DeadlyFruit
New member
I can appreciate a scientific interest in trying to find evidence of something before taking it on as fact, even if it goes against the current common understanding so I’m going to answer the original question with as much respect as I can. Forgive me if if this sounds repetitive, I think I wrote virtually the same post on another thread a few days ago.
Firstly, I don’t have any definitive information one way or the other. I definitely read a couple articles suggesting botrytis is not bad for humans (aside from people with mold allergies of course) but I am not comfortable the articles were sufficiently detailed or peer reviewed and didn’t take into account the impact of heat on the relevant compounds so I am not willing to accept them as fact yet. I admit my own squeamishness with mold is based on an ick factor. I don’t want to consume bud rot in any form mainly because it looks pretty gross and I imagine it doesn’t taste very good. I also don’t know it tastes bad for a fact and I freely admit many positive things are created by ‘good’ bacteria and there are tasty fungi (I happily point to mushrooms we eat and things we brew).
My concern is that I do not think I am capable of determining botrytis from aspergillus (a more dangerous pathogen) or any other possible culprit and I very much doubt anyone on this forum could do so either (forgive me if we have any experts on the subject but I doubt even they could recognize one from the other without testing). As such I am not willing to take the chance. I am also allergic to molds (hay fever type allergies not anaphylactic level) so I am careful because of that as well.
In short, I grow more than I can use and I know bud rot can take over if left unattended so when I see it I cut out the impacted buds and anything I am not sure about and dispose of it. If nothing else it slows down the bud rot. Bud rot starts out with a bit of wilting and fuzz but it eventually turns bud into a dusty mushy nasty mess that I don’t think would be usable even if botrytis isn’t bad for you. I also wash my bud and while I don’t believe my wash system is strong enough to destroy every known pathogen on the bud I do believe it washes away the majority of dirt/spores/pathogens in the same way that washing homegrown lettuce washes away the majority of stuff to the point people are comfortable eating it. Bud rot changes the texture of the bud and breaks it down so my wash system would not fix bud already starting to mold, just the stuff that may have picked up spores/bugs/dirt etc. My system works for me and everyone I gift my bud to and as long as everyone else’s system works for them and everyone they give stuff to (informed consent) then I wouldn’t have a problem with anyone experimenting and I would be interested to hear updates.
Firstly, I don’t have any definitive information one way or the other. I definitely read a couple articles suggesting botrytis is not bad for humans (aside from people with mold allergies of course) but I am not comfortable the articles were sufficiently detailed or peer reviewed and didn’t take into account the impact of heat on the relevant compounds so I am not willing to accept them as fact yet. I admit my own squeamishness with mold is based on an ick factor. I don’t want to consume bud rot in any form mainly because it looks pretty gross and I imagine it doesn’t taste very good. I also don’t know it tastes bad for a fact and I freely admit many positive things are created by ‘good’ bacteria and there are tasty fungi (I happily point to mushrooms we eat and things we brew).
My concern is that I do not think I am capable of determining botrytis from aspergillus (a more dangerous pathogen) or any other possible culprit and I very much doubt anyone on this forum could do so either (forgive me if we have any experts on the subject but I doubt even they could recognize one from the other without testing). As such I am not willing to take the chance. I am also allergic to molds (hay fever type allergies not anaphylactic level) so I am careful because of that as well.
In short, I grow more than I can use and I know bud rot can take over if left unattended so when I see it I cut out the impacted buds and anything I am not sure about and dispose of it. If nothing else it slows down the bud rot. Bud rot starts out with a bit of wilting and fuzz but it eventually turns bud into a dusty mushy nasty mess that I don’t think would be usable even if botrytis isn’t bad for you. I also wash my bud and while I don’t believe my wash system is strong enough to destroy every known pathogen on the bud I do believe it washes away the majority of dirt/spores/pathogens in the same way that washing homegrown lettuce washes away the majority of stuff to the point people are comfortable eating it. Bud rot changes the texture of the bud and breaks it down so my wash system would not fix bud already starting to mold, just the stuff that may have picked up spores/bugs/dirt etc. My system works for me and everyone I gift my bud to and as long as everyone else’s system works for them and everyone they give stuff to (informed consent) then I wouldn’t have a problem with anyone experimenting and I would be interested to hear updates.
