PM evasive tactics

[Teal Smith]

Morning Gents :D

So everything going very well until this morning when I came across this in the drying tent. Firstly, it is PM right?

2ndly, any suggestions on what I should do now? The plants are whole (small plants), been cut and have been drying for 12 days now, snapping when I break the stems to tell me they are ready. The PM is only on the top of a couple stems that are hanging upside down drying. The others are fine for now. I think I caught it early as I never noticed anything yesterday.

Drying temp has been between 21 & 24 (figuring ways of getting it colder) and RH has been between 50% & 62% (most of the time it's been at around 52%). We had 2 days last week that were very humid , like 87% ambiently), and it pushed my dry tent RH to about 64% for those 2 days. Probably where it came from.

So guys, now what is the best tactic here? I'm very happy with the way my buds turned out and it would be a travesty if PM were to fuck this up right at the last minute! 

PS - the few that have this PM on their stem are ready to be cured. Is there any way I can stop it spreading to the others that are still hanging, and from spreading inside the curing jar to the buds? I do have a collapsable dry net, should I clip buds off the stems and transfer to that?

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Bakstein420]

You could do a bud wash, that should stop any shit spreading inside the jars.

[Teal Smith]

@Bakstein420 Problem is they are ready to be cured as they are dry now. The others not far behind. Washing them and getting them wet again probably not such a good idea?

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Ill_Evan]

1 hour ago, Teal Smith said:

So everything going very well until this morning when I came across this in the drying tent. Firstly, it is PM right?

We should first confirm it's PM. I'm not convinced yet.

@CreX

[Teal Smith]

Right now the plan is:

1 - Identify and separate the few that have mold on their stems. These are ready to be cured already. I'll trim the buds nicely and throw them inside jars with Integra Boost packs (I have 55% and 62%). That should keep the humidity low, and starve the PM. Hopefully? Any thoughts here?

2 -  The others (most) that are not showing any signs of PM, as far as I can see we have 2 options: Option A is to just cut all stems away, trim down into buds, and finish up the drying process with my DryNet. I was trying to avoid this because flipping buds so they don't go flat sounds time consuming.       AND Option B is to make a strong solution of copper soap, then wipe down the stems with it. Try get the RH down in the tent as much as possible and hope it doesn't spike in nature, then hopefully finish the process.

I'm just concerned as to how I'm going to stop the PM from spreading inside the jars among the buds....  

Eish.... 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Teal Smith]

@Ill_Evan Okay thanks. Yes, very handy to know what I'm working with here first LOL
 

@CreX any advice is very appreciated :)

 

I'll hold off on doing anything that can't be taken back in the meantime. For now though, I think the ones that are dry are going to get trimmed into neat little buds and placed into a jar. I'll label it PM so I know to watch for it in that jar especially.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Teal Smith]

Here's some macros of it, maybe make it easier for ID. At first I thought it was Diatomacious Earth residual dust. But then it wouldn't make sense that it's only the ones that have been in there the longest, and the others are all fine, when I used DE on all of them.

Could it be salts or similar? Looks organic and growing to me but I lack the experience

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Psylecta]

well its definately spore like, just  by looking at the striation patterns - but as for what it is - got absolutely no clue

@PsyCLown what we got here? i personally never seen this before

[Teal Smith]

Yeah @Psylecta, it does look like it's fungal.... but not 100% sure... Guys I wonder if it could be residual salts/nutrients/similar staying behind as the water leaves the plant? That would tie in with why only the older, drier ones are getting this....

There's still the chance of it being DE, but then the newer fresher ones don't seem to have it.... 


IDK...

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Psylecta]

9 minutes ago, Teal Smith said:

Yeah @Psylecta, it does look like it's fungal.... but not 100% sure... Guys I wonder if it could be residual salts/nutrients/similar staying behind as the water leaves the plant? That would tie in with why only the older, drier ones are getting this....

There's still the chance of it being DE, but then the newer fresher ones don't seem to have it.... 


