Cannabis Botrytis Bud Rot

Due to a rather poor summer, cool and somewhat wet days, and the presence of tomato plants already past their prime with moldy leaves and fading metabolisms, there's a small amount of the dreaded bud rot that got started on an indica plant.

The 3 things that a cannabis grower doesn't want to see: fungus gnats, leaf mites, and bud rot. Other than cops and the landlord's fat wife waving a big stick. Unless you have a license.

Fungus gnats are dealt with by adding living amendments to the water, like beneficial bacteria and fungii; a bit of lethally-abrasive diatomaceous earth sprinkled about also seems helpful. Vegetarian sap-sucking leaf mites are managed with weak tobacco-water sprays (nicotine is very poisonous), particularly on leaf undersides followed by a plain water spray-rinse a day later; treatments are continued gently until the bugs are gone. If the indoor plants have been accustomed to a fine water misting every few days since seedling stage, it's OK to use such a routine misting to harass leaf mites since they do not like to get wet, and populations then remain low. If plants are not habituated to being periodically moistened, even a pure water mist will damage their leaves significantly. Initial conditions are critical in all aspects, for all species of lifeforms on this planet.

The best solution to bud rot is simply to cut off the affected part(s), before the rot spreads. It's very subtle at first, with slightly odd colouration. Later, the weird colour is more obvious and plant parts get wilted and stop growing. Lastly, an entire large bud or even half a branch can become a ghastly fuzzy brown or black, with a generalized mush made of distinct plant parts. Prudent pruning is very relevant, eliminating excessive leaves and interior growth, using a mold-resistant strain. A light copper sulfate solution sprayed during vegetative state as prevention may help, and sprayed only when necessary during flowering mode; it will damage the flowers. A light spray of beneficial fungii will displace bud rot before it really gets started especially during vegetative mode, and won't harm the plant that much even though the flowers don't like to get wet.

Image made with cheap Canon scanner, with bud rot squashed against the glass, backed and weighted with white paper and a couple of large books.