help mold on big buds

[keepleft]

hi just discovered mold on one big bud. there 6 weeks old. it was the only bud affected so i wont to try and keep it under control and let them go the full 8 weeks.

 

ive been using DM silica in the nutes. what else can i do?

 

ive read that i can spray them with microbial? would this work? if so, should i spray it undiluted or diluted with water? eg 2:1 or thereabouts? how often should i spray em?

 

finally, should i have the exhaust fans on when the lights are off to reduce humidity? ive been turning the exhaust fans off when the lights turn off cause its so cold at night now that winter is here! the humidity when lights are on is around 50% but when lights off with no air extraction its up to 90%! i have currently adjusted the fans so that they turn on 15mins every hour when the lights are off to reduce the humidity without getting the room too cold.

 

the other thing i was thinking is maybe adding a heaterer to keep the temps up when lights go off (does that help prevent mold?)

 

also i have a circulating fan moving the air 24hrs a day.

[Tom]

hi just discovered mold on one big bud.

Remove the mould affected buds and keep a close eye out for bud leaves dying as that can be a good indicator of those that have mould problems.

 

finally, should i have the exhaust fans on when the lights are off to reduce humidity? ive been turning the exhaust fans off when the lights turn off cause its so cold at night now that winter is here!

Run your exhaust 24 hrs, give your plants their "night" period during the day when it is warmer and run the lights overnight.

 

[thc24]

KL i use microbial as a preventitive during veg i wouldnt spray on the bud.

 

AS Tom said there is only one thing you can do thats to remove infected buds cut a few cm below lowest moulded cluster.

 

You will need to open the buds up to see how bad it is and cut the bad out ,the removed mould needs to be moved away from grow local puplic bin works For me after you salvage what you can.

 

Ive had this drama every winter with the PGRs normally happens after PK and before flush when there is a couple of weeks to go so early pulling is out. Remove check next day and remove again it will keep growing but what your trying todo is limit it from spreading.

 

 

Lower your feeds to one or two feeds per day over many small ones and no feeding within a couple of hours of lights out. At this late stage to limit mould i wouldnt want any run off keep pots slightly dryer. that really helped my last grow to be mould free.

 

 

Im hoping i dont have these problems in the next few weeks.

Edited May 4, 2006 by thc24

[Roadblock]

Mate , I wouldnt turn the fans of at night as your humidity would go through the roof , its just asking for trouble with mold , you said exhaust fans so I take it there is more than one .

 

A few things you can do , put a timer to stop on all but one exhaust fan , if that doesnt slow your airflow down enough to balance the cold put a timer on all of them but have one come on 15min in every hour through the night .

 

Do above and also get one of those small electric heaters , make sure it has a thermostat and just set it to the night temp you want in the room , its dry heat so it helps with mold a lot .

 

Have a big nute tank as it acts like a heat sink, as it gets to room temps it will help a lot in keeping the room warm at night , I used to have 4 200ltr drums of water in my growroom when I was in a real cold climate for this purpose , now I battle heat and humidity in a new game of chess

 

Mold will always be a problem with heavy dense nugs and the 6 week mark seem to be the magic number , just do above and cut it out when you see it , never turn off your circulating fans !

 

Rod

Edited May 4, 2006 by Roadblock

[keepleft]

thanks guys

 

tom - i cant run the lights on at night in this Groom as there is another Groom which turns on at that time so this poor bugger has to have lights on during the day (which i know is not ideal). this is why the cold issue arises in winter. your are correct though, it would help to keep the temperature higher when the lights are off because the other room doesnt have the mold problem! must be a relative humidity issue (ie lower temp higher humidity).

 

thc - regarding the microbial, using it as a spray diluted with water at a ratio of 2:1 (2 parts water to 1 part microbial) is listed on a website (3countrieshydroponics) as a treatment for botrytis (grey mold). thats where i got the idea. also i read a post on here some time back where a guy said he sprayed a piece of bread with microbial and left it in the cupboard for a month and no mold developed! i sprayed the buds all over with a more diluted mix of 5:1 (water microbial) last night so ill let u know what impact it had. see this website for more information on uses for microbial http://www.3countieshydroponics.co.uk/pages/healthmicro.htm

 

here is the relevant info copied here:

 

Problem - Botrytis

Dosage rate - 1 part Microbial R.T.U. to 2 parts water

Application - Apply directly to leaf matter

Frequency of treatment - Weekly

Applicator - Hand held fine mist sprayer

Results - Kills on contact

Term of effect - Ongoing

 

Also, I have emailed hydromasta the manufacturer of microbial to confirm whether he agrees with the use of microbial in this manner as an effective treatment of bud rot. Not sure whether its healthy though to be spraying microbial over buds 2 weeks before harvest ?

