There are soms things that have worked for me in my ten year experience in northern Holland 53 degrees, coastal temperate climate.
Setting; botrytis cinerea (budrot) spores are everywhere and need free moisture to germinate and cause budrot. Hence it helps to grow in a spot that is shielded from rain but does receive good airflow so moisture will evaporate. south faced side of a Forrest has worked well for me, providing a big umbrella without stagnant air.
Control; the first 4-5 weeks of flowering can pass easy by a single check a week. Week 6-7-8 need control a few times a week and in bad conditions daily control is preferred. Buds that have been infected need to be harvested an dried quickly for the first 24 hours after being cleaned from mold. U can get unlucky with the weather but in my experience this method of action will prevent complete loss in any season.
Genetics and pruning/training:
Take fast flowering strains with a tendency to form long slim floral clusters, these dry more quickly and are easy to check for mold. My preferred method was topping plants halfway June so many smaller colas will develop. Next to this I heavily prune the inside of the plant to keep air movement inside the plant unobstructed, also this will aid the development of the main buds (sink-source). No variety I have grown was really resistant to budrot and I suspect it will be very difficult to achieve looking at the fungus modes of action.
I have witnessed good results with; passion#1, hollands hope, purple, Durban poison from Dutch passion, santa maria, Swiss strains like erdbeer#purpurea, alpine rocket, Swiss miss, my own strain ierdbei (aka eirdbei). Many Canadian strains should be good also, Manitoba poison, freezeland, mighty mite etcetera
I managed to grow a devil xxl auto (original seed stores own big devil xl version) outdoors here in the UK without any problems. Wasn’t a big yield but it grew well more or less without assistance other than a light feeding once every couple of weeks if I had time to do so. Got around 2 Oz off one plant.
I ran a hybrid of super lemon haze at 42n and it came down oct 10th this year. Last year i let a few go to Nov 1st cuz it was super warm. Definitely loose flower structure is the way to success. Also I’ve always removed any damaged leaves or plant material. If it’s yellow or brown its gonna start to decay and invite the bad guys along with it… I lost about half a 5 foot plant because it was heavily chomped on by bugs. I removed any leaf that was severely damaged and what was left grew perfectly fine. It’s also important to monitor your plants and really get a feel for the gardens overall health. A healthy plant will not be as easily affected by mold and disease. The last few weeks are a weekly trip if your growing outdoors up here, a single week can be the difference between a good harvest and a bunch of compost material. If you do feel up to the challenge you have to accept the losses before they happen because they will happen. Your preparedness determines the extent of the losses on your overall harvest. My plan is to plant at least 50% more than what I’ll need to accommodate for the average losses I’ve encountered these last couple years. Can’t wait till i have my own back yard and i can stay outta the woods lol. Till then me and the woods will be fighting each other from May until October
Had a lot of luck running some skunk strains and c99 crosses outdoor in MA. No problems with pest, pm or bud rot while other strains were a constant battle.
