So, as I have not seen much about this topic, I'll pose this question and forgive me if it's already been answered in detail elsewhere.
I have many different varieties I've been stockpiling since I began growing in 2021 as State law allowed it. I broke out some Blue Cookies I've had stored in Ball jars since its harvest of 11-20-2021. As I inhaled it, a faint taste of mildew hit me, and I recoiled. The flower smells nice still, does not smell of mold, and to the eye looks fine. RH is kept around 50-60%, and all my jars are stored inside coolers that then are stored in an area where temperature does not fluctuate beyond 64F on the low side and maybe 70F on the high side. More or less perfect conditions as I can make for long term storage.
But, to satisfy my curiosity I got out the microscope about what was going on and to how much of my stockpile. I started testing samples from a bit over two years ago, to samples I jarred right around six months ago.
What found was interesting. The 2 years+ sample seemed to have something inside the trichomes. Some black substance. It has affected 75% or more of the trichomes, and as evidenced by the pictures (I've circled the trouble spots in green on the photos of the 2-year-old samples) is through and throughout the entire stuff. Mold, mildew, or just old THC/CBD I cannot tell, not having the equipment to delve that far down into the microbiological rabbit hole.
Is there anyone here that can offer advice about this? I've read over and over again, in the course of preparing to store long term, that properly canned bud can "last years", or some people have even made the claim it can last "more or less indefinitely".
But my experience here with 2-year-old samples put next to 1.5-year-old samples and 6-month-old samples show that something has happened to the oldest stuff I have. I don't really want to smoke anymore of it until I get some reassurance that I'm not smoking black mold or something icky.
The newer flower I've preserved seem to show no sign of this at all. I wonder is this something that happens to all trichomes as they age, or did I just have an improper seal on my jar. Or was there enough oxygen in the jar to allow for microbial growth? Or is it a microbe that prefers low O2 levels to thrive?
Edit: The last photo I added is a single trichome at 100x magnification. Zooming in helps.
Thoughts?
I have many different varieties I've been stockpiling since I began growing in 2021 as State law allowed it. I broke out some Blue Cookies I've had stored in Ball jars since its harvest of 11-20-2021. As I inhaled it, a faint taste of mildew hit me, and I recoiled. The flower smells nice still, does not smell of mold, and to the eye looks fine. RH is kept around 50-60%, and all my jars are stored inside coolers that then are stored in an area where temperature does not fluctuate beyond 64F on the low side and maybe 70F on the high side. More or less perfect conditions as I can make for long term storage.
But, to satisfy my curiosity I got out the microscope about what was going on and to how much of my stockpile. I started testing samples from a bit over two years ago, to samples I jarred right around six months ago.
What found was interesting. The 2 years+ sample seemed to have something inside the trichomes. Some black substance. It has affected 75% or more of the trichomes, and as evidenced by the pictures (I've circled the trouble spots in green on the photos of the 2-year-old samples) is through and throughout the entire stuff. Mold, mildew, or just old THC/CBD I cannot tell, not having the equipment to delve that far down into the microbiological rabbit hole.
Is there anyone here that can offer advice about this? I've read over and over again, in the course of preparing to store long term, that properly canned bud can "last years", or some people have even made the claim it can last "more or less indefinitely".
But my experience here with 2-year-old samples put next to 1.5-year-old samples and 6-month-old samples show that something has happened to the oldest stuff I have. I don't really want to smoke anymore of it until I get some reassurance that I'm not smoking black mold or something icky.
The newer flower I've preserved seem to show no sign of this at all. I wonder is this something that happens to all trichomes as they age, or did I just have an improper seal on my jar. Or was there enough oxygen in the jar to allow for microbial growth? Or is it a microbe that prefers low O2 levels to thrive?
Edit: The last photo I added is a single trichome at 100x magnification. Zooming in helps.
Thoughts?
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