 

roadblock - i have one massive exhuast fan in the Groom with 3x6inch intake fans. as opposed to keeping all the fans on 24hrs, ive adjusted with a timer as u suggested and im turning all fans on 15mins ever hour when lights are off. (fans run continuously when lights are on of course). however, if the mold keeps getting worse im just going to run the fans 24 hrs and let the plants brave the cold! id rather cold plants than rotten ones!

 

also thanks for the advice on the heater. i have a small portable with a thermostat which i will set up at 21 degrees. do u think thats hot enough? i was thinking of running the heater with the thermostat on a timer to turn on when lights are off and also run the exhaust fans every 15mins per hour when lights off to keep the humidity low. hows that sound?

 

also ill add a water heater to the 200lt reservoir to keep the water temp up at 21 degrees thanks.

[Roadblock]

I,d go about 15 to 18cel for night temps that will also help finishing out , they dont need it as warm as you do at night and its less power to run .

 

You could also run a duct between rooms and run the warm air from the lights on room through and out the lights off room , because its an open duct it dont matter which room is running , just match your outlet fans in the adjacent room to pull air out which will be hot air from the lit room , might not suit your needs Im just thinking out loud .

 

Rod

[thc24]

Roadblock

Very good idea with venting the warmer air throught the other room at night. could me a missing to set up but it would surely help. Sounds like you know this problem all to well ..

 

 

 

KL regarding the Foliar Microbial if any thing i wouldnt add any extra water i tried a product to Kill mould Spores at about this time last year called Microkill. All it did was made the mould worse spreading spores deeper into the bud.

 

It is hard to chop buds but ive learnt the hard way loosing 25% at worst.

 

For other grow spray Microkill or Microkill as a prevention of mould spraying weekly in veg and about 10 days into flower.

 

Try to be gentle with the mouldy buds soon as you touch them you can see the mould spores floating away to another bud have a bag in hand chop it out then leave the room to sort for any good peices non mouldy that can be dried.

 

Goodluck

[keepleft]

hey roadblock i thought about venting from one room to the next but i thought that would create negative pressure which may result in smell outside and they really pong at this time of the grow!

 

one thing ive noticed is that adding the PGR at begining of week 3 made them longer and not as fat as adding the PGR at 12/12. so adding the PGR at 12/12 makes some strain more likely to mold. better of adding it later i reckon

[keepleft]

hey all i foudn the post i was referring to re microbial and mold. it was posted by jackfrost back in 05.

 

cut and paste...

 

"cut down all your large colas that have mould. Spray hole crop with microbial best stuff ever to kill mould - you can even spray your plants with it. Spray all the walls ceilings with microbial.

 

They will usually start mold in the centre of buds work out to the edge. Cut down main cola and let bottom branches grow out bigger (trying to get some yeild for ya).

 

You will notice some plants have a natural resistance to mould try and grow those strains when you first start.

 

I sometimes get fungi on top of rockwool cubes in the humid clone tray - just a couple a light spray's with micobial and problem fixed.

 

Just on a side note - I sprayed a loaf of bread lightly with micobial and placed inside plactic bag. Left it in cuboard for 4 weeks and still had no mould on bread. Very impressed with product.

 

http://www.hydromasta.com.au/microbial.htm

 

 

Jack"

 

hey jack can i ask do u recommend spraying microbial undiluted or diluted at 2:1? i have used it as a spray undiluted once before on spidermite (a waste of microbial actually!) and it didnt damage anything. but its expensive to spray undiluted a whole crop! would need a litre minimum

 

i think perhaps what thc makes sense, diluted is adding more water, so maybe go undiluted?

Edited May 5, 2006 by keepleft

[thc24]

Id agree KeepLeft you need some stretch but i havnt used those Products.

I dont think the makers of mine have done enough testing, it seems way to strong Part A and hard to judge when the best time is the dose. Different people/makers do different things with a simular hormone atleast it gives simular reaction in the plants.

 

 

The u Turn worked well for me this grow i used about 1% of what i normally use of Part A. As a foliar spray first day of flower there wasnt much reaction compared to full strength 1 drop per 5 lt, still abit of stretched just shortened the nodes.

 

Part B was used for the first five days only slowing stretch also.

Im pretty happy with the result got some stretch = less chance of mould.

 

If the PGRs are used again on my future grow id only use Part B. Atm im pretty happy with the plants without PGRS there going to take longer and wiegh less but in the end a couple of weeks faster.

 

 

 

 

I got my grubby mits on some of the BIgbud today grown without PGRs and its seems alot stronger and stinkier than mine massive bags as it quite fluffy.

 

Ill take a pic and place it in My grow diary soon.