Hey guys! I could really use your help ASAP... PLANTS I'm a first-time grower and I've got 2 white widows and a northern lights plant. They're all fully grown and the buds are ripe and ready for drying and curing. However, since this is my first-time grow, the plant wasn't thriving healthy by the end and most of the fan leaves were yellowed and dying. (After I got a mold problem, I read these dying leaves are worst at promoting mold, so I cut them off) DRYING I just cut the northern lights down 3 days ago, cut both the widows down yesterday, and hung them up to dry. I cut them down at the base of the stalk and hung the entire plant upsidedown because I heard a slow dry is best. I've got them in a dark closet hanging on a string, with each plant separate. The current humidity is 50% and 67F degrees. The MOLD!! Just this morning I went to check on my girls and I found the northern lights, the first one I cut down 3 days ago, had faint traces of mold on her main bud at the top! It's mostly just on the slightly larger outer leaves, it's at the top of the bud, and it's kind of grey-black and slightly web-like. There isn't too much of it, so I cut off the bad outer leaves and separated her from the rest of the plants. Now what do I do?? What do I do with the moldy girl? The mold *just* started so I want to do what I need to do FAST before this gets any worse!! ;_; If you have any friends who may know how to help, any input I can get would be great! Can the main cone be saved as long as I trim off the moldy leaves? Do I quick-dry the plant or can I do some kind of intermediate slow-dry? Are there any links towards quick-dry methods that don't destroy the taste and THC? (They don't have to be dry *RIGHT* away, just dried in a day or two so I don't spread the mold, right?) Also, what do I do with the other 2 girls, the white widows? There's no sign of mold on them and they're separated from the "bad girl", but should I think about speeding up their drying process as well? I'm in no rush to smoke any of these right away so I don't need 30-minute drying methods, just whatever will save as much of these girls as possible! I've been reading posts from you boys at GrassCity for a while on growing tips, but never registered until now and I'm having trouble finding what to do in the early stages of mold!! Thanks for all your helpful posts so far and if anyone can help and give advice, I'd be so grateful! Thanks, guys!
I am sorry to hear about your mold problem, it can be a crappy way to end a grow. At the end of the plants life when it is flowering it is natural in my experieince that the fan leaves fall off or turn yellow. What I have heard is that the plants put their energy into flowering and it would make sense as the buds grow the lower fan leaves fall. The mold is an issue and I have fought mold before too. The best thing for you to do is where you are curing to put a de-humidifier in the room and try to get the humidity below 40%. This will or should stop the mold from growing. It is pretty scary to smoke black molded buds. That shit is no good to anyone. As for smoking the moldy buds, I am sure I have bought something off someone was moldy in my 20 years as a "pothead" but I am not sure how it could effect your health. Best of luck and hope this helps you out.
Make sure that where ever they are drying gets a lot of ventilation, because the plants only lose water weight(up to 70% i think), which in turn creates stagnant vapor and thats the perfect breeding ground for mold and bacteria. Also try and keep it cool. If you have any other questions feel free to pm me anytime.
The only thing I didn't see you mention was a fan in there. You have to have good air circulation.. the temp/humidity sounds good. I would definitely seperate the moldy plants from the non moldy plants. Do you have another place you could dry the moldy one?
Hey WW girl, Can you take close up pictures of the mold with the plant lights OFF? Are there any grey patches of grey mold on the buds themselves; you just mentioned fan leaves?
Thanks for the help! I separated the moldy plant and pulled its branches off and hung them to dry individually under a table in a dark room with a fan blowing air underneath them (not right across them). I figure it would dry faster that way, and I know the fast dry might hurt the taste, but it seemed safer to stop any more mold from growing because that could ruin the whole thing! The gray mold really was just on the outer fan leaves, so after I clipped that off, the problem stopped! The healthy (non-moldy) plants, I kept separately hanging in the dark in the closet with lots of air flow with a fan. The plants are high in the air and the box fan is blowing air on the ground, so the air isn't right on them, but moving air through the room. I turned up my thermostat because it's cold but extremely humid up here in Washington. I was worried about the good plants picking up any mold earlier, so I brought their humidity down to about 43% to try and dry them a little faster. I don't see any more mold on any of the plants, so I think I'm out of the woods. Now I'm worried that I kind of overreacted and panicked and now I'm drying out my buds too fast. The healthy plants in the closet are mold-free and seem to be drying at a healthy rate. Should I let their humidity get back up to 50-60%? The northern lights plant that had the mold was dismembered, hung to dry separately with lots of airflow, *and* I put it close to the heater vent in the wall. They felt pretty crispy this morning, so I think they're dry and possibly over-dry. I guess I'll move the dry plant on to the curing stage and maybe put a little bit of moist bud from the white widows in the jars with them to help restore some of the moisture? Any advice on what to do with the dry buds or what to do with the remaining white widows (keep their humidity low for fear of mold, or let them restore to normal?)
If there to dry, they cruble in your hand kind of dry, put an orange peel in with them for a few ours, it will safely put the moisture pack into them. Now I've never had a mold problem(knock on wood) but I'm thinking you can stop it the same way they do with cheese, by wiping the mold with vinegar. But before you do anything like that I'd wait to see what others have to say. my Grow:http://forum.grasscity.com/general-indoor-growing/131440-12-12-harvest-pics-update-weekly.html
Thanks so much for all your help, Slayer, SmokeALot, Cyric, VTEC, and Chimera! I was really freaking out about the mold and I was worried I'd lose my crop after all the work I've been through so far! Your advice was really helpful and just the fact that you were concerned and took the time to offer suggestions really put my mind at ease. Thanks so much!
That is what it is all about...one world... Juat a borther from another mother trying to help one personat a time! Peace out and enjoy!
Hey, no problem WWG. I'm glad you seem to have your problem under control. Would love to see some pictures of your harvest if you can get some up!