The post you're quoting here is from two and a half years ago. I wouldn't buy clones from anybody if the weather is too hot, or too cold for shipping. I'm probably wrong because a lot of these are older strains that people are buying, but my personal theory is that feminized breeding has made it easier for these diseases to take hold. A feminized plant has no male DNA. It seems to me that would lead to decreased disease resistance, but what do I know?
Systemic mold is inside the mother or clone and takes at least weeks to show. This is not a surface problem, and no chance in hell does it happen overnight. I have had one plant die in shipping last year from heat delivered on 100 degree day. This is from genius with best plant nutrition, pest, and disease posts ever and exactly what I have pictures of. I currently have clones that were salvaged from a mold infected mother, took forever to root, and are showing first signs 25 days after cloning. The mother looks fine, but the high moisture levels clones need is perfect breeding ground for mold.
Thanks to MyNameStitch -
Stem Canker (Stem Rot)
Stem cankers are what the name is, they form on stems from a fungus similar to white and yellow leaf spot. Weather can affect the way stem cankers can live; wet humid weather is what makes this fungus thrive. Canker fungus is caused and entered the same white and leaf spot fungus enters the plants, it enters through an open cut, wound, pruned wound, or pest infestation that has caused damage by eating leaves or chewing on the stem’s or stalks and can be transferred through rain. It can also get in through susceptible plants that have been wounded through environmental factors like animal attacks, pruning, LST (Low Stress Training), and using cutting utensils that are not sanitary that may have fungus or bacteria on them.
Damage to the plant occurs in the form of a yellowish-brown discoloration on the lower portion of the stalk. Later, the leaves turn yellow and fall off, and the plant dries out and dies.They form mostly on the stems, but severe cases spotting starts to form on the leaves from internal tissue being cut of nutrients and water. In between nodes is where stem cankers start to form, and move up the plant, around the 3rd, 4th and 5th node is where it will mainly affects the plants. Stems will have brown lesions; eventually have a dark reddish-brown sunken canker in the stem. Sometimes if severe the wound may reopen and appear split in the middle of the area of the wound on the stem and can also create a buldge. The lesions can extend up the plant over 3 or 4 nodes, once this happens the plant starts to wilt from vascular uptake being cut. This gets confused with root rot when the plant starts to wilt, and leaves turn yellowish brown and or spots, because the stem canker does not show itself yet once this starts to happen. Once the stem canker has been observed and if not treated, the leaves will start to wilt with yellow, white and brown spots, similar to white and yellow leaf spot. When plants are affected by this, the plant is more susceptible to more fungus and viral infections, from air borne spores.
Prevent and Control
Preventing stem cankers is about the same way other fungus problems, making sure you treat wounds to your plant with H202, making sure your plants are free of pest’s and if you use tools to LST (low stress training) your plants pruning, and training, make sure all tools are sterilized before and after using them. Spraying your plant with fungicides in the months or times this fungus spreads. It’s very important that you catch this fungus before it gets to bad, once the damage has been done to the plant; the only way to get rid of this is to chop the plant down and treat the area that has been infected. Planting other plants near and or around this area can and will re-affect other plants when a new season starts.
Once your plant does have this, using fungicides until it is gone is crucial; if the canker has worsened foliar feeding is a must to help keep the plants vigor, strength and stamina in fighting the fungus. Stem cankers take over by slowly reducing the plants uptake and thus takes over the susceptibility of the plant and the fungus then takes over and worsens more quickly. Using anyone of these products will help control or eliminate stem cankers. (If the plant is to bad, nothing can save it and the plant must be cut down and tools sanitized to stop the spread of the fungus.) (Note: When using chemical and or organic control methods, do not spray the buds, and for health and safety reasons, stay away from spraying around the buds if all possible.)
Physan 20
TR-11000 Pyrethrum
Garden Disease Control
Multi Purpose Fungicide
Top Spin
Safer's Garden Fungicide
Concern Copper Soap Fungicide
Guardian Angel
Serenade Garden Disease Control OMRI
Safer 3-in1 Garden Spray OMRI
Sulfur Vaporizer
Organocide
SM-90
Any fungicide containing lime sulphur
Concern Copper Soap Fungicide
Fusarium Wilt
The United States released this fungus in an area; it later had devastating effects on cannabis plants even after winter had passed it stayed in the soil. Seedlings that were planted were killed several years after the fungus was released. This fungus can be air borne and transmitted like other fungus and pathogens, it gets in through susceptible plants that have been wounded through environmental factors like animal attacks, pruning, LST (Low Stress Training), pest infestation and using cutting utensils that are not sanitary that may have fungus or bacteria on them. Fusarium wilt causes internal damage to vascular lines inside the plant and blocks the plants ability to carry water and nutrients. Symptoms included wilting of the plant, leaves becoming necrotic and yellowing wilting of the leaves while the yellowing leaves may look like a nutrient deficiency, this is clearly a mask, with Fusarium wilt, leaves will yellow and stay on the plant, where with a nitrogen deficiency the leaves will yellow and fall off. While not affecting the roots, it does affect inside the plant cell walls, inside the plants walls will reveal a red brown color inside the tissue. Stems will change color from normal green and purple hue, to a dark purple to blackish color. This pathogen can get confused with root rot, because the symptoms this pathogen shows are nearly the same as root rot, but roots are not affected. This clogging effect inside is what causes the external symptoms. While this fungus is traveling inside the plant, the toxins spread to uninfected areas and causing the clogging effect internally, these toxins is what causes the other un infected tissue to start to show the 2ndary problems, which are slow wilting of the leaves, stem collapse, stem discoloration and overall droopiness (as if the plant is dry and had no water) to parts of the plant, even if they get plenty of water. This fungus is a real killer to cannabis plants, any remaining plants that are survived can be stunted. Fusarium Wilt thrives in warm moist temperatures, which is why southern states have Fusarium Wilt the worst.
Prevent and Control
Fusarium Wilt is by far one of the hardest things for cannabis to overcome, if it ever does overcome it. Your plant health, environment and strain have a lot to do with weather or not Fusarium wilt will take over your plants. This pathogen mainly affects cannabis and hemp family, but can affect other plants but does not show the damaging effect it has on cannabis, like it does on other kinds of plants. This pathogen was breed specifically to attack wild cannabis plants and growers who grow there plants outdoors’. There is no form of organic control for this type, reason for this is, because the fungus is so strong and not susceptible to much of anything unless you get it right when it starts, if you do not get it in time, it thrives in the plants and consumes and kills the plants. There is only a few ways to control this fungus, one is to fumigate the area you are growing in killing the pathogen in the soil while it is dormant, so when you grow in this area again, your plants are much less likely to get it, the only other way your plants could get this if not from the soil, is from airborne spores get in through open wounds on your plants leaves, stems and stalks. Plants that produced seeds when it was infected with Fusarium wilt should not be used, as the pathogen stays dormant on the seed and attacks it when the seedling emerges and causing the “damping off” effect and thus killing the seedling before it even has a chance to grow it’s real first set of leaves. Acidic soil helps boost Fusarium wilt. Stay away from acidic soils .Counteract this by using dolomite lime, or green sand Using potassium and calcium enriched organic nutrients can help fight off and prevent Fusarium wilt, excessive amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus can speed up Fusarium wilt.
If your plant gets this it will surely die, the only thing you can do is try to reduce the destruction by foliar feeding areas that are not infected, cut off infected areas discard them away from your growing areas and treat the wound with h202 (Hydrogen Peroxide).
Making sure you clean your tools afterwards is important. Treating with fungicides will not work in controlling this.