Mould

[sargentscraps]

Went to visit my ladies which are probably a month into flowering and still have a few weeks to go at least, and suprise suprise i found mould of one of them. She is Purple #1 and was probably the furthest along. I had to take the top collar and a side arm due to finding spots of mould on each I can say that I'm grateful they were only tiny popcorn sites and not the whole plant but the top collar does sting a little. Anyway my choice was to leave the rest of the plant as I had a good look around and couldn't find any other signs of mould. The weather that set it off was one day of spitting rain (less than a mm), the second of 2.5mm and a third day of 6mm. Today thankfully there was only a tiny tiny spit of rain. Anyway after that happening I got somewhat paranoid and went to give all my ladies some more air flow. I know there's debate about chopping fan leaves....and I personally didn't want to do it, but I felt I had to give them the best chance of survival with the current state so I chopped a decent amount of weight of to lighten her up amongst the buds. The next few days thanfully are pretty much decent sun and no rain,

I'm wanting to know if mould still spreads even when the plant is hit with direct sunlight? Does mould become dormant or does it continue to grow even without additional moisture?

There is also possibly one day of rain coming up following this when a possible 10mm could come but after that its forecast is what looks to be sun and smooth sailing. Basically I'm asking on experience from other growers on how often I need to check these plants? When there's sun is it safe and should I just hope for the best with this little patch of rain and attempt to stop and kill any mould that comes?

Any Advice Welcome

Thanks

Scraps

Edited March 25, 2011 by sargentscraps

[melindaskrapz]

,

I'm wanting to know if mould still spreads even when the plant is hit with direct sunlight? Does mould become dormant or does it continue to grow even without additional moisture?

 

Any Advice Welcome

Thanks

Scraps

my limited knowledge of mould may scare you. When you try to 'remove' it you may be knocking thousands of invisible spores around. Thus spreading it. I found that it seemed to be almost impossible to rid the plant of it. I was told before touching the mould put the affected branch inside a plastic bag seal as well as possible and cut it off. You may be doing your plant an d your others a favour I know it seems drastic but better than losing heaps of nice buds. Maybe some of the first class growers have a better idea on treatment good luck

[shroomyshroom]

you can use a plastic bag or spray the infected area with water from a spray bottle and then ct it off... the water will stop the spores becoming air born

[bigrat]

Hi Sarg, I am having the same problem and found I needed to check the plants every day. When I find mould I wet it then cut out the bad part only. It seems to work okay. Citro Clean was recommended by a fellow OZ Stoners member. I'm buying some today from Bunnings. Also a friend told me last night to try Milk. He said to spray the mould with milk, which dries and smothers the mould. I am also going to try it.

 

All the mould on my plants seems to be coming from where caterpillars were living in the buds.

 

Good luck.

 

Bigrat.

[IAMTHEMANOHYEAH]

Yeah iv been finding mould but not much thankfully iv just been cutiing it out didnt no bout the spores good to no for next time. I also havnt seen any mould spread from where i found it so maybe the spores didnt make it

[jabez]

I had 2 plants of the same strain that started developing mold this year, one of the plants I left alone and the other I chopped the infected bud off when ever I saw mold. I got to tell ya, (although I know a lot of experienced growers will disagree) chopping the mold off just seemed to make it spread to other parts faster.

 

Personally I think once the plant develops mold, her defences have already been defeated. All you can really do is hold the mold off by creating a dry environment with good air flow. 

 

With outdoor plants you'd obviously need to build a greenhouse over them and get a fan in there. If it's not possible to keep your plants dry, personally I'd chop them ASAP before the entire plant is destroyed.

 

btw, I clean my bong with citro clean, I would never consider putting it anywhere near my ladies and besides putting anything on your buds will not only effect the quality, but will also create moisture, which is what mold needs to thrive.

 

imo, the only thing you can really do when it comes to mold without screwing up the taste or quality, is by creating a dry environment with good airflow, which won't stop it, but should give you more precious time to let them mature before they go to shit.

 

Peace

[demistify]

I agree with Jabez that mould indicates yr plants are losing their vigour. after a bit of a look around OS at some of the solutions for mould it seems to me

 

that the principal cause is a lack of potash to the flowers. the solution then, is to foliar spray with potash.

 

I recently RE-INVIGORATED a plant that seemed to have 'stalled' in its growth (too much N) by foliar spraying kelp at 100:1. this plant plant was not in full

 

head. the kelp brought new life, but the new vigour made the young heads stretch ... that is they became longer with larger gaps between the flowers.

 

obviously lots of stem is undesirable and I 'll have to wait and see whether the heads grow and fill out as normal.

 

so, kelp will reinvigorate but may bring its own set of problems, especially if the heads are close to mature.

 

BigRat's friend's idea of using milk doesn't sit comfortably with me ... doesn't seem right, somehow. I dig that the milk will dry and coat (thus smother)

 

the mould ... but I worry that even the dew will rewet it and other moulds will then grow on the milk! which seems to me is pretty much what happens whenever

 

milk is left out of the fridge. cheers!

[Frazz]

yea speaking of milk Mooo ...no seriously, i have used milk, very diluted with rainwater, to stop the spread of Powdery Mildew on leaves of cucumber and pumpkin vines an it seemed to work ok

but then again i didnt compare it against vines that didnt get the treatment either ..

from my research i found that powdery mildew is a fungus albeit slightly different type of fungus to what we are seeing on buds, both closely related no doubt as they are both spores and are also carried on the wind

ive also read reports that bi-carb soda stops the powdery mildew but never tried it

 

just included this for interest;

Wagner Bettiol, a scientist in Brazil found that using milk will actually control this powdery mildew. Yes, normal milk will actually control powdery mildew and contains a natural foliar fertilizer, boosting the plant's immune system in the process.

Bettiol found that a mixture of at least 10% milk mixed with 90% water will significantly reduce the severity of powdery mildew when sprayed weekly on the plant. Scientists are still baffled as to why this powdery mildew is actually cured from just using milk.

Some believe it might just be to the fact that most milk contains natural salts and amino acids that acts like a natural germicide.

 

hope it pisses of for everyones benefit, i wont say my plants havent got it yet cause that will prolly jinx me

 

all the best

[sargentscraps]

Thanks for all the replies everyone Yeah I'm not going to be applying anything to the buds themselves but thankfully I did throw Ozi Tonic into the mix for the first time which is high in potassium so hopefully that gives them a little more strength. A lot of good advice and info given but what do you all reckon about me having to check them? Is it likely to keep spreading when there's no rain? Anyone had experience, any advice, don't know whether to go the next couple of days when its not raining or go just after its rained. Its an hour away so I cant exactly look at them a lot.

Thanks again

Edited March 26, 2011 by sargentscraps

[demistify]

I 'd reckon, inexpert as I am, that because it's getting cooler, whether it rains or not daytime humidity will have increased to a point where moulds can spread easily.

 

it seems to me that IF this happens you will soon notice ... if you're willing to commit those extra hours.

 

which goes to show, as Marriane Faithful wrote, that : "... if a thing's worth having, you have to pay."