Does anyone do their own mold testing????

[Loc Dog]

Tumi sells HLVD and mold tests cheap, but big minimum order for hobbyists.

I am poor, so cheap. Has anyone just bought premade agar petri dishes which are about $1 a piece, and have simple tek for testing.

Would think just take snips from certain parts, sanitizing outside, crushing, and adding to dish and waiting to identify from pictures on google. Simplest setup is glove box and cheap flow hoods are under $200.

Also wondering if anyone did it and came back with zero growth, and is that the goal.

 

[Creeperpark]

If you have to test a clone from a vendor something is wrong. I would stop using outside clones and find my own mother from seeds. Heres two places that have tests for sale.

TYM Tests for Cannabis, Total Yeast and Mold Contamination

A low TYM result does not mean a cannabis sample is free of pathogens. A high TYM result doesn’t mean a sample is harmful to consumers.

medicinalgenomics.com

https://mjbizdaily.com/6-rapid-tests-approved-to-detect-yeast-and-mold-in-cannabis/

 

[Loc Dog]

If you have to test a clone from a vendor something is wrong. I would stop using outside clones and find my own mother from seeds. Heres two places that have tests for sale.

TYM Tests for Cannabis, Total Yeast and Mold Contamination

A low TYM result does not mean a cannabis sample is free of pathogens. A high TYM result doesn’t mean a sample is harmful to consumers.

medicinalgenomics.com

https://mjbizdaily.com/6-rapid-tests-approved-to-detect-yeast-and-mold-in-cannabis/

Is that complete cost for 200 tests??? That is cheap. I just want to identify what may be in plants. Anyones plants can get infected if mold is present and conditions bad.

 

[Loc Dog]

If you have to test a clone from a vendor something is wrong. I would stop using outside clones and find my own mother from seeds. Heres two places that have tests for sale.

TYM Tests for Cannabis, Total Yeast and Mold Contamination

A low TYM result does not mean a cannabis sample is free of pathogens. A high TYM result doesn’t mean a sample is harmful to consumers.

medicinalgenomics.com

https://mjbizdaily.com/6-rapid-tests-approved-to-detect-yeast-and-mold-in-cannabis/

Just looked into those tests and they are for testing flower, require another $1500 in supplies for 200 samples and require a machine that is over $6000. I want to test mother plants and clones since if infected, the clones have high probability of not living through flower.

For HLVD purple city has in expensive tests, around $15 a piece in bulk and only $1000 in equipment. Agdia HLVD testing is $10K machine and supplies about $20 a test in bulk.

 

[Ringodoggie]

I just did a quick search on "mold testing kits" and hit a bunch of home mold testing kits. Some test air only. Others test surfaces using tape (that might work on a plant leaf).

All are under 20 to 30 bucks and some do not require sending to a lab.

Not sure how they would work on plants and/or what type of mold they test for but they are cheap cheap and if they work...... well, maybe you'll get lucky.

 

[Loc Dog]

I just did a quick search on "mold testing kits" and hit a bunch of home mold testing kits. Some test air only. Others test surfaces using tape (that might work on a plant leaf).

All are under 20 to 30 bucks and some do not require sending to a lab.

Not sure how they would work on plants and/or what type of mold they test for but they are cheap cheap and if they work...... well, maybe you'll get lucky.

Tumi does lab testing for $25 a test, but sold in packs of 10. Currently for HLVD or Fusarium or Pythium with 5 mold test coming soon. Agar petri dishes are $1 a piece. I am poor, and trying to do cheap. I have seen those tests at home depot. Some mold testing is just for buds, which is not my concern. Plants with hidden pathogens that could find optimum conditions once in flower and ruining crop is my concern.

 

[Ca++]

Don't you have a mold problem almost continually Loc Dog?

It would really aid you to do some seeds. Is it an option?

Other people must buy cuttings on these boards. Can you buy the same ones, from the same place. Or read google reviews, attached to their location, on google maps?

I'm not one to track peoples lives, but it does seem that you make half the mold posts I read. Getting mouldy cuts from different vendors, quite often. If this is so (and really, I'm not the social butterfly to notice) then the gravity of the situation suggests there is more going on.

If I can get a plant to flower, then the chances it has a killer mold problem are slim. Plants can either win or loose the battle. Many of the best fungicides used in farming, don't attack the mold at all. They just give the plant warning signs that it's under attack. The plant then tries harder.

