Mold Identification Assistance

[SnappyCapy]

Hi,

The crux of this question is that I'm a first time grower and the weather got weird in New England at the end of August this year. Cold overnights, lots of AM dew. and I ended up cutting off some moldy buds and moving my operation inside my greenhouse earlier than I anticipated.

So I was worried about my mold issues although i'm doing the best i can over here. I have 3 harvested a little earlier than I wanted, one basically total loss due to botrytis/rot, and 3 still going in a climate controlled area with low RH and good air circ. While i was trimming the first 3, i decided to buy a nice jeweler's loupe and a USB microscope for inspections. It is pretty cool, only 30 bucks from "Plugable" (bought on amazon). But now that I can see more, I think I'm even more torn/driving myself nuts. My buddy that grows in Cali told me "if you can't see it with your eyes don't worry about it" but the internet says different. So here are my pics from these trimming sessions. Would anyone be willing to flip through and give their opinions? Here are my thoughts on each gallery based on what I have seen online:

• The Critical Cheese and Granddaddy Purple looked overall decent. You'll see a couple pics in those folders that are definitely mold, the white hairy kind. I pitched those buds - sadly it was always on the biggest ones that I found it. Those basically always look like a little hairball or thin white/transulcent hairs connecting trichs. I'm reasonably confident of my curating on those ones, if there is any mold on what I kept it's probably super minimal.
• The Black D.O.G. is where I'm having my biggest conflict. Basically it's super frosty and probably would end up being my strongest buds so far. But there are spots that I just can't decide on. And if I decide they are mold, then basically the whole harvest is junk because some version of them exists on most buds. There are a couple of spots that look like thinner, maybe more opaque hairs growing on leaves, pistils, and stems. But unfortunately it's tough to tell because as far as I can tell the trichs/resins grow thinner and pointier in these areas as well so I'm never quite sure. I don't see a lot of the "order of magnitude thinner extrusion connecting to another part of the plant" that typifies that type of mold. There are also some spots (on pistils especially) where it looks like the resin melted into itself. Maybe the weird weather or something could have caused this and now it's extra frosty looking? Or maybe it's mold and I'm just lying to myself so I don't have to throw out the whole plant's harvest. I know there are also ways in which strains look different from eachother so some of this could be normal. Just not sure.

If anyone has any input it would be super helpful. Maybe we can turn this into a full-on mold identification thread. Are there any better ways to definitively identify mold? Home test kits? Blacklights? Album links below, let me know if you can't view them.


Critical Cheese:
https://imgur.com/a/K4lhn

Granddaddy Purple:
https://imgur.com/a/8v6Ma

Black D.O.G:
https://imgur.com/a/VCEUE

 

[roccus]

No Title

Really interested in this.. I to am in NE and found this growing up the side of my pots today I just flipped to flower 2 days ago don't see anything on top of plants yet... but we may have the same mold, I noticed this just starting at the bottom of the pots a couple weeks ago and was told on another forum not to worry about it it is just salt or calcium... but I don't think so

 

[dontknownuttin]

Looks like newt. salt stain to me but what do I know

 

[Sheesh]

I have the same thing in the my smart pots. I'm sure it's salt. Next time you give them a good watering, watch and see if the white areas get bigger. That is how I knew the white fuzzy stuff was salt on my pots. You could see the spots building as the water ran through the pots.

 

[SnappyCapy]

Hey all, any mold experts out there that can help with my original question? Would really appreciate some advice.

 

[D.A.A.S.69]

Morning SC, I wish I could help you but I really don't know what to tell you cept to pick a mold resistant strain for you next grow, or stand out there with a fan, or either hire someone to stand out there an shake them ever time it rains, or quit growing outside. I promise I'M not trying to be a smartass either. You grow outdoors like i do if your weather is bad, you got a damn good chance of mold. As for your pots, mine look lots worse than yours. Lick your pots an you will positively taste salt. I hope maybe I helped a little SC.

 

[alltatup]

Capy, I hope you get a direct response to your questions from an expert; I have no expertise in this area: root rot has taught me a lot, but I haven't had mold.

Man, that Black DOG looks fantastic, I sure hope you can salvage your harvest. But if not, you have learned an invaluable lesson for your future grows.

