Chronicles of The Mold Nazi

I posted on the powdery mildew sporing out and now I am beginning to see botrytis rearing it's ugly head. I have decided to chronicle my struggle for bud supremacy as I search out and destroy this foul scourge.
I have become The Mold Nazi!


Yesterday evening I spotted the first patch of botrytis while inspecting for powdery mildew colonies.
This lead to 3 gallons of serenade spray being deployed with extreme prejudice.


Upon waking this morning I have inspected the battlefield. This is my report.


At first you might not notice it.



But if we look closer we see a strange dark leaf



culling the bud we can indeed see this soldier has been compromised



Vas es Los? Something does not look right





We move closer




another traitor in our midst



Did you think we would not find you?



Every covert infiltration starts small. Just the whisper of insurrection.
But we know that the small ones grow into big ones. No, we cannot allow you to continue on my little friend.

This is a prime example of how the infection starts. A weak empty calyx becomes infected.
The mold grows eventually fruiting and spreading it's spores to nearby material.
The infection spreads in a cascading/exponential fashion.
It must be stamped out for the good of the whole.


Another weak and ill prepared bud unable to withstand the enemy propaganda has succumbed to the spreading illness
This dissent will not be tolerated!

The small withered leaf is always the tip-off
Never ignore this indicator!


Your kind will not be tolerated!

It must be stamped out completely
Show no mercy!



Something looks strange here!
What is this?

Upon close inspection we found only a denser patch of
red hairs. Carry on my friend.


Results of daily inspection, acceptable losses
but this battle is far from over.



I hope this information may be helpful to less experienced growers.
Not all mold can be prevented outdoors. Early detection is the key to preventing massive, unsustainable casualties.
This is biological warfare.
Botrytis if left unchecked can literally destroy entire plants in the matter of a couple days.
I have seen a minor infection become a complete loss overnight.
Do not ignore it, even if you think you only have a few days left.
complacency can cost you everything. I speak from experience.

 

I believe the serenade is helping. I slacked off a little because the weather improved. So far infection is very minor. I will know for sure in about 4 days how well it halted this latest bloom. I will definitely post my results as far as disease containment.
And Thanks

 

No, I may have to watch that.

 

In regards to serenade. Serenade seams to be exactly what is claims to be. Disease control. This unfortunately is not what I was using it for. My goal being disease prevention. Serenade will stop mold growth if applied to the effected area. I do believe it also helps in prevention, but I have not conducted a double blind study by any means. It is clear however that Serenade is not the be-all end-all of mold prevention.
It does not seam to completely prevent new areas from being colonized. I identified and removed 2 small colonies yesterday.
This morning I lost about the equivalent amount of material as I have lost over the entire previous week.
While the total loss is currently under 1oz due to the cooler night time temps and damp cloudy days the botrytis is making steady advances.
Botrytis infection is concurrent with 2 nights of frost which occurred early last week.

Intelligence reports 3 more days of sunshine and then a week and a half of gray skies and rain.
Looks like the time will soon be at hand.


Primary losses are on a later flowering, looser developing phenotype.