Prevent Dreaded Botrytis (Bud Rot) In Your Medical Marijuana
Botrytis turns the buds to mush from the inside out. 
There are few things as disturbing as seeing a medical marijuana garden struck with a plague of botrytis. Botrytis, or bud rot, is a pathogenic fungi that destroys beautiful medical marijuana buds from the inside out. Out of all the nasty pathogens to avoid in a medical marijuana garden, botrytis is at the top of the list.
I can vouch for its unwavering path of destruction. In my 10 years as a medical marijuana grower, I have yet to experience a more disappointing and frustrating instance than the time I lost half of my outdoor crop to the dreaded botrytis. Like all detrimental gardening experiences, I learned from my mistakes and will do everything in my power to never repeat them. The one thing I leaned about this disgusting fungi is that avoidance is your best and only real option.
Monitor Your MedGrow Humidity and Temperature
Like other pathogenic fungus, botrytis loves high humidity. Botrytis cannot establish in environments with low humidity. The best way to avoid this fungi in an indoor garden or greenhouse is to keep the humidity below 60%. In an outdoor garden this can be rather difficult because you are at the mercy of mother nature. If your outdoor garden is in a region that experiences a lot of rain showers in the fall it may be necessary to “umbrella” your plants to protect them from the additional moisture.
The preferred temperature for botrytis is different than other pathogenic fungus. Botrytis actually likes cooler temperatures which is why it always shows up in late summer or fall when the temperature decreases. To deter botrytis from establishing in indoor or greenhouse gardens, simply implement a heat source in the later stages of flowering to keep temperatures consistent. It is especially important to monitor nighttime temperatures because of the higher humidity in the environment at that time. High humidity teamed with relatively low temperatures is a recipe for botrytis. As with humidity, an outdoor garden is subject to whatever temperature mother nature provides.
Know When To Harvest Your Medical Marijuana
Outdoor medical marijuana growers need to pay close attention to their plants during the final stages of blooming. If there is any sign of botrytis the best thing to do is cut it completely out of the plant and begin harvesting. An early harvest is better than no harvest at all. If you are seeing botrytis on any of your plants there is a very good chance that all of your plants are infected with the fungi. The best thing you can do is harvest as fast as you can. Waiting is a recipe for disaster. I’ve heard of growers who just cut the infected sections out of their plants and continued growing but my experience has showed me that once you see botrytis it’s a race from there on out. Each cool night the infected plants are left outdoors will accelerate the botrytis’ growth.
How To Spot Bud Rot
Look for random dead or dying leaves stemming from the middle of buds (usually larger buds). Remove any dead leaves and inspect where the leaf was removed. If a brown or grey fuzz is observed, remove immediately. Botrytis turns the buds to mush from the inside out and can sometimes be hard to notice until after it is too late. I suggest examining the large buds of your medical marijuana plants every day by not only looking at them but also squeezing and touching. There is a very noticeable difference in the way an infected bud feels.
Keep your eyes open this outdoor season for the infamous botrytis. Hopefully with a little knowledge and some luck you will never have to experience this disgraceful organism.
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Wednesday, 30 May 2012
