Mold on buds questions

Sick Plants & Problems
#1

I wanted to ask when you get mold on buds where does it form or start to form? Will it be on the outside visible to the eye or will it be on the inside of the bud and only noticeable when the bud is broke up to smoke? Or can it be both? Im wondering because I smoke alot in the dark so i cant really see if there is possible mold anywhere on the bud. I also smoke in dimmed lights alot so its really hard to see and inspect them im also really stoned so theres that to.

What happens if you smoke a moldy bud?

Thanks

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#2

You’ll usually see it on the outside on the small leaves. If it’s really bad there will be webs inside the buds too.

I’ve smoked kinda mouldy weed many times, but I don’t really recommend it… particularly if you have any respiratory or immune issues

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#3

I’ve smoked moldy brick more times than I like to admit. Not sure on health issues as it didn’t kill me but sure tastes better without!!:nerd_face:

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#4

Mold and mildew is naturally floating around in the air. When your conditions are off is when it will flourish. Normally you see bud mold aka bud rot in and on the most dense clusters or on one’s that don’t get good air circulation. It tends to spread from the inside out. Best course of action is to cut away the effected clusters and increase air circulation. You’ll also see it more if you spray your plants a lot without shaking the extra droplets off. Mildew tends to form on the leafs and spreads inward. Supposedly you can see mildew on your plant with one of those bio UVc flashlights people use to check for fluids and other bio-liquids

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#5

You might also notice the smell isn’t good. Like any fruit if it smells off it probably is. I’m Curious …why can you only smoke in the dark ? :joy:

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#6

Well I dont always smoke in the dark but usually im in a darkly lit room or in a room with the curtains drawn and no light comes in. So if I wanted to get a really good and close up look at the buds to see if they had any problems some one would have to physically get up and turn a light on or something lol.

I wanted to ask about mold because sometimes I worry and also I have noticed strange smells from time to time and I was wondering if it could be mold I think that today I will turn the lights on and get a really close look lol. If its on the inside though I will have to inspect as I go I guess. Seeing as how I am the one responsible for the weed I want to make sure that nothing is wrong with it. Also I am learning how to do this im only on my third grow so im still learning.

Thanks for the help.

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#7

The hell? Just turn on some lights. Problem solved. You’ll be able to tell

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#8

Yes I know lol. I need to stop smoking and turn a light on. I am to stoned lol.

You will be happy to know that I did put some lights on and I took a close look at the buds and they look good on the outside so now I will inspect them as they are being smoked to see what its like on the inside.

Thanks

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#9

Hahaha

Back in 1971 or so, I had been smoking reefer for the previous 4 or 5 years, and was struggling to figure out how to grow some dope. I was in a bookstore one day, and I saw this book and had to buy it. A Child’s Garden of Grass. I thought that it might have some info on how to grow this mysterious plant. Well, it was a very entertaining book, but it did not have anything that would help me grow. What it did have was some advice about how to enhance the potency of any grass.
I shudder now to think that I actually tried this simple process.
I never got sick or noticed any ill effects.
The book recommended actually creating moldy buds; take your bag of weed and moisten it with some water, then put it in a coffee can, seal it and then bury it for a few weeks or a month underground. Of course when opened it, it smelled like pond scum, slimy black mold all over.
I let it dry and smoked it up.
It did not work and I never did it again.And I think this wonderfully stupid technique was called Black Marta?
The above is all to the best of my recollection.

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#10

Wow, that sounds terrible. On the plus side I don’t feel so bad about smoking banana peels when I was younger lol

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#11

I personally wouldn’t recommend smoking it. Health is something not to play with (especially when we reach a certain age :sweat:) There’s a lot of info in the net about this …

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#12

i’m pretty sure botrytis/bud rot can start on the inside of the bud … luckily have never had to deal with it… i think i’ve also heard of white mold being visible when you break open buds… i’m not positive though

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#13

Black Muerta would make more sense as muerta means ‘dead’. A quick google turns up ‘black muerta’ as some sort of mystical person you can pray to or something.

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Still sounds like a terrible idea.

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#14

I have had mould and you are right on both counts. It starts in the middle of the bud and you eventually get white hairs inside the bud. Before you see anything though the smell will change, it will become slightly musty and not so yummy. This will increase as the mould eats the bud (and the smell) until it has eaten most of the bud.

This is the point it does the mould equivalent of flowering, which is the white strands you can see. By the time you can see it, it is a very mouldy bud indeed.

Basically if you can taste it when smoking, smell it, or see it, then the bud is very very mouldy and you should not smoke it. Ever.

Some people say you can get those tainted buds and wash them in water until you have washed off all the spores (I would suggest at least 3 rinses after you stop seeing any change in the water) then do something other than smoke them, like extract the THC with butane, or make butter. If the buds are very dense, break them up so the water can rinse more of the bud.

As far as I know the main danger is from smoking them as this can lead to a fungal infection in your lungs and lung disease.

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#15

Ya you should be able to taste it for sure and wouldn’t smoke it. I only got it once many years ago and it definitely started on the inside. Did exactly what was said above. Broke that off with plenty of extra to make sure I got it, got another fan and problem was solved.

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#16

Dude, I have probably smoked a small mountain of mold in my time. I think it’s far more common it weed than most people would realise. It also comes as different types. Powdery mold has a dank smell and a silvery powdery grey look, the mold that turns your buds to slime is botrytis and is a different one again, it tends to be visible as buds that are darker than looks right, especially often in the middle, they often have the smell of wet towels. Yummy! Also there is likely to be almost an endless number of molds that would grow on bud that is drying in conditions that are less than ideal.

It’s in theory very bad for you potentially, but I personally have never had an issue. My take on it is, as with many things, be alert, but not alarmed.

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#17

The only time I smoked moldy was in the late 80s when a buddy had close to a 1/2lb he was going to throw out.
So I gave him $100 for it, gave it all a rough chop, froze it, gave it a quick soak in Isopropyl, strained it, cooked off the isopropyl and smoked the resulting oil.
For $150 between the weed and isopropyl I used, it was a pretty decent amount of decent smoke considering crappier oil used to go for $10-$15 a gram back then.

Turned out Isopropyl supposedly kills the mild spores, just asked google, because I was wondering if my theory was right back then before Google, turns out maybe it was.

Edit: yes I did a small test run first prior to heading out and buying $50 worth of ISO.

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#18

What I have always wondered though is, if ISO kills the spores, surely the 800 degrees of combustion the weed is put through in the cone piece is going to be pretty effective at killing them?

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#19

True, but how are you preventing those spores from becoming airborne and inhaled prior to putting the heat to it?
Lots of opportunities to suck back spores between harvesting and having full heat applied to it.

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