'Boogieman'
Well-known member
Where I live most cornfields have large irrigation ditches, many people grow in those ditches and get good results.
People here have a wealth of tips and tricks. It's awesome.
I've been reading about mold (Gray Mold/ Botrytis Cinerea) that attack weed plants, especially at harvest time in a high humidity environment. It seems that botrytis just LOVES nitrogen. Very green buds will act like a magnet to mold.
From the farmer's almanac:
"Moisture is one of the main causes of gray mold. The wetter your plants are, the more susceptible they are to becoming infected. Your plants also must be injured before they can become infected. Be careful around your plants to prevent this."
So that means defoliation too early really raises your risk of mold. I plan on defoliating, but now I'll wait until a week before I'm ready to take them, but only to speed the harvest.
My thoughts are to try and eliminate as much N from the plants as possible at flowering time. I can't do much about what is already in the soil or the plant, but I can eliminate it if I feed. I plan on getting Mono Potassium Phosphate (NKP) from the local co-op to feed the plants every week or 2. Mono Potassium Phosphate has an NPK of about 0-52-34.
Anyone see a downside to this?
I read that by foliar spraying with something to raise the ph of the plants leafs more alkaline (around 8 ph) will kill and stop fungi from colonizing.
Good point.I'd say also give the surrounding vegetation a little consideration as well. I only say that because mold has to spread from somewhere via spores. So maybe people have been contaminating their own plants unknowingly because they walk over something with it or brush against something on the way to the plot. I thought this might be a common thing because in my little experience I've never really paid attention before on my way to the plots or anything. I was reading about mold and it hit me. We could all be subjecting the plants during the fall and some may never even get it because the plants don't have injuries and are healthy or just resilient, but as soon as you chop it or do some defoliation boom here's the grey mold coming out of what seems like nowhere.. idk maybe I'm just thinking too into it, but I was always just thinking to myself that the mold has to come from somewhere it's not magic or anything. I've been considering greencure because if it is good enough for silverback it's good enough for me lol. But if anyone has a better product/ methods I'm all ears
On the current grow, I put a dozen plants in a buddy's yard behind what used to be the manure pile (50 years ago) for the large unused chicken coop he has. He's starting to panic because they're exploding. I didn't have the heart to tell him they haven't even started to stretch yet. They're going to be monsters. lol