IDK...

its definately possible because now that you mention it whenever i spill my nutes on the counter it dries to the same crystal formation and has a shiny appearance just like this but ive never seen a zoomed in pic of it so im not sure - but very possible

but that if that is the case then only explanation would be that you maybe didnt flush the plants or fed just before chopping

my cam is a shitty 14mp but i'll snap a pic of the dried out residue on the counter to attempt to compare the two

Edited November 11, 2020 by Psylecta

[Teal Smith]

@Psylecta Yes, actually that makes sense. The 1st one's trichomes started going amber surprisingly early, and so they only had about 6 days of no food, just PH water. So that then makes sense why the 1st ones that went in the dry tent are getting this.... It does seem a little sparkly in the photos, like crystals of some kind, maybe nutes.... The other ones would have had 2 weeks or so flush, and that's why they are clear.... It's a hypothesis at this point but sounds plausible. 

Having said that I couldn't wait to try some before it was cured and it is very very smooth.... A lot of literature online says it should have been harsh but nope.... actually some of the smoothest I've ever smoked.

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Teal Smith]

It's worth mentioning I just tasted it with tip of my tongue, thinking that if it's salt, it should taste salty? It does not 

But not sure if ionic salts taste salty, though? Jury is still out LOL

[Psylecta]

Its really interesting though because once you mentioned nutes i was thinking yeah that would explain why the structure seems as if its growing but also threw me for a six because i see the residue was mainly forming where you made the cut which made me think how is the formation going upwards against gravity (assuming you were drying them by hanging them like attached pic) but then the thought occurred perhaps its like capillary action the buidup of salts forces its way to the point of least resistance (in this case where the chop is) 

yeah theres a very detectable annoying throat burn from unflushed weed, me personally the harshness is annoying but the flavour alteration is dissapointing, my lady that i didnt flush wasnt harsh perse but left a throat burn after smoking not during but the most annoying part was tasting the "sweetness" of the nutes in the bud - it tastes like the nutes smell - goes away the longer you dry but yeah it can be kak, no trainsmash like PM though

[Psylecta]

1 minute ago, Teal Smith said:

It's worth mentioning I just tasted it with tip of my tongue, thinking that if it's salt, it should taste salty? It does not 

But not sure if ionic salts taste salty, though? Jury is still out LOL

ROTFLMAO - dude you must be mindreading me because i was gonna say if you brave you could try tasting it - Mold or mildew wouldnt taste like anything other than fluff lol.

open the cap of your nutes and run your pinky along the inside/underside of the cap and taste - should be identical/very similiar tasting

[Teal Smith]

@Psylecta ya man, I thought it was logical haha...

So it never tasted like anything, my tongue did have a sort of tingly sensation after where it touched. LOL

I'm using the GHE FloraCoco range, not sure they'll taste like anything either... als not sure it's a good idea to put that on my tongue tho LOL... aren't synthetic ionic nutes toxic? No idea LOL

(and yep, my plants are hanging and drying like in your picture)

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith

[Teal Smith]

Screwit, I just went ahead and tasted a tiny little bit of Flora Bloom and Grow. They are salty, but subtle. Shit, IDK it could still be nutes on the stems...

I'm wiping it off with copper soap solution and paper towel just in case it is mold of some kind (very careful not to get close to buds). Putting it back in the dry tent and getting RH low as possible... Best I can do for now I think

[CreX]

1 - Identify and separate the few that have mold on their stems. These are ready to be cured already.

you nailed it man... thats straight up mold from high RH in your dry room.

i think you must reduce the dry days by quite a few until you have all your environmental controls in place to maintain RH exactly ...or atleast better.

if there is no mold on the leaves or buds, i would get rid of the affected stems asap and start jarring your stuff... 

i have not seen PM on stems unless its a proper bad infection... but that would be more on your leaves and bud...

[CreX]

LOL and stop tasting the shit man hahaha 

man thats actually funny hahaha

 

oh and a budwash is a good practice if you feel that your harvest may be tainted by something.

 

as for your concern about inside the jars, you must manage the RH. either manually with a hydrometer, or with bovidas or some kind of 2 way humidity product. pm and mold will grow in RH higher than 67% so get some 64% sachets and some 58% sachets.

