How to Prevent Mold on Cannabis While Curing?
Cannabis growers will have to deal with bud rot as they grow weed for a long time. Such a situation can cause their plants to become spoiled and their buds damaged, resulting in crop loss and lower yields. It is therefore critical to understand how to recognize and resolve issues concerning bud rot.
How to Prevent Mold on Cannabis While Curing?
What is bud rot?
Bud rot refers to a form of mold that grows in cannabis buds’ dense centers. It begins on the interior of the bud’s stem and extends outward, making it difficult to notice in the early stages. It is more common on plants that are in their flowering stage.
Bud rot, commonly known as gray mold or botrytis, is one of the most damaging fungi to strike marijuana crops. It grows well in cold temperate settings with a high amount of humidity.
The fungus responsible for bud rot, Botrytis cinerea, attacks your harvest buds from the inside out. Such a feature of mold growth explains why dry rot is difficult to detect.
Aside from the marijuana plant, bud rot infests wine grapes, strawberries, and peonies. If left unaddressed, this infestation could potentially destroy your entire growth.
Gray mold can infect your plants at any time due to its powdery gray spores, scattered by the wind and water. Unfortunately, these spores are pretty easy to spread. Bud rot can only occur if plants come directly with gray mold spores; otherwise, it is impossible.
Bud rot begins by attacking a plant’s stem, which becomes mushy and gray. Bud rot symptoms include wilted, yellow, and charred leaves as the infection spread. Bud rot is difficult to detect early because the fungus initially takes hold inside the plant and then spreads to the outside.
What causes bud rot?
Understanding the circumstances that allow mold to develop on your cannabis plant is the best method to prevent bud rot:
- Humidity is high.
- The weather is mild.
- Inadequate ventilation
- The foliage is dense.
- Dense buds
- Plants with weakened immune systems
There must be a physical tear in the tissue of your marijuana plant for bud rot to take hold. Tears may occur due to your plant’s training or trimming, or insects may cause them. Caterpillars, snails, and worms can wreak havoc on your plants, causing bud rot.
At this point, you must avoid placing your plants too close together in your grow area. Mold spores can readily migrate from plant to plant without enough breathing area and unrestricted air circulation moving throughout your crop, making your entire produce prone to bud rot.
What are the steps for preventing mold growth as I cure my cannabis plants?
Molds are fungi that develop in warm, damp, and humid conditions. They grow from spores, which travel through the air, unseen to the naked eye. Mold is essential in the ecosystem because it breaks down dead plant material, but it should not end up on your buds.
Follow these steps to prevent mold growth as you cure your cannabis:
1. Keep molds to a minimum as you dry your buds.
The buds should be stiff to the touch after drying successfully. If the plants are still soft and the little stems do not snap when bent, they have not been adequately dried. Because the moisture content is still too high, mold growth will be a concern in the future. Drying your buds might be tricky. For guidance I refer you to this article "How to Dry Freshly Harvested Weed?"
2. Burp your jars in as you cure the buds.
Curing can be accomplished by filling airtight jars two-thirds full of buds. As chlorophyll is broken down, a lot of moisture is released from the plants. This circumstance also exposes the colas to molds during curing.
Burping is the process of opening the jars and letting the surplus moisture out. At the beginning of the curing process, this is usually done two to four times per day. Burp the jars less regularly as the cure progresses, and the humidity levels fall. When curing cannabis, it’s essential to keep an eye on the colas for any signs of mold. Once mold presence is found, you should remove the damaged buds as soon as possible.
The ideal humidity for curing cannabis is between 58 and 65 percent. If the buds are wet, the humidity level is more than 70%. Pour out the buds and let them dry for about two hours before putting them back in the jars in this scenario.
If the buds are damp, the humidity level should be between 60% and 70%. Leave the jars open for 4 hours in this instance.
3. Purchase a hygrometer and dehumidifier.
A hygrometer is a device that determines the exact level of humidity in a given environment. As you may be aware, cultivating medicinal-grade cannabis necessitates a high level of precision. It would be best if you strive for a humidity level of 58 to 62 percent while curing. If the humidity level rises above this level, a dehumidifier can help.
I highly recommend this hygrometer of growershouse.com as well as their dehumidifier. These devices would surely help you achieve an environmental condition that will prevent the growth of bud rot.
Bud rot’s effect on your marijuana growth is irreversible, which means you must observe the mentioned steps above to protect your buds.
How should I treat mold growth on my cannabis plants?
Unfortunately, it is probable that as you are reading this article, bud rot took place in your growth. You’ll need to figure out how to treat your plants if they already have bud rot. The first course of action is to determine whether or not the plant can be saved. There is no means to get rid of the infestation once it has affected a plant. You can cut away the sick portions of the plant, but there is still a chance for it to spread.
A bud rot infection in your growing room or cannabis garden can destroy your harvest. Outdoors, bud rot spreads swiftly from plant to plant and reproduces as mycelia in the soil.
For indoors, it sits on walls, floors, and nearly any other surface indoors until you move it. Use a biological spray intended for the purpose to treat bud rot. These sprays treat the problem and keep it at bay until it goes away.
This product is a multi-purpose insecticide, pesticide, and miticide and is very effective in treating bud rot. Purchase it from this online store.
How should I prevent mold growth in storing my buds?
The most straightforward technique to avoid mold while keeping cannabis is to keep it in a consistently dry atmosphere. For the majority of customers, airtight "nug jugs" are sufficient. However, as previously mentioned, prolonged exposure to humid outside air might lead to mold growth.
By using a humidity package, you can ensure that your product is stored safely. For this purpose, Integra provides two types of Boost packets: One packet maintains a relative humidity (RH) of 62 percent, while the other ensures an RH of 55 percent.
When it comes to how dry you want your cannabis, you can choose a package based on personal choice, but both will protect your cannabis from higher humidity levels, leading to mold growth. In addition, the packets feature indicator strips that tell you when they need to be updated, ensuring that the quality of your cannabis is maintained.
Visit this online store for Integra products which you can use in storing your cannabis buds.