OMG I found some mold spots

Illegal Smile

Well-Known Member
Its been curing in jars for 2 weeks and has been aired out every day. There are a few spots here and there that under magnification look like webs. What can I do? Do I have to throw it all out?
 

GoldenGanja13

Well-Known Member
This is discouraging but what is needed to do now is take out every jar and empty it on a big plate and sift through with a magnified glass and pick out all that have one spot or web of mold. Place in a separate jar and cover with the highest proof alcohol you can buy. Do not use rubbing alcohol. After 2 weeks strain and and evaporate alcohol and scoop up the oil.
As for the good buds, leave them on plate for a few hours to ensure they are dried then place in a new jar and open every couple hours to make sure they get no more moisture.
 

dannyboy602

Well-Known Member
Yeah I got out of the shower this morning and found some mold spots. I'm not gonna tell ya where. Isn't there a patch for that?
 

pelt1

Well-Known Member
If you want to keep the bud for smoke later, an alternative to creating oil is to go ahead and start a water cure on them. This will eliminate your mold problems when you're done.
 

Illegal Smile

Well-Known Member
I think I'm going to throw it all out to be safe. The lower buds from the same harvest seem ok even though they were dried the same way. The mold is on the top colas which is a shame because they were just loaded with trichs.
 

Illegal Smile

Well-Known Member
I'm all in favor of saving as much as I can. But I read so much saying even when you can't see it on some buds, it is there and can be dangerous. I don't want to be wasteful or take risks of making someone sick.

I've never had mold. I don't know how the heck it happened this time. So anyway, I really appreciate any step by step advice. I have it in the oven right now at only 200 degrees and will do it only 10 min or so. Should I then cut out the mold spots like little tumors? How much around them? Then go back to a regular drying regimen for the rest? Is there any way I can then know that it is clean?
 

pelt1

Well-Known Member
I'm all in favor of saving as much as I can. But I read so much saying even when you can't see it on some buds, it is there and can be dangerous. I don't want to be wasteful or take risks of making someone sick.

I've never had mold. I don't know how the heck it happened this time. So anyway, I really appreciate any step by step advice. I have it in the oven right now at only 200 degrees and will do it only 10 min or so. Should I then cut out the mold spots like little tumors? How much around them? Then go back to a regular drying regimen for the rest? Is there any way I can then know that it is clean?
Mold is made out to be much more of a big deal than it is it seems. But with that, I don't know if you've looked into water-cure, but if you were thinking of throwing the herb out, water-curing will fix the mold problem, and you will have some smooth smoke. Bag appeal diminishes, but it's still really good smoke.
 

Illegal Smile

Well-Known Member
This was just the top colas and it was already cut into golf ball size pieces. I went through it piece by piece under strong light and with magnification. Any piece with more than 2 spots I threw out. Those with 1 or 2 spots, I cut an area around the spot away and kept the rest. I lost about 25% of the total weight but that's fine if the rest proves to be clean. I put it back into drying and will return it to well-cleaned jars maybe tomorrow.
 
I've had this happen, as have other friends of mine. What happened is you put it into jars with too much water still in the buds. Probably 20-30% water still in there, and you should be dropping your buds into jars at about 10% or less. I know it's really hard to tell how much moisture is in the buds, but they should definitely feel very crispy on the outside when you jar them, then in a few hours in the jar they should be back to soft and squishy. You only have 3-5 days to get that moisture that's left way down to around 5% or less, and then finish your cure. If you take too long letting that last moisture cook out of your buds in jars-mold forms, due to moisture.
With your current crop...just do what you've already done, chop away the bad spots and make sure it's completely dried. Hell over dry it rather than try and leave a little moisture, that way you know mold can't form. (no moisture, no mold).
Once your buds are all 100% dry, you won't have any issues with further mold growth. Regarding what might be on there but you can't see...smoke that shit. You won't die unless your smoking massive webs of that stuff, and even then you'd probably be just fine as your just inhaling the burned smoke, not the actual spores.
 
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