal with. I'm intimidated by the learning curve to grow cannabis. I thought growing begonias and peonies was hard! Eager to learn though. Hopefully, I can get something out of this plant this year.

 

[Brotofsky]

Oh wow. She's pretty I'm in US NE, too. The recent ~75F days and ~58F nights, and random humidity levels have been a blast to deal with. I'm intimidated by the learning curve to grow cannabis. I thought growing begonias and peonies was hard! Eager to learn though. Hopefully, I can get something out of this plant this year.

Thank you, as the others stated removing( sacrificing)the bad sucks, but it’s so necessary. Anything suspicious must go!!

 

[Madbud]

Any sugar leaves, the little ones on the buds, that are yellow and twisted is a spot to remove. Bamboo skewer or toothpick to look close.

 

[Pearl]

Any sugar leaves, the little ones on the buds, that are yellow and twisted is a spot to remove. Bamboo skewer or toothpick to look close.

Thank you for the tip @Madbud Aside from those that I already clipped off (in the first post in this thread), I am not seeing any others with yellow and twisted sugar leaves...yet. I may need to look closer though.

 

[freezeland2]

Biggest thing now is to keep the buds dry until harvest. If it rains you’ll need some way to keep the rain off. From the pics it looks like you could rig a tarp over it for any rain days.

 

[Krispy420]

Hi, your plant looks great, nice job especially for a first timer! A little bud rot is par for the course, don't sweat it. The key is being vigilant when you inspect the plant so you can catch it in time (which you did) As long as you spot it in time you have options like cutting it out or taking the plant down. Oh and by the way I don't think defoliating and lolipopping is controversial at all, like you said it's important for airflow and inspection. I have defoliated the hell out of plants and still had the buds explode that same week. I think the people who say it will stunt or hurt your plant are just over-exaggerating. Of course you don't want to defoliate every day but I would rather have my outdoor plants over-defoliated than under-defoliated. Good luck spotting bud rot or dealing with powdery mildew when you have a big bushy un-trimmed plant...

 

[Pearl]

Hi, your plant looks great, nice job especially for a first timer! A little bud rot is par for the course, don't sweat it. The key is being vigilant when you inspect the plant so you can catch it in time (which you did) As long as you spot it in time you have options like cutting it out or taking the plant down. Oh and by the way I don't think defoliating and lolipopping is controversial at all, like you said it's important for airflow and inspection. I have defoliated the hell out of plants and still had the buds explode that same week. I think the people who say it will stunt or hurt your plant are just over-exaggerating. Of course you don't want to defoliate every day but I would rather have my outdoor plants over-defoliated than under-defoliated. Good luck spotting bud rot or dealing with powdery mildew when you have a big bushy un-trimmed plant...

Thank you! That makes me feel a little better. I have a lot to learn in preparation for next year, but for this year, sounds like the next step is to continue to stay on top of inspecting the plant for bud rot, defoliate to improve airflow, and get a tarp to protect from rain as @freezeland2 mentioned. Appreciate everyone's guidance