Moldy buds right before harvest, solutions?

I've been growing this blueberry plant from seed from just before summer, spent absurd amount of time and effort into it as it was 1 of 2 plants in my 2nd grow (the other one came out with nanners and has to be prematurely harvested).
So, I had really high hopes that this one will turn out great and now doing a regular check after being away for 3 days and I found that one cluster of buds have a ton of mold inbetween then and have started to rot away.

I did remove those 3 buds that were touchhing together which made them mold up on that side.

Now my question is: is the rest of the plant safe? I know spores are probably all over the plant but how dangerous is it to smoke?

2nd question would be: can I do anything with these few buds I cut off? They were rotted and molden on only one side (where they were touching). Can I cut off those bits, or like most of the buds and leave only the parts furthest away from the mold and perhaps decarb it for some edibles?

I know that we grow and we learn and I know most people would suggest so scrap all the affected parts or even the whole plant. But this really had me gutted as I F-ed up both plants for which I really put in some work and really wanted to have some well-earned decent smoke for the winter days.

Further clarification on the situation as I may not have been entirely specific:

The plant is in week 13 of flower as I left it in longer because it had early stress that delayed its cycle. I left it for a few days but it was cold weather during the night and under 600w hps light the difference in temps was 10°C (18 night, 27-28 day). I'm sure the RH in the room exceeded 70% at night as well unfortunately. Not sure for how long it's been happening though.

Only found it on a cluester of buds that were touching and pretty much completely together. That one is completely written off (the pictures).
Had another cluster of buds (due to me being silly and topping right before 12-12) which also had some mold in between them which I wiped off with my finger easily. Not sure what do I do with those.

Sorry for TL;DR post here but there's one thing I've seen some time ago is drenching the harvested outdoor plants in hydrogen peroxide/water mix.
How legit is that method? Is it stupid? Will the H202 evaporate completely in drying? Will it extend the drying time and with that the risk for more mold?

I have a billion questions and I'm also pissed about my luck. Thx for TED

Not sure if washing will help with mold though. I’m sure all the buds have the spores. Maybe able to make edibles if I read it correctly.

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Not sure if washing will help with mold though. I’m sure all the buds have the spores. Maybe able to make edibles if I read it correctly.

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Even the buds on the other side of the plant aren't usable due to the spores being spread out?
Washinf with hydrogen peroxide should kill all of the mold, shouldn't it?

And, should I harvest immediately ? And should I pick out all buds separately for drying instead of hanging whole branches?

420MJ420 said:

Even the buds on the other side of the plant aren't usable due to the spores being spread out?
Washinf with hydrogen peroxide should kill all of the mold, shouldn't it?

And, should I harvest immediately ? And should I pick out all buds separately for drying instead of hanging whole branches?

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Dont wash them. How much longer do the plants have? Once you see mold on some buds, more usually follows. If you want to cut some mold out, turn off all your fans and airflow and wear gloves. Carefully snip the infected buds away. Might get you another week or two of growing.

natureboygrower said:

Dont wash them. How much longer do the plants have? Once you see mold on some buds, more usually follows. If you want to cut some mold out, turn off all your fans and airflow and wear gloves. Carefully snip the infected buds away. Might get you another week or two of growing.

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They were days before harvesting. I already removed and quarantined the plant. Removed the cluster of buds with the rot and mold.
It's ready to be chopped but I don't know in what conditions to dry it.
The other buds have no visible mold on them and I belive don't have any on the inside as well.
I don't wanna jinx it but I think i caught it early and the only molded part is the one where the buds rubbed between each other with 0 airflow.
But is that enough to spread spores everywhere? And how would that happen if no airflow gets to the molded parts?

420MJ420 said:

They were days before harvesting. I already removed and quarantined the plant. Removed the cluster of buds with the rot and mold.
It's ready to be chopped but I don't know in what conditions to dry it.
The other buds have no visible mold on them and I belive don't have any on the inside as well.
I don't wanna jinx it but I think i caught it early and the only molded part is the one where the buds rubbed between each other with 0 airflow.
But is that enough to spread spores everywhere? And how would that happen if no airflow gets to the molded parts?

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You've pretty much answered your own questions. Usually I dry at 60% and 60°f but in your case, I wouldn't worry about that 60% just yet. Dont blast a fan on them and just let them dry. What are your drying conditions?

