Please help - is this mold?

Checked through and found a possible cause (aside from high RH). I'd had a few mold gnats in the tent during the growing of these, and found a dead body of one on a bud that was covered in mold. I'm guessing they carried / started the mold of. I've chucked another bud away as found a tiny amount of mold on it. Hopefully i won't have to chuck that much more away.

I have also ordered some H2O2 so will spray them with that when it arrives. Thanks again

I would also suggest baking any product you wind up keeping in the oven at 300 degrees for 10 minutes before you smoke it (old erowid/cannabible trick). It will make it taste harsher, but it will kill off most of the mold, and it isn't hot enough or long enough to bake off much of the thc or degrading it to cbn. Also, while I would never recommend smoking moldy weed, mold is much more harmful when ingested than when combusted and inhaled, so while you might be able to smoke some after treating it (none of the buds that are as bad as the ones in the pics of course, those I would bin for sure), I would discourage using any of it in edibles as that is just asking for trouble. Just my two cents

Thanks for the info AceYonder.

Any time. Years ago when I was a novice smoker, I mistook some moldy weed for being extra frosty and ran it through my volcano. I still shudder at the memory.

My first grow was outside last year (this one has been in a grow tent) and I thought my plant was developing trics when it was just mold. That one never even made to flower so I chucked the lot where as this has produced massive buds so I really don't want to throw away any more than I have to. It sucks to get this far and have to throw some away. Lesson learned though. I'll definitely be doing things differently next grow

The larger and denser buds are, the more susceptible they are to mold. Some strains are also much more resistant than others.

Even though small flies/pests like fungus gnats, spider mites, etc. can certainly help spread potential pathogen inoculum around, other environmental considerations are just as important as mold spores are already quite widely distributed. Relative humidity should be kept low throughout bloom and especially during the final few weeks. No foliar feeding/spraying anything on the plants in the final couple weeks (any spraying should be done right around lights on).

Also, there should ALWAYS be air circulating in the grow room/tent, e.g. an oscillating fan kept on low. When drying buds as well, you should keep a slight breeze on them. I dry in an open box/on newspaper, in a small, warm (not hot) room with some Damp-Rid (if needed). Buds/colas need to be spread out (not piled on top of and touching each other). Trimming helps more than you might think. Also larger colas should be cut up, this will also help them dry out quicker.

I can't believe you are still entertaining the idea of trying to save this crop. Scrap the WHOLE thing and chalk it up to experience.
Clean your grow area out and clean EVERYTHING with a mild bleach solution. Start a new crop and get at least two fans going. The fans don' have to blow directly on the girls, just keep the air moving at all times. 24/7

dont listen to everyone telling you to throw your crop away lol thats dumb, this is what you can do thou put some water mixed with peroxide in a bucket or something shorter and long, then let the buds sit in for a little while and eventually you will see the mold rise to the top of the water and your buds will be clean, don't waste a whole crop because people don't know what to do, this is a method from jorge servatis himself.

^ That is rather desperate, IMO. "Jorge Cervantes" probably hasn't even done that himself- it sounds much more like some far reaching hypothetical anecdote rather than an actual "method" that someone would apply to a molded crop to "save" it? And for what, sale? I would sure as hell hope not.

There are different kinds of mold; some which strike even before chopping, as well as others that attack during attempted drying/curing. The thing is that once a bud has mold, and certainly to that extent, you cannot continue to think of the bud and mold as distinct entities which can be separated. The fungi, whatever it is, is producing compounds that physically degrade the material; chemical changes are occurring among the compounds in the buds (cannabinoids included), as the fungi produces various substances of it's own: some of which are potentially toxic or allergens (including spores).

Anything covered in mold should be discarded, outright (immediately cover if possible, place in sealed container or bag). Anything that has the slightest trace of fuzz on it, forget about smoking. Anything on the same plant as, or in the vicinity of buds on which mold was detected needs to be dealt with. If you want to smoke that crap yourself, go ahead, I suppose but please do not subject any unknowing friend, human or pet to it.

If you think you can reclaim it, or you are just desperate then I would say your options are solvent extraction with alcohol, or butane, or filter bag extraction with dry ice.

So, if one bud has some mould on it, you'd recommend treating the whole plant? Damn. I've chucked out any buds with signs of mould. They are for personal use so no-one else will be affected, so is it really that bad to smoke some bud that was part of the sane plabt of another bud that had some mould on it?

I just found this on this forum -

as i oopsed and molded some bud i was curing.i just got rid of the mold with an old 1970's trick.it dawned on me others may not know this method ,so here ya go.once the weed is dried ,soak it in luke warm water for 10 minutes.then remove gently squeeze the bulk water ,out and then place on a doubled up paper towel and let dry in a cool dark dry place.this usually takes only 12 to 15 or so hours to redry.its much faster drying than fresh picked weed.it will have no loss of potentcy,but the water soluable tar will come out.thc is fat,alcohol, either ect soluable but not water soluable.the weed will dry out darker green,where green,and other colors may or may not darken.the weed will have no mold or mold smell anymore.it will smoke smoother and more pleasently ,but the smell will not be quite as strong as befor water curing.but you'll now have ruined weed redeemed and safe/pleasent to smoke. happy trails to all !

This person said it worked well. Anyone else tried it.

Also, I have two options to dry the remaining
1. in a box with a fan sucking air through it so good movement of air (RH c. 55%)
2. in an airing cupboard with no fan (RH c. 45%)

Which would be the better option of these two?
Also, is it better to leave big buds hanging or cut down to smaller buds and resting on newspaper to dry?

Thanks in advance.

Nickoli said:

Also, I have two options to dry the remaining
1. in a box with a fan sucking air through it so good movement of air (RH c. 55%)
2. in an airing cupboard with no fan (RH c. 45%)

Which would be the better option of these two?

Click to expand...

I would suggest the cupboard, or reversing the fan so it is blowing air in rather than sucking it out. It is the same principal as airflow through a computer case, positive pressure (More air pushing in than pulling out, wou will feel breeze coming out the cracks) is good for circulating air and keeping things clean, negative pressure (more air going out than coming in, a piece of paper will stick to cracks from suction) is bad because it attracts MASSIVE amounts of dust. I don't know about a pot drying box, but I have been building computers since the 90's and trust me when I say that one week of negative pressure in computer case makes things more dust covered than a couple of months in a positive pressure one. Fixing it can be as easy as reversing the exhaust fan so it is an intake fan instead. If you have both intake and exhaust, make sure the intake is moving more air than the exhaust. Just a thought