Mold....

Harvested some plants last week, two plants I had moved into a closet to finish the last two weeks just to see what difference there might be.

I followed some instructions for flavoring the bud using lemon extract, while this worked great and I could absolutely smell a difference the two plants I had in the closet were too dense and the watering right before picking didn't help.

Damage was minimal but force drying it ruined it's smell/taste factor as well as raised my stress level.

I checked on my plants around 9 p/m the night after harvesting them, decided I should put a fan in the room and noticed a brown spot on one cola bud, my initial reaction was that there were worms because the brown spot looked very similiar to a worm hole I've found in prior harvests. While digging for the worm I saw the first stages of mold inside the bud. Needless to say panic set in, I immediately went through all the other plants in detail, I didn't find any more mold but two other plants were very wet still and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen to them so I dried them out as well.

I was up until like 2 a/m with branches spread out all over the house. I turned on the oven to 170 and started putting the non moldy buds in there for a few minutes at a time. Took the plants that had minor mold, cut the branches down, put them in pillow covers and put them in the dryer for a half hour then put them in the microwave for 30 seconds but only for 5 second bursts, them moved the buds back to the garage, put the dryer exhaust over a container of branches and let them dry for another hour.

Satisfied I had killed the mold I put everything in one room, turned on a 150 W CFL light, put another two 40W fl shop lights under the hanging plants and turnd on two fans. and turned on my ionizer. The next morning I trimmed up all the buds and put them in cardboard shoe boxes to finish drying all the way.

Fortunately I didn't lose anything but about a pound of bud doesn't look or smell as pretty as it should have but it does smoke up just fine.

sounds like you know where you went wrong mate, quick drying isnt very good at all, you can REALLY tell the difference to naturally dried bud. Putting fans on the hanging bud isnt such a bad idea however putting a light in with them is, the THC degardes at a faster rate and the chlorophyll attempts to continue photosynthesizing.
Never heard of the worm thing before, something im yet to look into :)
Good luck with your next grow mate, sounds like your on top of everything.
all the best
mrmarijuanaman

Well I was in a state of panic at the time, left the lights on until morning then took care of everything.

I was cussing my ass off "Mf'r, I didn't go through all of this to go through all of this". Fortunately it was only a couple of plants.

I know what you mean man, I had to harvest 2 OGs early due to mould a couple of months ago, a total disaster considering they were the first kushes id ever attempted :mad:

I have a feeling they may have already started to mold before I cut them down.

sounds like a mess

sounds like a mess >>>

If I had gone to bed and discovered this the next morning they would have been ruined. Quick drying didn't ruin it but no doubt it won't be as good as it could have been. I'll harvest plenty but could have shared that with other patients for a fair donation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Purple Daddy

Fortunately I didn't lose anything but about a pound of bud....

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Fortunately??? An LB??? Maybe because I'm not a multiple LB per month grower but I had to toss about 10grams of bud due to bud rot last harvest, I was sad to toss them nugs.... I can only imagine having to toss a pound....

CGI::::::

Fortunately??? An LB???>>>>>>>

You took that out of context. I had to quick dry about a pound of bud, nothing was lost, it won't be as good as it could have been.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Purple Daddy

You took that out of context. I had to quick dry about a pound of bud, nothing was lost, it won't be as good as it could have been.

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And here I am picturing you toss an LB.... Glad to hear you didn't toss it.... But boy do I know that stressed out feeling trying to do everything you can, running around like a headless chicken, to do what you can to fix a prob/possible prob....:jointsmile:

Within time, you'll learn to keep your cool with probs and how to prevent them....I know I did....

CGI::::::

But boy do I know that stressed out feeling trying to do everything you can, running around like a headless chicken>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm smoking some right now, buzz is fine but every time I smoke some of this I'll wonder "what could have been".

I've harvested about 4 lbs +/- so far this week with three more plants on the way(including the nicest one of the bunch) over the next month. Fortunately I ended up with enough female plants I had some margin of error to work with however I'd rather everything had gone perfect! If I had gone to bed I'd have thrown away a good half lb at least.

I've been using my vaporizer so the taste is kind of a non factor.

hello....daddy......well I am glad you were able to save some of your bud.....I know that feeling.....happens all the time...........Now that you have gone through it once....you will be prepared next time.....the easy way to deal when finding mold is to use drying racks....just detail the buds....cut off any and all mold...put on racks....and make sure you have air movement.....NOT blowing right on the buds.....just air moving inside your drying room......your buds will dry evenly and dry slow......you are in the same area as I am.....they should dry in 5 days....if detailed correctly.....and be ready for jars.

To all the brokers....who happen to be reading this post.......Growing is Easy...LOL....see the stress.......we go through......take 4 months to grow and a few day can ruin the whole crop......To you its just a unit.....to us.....it's our hard work.

Good luck on the rest of your harvest PD

Thanks Weeddaddy, I still have three more to harvest so I'm pretty sure I won't make that mistake twice. The room was 78-80 degrees so I didn't think the mold would develop but I think overnight it got just cool enough. It wasn't like all the buds molded but I found a few large ones with it and probably over reacted but I just couldn't take the chance. Watering right before harvest was a mistake, I think I'll let them go two days without water before harvesting the next plants.

FWIW I've been testing this bud for a couple of days now and aside from the smell and taste the buzz is pretty damn good. I put it in jars a few days ago and vent them once a day, it seems to actually be developing a bit of an aroma and taste now.

It like the race.....your the turtle.....slow and steady......wins the race.......you know the story.....two bulls on a a hill top looking down on all those cows....the younger bulls says.....hey lets run down there a bone one of the cows.....the old bull....lets walk down there and bone them ALL.....

Good luck.....cooler this weekend....warming up next week.....