Mold and what to do????

[Waira]

hey Ash-- well, it depends on how badly the bud was covered, how far into it the mold got,.. yes the spores are present, but if caught early enough before it spread badly, and matured enough to set and release spores, the rest of the bud will be OK mostly, in direct proportion to the proximity to the molding bud,... I fight this as well at harvest time, and when I spot a little starting, the bud gets removed from the rest, cut to clean margins, and dried elsewhere,... no health issues have ever hit me with this,.. remember, those spores are already there in low amounts anyway, unless you have full HEPA filtering, it's in the air already, no avoiding it period,... it's the env. conditions that promote their activation,...
Badly infected bud is a toss,.. marginal stuff can get made into qwiso, as long as it's well filtered, like by coffee-grade filters,...

 

[Master_gRoshi]

hey Ash-- well, it depends on how badly the bud was covered, how far into it the mold got,.. yes the spores are present, but if caught early enough before it spread badly, and matured enough to set and release spores, the rest of the bud will be OK mostly, in direct proportion to the proximity to the molding bud,... I fight this as well at harvest time, and when I spot a little starting, the bud gets removed from the rest, cut to clean margins, and dried elsewhere,... no health issues have ever hit me with this,.. remember, those spores are already there in low amounts anyway, unless you have full HEPA filtering, it's in the air already, no avoiding it period,... it's the env. conditions that promote their activation,...
Badly infected bud is a toss,.. marginal stuff can get made into qwiso, as long as it's well filtered, like by coffee-grade filters,...

USA iso. Not good for qwiso. Bho? Not sure if the extraction process is different. .

 

[KonopCh]

You will be fine, cheese is made with mold. Mold is just really bad for your lungs but rarely has anything to do with food-borne illness baring a few co-cultures with bacteria and yeasts. I'd just take the moldy stuff and chop it up best you can then lay it out to fast dry preventing any further mold growth.

Not every mold is the same. We have beneficial ones (like you said in cheese) and dangerous ones.

 

[neurotree]

Not every mold is the same. We have beneficial ones (like you said in cheese) and dangerous ones.

True but even the "bad ones" won't get you sick from ingestion unless in addition to the mold are harmful bacteria growing. If you are also alluding to the potential of mycotoxin production (which is fairly rare and pretty unlikely for the dry/cure conditions) that can be good too for instance penicillin (or ergotism if you're into that kinda thing too )

 

[KapScot]

I'd do the butter extraction and just cook with it personally << it's where most of my trim or outdoor damaged stuff has gone.

There are some biological treatments that can help, I used one called Rot Stop but you really need to start that as a preventative rather than a 'fix-it' - that was an experiment on my outdoors which I thought was fairly successful, but ideally preventing the 'right conditions' in the first place is the best - get the airflow up and the humidity down at budding time. Also try and avoid handling plants (damaged areas will be more susceptible to infection).

 

[Two_Green_Thumbs]

True but even the "bad ones" won't get you sick from ingestion unless in addition to the mold are harmful bacteria growing. If you are also alluding to the potential of mycotoxin production (which is fairly rare and pretty unlikely for the dry/cure conditions) that can be good too for instance penicillin (or ergotism if you're into that kinda thing too )

I personally wouldn't risk it. True, the likelihood of getting sick is low, but not zero. Mycotoxin production is in fact extremely common in the storage of plant products that are not dry enough. See, for instance, fusarium toxins. Granted, it is a more common problem with animal silage or grain storage, but the risk is real in the curing process.

Although, even if that were a nasty fusarium or aspergillus strain prone to mycotoxin production, there's no guarantee that it actually WOULD have produced them at all. There are limits set on how many micrograms per kilogram are "acceptable" per day for ingestion , and the likelihood of there being enough there to make you sick is low unless it is heavily contaminated.

Don't count on cooking or extractions doing anything but potentially concentrating the toxins further. People get a false sense of security sometimes when things are "cooked" and think that must mean that it's all ok. It isn't. Don't give any of that to anyone immunocompromised, cooked or not.

What it comes down to is the level of personal risk you are willing to take. If you're fine with rolling the dice, go for it. Don't make that decision for anyone else though! I personally hate rolling the dice like that so I wouldn't try to save an ounce over it.

 

[neurotree]

I personally wouldn't risk it. True, the likelihood of getting sick is low, but not zero. Mycotoxin production is in fact extremely common in the storage of plant products that are not dry enough. See, for instance, fusarium toxins. Granted, it is a more common problem with animal silage or grain storage, but the risk is real in the curing process.

Although, even if that were a nasty fusarium or aspergillus strain prone to mycotoxin production, there's no guarantee that it actually WOULD have produced them at all. There are limits set on how many micrograms per kilogram are "acceptable" per day for ingestion , and the likelihood of there being enough there to make you sick is low unless it is heavily contaminated.

Don't count on cooking or extractions doing anything but potentially concentrating the toxins further. People get a false sense of security sometimes when things are "cooked" and think that must mean that it's all ok. It isn't. Don't give any of that to anyone immunocompromised, cooked or not.

What it comes down to is the level of personal risk you are willing to take. If you're fine with rolling the dice, go for it. Don't make that decision for anyone else though! I personally hate rolling the dice like that so I wouldn't try to save an ounce over it.

There is alot of convoluted information in here. I am not suggesting that cooking cures or removes mycotoxins, I am suggesting cooking (for eating) is better than anything related to smoking. Heating and high pressure IS how things are sterilized (it's called an autoclave). If you want to talk "limits" think about the limits of detection of the tools you or anyone else are using... microscope 100x .2um resolution, scale .1g, .01g etc. The stuff is everywhere so unless you have a walk in autoclave with barrier entry I think this is something everyone has to think about.

 

[daylighting]

Depends on what kind of mold you have and how much you find in your buds. If it's botrytis, It won't hurt you, but your buds will taste like crap and burn funny. Cooking will kill active spores, but yes, mycotoxins are an issue.

 

[Two_Green_Thumbs]

There is alot of convoluted information in here. I am not suggesting that cooking cures or removes mycotoxins, I am suggesting cooking (for eating) is better than anything related to smoking. Heating and high pressure IS how things are sterilized (it's called an autoclave). If you want to talk "limits" think about the limits of detection of the tools you or anyone else are using... microscope 100x .2um resolution, scale .1g, .01g etc. The stuff is everywhere so unless you have a walk in autoclave with barrier entry I think this is something everyone has to think about.

I definitely get where you are coming from. Given the choice of inhaling a mix of spores, or eating an extract that (depending on the toxin) may or may not have pulled out the toxins with it, I would take the eating option. Neither option is safe, but one is likely safer? The whole thing just doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling is all. Know what I mean? :smoking:

Quickly though, and using ergotism that you noted earlier as an example, mycotoxins definitely can make it through the baking process and make people very ill. I just wanted to get it out there clearly for everyone in general (and not you specifically) that might not know, making extracts or eating moldy cannabis is risky at best. Everyone is more than entitled to take whatever risks they wish with their own bodies of course, but be sure not to share any products made with moldy cannabis with others that might not be as brave!

 

[neurotree]