How to Check If You Have Moldy Weed and How to Prevent It in the Future

Five Most Effective Techniques to Check for Moldy Weed And How To Prevent It

moldy marijuana and prevent it

For many, mold is a normal occurrence that grows on things, these could be bread, fruit or even walls. However, mold growth on the cannabis plant is a very serious issue as it can not only lead to the death of the plant but also cause danger to our health. This is why it is very important and crucial to regularly check for moldy weed and also figure out ways of preventing it. Checking for mold should be a continuous process throughout the entire lifecycle of the plant as this will enable you to quickly catch the mold and prevent it from spreading by getting rid of the affected buds.

Types of Mold

There are mainly 3 types of mold:

1. Powdery mildew which looks like a sprinkling of powder on the exterior of your plant and usually starts with some white dots that are close together,

2. The fuzzy white mold which is the more common type of mold that affects most things. As its name indicates, it is usually fuzzy and white but changes color over time,

3. Bud rot is harder to notice as it affects the plant from the center of the buds and making them rot. It is a bit similar to the fuzzy white mold as it usually has the white webbing which changes color until it has black spores.

Checking For Moldy Weed

If you suspect or feel that your plant has mold, the next thing to do is to thoroughly check and below are some very good ways of doing that.

Look- If you want to know if your plant has mold, some essential pointers will indicate if the cannabis plant has mold or not. These include dark spots or spores, slime, discolored roots, powdery appearance and a certain web-like material on your plant which can be seen with the naked eye but you can also have a black lens or light at hand to carry out the check properly.

Smell- your normal healthy plant has some distinct aromas like berry, skunk or diesel which will tell you the plant is a healthy cannabis plant. However, if your plant has a musky urine-like or sweaty smell, this probably means that your plant has mold although some molds don’t produce any smell until they are in advanced stages.

Feel- Touching and feeling your cannabis plant also helps in the detection of mold as healthy plants usually have a dry and crispy feel while those that are damp or spongy are very likely to have mold.

Looking with the aid of equipment – there are some types of equipment that could aid in the early detection of mold before it escalates. These include a microscope, jewelers' loop or a strong magnifying glass to help check deeper than the naked eye could see as there are some structures (hyphae) produced by mold which look nothing like the rest of the cannabis plant.

Recalls – As a cannabis grower, it is essential to regularly check for information regarding your strains, techniques or latest developments in the cannabis growing world as this will help keep you abreast of new ways you could help improve your plants. While doing this, there is a possibility of finding out about recalls of some strains due to the presence of mold as such cases often come up especially in cases where it has been shipped to multiple locations.

For most growers, checking for mold takes practice and years of experience but new or inexperienced growers can also carry out these checks on their plants regularly. Also, most times it is better to carry out all the checks to eliminate any possibility of mold.

Reasons Why You Might Experience Mold on Your Cannabis and How to Prevent It

Mold thrives majorly in environments with moisture, warm temperature and lack of air circulation. These factors are the ones that aid the growth of mold on your plant as it is found that mold is unable to grow in places that are dry, too hot or cold and has good air circulation. This means that your grow room must be engineered in such a way that it will be difficult for mold to grow on your plant. Also, you can get plants that have high resistance such as cannatonic, hashberry, satori and pineapple express or those that are suitable to your environment. However, this is not all as you also have to ensure that your cannabis plants have the right grow-environment and proper care that will enable them to grow mold-free.

Lastly, you must also ensure that your cannabis is stored in a dry area after harvest and that no humidity is allowed to penetrate wherever it is secured until you are ready to use.