White powdery fungus in buds, smoke-like spores

[humbleguy]

I have been dealing with some sort of fungus over the past 12 months and cannot seem to completely eradicate it. It is a white cotton-like mass within the flowers that releases a smoke-like cloud when disturbed. I am thinking it must be related to powdery mildew but is never on the leaves only in the buds. My room runs 50% rh @ 78 degrees. I have bombed with fungaflor burned sulphur for three months straight and sprayed my rockwool with serenade. I discovered the mycelium growing in my AC where it had completely engulfed the inner blower. I have also found the mycelium growing on the surface of my reservoir solution. This stuff seems genetically engineered to be my enemy. Please help!

 

[FreezerBoy]

My lone outbreak was dealt with the first time by dumping all plants. PM came right back with a new batch of girls. I then field stripped everything. Anything that could not be washed in a 5% bleach solution was thrown out. Everything else was disassembled, washed part by part and reassembled. Walls, floors and ceiling were also scrubbed down. No more mold for me.

 

[humbleguy]

ok

ok

So you think I have powdery mildew? I don't have any blotchy white spots on my leaves at all. I never do.
I am going to strip everything down to the bones and wash it all but still want to at least identify which type of fungi I have in the room. Knowledge is power and I want to understand what I am dealing with here. Are there types of PM that don't get on the leaves and only settle and fruit on the flowers?


concerned.

 

[FreezerBoy]

I don't KNOW that I had PM. Could've been something else. All I know is the plant looked like it was lightly covered in powdered sugar. When blown on it would go poof in a cloud of dust. That told me it wasn't resin which was enough for me. Can't remember if leaves were equally covered or bare. Sorry I can't be of more help. Knock on wood, I've seen precious few problems in my grows, so I rarely have to "cure" anything.

 

[JWP]

Potassium bicarbonate

 

[humbleguy]

Sweet, thanks for the info.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Use of Baking Soda as a Fungicide from the USDA's National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. Baking soda has been used for 76 years by horticulturists.

Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is 80% as effective as potassium bicarbonate (products like Green Cure, Milstop, Remedy, Kaligreen, et al) and about 1/10 the cost.

Personally I've found neem seed oil used with yucca extract to be far more effective than the bicarbonates but then I live in an area where powdery mildew is huge problem for everyone because of weather patterns, heavy concentration of agriculture operations, forests, ocean winds, et al. makes this a lab experiment on growing mildew.

CC

EDIT: Have you considered using a sulphur burner? This process is also widely used in commercial greenhouses in the never ending battle against mildews.

 

[humbleguy]

Yeah, used the sulphur vaporizer wit little to no effect. This isn't your average mold. I am currently running potassium siliciate through my rez to try and beef up my cell walls. I will try the neem/yucca extract if I can find the yucca extract. What is the name of the extract you use? I have a Yucca Gloriosa aka Spanish Dagger in my backyard.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

humbleguy

Yucca Extract

This specific product is 'human grade' yucca extract without any preservatives which is generally benzoate of soda (pretty standard stuff).

The brix level (50) is perfect. Use 1 tsp. of neem seed oil (Dyna-Gro Neem Seed Oil is a great product available at Amazon.com) with 1 tsp. of yucca extract. Apply every other day for 2 weeks.

This concoction is also effective for fighting spider mites if used on a regular basis.

HTH

CC

 

[Silverhaze]

hI guys

I recently had to cut a few batch of plants because of PM...but do you think i could use it for cooking purposes,if i made butter...would it be eatable???

S.

 

[marijuana]

^a tad bit sketchy but boiling it in oil will help. i would work at it for a while and comb through the bud to make sure theres no PM lingering within. mold is sketchy but not as sketchy as smoking it.

Watch out for organic sea teas too, the smallest drop of the concentrate can spawn a ton of wispy white cotton candy mold that spreads like wildfire. always mix up organic feeds outside the grow-room and never get it on the buds or leaves.

 

[Shan Diego]

I had this too...

I had this too...

I have been dealing with some sort of fungus over the past 12 months and cannot seem to completely eradicate it. It is a white cotton-like mass within the flowers that releases a smoke-like cloud when disturbed. I am thinking it must be related to powdery mildew but is never on the leaves only in the buds. My room runs 50% rh @ 78 degrees. I have bombed with fungaflor burned sulphur for three months straight and sprayed my rockwool with serenade. I discovered the mycelium growing in my AC where it had completely engulfed the inner blower. I have also found the mycelium growing on the surface of my reservoir solution. This stuff seems genetically engineered to be my enemy. Please help!

I had this too, with only one strain, the rainbow kush, aka Hawaiin Purple Kush. Your description is spot on. I got it three times in my little closet, always on the same strain...this strain grew large, dense, sticky colas...I truly loved it, but had to leave her as she continues to get the aforementioned infection. I did have some air circulation issues probably, but the neighboring stains never were infected with it. I am assuming that it susceptible due to the dense, sticky nature of the buds. It never spread, and I never had any signs of PM, so I believe it to be a different spore at play. Too bad, I really loved that plant...