ROT!

[scrubdog 9]

Bud rot, stem rot, fusarium wilt, mold, botrytis..... grey, white, black, wet, dry, powdery.... rot.....

 

Really knocked me about this year.... much more than usual because I'm at a lot colder latitude.

 

Interested in what you all do to combat this problem? Commercial remedies, home remedies, organic remedies.... I'm open to listening to any ideas.

 

To start the ball rolling I just read that Baking Soda will kill and prevent mould and not hurt the plant. Apparently it works by changing the pH on plant surfaces to something that mould can't survive.

 

Anybody tried this??

 

Oh yea I could post about 50 photos plus of mouldy cannabis plants but it's too depressing and I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about.

 

scrubdog

[randude 2,512]

This problem of yours, it is related to outdoor growing I take it? Living in Seattle I have decided that outdoor grown buds can be a problem. A person growing strains that take them into late fall or winter needs a greenhouse. I cannot see any other remedy. In the region I live in I see a lot of early harvest to avoid the problems you describe.

[Bodderas 122]

Thats a lot of mould /or bad fungus you are on about, also you are on about it in the medium, as well as the plant,?.

For the medium, youse funki funghi, Mychorizza, that will sort your grow media out for sure indoors or out.

Indoor, you will have to maybe upgrade on your exhaust air, or at least turn it up and add more air circulating with fans etc.

Also covering pots will keep the moisture on the surface inside the pot instead of it escaping in your environment, by doing this ive noticed my RH to drop by 10 (at least), a good trick for many things is covering the surface of your medium especially with soil/compost.

Powdery mildew can be halted by a sulphur burner/ light, fungus has little time to grow in a nice breeze of fresh air, and has trouble growing if theres enough of it, there's de-humidifiers and air purifiers as well that can be bought.

Last but not least always remember to keep things clean, the more clean and dry the less this can happen.

If out doors you can build a shelter, put pots on weels and move them under the canopy/shelter to pretect from rain make a small type of green house with some see through plastic tarp, this too works wonders there's many things one can do, hope you find the rite thing.

 

GreetZ Bodderas.

[GreenAngel 1,236]

Bod pretty much covered it. Would help to know if you were in or outdoors. Good airflow is key to keeping molds down and don't let your indoor temperature to fall below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. What strains are you growing? Some strains come with a weakness to molds where some other strains have a mold resistance bred into them. I never recommend Autos except to those living in Canada or something lol. Peace.

GA

[scrubdog 9]

Sorry when I mentioned that I'd moved to a colder latitude I assumed that would indicate that I was growing outdoors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

scrubdog

[scrubdog 9]

So that's just a fraction of the bud rot. It's not all the same. Sometimes it's wet grey mould, sometimes it's dry sooty mould, sometimes.... well you get the idea.

 

The stem rot is worse. It takes out a whole branch or whole plant. I must've lost maybe 50 big plants (trees) to stem rot this season.

 

First try in a new location, no time to scout out the perfect spot so just had to chance it and see what happened. Very poor location I now realise but at the time I wasn't in a position to track the sun over a few weeks like I normally do. I go for sun traps normally that are sheltered from wind because my plants all get top heavy. Unfortunately my sun trap turned out to be a frost trap and lack of air movement meant that all the fungus spores had a party at my expense.

 

So I am aware of my mistakes in the choice of a location but I just wondered if there is organic remedies that others use or some other tricks to fight mould. I grow primarily landrace sativas which have previously been immune to mould but as I said... I've changed latitude and the temp difference has made all my pure sativas suddenly prone to mould attack.

 

This is a new thing for me with sativas. I'm used to anything Afghani getting totally blitzed by mould but not my tropical sativas. I'm at 50 degrees south. I know that sounds an extreme latitude to grow outdoors but I had no problems at 40 degrees south growing the same strains. I look for a micro climate where a sheltered area is exposed to sun and frost protected by larger trees. It's always worked for me in the past but not at this latitude.

 

It's a problem that must have been around for a long time for anybody growing outdoors in Europe so I just wondered if there was any tricks and ideas out there that I hadn't heard about.

 

Seems to me that I'll just have to breed my own mould resistant strain for my particular environment. Just keep planting seed and breeding from anything that survives.

 

scrubdog

[mikezerozero 104]

that's brutal. i'm in otago and that's bad enough, you must be really feeling the wrath if you're south of there especially the last few days.

[GreenAngel 1,236]

Is it possible to build a hoop house where you are? Pull the plants under, or pull cover over the plants. What about a light deprivation harvest so you could harvest before the rains and colder climate take over?

Guerilla growing is a little more difficult to pull off, and if that is the case, I would recommend shorter flowering strains with mold resistance. Good luck!

[Reallate1 97]

Man that is a crushing sight. So sorry for your luck... Hope you get it figured out for next year!

 

Best regards-

 

[randude 2,512]

Wow

 

Seattle is at 47 degrees North, but latitude is not the only thing. For instance, in Seattle the weather is tempered by the Pacific ocean, In the Northern Hemisphere weather comes from the west. Summers are cooler and winters are warmer that location a couple hundred miles east of here, and rain is pretty constant most of the year. It sounds like Lack of Air flow in your micro climate was your problem. Location location location. 50 degrees in it's own is pretty severe. That would put you in Canada here, and not all pot grows there. I think a lot of those folks have to grow indicas because of the short growing season. I hope you have a better crop next season. And my asking if it was outdoor was sort of a rhetorical question.

[FoolOnTheHill 3,040]

Some remedies are discussed in this topic...

[scrubdog 9]

Some remedies are discussed in this topic...

 

hmmmm that was more like a couple of roosters having a scratching competition. I need an aspirin and a lay down after reading that mess.

 

So anyway, thanks everybody for the input. I sprayed with baking soda and that seems to have blitzed the mould and fungus. Wish I'd known that remedy at the start of the season.

 

Not sure what is going on here. Go to any ordinary gardening site and there are heaps of sensible organic remedies but go to one of these cannabis sites and you get the weirdest stuff suggested but none of the simple and effective home remedies that actually work.

 

scrubdog

[GreenAngel 1,236]

From the man himself, Dr. Ed Rosenthal, suggest using "Seranade" or potassium bicarbonate, anti fungal. Use this before a rain comes followed by a dry spell. If the rains might stay for awhile, Dr. Ed suggest you chop rather than risk too much destruction. This is from my "Marijuana Garden Saver" book by Rosenthal. I will keep pouring through my books for products and home organic remedies for you. Will post again if I find something for you, but all of the suggestions above are prevention techniques to help combat molds. I wish you the very best with fighting mold. Peace.

[GreenAngel 1,236]

Actinovate, I used that before for powdery mildew, based off suggestion from hydro store owner. Did NOT work. Maybe I applied wrong the times I tried, but in any case, the mold destroyed my friend's crop. I have not tried Seranade myself, or grown outside, yet. Very expensive failure, the Actinovate. Please save money and do not get this item or be set up for disappointment. Peace.

[Misterdirt 11,962]

Serenade works, but I don't know if I'd spray it on buds that I intend to smoke.

 

Potassium bicarbonate works quite well. Green Cure is one brand out on the market (The Joker opened my eyes to this product when I had what seemed to be septoria leaf spot last year).

 

See: http://www.greencure.net

 

It works by desiccating the fungus. While sodium bicarbonate might work, too, you don't want sodium in your soil, and that's where some of it will end up.