How much mold is too much? When to toss?

My first grow I ran into mold in my last week or so of flower and I tossed the 2 colas that I found mold in, harvested and dried everything else. I haven't seen mold again until today. I was trimming, and only at the very end noticed a small patch of mold I could see with my naked eye. It was a tiny tiny patch, and not spread all over like I had seen it the first time I ran into this. I could only find that isolated little bit in the cola, so I tossed it. I went about checking all of the dense colas and found only tiny spots in a few. When I could spot it, I spotted it easily enough, but where I couldn't find it, I looked over and over and never could find any, worried I was missing it. That stuff got tossed into a Grove bag.

Here we are now: I'm wondering if what I kept is even good? The mold where present, was very small amounts, and only noticed after harvest at dry trim. Should I just assume the fan running during the drying probably blew it everywhere and everything dried in that area is now suspect? Then again if I consider my first encounter with mold, there was much more, it was during a grow (so not as far along), and I removed it and was able to dry just fine. But that was drying without it present (to my knowledge), where now I've potentially dried with small amounts.

I'm concerned with having only found it after the drying, did it spread during? Or am I OK with having just tossed where I could find it? It was only small small amounts that you really had to look and dig for to find. I'm also worried, that since where I could find it, was so small, maybe I missed some? It's in a Grove bag now, is this something that once the cure is done I'll be able to look at and tell if it was bad or will it remain hidden like it has until today?

I'm not convinced one way or another that it's OK, which leads me to want to toss it, but someone may be able to tell me that I'm overreacting or that it'll be obvious at the end of cure if there's a problem.

Also my first time not just reading but actually posting.

Any mold you can see is too much.

I just tossed my 2nd grow, over a pound because I saw some spider-web strand like material in my colas. Might have been actual spider web, might be a type of mold, no idea. Anyways it sucks but the point is..

Don't take a chance with your health. Learn from it, use products that fight mold & start over. Disinfect everything in your tent.

I've had many people tell me they make edibles/hash with "clean" sections, up to you bud. I wouldn't

sgnpuflm said:

worried, that since where I could find it, was so small, maybe I missed some?

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DrDukePHD said:

I just tossed my 2nd grow, over a pound because I saw some spider-web strand like material

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Thanks to both of you for being conscientious about this. I'd buy from you for sure.

there have only ever been 2 dethes related to cannabis, not directly, but the 2 people in question had lung problems in the first place, but smokeing mouldy bud was the trigger.
your helth is worth more then the weight of bud you loose.
as stated allready, it sucks big time, but its nessesary.
now you may be able to make edibals out of the bud, instead. try a search or someone will chime in on the subject.
inhailing the spores is the reason, so i personaly dont see the problem of extracting the oils from it and making gummies or whatever.
wait n see what others say

You need to cut your plants earlier. The longer you wait, the better chance of (botrytis/black/grey) mold has to grow. If you can control humidity and temps, you’ll have better luck taking the plant longer. If you’re not running co2 indoor I suggest you start cause that will make the plant stronger - which makes it stronger against molds.

post pics if you can

rob j said:

You need to cut your plants earlier. The longer you wait, the better chance of (botrytis/black/grey) mold has to grow. If you can control humidity and temps, you’ll have better luck taking the plant longer. If you’re not running co2 indoor I suggest you start cause that will make the plant stronger - which makes it stronger against molds.

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The first time I encountered it, it was rot related to humidity and the rot was very easy to spot on the outside of the colas. This time, it showed me no cause for concern to think I had an issue. I think you're right though, I wanted to cut it all down a week before I actually did, and figured I'd give it another week. I should have just cut then and there.

I had another with it in the tent/drying, but saw no signs of mold in it, or should I just nuke it all? Is finding a few tiny patches in specific areas really a death sentence for everything? I don't want to take any unnecessary chances, but was able to chop and dry around rot/mold before (I was advised it was OK to cut/toss the mold and harvest everything else). This situation feels different, having found it after everything, and with no rot involved and only the beginnings of minimal mold.

