So I find that the plants i gave to a friend to watch are now totally covered in mildew. Of course they are about 2 weeks from harvest. Now i;ve read about a milk & water mix & hydrogen peroxide and water mix that can be safely used before harvest. What I need to know is Is it harmfull to smoke mildew? Sounds gross, I know. Does the milk sour or do you wash it off? Should I throw the whole mess away?
i have friends who live in an area where powdery mildew is unavoidable. they tell me they use a product called Serenade. it inhibits fungi growth. you really have to drench your plants with it though; it only affects areas that have been directly sprayed. i have never used it, but my friends say they spray that on that shit a week before harvest with no ill effects. here is what ed rosenthal has to say about powdery mildew Powdery mildew | Cannabis Culture Magazine
Are the buds themselves covered in mildew or just the leaves? I have been fighting PM myself for a about a week now, this is my first experience with it ever, after atleast 10+ grows over the past 20 years. I have spotted it on a few of my fan leaves but it doesnt seem to appear on the buds themselves. i was assuming that maybe the resin on the buds somehow inhibited the mildew?? Should I be watching out for it on my buds too?
Yeah I will. I did some research online. I guess I had just gotten sloppy with a few things since I have never had a problem with this shit, and I have more than a few grows under my belt. I had started keeping 3, open 5 gallon buckets of water in my room for watering the plants. I had gotten lazy and started watering them late in the day instead of early in the morning. I was turning my dehumidifier off during the day to conserve power... simple shit. I also had just recently given all my plants a good foliar feeding which I am sure left an acidic residue on my leaves, which I understand the PM spores love. My RH was sitting at round 50%. I took all my plants outside to get some sun. I washed my entire room down, top to bottom with bleachy water. I let everything dry out, removed the standing water, left my dehudifier going 24/7 and only water in the morning now. I also had not pruned out my plants like I usually do before going into flower. I gave them all a good pruning of the lower and interior foilage to open things up. Removed the effected leaves (There really werent that many, I caught it really early), added aother fan to increase airflow within the room. Before I brought the plants back inside I used compressed air and gently blew the plants off, thinking maybe this would help remove any spores sitting on the leaves surface. I understand though that the fungus actually lives inside the plant tissue and the white powder you see is just the fungus releasing its spores. My RH is now down around 40% and I have not seen any more signs of the white wildew anywhere. I think its more about the environment I created in the room that gave me the problem, I understand the spores are every where and there isn't much you can do about it. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Outside leaves let it ride at the end, if it's starting to get onto the buds cut now and deal with a crappy loss. Sucks to hear but its true..