If you did a thorough inspection and you did not see any mold, carry on with your drying but remain vigilant checking them twice daily. Gl

After rereading , washing your buds is up to you. It's usually for pm I believe but honestly, that mold looks pretty bad and the chances that it spread spores inside your grow are very good. I personally would not smoke it, sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear, but being inside with fans...
I'd make edibles out of it.

Nice looking buds btw. Humidity is a killer and you cant really go wrong with a lot of airflow

natureboygrower said:

After rereading , washing your buds is up to you. It's usually for pm I believe but honestly, that mold looks pretty bad and the chances that it spread spores inside your grow are very good. I personally would not smoke it, sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear, but being inside with fans...
I'd make edibles out of it.

Nice looking buds btw. Humidity is a killer and you cant really go wrong with a lot of airflow

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I understand, I was expecting most answers to favor scrapping it. But as I noted above, the pictured mold is from one cluster of buds that were constantly pressed into each other, and that mold is in betweem them and I noticed it after completely breaking the bud (or two colas) in half. So that moldy part had absolutely no exposure to free flowing air since like week 9 of flower probably.

The following pics may tell more. All those single big colas are, I believe mold-free as there have never been moisture build-up as they were exposed to air movement.
You can see that I have multiple of those branches with many side buds that press into each other. The rotted one was the branch with the tightest cluster of buds. They were literally pressed into one single bud.
The brownish color is from a rotten leaf that had grown on the inside part of the bud that was squished up against the others.
The mold looks identical to fruit mold. Dont know the strains and their toxicity to humans well enough.

This shit just got ethical....

Only real solution is to run a dehumidifier on full blast. It will stop it from spreading whether you continue growing or chop it to dry.

Afterwards, you'll likely find that even though you don't see actual new mold forming, lots of healthy looking buds will still rot/turn brown and die from already being infected.

Mold takes over quick, i've had it destroy entire crops within 1 night after finding a few colas with bud rot, and there wasn't much i could do.

It's always there to begin with, unless you have a clean room. Just waiting for the right conditions.

I've picked through plenty of harvests ruined by botrytis, and salvaged whatever I could to smoke. Same with cartons of fresh strawberries.. You can tell if a bud is bad or good.

I'll never not have a dehuey though, whether growing indoor or in a greenhouse. Learned my lesson too many times.

Mold is systemic, particularly if caused by environment in a tent rather than caterpillar shit.

Broke off some buds on the dense colas that were similar to the one that was affected: found no suspicious material. Spent a good chunk of time inspecting the plant now, and I'm thinking the mold appeared there only because the two buds were firmly pressed into eachother causing humidity to get trapped making it rot away.
I don't think spores travel that easily, especially if the place where they are situated gets zero airflow do they?

Update: harvested the plant and separated the most dense buds. Found one more place where 3 buds were touching and its started moulding. I'm going to discard those.

If anyone had a similar experiwnce that could tell me how should I dry it and cure it now? Should I aim for a quicker dry with higher temps and lower RH? What range would that be?

Also for curing, is it better to use a glass jar way bigger than needed or to just separate the material in multiple jars?

Any input other than "toss it it's not worth it or it could kill you" or else, is gladly appreciated.

You'll want to open up each bud and look inside with a scope. Lots of times when you find mold in one bud, you'll find lots of other buds with no obvious mold on the outside, but mold forming deep inside the cola, usually right up against the stem. Check each nug after you dry, when you jar them up too. I would just dry the mold-free buds as normal and hope for the best. Good luck!

don't think spores travel that easily, especially if the place where they are situated gets zero airflow do they?

Yes and zero airflow is part of the problem

Any input other than "toss it it's not worth it or it could kill you" or else, is gladly appreciated.


pack a bowl and fire it up, it’s your health and your weed. good luck and your welcome

bam0813 said:

don't think spores travel that easily, especially if the place where they are situated gets zero airflow do they?

Yes and zero airflow is part of the problem

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That's mistaken; spores travel very readily, they're tiny and stay airborne

To each their own, but any moldy bud should be discarded

bam0813 said:

don't think spores travel that easily, especially if the place where they are situated gets zero airflow do they?

Yes and zero airflow is part of the problem

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It’s actually opposite. Spores become more “condensed” without airflow. Causing faster spread and higher levels of spores in the air.

move your air. Think of it like a flow. Plus agitation. Both are key to avoiding buds rot

I know peeps, it was op’s quote