My buddy has a couple plants outdoors, it has begun to rain heavily for several weeks and the temps have dropped. The last few sunny days my buddy built a simple open sided shelter over his plants , hoping to prevent bud rot from setting in. It did not work. Now several buds a day have begun to show rot and are promptly removed. One of these plants should be fully mature around oct 15-30 the other would likely go till november. So a question have arisen. Is the tarp (consumer grade thin blue tarp) helping the problem or making it worse? It does block some sunlight through some of the day. It also prevents rain from falling directly on the plants (as was intended). The real questions are: 1 Is it possible that the plants being rained on would actually inhibit mold growth? 2 Is the shade slowing down the plants production cycle, actually making it take longer to finish. 3 Yes or no can the mold be stopped? 4 Are fewer dense buds better than more airy buds or should he just accept what he has already instead of trying to weather it out? Obviously there is some point when one must weigh the balance of waiting for heavy mature buds vs early less dense buds. I know these questions have been asked many times, but have we ever actually established a solid definataive answer yet?
First I wouldnt block the sun with the tarp. Rain will cause bud rot. But it could be caterpillar damage too that looks loke bud rot but gets crispy. And can you get pictures of your plant. It helps anyone out there that wants to help. "if you want me to response back, quote me."
I'm going through some botrytis problems myself. Everything was fine until about a week ago. temps dropped from low to mid 80's to mid 50's and lots of rain. I built cages for the plants and covered them in clear plastic. That didn't work so well because the temps were low and the humidity was 90 to 100%. I moved them into a green house 2 days ago, dried them out with fans and a heater and I sprayed the plants with Serenade which is supposed to control mold. It may have helped but I have been cutting off moldy buds and trying to salvage what I can. With the upcoming heavy rain I may have to harvest my plants early. Bud rot sucks shit and truthfully I think you have limited options. The key is to raise temps and lower humidity. Botrytis thrives on cool, wet environments. Also, I believe some strains are less susceptible to bud rot. lets hope it drys out soon and we get a little dry weather to help our plants get to harvest.
Yeah without the finances to slap up a full size greenhouse with with fans and heat and quality clear/tranclucent tarps I was afraid that this may be a serious problem. Was just hoping some major advances might have been made that I was unaware of. He knew the risk when he put them out there. Sure was a beautiful grow season up until the rain started. It held off almost a month longer last year, but then again it was too dry in the mid summer last year too. Always something I guess.
Outdoor growing in the Pacific Northwest is truly a hit and miss thing. I've got three big plants 6' X 6' and I hoped to get more then a pound off each one. Now I'm thinking I might end up with 2 pounds total. The biggest problem is the continued low temps and high humidity. Unless we catch a break with this weather I think a lot of growers are going to be harvesting early. Best of luck!
Ditch the clear plastic and go with tarps if you have to cover up your plants. Clear plastic from what I have learned builds up condensation inside easier then blue or silver tarps.