Bugbee was recently saying that 40% of the stock they work with, carries the pathogens you are looking for. These things are like herpes. If you are well, there is no problem. If you are run down, then they may surface in weaker varieties. It's why he uses rice hulls, as preventative medicine.


It can be easier to do a big opp, than a bedroom grow. Houses are dirty. All that grey dust, it's skin. Skin that's feeding stuff in the carpet, like a never ending system. I pulled a carpet recently, to find things scurrying around. This was a few floors up, on the stairs. I have no idea what they were living on, but I'm guessing the mold I couldn't see. Think about bed bugs. The typical mattress is filthy. You don't see clean ones getting chucked away, or commercial sized washing machines for them. It's not just mold growing in there.
The worst places I have seen, are flats (or apartments) where pets have lived. It's probably stereotypical, but we think Americans all live in wooden houses. Even the Canadians like a wood frame. Wooden houses are near impossible to clean all the mold from. It's sealed in walls, living on the wood. Cavities under the floor can have leaks not seen for years. Constant sources of mold for your plants, that are not evolved for that much contamination. We had one place that molded in mid Autumn (or fall) each year. The dead leaves, full of nitrogen, caused a peak in spore numbers that tipped the balance. Or so it seemed. We learnt to schedule around it. It's pretty solid fact.

 

[Loc Dog]

Don't you have a mold problem almost continually Loc Dog?

It would really aid you to do some seeds. Is it an option?

Other people must buy cuttings on these boards. Can you buy the same ones, from the same place. Or read google reviews, attached to their location, on google maps?

I'm not one to track peoples lives, but it does seem that you make half the mold posts I read. Getting mouldy cuts from different vendors, quite often. If this is so (and really, I'm not the social butterfly to notice) then the gravity of the situation suggests there is more going on.

If I can get a plant to flower, then the chances it has a killer mold problem are slim. Plants can either win or loose the battle. Many of the best fungicides used in farming, don't attack the mold at all. They just give the plant warning signs that it's under attack. The plant then tries harder.

Bugbee was recently saying that 40% of the stock they work with, carries the pathogens you are looking for. These things are like herpes. If you are well, there is no problem. If you are run down, then they may surface in weaker varieties. It's why he uses rice hulls, as preventative medicine.


It can be easier to do a big opp, than a bedroom grow. Houses are dirty. All that grey dust, it's skin. Skin that's feeding stuff in the carpet, like a never ending system. I pulled a carpet recently, to find things scurrying around. This was a few floors up, on the stairs. I have no idea what they were living on, but I'm guessing the mold I couldn't see. Think about bed bugs. The typical mattress is filthy. You don't see clean ones getting chucked away, or commercial sized washing machines for them. It's not just mold growing in there.
The worst places I have seen, are flats (or apartments) where pets have lived. It's probably stereotypical, but we think Americans all live in wooden houses. Even the Canadians like a wood frame. Wooden houses are near impossible to clean all the mold from. It's sealed in walls, living on the wood. Cavities under the floor can have leaks not seen for years. Constant sources of mold for your plants, that are not evolved for that much contamination. We had one place that molded in mid Autumn (or fall) each year. The dead leaves, full of nitrogen, caused a peak in spore numbers that tipped the balance. Or so it seemed. We learnt to schedule around it. It's pretty solid fact.

It was Hammerhead that first mentioned mold being systemic and once it has it will always be there. I know tissue culture can avoid contamination from mother if mother is healthy at time of cuts and using minimal size cuts. Wondering if small clone cuts can also. It is really the sellers responsibility to sell clean cuts.

 

[Ca++]

I remember a conversation about spores being in the seed as it forms, that can make it through. Perhaps a reason why a batch of seeds can be randomly lost. I have had seeds out of outdoor buds that molded, without seeing any evidence of this, but not all molds are equal.
The fact uni's are working with contaminated stock, knowingly, tells us it's not certain death. Plant's with the hops viroid, don't have to display any symptoms. He mentioned it specifically.

A good clean grow, should be fine. Though the difference between what clean and poor conditions are, can be seasonal.

Perhaps hunt down some approved treatments, to give your grow a boost. Often you treat them as young, then once or twice more. Which can be done in veg. This should lower the levels of contamination, giving you a head start.
I do wonder how much of your good looking green, might fail testing though.
I suspect it's a building issue, so have a real good look where the air is coming in from. Think about a proper intake from outdoors, perhaps with filter. Don't even dream of a sealed room, and ditch any dehumidifier or aircon that might be common to each failed grow. They are a great breeding ground.