HELP! Chem contamination in flowering stage

[rangerjake]

Growing a couple outdoor 1:1 CBD/THC plants (Frosted Cookies). About 4 weeks into flowering a big mistake was made. One of the plants (the runt of the two) was given about a pint of water from the wrong water pail. Sadly the water in this pail had borax in it, but not in a dilution like would be beneficial for plants, but in a dilution that is used to treat timbers to get rid of pests. No bueno. Anyway the plant within a day or two showed heavy nute/chem burn signs (browned leaf edges, turning curled up tips). Once this was realized (a day or so later) the plant was heavily flushed with water. Things have mostly stabilized over the past 2 weeks or so, with the plant surviving (or at least not dying as fast). But it can be seen the trichomes that were on some leaves by the buds have gone brown themselves. In a natural cycle my guess is we'd have about 2 weeks left until harvest.

Below are some photos, both the healthy plant and the injured. Interested in the thoughts of others. The ongoing survive-ability of this plant? Thoughts on early harvest? Strategic defoliation?

This is my first grow. This is my first post. But I have been reading and lurking for a bit. Really appreciative of insight from the collective here.

 

[Mr.furley]

I would mostly be worried that your plant is now containing borax, some chemicals are non mobile which means they go in and staying. May not want to smoke this one. It sucks but sometimes it's better to err on the side of caution.

The National Institutes of Health has found that borax has been associated with several adverse health effects in humans. These include:

• irritation
• hormone issues
• toxicity
• death

 

[rangerjake]

Thanks for weighing in Mr. Furley. I hear your concern for sure, and also agree that erring on the side of caution is always the safest bet. That said I will say that the total amount of borax that made it to this plant's soil is about a couple tablespoons max. My guess is that secondary inhalation (combusting cannabis which had a toxic level of borax uptake) would not yield anything remotely close to death, especially based on the direct inhalation toxicity of borax for humans and it's prevalent use in many industries where it ends up consumed by humans.

I may or may not let it go. But mostly interested in the experiences of others who have had a plant deal with tough toxicity in flowering and how best to nurse it over the finish line.

 

[rangerjake]

Thanks for the welcome Alltatup. I agree she looks like she'll make it to the finish line. The plant was heavily flushed post-contamination for about 7-10 days, taking it off of it's nute formula. It is now back on the nutes with intentions to go back to a normal flush about 10 days out from harvest. Whatever accumulation of the borax was in the soil should be long gone from past flushing.

 

[Redwasp]

If it doesnt kill the plant it is surely no where near enough to kill you. However that's still not a great prospect healthwise. So let me rephrase the plant looks to still be very healthy except for the tips. She also looks to have a month or more left. If you are concerned flush her for the remainder of the time. If you arent worried then treat her as normal. If people are worried about Borax on their plants go and take a look at what they put on the food they eat. Ever drive by a field and seen men in little white suites wearing respirators spraying your tomatoes? Those arent aliens my friend.

 

[rangerjake]

That's for the perspective Redwasp. I have been struggling a bit with the timeframe on harvest. Both for the damaged plant and the good one. My guess was 2 weeks but your thoughts seem to be almost twice that?! Let me know what you are seeing that leads you to that conclusion. Very much appreciate the insight.

 

[alltatup]

I was looking on the internet to see if borax is mobile or not; Mr.furley made a good point about that. But they keep talking about boron. I understood that borax is a salt, which doesn't mean it's not toxic--but if it is entirely eliminated from the plant... who got a little burned, but she bounced back like a champ.

 

[Redwasp]

I say that because the pistils are all sticking straight up in the air and appear almost all white with a few getting darker. It could happen faster but that's what I'm going on. Not to mention those buds are going to probably at least double in size. Again I could be wrong but just guessing a month.

 

[D.A.A.S.69]

Yeah, I'm with Redwasp on at least another month before they are ready.
And I think your plant are gonna be just fine, come harvest time.
Nice plants by the way, and a beautiful place where you live.

 

[rangerjake]

Thanks for the thoughts and compliments Redwasp and D.A.A.S.69

 

[GreenhouseEffect]

Redwasp and Daas are spot on from what I see, to.

 

[rangerjake]

Photo update. Getting closer. Happy to hear thoughts on progress from folks. Strategic defoliation? Timeframes? Thanks all!

 

[Redwasp]

Good save on that plant. I'd still say 3 to 4 weeks. Maybe more maybe less depending on strain and pheno but man those are gonna be some fat buds.

 

[alltatup]

Wow, gorgeous buds and huuuuuuge fan leaves! I thought you were'nt supposed to defol outdoor plants....

 

[D.A.A.S.69]

An easy 3-4 more weeks, those buds are still getting larger now, in a month they are gonna be huge.
If they were mine, I'd pull all those bad leaves off, they ain't doing no good, but I'd leave those nice leaves to turn yellow, all by themselves, like they are supposed to.
What are you feeding them ? They sure look nice.

 

[rangerjake]

Thanks! We did a tiny bit of defoliating on some of the bigger leaves which were blocking some of the interior flowers. We will look into getting rid of some of the weaker leaves. They have been getting a pretty standard diet of the Fox Farms suite of products, currently using Big Bloom

 

[rangerjake]

That was my understanding about defol as well, so we haven't with the exception of removing a few choice leaves to expose some of the interior flowers to light. This has also been helpful to avoid mold- we did catch a tiny spot of mold on one of the flowers which we nipped off and haven't seen any other recurrence a week later now. Been pretty cool here (northern VT) in the past week. Looks to stay that way- 60f/40f