Brown buds —Help me please

[chelseamac27]

Hello,

I am definitely a beginner or noob… whichever you prefer. I wanted to try to grow for myself and I purchased 5 feminized seeds. I germinated them and the grew, everything was fine. My tallest plant got to about 36 inches (planted in June into 10 gallon mesh bags. 2 had the aquatic mixture the other 3 had compost and potting mix.) By this point, I’m like these things are doing great! Trichomes are super visible and turning milky colored. Then I look closer and notice that one of my denser plants has a brown section of bud. I look around that same plant and see another couple of brown sections of bud. I take pictures, try to ask around the cannabis community I know and I got: “yup, that’s mold”

But many of those people are not super experienced either…

These pictures are the same spot, same plant…but what does this appear to be? And how can I change it if its mold?

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

It looks like bud rot to me. It also is frequently called mold/ gray mold/brown mold. To verify, pull on the brown spot. If it separates from the bud easily, its bud rot.

Damaged bud isn't fixable or smoke-able. Carefully remove all infected buds and all immediate surrounding tissue. It's been much debated on this forum what do do with an infected crop. No one will tell you to smoke it. Some will tell you to throw it away. Others will tell you it's only good for hydrocarbon based extracts. Personally, I get rid of it. It's not worth the hassle ... especially when the bud cabinet is already well stocked.

It's every outdoor grower's nightmare, especially in wetter climates ... like Michigan.

 

[chelseamac27]

It looks like bud rot to me. It also is frequently called mold/ gray mold/brown mold. To verify, pull on the brown spot. If it separates from the bud easily, its bud rot.

Damaged bud isn't fixable or smoke-able. Carefully remove all infected buds and all immediate surrounding tissue. It's been much debated on this forum what do do with an infected crop. No one will tell you to smoke it. Some will tell you to throw it away. Others will tell you it's only good for hydrocarbon based extracts. Personally, I get rid of it. It's not worth the hassle ... especially when the bud cabinet is already well stocked.

It's every outdoor grower's nightmare, especially in wetter climates ... like Michigan.

I had a feeling it was…I’ve been trying to do my research. My husband on the other hand, does not believe me. What will happen if it’s dried out…just mold over the entire bud?

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

I had a feeling it was…I’ve been trying to do my research. My husband on the other hand, does not believe me. What will happen if it’s dried out…just mold over the entire bud?

It's a fungal infection. It's kind of like black mold in your house. It's never good to have around.

When it's dried out the mold turns into spores where its easily spread all over the place and can cause reinfection of future crops. It's still not smoke-able.

There are preventative measures to avoid it but once it's found its usually too late.

 

[chelseamac27]

I definitely do not plan on smoking it. I will go through it tomorrow and check the buds again.

What kind of preventative measures would help? Looking for any advice I can get

 

[Ponky]

Once bud rot starts it takes over. That's bud rot. Ideal VPD and copper or Sulphur based prevention along with good airflow is about the only prevention I can think of.

 

[MIGrampaUSA]

Once bud rot starts it takes over. That's bud rot. Ideal VPD and copper or Sulphur based prevention along with good airflow is about the only prevention I can think of.

Preventative measures start before the problem occurs which is what @Ponky is getting at. Environment is key, which is mostly out of our control outdoors.

Outdoors, I'm concerned about mold, WPM, and insects. I use OMRI approved products. Here's a link to a picture of some of my toolkit:

MIGrampaUSA on THCFarmer : ""

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www.thcfarmer.com

I've recently started using Southern Ag Garden Friendly Fungicide. Most of the products I use are microbial based ... Using good bugs to fight bad. Neem Oil should not be used on flowering plants period. D.E is more directed towards insects. The other products (Werner's and Southern Ag) claim to be safe on vegetables up to the day of picking. Are they? I'm not sure ... spraying flowers never seems to be a good idea to me. They are safe in veg and the idea is to build up a colony of beneficials to ward off the bad. I'll know more about those products after this run.

 

[tobh]

these guys got you covered. that's bud rot. once you start seeing brown spots like that on the outside of buds, it's likely throughout all the flowers as that brown is the point of which the fungus has started producing spores. stuff will cause a serious lung infection. best to responsibly dispose of the plant and clean the area as reasonably possible. if outdoor, not much you can do.

bud rot is botrytis. it impacts many fruiting crops from tomatoes to peppers, cucumbers, squashes, and obviously cannabis. best defense outdoors is growing a resilient strain that doesn't succumb to it easily. ime sativas tend to be pretty resilient to it given their bud structure and leaf structure were naturally developed to handle the conditions favorable to botrytis. indicas tend to come from more arid climates natively so they typically express much denser flowers and broader leafs, which subsequently retain more moisture and harboring favorable germination conditions for the spores.

sorry, went on a bit of an educational lesson there. sucks, but that plant is a goner, and you'll need to be hyper vigilant about any others around it.