Edited November 11, 2020 by CreX
RH in jars info

[Teal Smith]

14 minutes ago, CreX said:

LOL and stop tasting the shit man hahaha 

man thats actually funny hahaha

 

oh and a budwash is a good practice if you feel that your harvest may be tainted by something.

 

as for your concern about inside the jars, you must manage the RH. either manually with a hydrometer, or with bovidas or some kind of 2 way humidity product. pm and mold will grow in RH higher than 67% so get some 64% sachets and some 58% sachets.

LOL okay I'll stop now ;) haha

Okay cool, this only became apparent today, so a budwash wouldn't have been the right treatment here because they were already dry, but maybe a budwash before drying would prevent it from happening in future?

Then luckily I have Integra Boost packs (similar thing to Bovidas). They are 55% and 62%. Trouble I'm finding with the 62's are that they are going drier than that, according to my little hygrometer, like 57/58% but I suppose that's not a bad RH to have anyway. 

On burping, would you or anyone care to share a good baseline technique that I can finetune with time. Like how many burps per day, how long for week 1 , week 2 etc etc. There are 5 trillion different opinions online, hoping experience can give me a better answer. Thanks!

[Teal Smith]

A new development... 

So cut off the affected stems, then wiped down remaining areas with copper soap solution. Dried it off well with a dry paper towel immediately after. 

While doing this I must have got some of the white "dust/mold" on my arm. It started to burn a little, same as my nutes do when I get it on me. So now I'm thinking there is a chance it could be nutes?

Or @CreX do you think it's 100% PM, no questions

[CreX]

2 minutes ago, Teal Smith said:

A new development... 

So cut off the affected stems, then wiped down remaining areas with copper soap solution. Dried it off well with a dry paper towel immediately after. 

While doing this I must have got some of the white "dust/mold" on my arm. It started to burn a little, same as my nutes do when I get it on me. So now I'm thinking there is a chance it could be nutes?

Or @CreX do you think it's 100% PM, no questions

its not PM, its mold

100%

[Teal Smith]

@CreX just checking bud, so you mean even if the others are not snap-dry-ready yet, cut the buds and jar them? Or only the ready ones? I could put them with the 55% Integra Boost packs.

Or do you mean to keep drying the ones that need time?

 

[CreX]

9 minutes ago, Teal Smith said:

LOL okay I'll stop now haha

Okay cool, this only became apparent today, so a budwash wouldn't have been the right treatment here because they were already dry, but maybe a budwash before drying would prevent it from happening in future?

Then luckily I have Integra Boost packs (similar thing to Bovidas). They are 55% and 62%. Trouble I'm finding with the 62's are that they are going drier than that, according to my little hygrometer, like 57/58% but I suppose that's not a bad RH to have anyway. 

On burping, would you or anyone care to share a good baseline technique that I can finetune with time. Like how many burps per day, how long for week 1 , week 2 etc etc. There are 5 trillion different opinions online, hoping experience can give me a better answer. Thanks!

if you have a hydrometer like it sounds like you do, then only burm if RH hits 65%, then burp it until its lower than your humidity pack.

by burp, i just mean leave the jar open for a bit. then close it and rinse wash repeat until the jar doesnt increase in RH when its closed... 

 

if you dont have a hydrometer, then the rule i followed was burp daily for 30min for 1 week, then burp every 2nd day for 15 min for the 2nd week, and then you should be good to go.

[CreX]

2 minutes ago, Teal Smith said:

@CreX just checking bud, so you mean even if the others are not snap-dry-ready yet, cut the buds and jar them? Or only the ready ones? I could put them with the 55% Integra Boost packs.

Or do you mean to keep drying the ones that need time?

 

the slooooow dry is only in place to allow the chlorophyll to break down and reduce the harsh smoke from that.

so even though they may still be moist, they are ready to be trimmed and jarred. first few days you may beed to monitor the rh closely as they will make the rh climb high

[Teal Smith]

@CreX ok great thanks.  Well, even the wettest ones have been drying for more than 6 days, but @ around 52% - 64% (the 2 days of high humidity fell in that window). But there is still a very late one in it's 48 hours of darkness before chopping. What should I do with that one? (and any others that are clearly too wet for curing)? Just keep drying and monitoring/wiping mold? 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Teal Smith