 

[oldjarhead100]

Roccus I think your watering a little to much, are you watering till run off? I don't think that will transfer to the plants but I would try to kill it ,

 

[oldjarhead100]

good Morning SC so I live in Mass and we are having a hell of a time with bud rot, it is really bad this year due to the weather, when we have a bud rot plant we have found if we cut below the bud rot we can save the buds above the rot ,if we try and clean it then it spreads up and you loose the whole stem, personally when I have a bus that has some rot on it but not alot I will cut the rot off and save the clean part of the bud, we are planning on making hash out of the bad stuff .I dont know if it will work but I'm going to try. now if you have WPM you can spray with neem oil till harvest but I wont use it with less that 2 weeks, you can also do a C02 bath to remove it , the little stuff I saw in picture should be ok but might make it a little harsher. If you have more Questions PM me and I will go into more detail tomorrow

 

[oldjarhead100]

I looked at all the pictures I couldn't see any mold or bud rot in them if it is rot then you will see some kind of change in the stem ours all turned color , if you decide that it is mold then cut it off ,I have a friend that smoked the bud rot portion and hes fine no ill heath effects so if you miss some then it shouldn't hurt you ,makes it alittle harsh, could you post a picture of the whole plant then a close up of the affected area hope this helps, I just looked at pictures again that does not look like WPM but I would try and spray it with neem oil before I tossed it

 

[Doubledealing72]

Based on your name, I'd say nuttin'! But I've seen a few of your grows...
...liar....

😂😂😂

 

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Hi Snappy, I'm with Jarhead, I don't see anything that's obviously mold. Maybe on the Black DOG there's something but not sure it's mold. This said, I've never looked for mold at this sort of magnification.

Neem or SM90 do work against WPM but not really against bud rot in my experience. I would be cautious using them in late flower. Some people use a highly alkaline water spray or diluted milk spray but if this water hangs around too long it can end up encouraging mold too. I haven't used it but PM Wash is getting some good reviews. Tika turned us on to this stuff -- Regalia Fungicide. An old school approach is to burn sulphur in the middle of your grow. We've even been looking at outdoor solar ceiling fans to create constant airflow.

Mold sucks, and if it's in your environment I don't know that you can eliminate it completely. For my friend's outdoor grow next year we're gonna look for some mold resistant strains as DAAS suggests.

That does look like mold higher up on your pots, but you can clean salt buildup off fabric pots by soaking or washing with a white vinegar solution.

 

[Tika]

And just to add...I have constant air flow outside (where I get WPM only) and Neem has been unrecommended. Fouls the taste. so with three installations of Regalia I hope to arrest the issue. One treat in veg one in transition and one in flower...should take care of bud rot too.

 

[oldjarhead100]

tika I haven't noticed a change in flavor with neem oil , I've used it up two weeks before harvest

 

[SnappyCapy]

Hooray! Glad I got some responses, I had almost given up. Thanks for the Feedback.

DAAS69 - I have definitely learned to be more careful picking strains in the future. I've learned a LOT, especially on environment and prevention.

Jarhead - I'll take that bud rot cutting advice into consideration next time. I only really punted one plant because i thought it was too sick. On the rest I cut off the suspect portions and anything adjacent. In addition to a CO2 bath I've also seen diluted hydrogen peroxide bath, even after harvest. But this is more for WPM whereas if anything, I think I see very slight Hypha-type white mold here and there. And also the internet says that making hash doesn't get rid of the mold, nor does smoking (burning) it, nor does a water bong, etc. My feel for this is that there is some trace mold on most weed, and that you're only in trouble if you have a compromised immune system.

Beach-Town - That was your 420th post, just saying

So on to continuing this thread. I am about to trim my Sativas and I noticed that my Pineapple Express was much wetter than my Tangies. So I put it under the scope. And once again I have more questions than answers. But I think overall this stuff is probably not a health hazard. I didn't upload all the shots in bulk, just the trouble spots. There are some really nice super crystally, 50% amber trichome sections on this one. The weird part is that it was supposed to be autoflower! But it flowered w/ the rest of my Sativas. Anyways, I actually sent all this to G13 Labs in an email and I'll post any info I get back to this thread.

As always if anyone has any feedback on the attached I'd love to hear it. Just trying to learn to differentiate between mold and normal plant occurrences.