What it is
Gray mold: a fungus that rots the buds from the inside out. It's flowering's worst nightmare, because by the time you see it from the outside it's already done damage inside, and it spreads from bud to bud.
How to tell
The first sign is a small bud leaf that suddenly turns yellow and dries out for no reason. If you open the bud, the inside is brown, wet or covered in gray fuzz. Later the fuzz shows on the outside.
What favors it
Humidity above 60 % in flowering, very fat and dense buds (indicas suffer more), still air, rain outdoors and cold, damp nights. It also shows up in drying if the room is humid.
What to do
There's no cure: cut out the rotten bud with a healthy margin, using clean scissors, put it in a bag without shaking it (the spores fly) and throw it far away. Then you have to check every day. What works is prevention: humidity of 40 to 50 %, good airflow, and removing leaves that trap moisture (defoliation).
▲ Pros
- If you fix it early it hardly shows at harvest
▼ Cons
- Unfixed it lowers grams and quality
🎮 Practice it in UnderGrow
Shows up in flowering: its chance is 3 times higher with air humidity over 60 % and double if it rains; defoliation halves it (neem doesn't prevent it). You remove it with prune › remove rotten buds: you lose those buds, but it stops. The lens spots it earlier.
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