⚠️Gray mold⚠️ while trimming (tincture? Advice?))

Sick Plants & Problems
#1

A few bits of grayish fuzzy mold found today in the last section i trimmed on a plant that did some weird revegging and got super dense during the 15 weeks it spent in flower.
Not surprised it led to this, but still my first time running into mold so im a little panic feeling :flushed:

Dried hanging for 16 days at 62% avg rh (in sections).

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I trimmed most of the plant over the last couple days and didnt notice anything, those buds have been in grove bags the last couple days (about 1.5oz + 1oz trim).

Then today, this:

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Sucks because this is the biggest harvest so far and its such a tasty 1:1 (and grew for so long). Hate to have to trash the whole thing.

I’ve heard though that moldy buds are rendered safe for consumption when thrown into tincture? I have everclear and have done a few extractions that way, but-

  • dont think id be decarbing this though right?
  • better safe than sorry and throw it all in?

Part of me feels like i should recheck all the other buds ive trimmed already (after cleaning the shit out of my tray) and the other part of me feels like i should write all of it off :confused: (and clean my tray anyway)

Needless to say, bummed. Never thought id wish a plant i grew was larfier but i wish it now :disappointed:

Advice? Is tincture really a solution?
(Science pun intentional)

Thanks in advance OG

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TopShelfs trees (Part 3)
The Not Fridge - nothing to see here 👀
#2

Sorry about your loss mate, mold is heart breaking. Not sure on the science of mold and tincture but I would personally pass on that. I wouldn’t think its worth the risks.

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#3

Thanks bud. Was looking for a good word to describe this feeling. Heartbroken :broken_heart: is that word.

Appreciate your input. Hoping a scientist might science this to a place of midlevel OK-edness :crossed_fingers:

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#4

Generally moldy bud is fine to use for tincture, as long as you’re filtering thoroughly - and as long as it’s a species that doesn’t create mycotoxins. That’s the part that you have to worry about. Without knowing precisely what kind of mold it is and looking that up, you’re taking a bit of a risk. I’m fairly certain botrytis, at least, doesn’t create mycotoxins… powdery mildew I’m not certain about, not least because there are many different species of powdery mildew. As for grey mold, if it’s typical botrytis you’re probably fine, as far as I can tell. Obviously, this is not medical advice. :stuck_out_tongue:

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#5

As painful as it is, I’d toss everything and clean all the tools, drying area and anywhere else they’ve been really well. It’s happened to most everyone that grows at some point. Sorry you have to deal with it.

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#6

Any tincture i make would use 190 proof everclear and filer through a paper microfilter using an aeropress. I hope that is enough filtration, though maybe a couple passes would be a safer bet? Or i could get a 178 micron stainless filter on it and use that instead, or in addition…

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#7

No idea as far as that goes… I use a fine frit (4-5 micron) Buchner filter and a vacuum pump myself. I’ve also never actually had to use moldy bud. The first time I got mold was before I knew how to make tincture, or that alcohol could make it safe for consumption, or really much of anything else. Basically, my first harvest, or maybe second? Can’t really remember, it was a while ago.

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#8

Personally i would trash the moldy buds. My grandfather on the other hand says he smoked worse shit than a bit of mold and will blaze said moldy bud. I mean as long as its not completely encased in fuzz like if there is a little fuzz that dude dont gaf. Me personally i would not smoke mold knowingly

It may be worth the time sorting through and looking for mold rather than toss it all

Im a noob and am not well versed with growing or mold so i shouldnt really be chiming in also

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#9

Thanks bud. I think i’ll end up tossing all the visible badness (even any giving me a the side eye) and try a tincture with the rest.

I’ll go back through the rest i trimmed earlier and separate anything samewise before i do a cleandown (thanks for this guidance).

I wont smoke any more of any of it - but ill sure try to get something useful out of this biomass -that is, on top of the gift of experience it has to offer me.

It is helping lessen the intensity of the pain on my end, but i am sorry to have to share it with you guys. For that (and everything else) i thank you genuinely :green_heart::v::sunglasses:

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#10

I jarred an ounce of buds that were too moist when I first started growing. It was the first really purple weed I had ever seen and one of my first couple of grows. I went to grab a bud days later and the whole jar was full of white, fluffy mold. It had a terrible smell too. After digging around on the forums I couldn’t find a definitive, science based answer and since I have health issues, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk for me. Like someone mentioned above, I’m sure I smoked way worse stuff in the Mexican brick weed back in the 80s but now I’m older and so are my lungs lol.

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#11

I just felt that stab in my own :purple_heart:

Sorry for your pain then, i’m glad to share it now :facepunch:

And i don’t want you or anyone to think I’m ignoring their advice. Just tapping the vein of wisdom at my disposal before proceeding to do whatever dumb thing my brain decides to do. Whatever it is will be the very safest version i can justify doing :+1:

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#12

Dont take any risks at all whatsoever with mold. Can cause uncurable health problems, and shorten life expectancy.

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#13

The alcohol is going to kill everything. Doing a decarb and the alcohol tincture is safe. A butane extraction would also be good at killing everything during the extraction process

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#14

Going back through the buds i trimmed a few days ago and it all looks perfectly fine. Even so, its all going in the drink :tropical_drink:

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#15

Really is safe to use for alcohol or butane extraction.

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#16

I chucked an entire plant, over 5oz dry, for this reason.

Not worth the health risk, IMO cut your losses, disinfect EVERYTHING and start over. Sorry, man, it happens to the best of us

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#17

Shrug, I had some bud from a bro that had mold all thru it. I made alcohol tincture and it mattered zero.

Use it and rock on.

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#18

I thought i was being smart by throwing some moist stems in some jars i had that got too dry. Didnt open for two days and the stems got all kinds of gillywobblers on em. None of the herbs looked moldy but still tossed. If you can incinerate what you got so no unsuspecting poor soul finds it and smokes it.

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#19

Ok so the two biggest buds in the buds i trimmed a few days ago have some patches on the inside. Tossing those. The rest of it looks perfectly fine, so composting the visibly bad, and am planning on freezing the stuff that looks ok, until i can decarb and tincture all of it.

I really appreciate the opinions and concern from everybody. Glad to have sparked a discussion 🫣 and to know you all are out there and give a hoot one way or the other :green_heart:

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#20

I wouldn’t even play. This happened to me last year. I threw away 5 jars of bud.

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