Will the mold progress through the cure? As in, if I missed some, will I then in a month be able to open the bag and see it's all bad? Or will it simply stop the growth of any new mold and preserve any that's already in the Grove bag?

My previous experience being "worse" and still being able to remedy it makes me wonder if this is salvageable or not? It's possible I don't have any options but the trash, or also likely I should have just tossed all of that original experience in the first place. My mind does keep considering that I had way more rot/mold before and made it out removing it just fine. Maybe I just need to toss it and I'm struggling to come to terms with it

Sadly I didn't take any pics though.

Just pick out the mold. Get a head lamp on, turn the lights off In the room, and open up the nugs to inspect for mold. Whatever has mold on it throw it out. If you jar up moldy buds it will spread, eventually. Sometimes it means you Jared it too early but most of the time the mold was already there

rob j said:

Just pick out the mold. Get a head lamp on, turn the lights off In the room, and open up the nugs to inspect for mold. Whatever has mold on it throw it out. If you jar up moldy buds it will spread, eventually. Sometimes it means you Jared it too early but most of the time the mold was already there

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Won't you kick up spores by picking out the mold which will then be airborne & get on the "ok" weed. I mean I'm a newbie, I have no idea.

DrDukePHD said:

Won't you kick up spores by picking out the mold which will then be airborne & get on the "ok" weed. I mean I'm a newbie, I have no idea.

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No. Mold is everywhere. The reason it has mold is usually because of issues when it was growing, like health of the plant, insects, environment…not the drying process.. unless you pack it too early, that would be a too humid environment since the bud has too much water in it still

DrDukePHD said:

Won't you kick up spores by picking out the mold which will then be airborne & get on the "ok" weed. I mean I'm a newbie, I have no idea.

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You can have a super moldy bud and a totally perfectly grown plant and that plant should be able to defend itself against that mold it was near. Two dried nugs, one nug lil mold in it, the other nug none at all super healthy… the clean one wouldn’t get the mold, unless they were In a jar together for like a week or more

rob j said:

You can have a super moldy bud and a totally perfectly grown plant and that plant should be able to defend itself against that mold it was near. Two dried nugs, one nug lil mold in it, the other nug none at all super healthy… the clean one wouldn’t get the mold, unless they were In a jar together for like a week or more

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Awesome thanks for the run-down on that.

"Smoking, vaping or inhaling contaminated cannabis can lead to life-threatening systemic fungal infections. An analysis of a large database of health insurance claims from 2016 found that cannabis users were 3.5 times more likely than non-cannabis users to have a fungal infection"

"the propensity for cannabis plants to become infested with an array of fungal pathogens means that cannabis products are routinely tested for the presence of harmful mycotoxins, such as aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, and ochratoxin A. The ingestion of these fungal metabolites can cause cancer, liver damage, and kidney damage."

"Certain genera of these fungi have the ability to produce secondary metabolites known as mycotoxins, which can elicit various forms of acute toxicity if consumed."

Too Many Mouldy Joints

DrDukePHD said:

Won't you kick up spores by picking out the mold which will then be airborne & get on the "ok" weed. I mean I'm a newbie, I have no idea.

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Exactly, worse you inhale those spores and they can last in the lungs for a long time causing problems years after exposure when your immune system isn't as healthy as it might be now.

Any amount of mold is too much mold-
As rob j said- mold spores exists everywhere-
the just need the correct conditions to actually grow. So controlling the environment will effectively control the mold. As frustrating as it is - toss anything that has mold immediately- in an outdoor garbage container- do not keep it in the house.
Also discard any fruit or vegetables that are no good promptly.

even if it's just a small amount the bud is always going to have that gross aspergillus taste to it

Just say NO to mold!!

I tossed a whole plant because one cola got bud rot, and i spotted some random patches in other buds.

Cut my losses & just chucked the whole thing.

PopAndSonGrows said:

I tossed a whole plant because one cola got bud rot, and i spotted some random patches in other buds.

Cut my losses & just chucked the whole thing.

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Just don't toss a pound of loud weed in the trash can, or throw it in the woods etc. It will stink for 3 square miles. Ask me how i know

Put it in bags, take it to the dump.