mashy
- 188
- 63
Hi growers and enthusiasts, I just harvested an outdoor crop that had a few issues with budrot. I thought I would try to find the silver lining and share my experience and photos in the hope it might help others in the future.
First, to set the scene:
- first grow ever, outdoors in pots, 70% potting mix, 30% perlite.
- Blueberry and Gelat.OG strains from fem seeds
- growing in southern Australia during a very wet autumn
I thought that budrot would be an issue for me, so I covered my plants from rain once flowering started. However, a freak storm ripped all my rain covers and soaked my plants, and budrot set in a few days later . Based upon reading, most advice indicated that I could salvage my crop if I could fix my wet/humid environment. As it was too early to harvest I tried to keep the budrot at bay until the plants were ready.
Overall I got most of my crop through to harvest. I estimate that I lost 15-20% yield, but I figure that's a lot better than having to harvest way too early. The two elements that I think we're key to success were:
1. Keeping the buds completely dry from the time that I first found the rot. I even covered every night to stop dew.
2. Early identification and removal of rotting buds.
I tried not to spread any spores when removing the rot, but I don't think it was a major factor. There were clearly already plenty of rot spores on my plants so my strategy was reliant on fixing the environment, not eliminating spores.
So, the hardest (and most time consuming) part of my strategy was to find and remove the budrot as early as possible. Here is a cola where I missed a rotting bud - this is what early detection can avoid!
Most advice that I found online suggested looking for brown leaves coming out from the buds as an indication of budrot. This is an example of where a brown sugar leaf can indicate rot.
Brown/grey sugar leaf found during inspection:
Budrot at the site of the brown sugar leaf:
Site from which the budrot was removed. Note there are no signs of rot in the adjacent buds:
A lot of my inspections showed that budrot was quite advanced by the time leaves started browning. Earlier signs of budrot were mainly a localised brown/grey colouration of the buds. Here are some pictures of early budrot that might help with identification.
Grey bud:
Confirmed to be budrot:
Bud and leaf grey/brown:
And a picture of the bud after the sugar leaf has been removed, confirming budrot:
A grey/brown bud, with budrot at the tip:
Hopefully this can help someone who is struggling with budrot one day.
Remember that budrot is not a death sentence for your crop IF you can fix your moisture levels. You just might need to give a little extra TLC .
Thanks for reading
First, to set the scene:
- first grow ever, outdoors in pots, 70% potting mix, 30% perlite.
- Blueberry and Gelat.OG strains from fem seeds
- growing in southern Australia during a very wet autumn
I thought that budrot would be an issue for me, so I covered my plants from rain once flowering started. However, a freak storm ripped all my rain covers and soaked my plants, and budrot set in a few days later . Based upon reading, most advice indicated that I could salvage my crop if I could fix my wet/humid environment. As it was too early to harvest I tried to keep the budrot at bay until the plants were ready.
Overall I got most of my crop through to harvest. I estimate that I lost 15-20% yield, but I figure that's a lot better than having to harvest way too early. The two elements that I think we're key to success were:
1. Keeping the buds completely dry from the time that I first found the rot. I even covered every night to stop dew.
2. Early identification and removal of rotting buds.
I tried not to spread any spores when removing the rot, but I don't think it was a major factor. There were clearly already plenty of rot spores on my plants so my strategy was reliant on fixing the environment, not eliminating spores.
So, the hardest (and most time consuming) part of my strategy was to find and remove the budrot as early as possible. Here is a cola where I missed a rotting bud - this is what early detection can avoid!
Most advice that I found online suggested looking for brown leaves coming out from the buds as an indication of budrot. This is an example of where a brown sugar leaf can indicate rot.
Brown/grey sugar leaf found during inspection:
Budrot at the site of the brown sugar leaf:
Site from which the budrot was removed. Note there are no signs of rot in the adjacent buds:
A lot of my inspections showed that budrot was quite advanced by the time leaves started browning. Earlier signs of budrot were mainly a localised brown/grey colouration of the buds. Here are some pictures of early budrot that might help with identification.
Grey bud:
Confirmed to be budrot:
Bud and leaf grey/brown:
And a picture of the bud after the sugar leaf has been removed, confirming budrot:
A grey/brown bud, with budrot at the tip:
Hopefully this can help someone who is struggling with budrot one day.
Remember that budrot is not a death sentence for your crop IF you can fix your moisture levels. You just might need to give a little extra TLC .
Thanks for reading