Mold

[Goddess]

I harvested my last crop a day early, manicured it immediately and quick dried it in the oven, no heat but the gas pilot burning which makes it about 95-100 F in there, because I found mold in some of the buds. This is the first time this has happened to me. I hadn't really been monitoring humidity, though I do keep a hygrometer in the room, but after I found this have noticed it seems to be around 60% at lights on, then within a couple of hours it drops to around 35-40%. The room is air conditioned which I know also dehumidifies, but it barely runs during lights out. There is also an intake and exhaust in the room circulating air from the crawlspace. This, as well as an oscillating fan, has only been running during lights on. Should I start running this 24/7? Any other suggestions for avoiding this in the future? I'm switching to a strain that grows bigger, denser buds too so really need to get this resolved. I hope it's a seasonal thing, since it's pretty humid around here.

[Foxy]

The room is air conditioned which I know also dehumidifies, but it barely runs during lights out. There is also an intake and exhaust in the room circulating air from the crawlspace. This, as well as an oscillating fan, has only been running during lights on. Should I start running this 24/7? Any other suggestions for avoiding this in the future?

That's serious mold eh young lady??!?! :( There's a few things you can do, depending on your needs and preferences... If you can do, yep, air exchange and circulation on 24/7 is the choice of champions 2thumbs. If we're talking absoloute ideal grow setup, you use heaters and aircon to adjust your temperatures, not your air exchange rate, which should always be set on full. ;) I rarely get mold if all the leaves in the room at least "twitch" with the airflow or sweep of a fan.

But of course, we live in the real world and you may not be able to keep everything on full, 24/7. If not, then if you had to choose either the exchange fans or the oscillating fans and say keep the oscillating fans on because they'll have a better chance of moving air around your buds.

If you can't have any fans on, the most effective preventative I've used are sulphur burners. I use a Hotbox sulfume, 2 hours a night, from when pistil formation slows till about a week before harvest. I actually use it before then too, once a week, 'cause it seems to kill most other bad things too.:D

The best help I've found when you've found rot is Hydrogarden's "Bud Rot Stop", but I don't know if you can get Hydrogarden products over there? It's very clever, it seems to stop it dead and turn the affected area a very dark crispy brown which no longer spreads.

Just as a note though, some strains just mold up a bit, no matter what you do. :( I grew Critical Mass for 4 or 5 grows and always lost some to mold, no matter what I did or trick I tried. :shrug:

Good luck 2thumbs

[Goddess]

Thanks, Foxy. :)

I pictured the worst bud I could find. Not all of it molded, and one great thing about staggered harvest is most problems like this only affect a small percentage of the room. :)

I removed the timer from the ventilation and oscillating fan connection so it's on 24/7 now, but humidity is currently 73% with about four hours until lights on. :eek: Rain is forecast, maybe why it's so high right now. But all the leaves are twitching. :)

[tripps]

I got a little mold last harvest, but I only lost 2 oz out of 3 lbs or so, didn't look like that, just kinda grey and dead looking inside, I only intended to grow in winter, RH was always 35-40%. I had big, dense buds, and I let them go 13 weeks, seeking couchlock, plus my RH climbed to 60-7-% till the lights brought it back down after a couple hours on. Guess I'm saying that I was asking for it, LOL, I intend to do 2 crops this winter, then take the summer off, it would be very difficult for me to grow in summer. Running a dehumidifier in there exacerbated my heat problem, had to turn it off.

[Mr Burns]

In the beginning I used to back the extraction off to 15-20% at lights off. I never had mould but some guy with a bushy tail once taught me lesson on 24/7 extraction and the benefits ;)
My yields went up roughly 20% even at a raised 60% extraction rate during lights off, but because I can't go any higher for security reasons I do have an electric heater installed. I chose electric because of the 'dry' heat it gives off in hope of lowering the humidity, which it does :) and although having the extraction turned on along with a heater may seem a waste of money with you thinking that the heat will just be sucked straight out, it isn't. With the oscillating fans on 24/7 also these three really do make the difference.

The only mould I ever suffered was with SK1, which is one reason I stay away from SK varieties :)

[San]

I've got to agree with max airflow 24/7, one factor for max yeild ;)

I use a small 2kw fan heater with a built in thermostat in winter, and have a 10L de-humidifier set on constant during lights out from about week 5, just when you normally drop the EC ;) constant de-humidification whilst running max EC up to week 5 can be a little detrimental, so I set it to 60% up to that point, which maintains a 60-70% average.

Once mold is spotted, the addition of a de-humidifier will halt it in it's tracks ;)

San:smokin:

[majestyk5]

gotta figure, the wind blows at night outside, right
:D

[Foxy]

I agree with all this, I don't know where its come from but there seems to be a feeling that plants don't breath when the lights are off. :shrug: The two main reasons for not having full exchange and circulation on 24/7, is security from noise and lets face it, lack of money. :( It costs money to buy and then run heaters and aircon. Or I guess lack of space could be a third reason.

I don't want to make out that my setup is anywhere near perfect by the way, it's a long, long, long way off but I think we owe it to ourselves and the others that read this stuff to acknowledge what the absoloute ideal is first, then compromise down to what's possible for us in real life. :)

[Goddess]

2thumbs I'm planning to leave AC and all ventilation running 24/7, unless someone is coming over which is rare and I always know ahead of time. For a surprise visit they have to go past a locked gate 200' away and dogs. :D I wanted it that way anyway just for smoking, so I can have the windows and doors open, bong hits flowing freely and even wander around outside smoking with no worries. :bong: :hippy: :D

If the increased ventilation doesn't prevent mold from forming I'll get a dehumidifier. Whatever my plants need they will get. ;) This will be my first winter with this room and I'll probably have to put a heater in there to run during lights off since there are no house vents in that area, and doubt mold will be an issue then.