White stuff on leaves. Can someone help identify? (pics)

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shmible

New Member
I'm sure everyone's first thought is white powdery mildew. Mine was too, but I'm still skeptical. I live in Santa Clara County, California, so my area is pretty dry. Also, the city I live in is known for having hard water with lots of minerals in it. Faucets will have white calcium build-up around where the water comes out when if there is no water-softener to help filter everything out. This is why I'm not sure if it's mold. I didn't use any kind of filter when watering my plants.

This is a soil grow with 7 gal Smart Pots. I used the Fox Farms nutrient trio. I never went above half strength. Towards the end of the grow I've been giving nutrients every watering before flushing for a couple weeks after. The strain is Critical Mass.

What do you guys think?

Some general pics:







The plants will have water drops on them in the morning. The drops will be gone by mid-day. Here are some before/after pics taken a day apart:



 
Sir Napsalot

Sir Napsalot

Well-Known Member
It does look like mildew to me- I'd gently clean it off with a damp sponge and see if it comes back in a day or two
 
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Hop&Buds

Well-Known Member
I grew up in a family nursery and greenhouse business and when plants start forming mildew when things are constantly wet, it tends to have the appreance of splashed milk verses the typical “flour” look. Idk where you live but if you’re anywhere on the east coast, we’ve had the perfect weather for mildew; rain, high humidity, warm days and cold nights without any good stretch of sun to dry anything out. Plus your plant has a lot of vegetation so it decrease the airflow, another thing that increases the chance of mildew.

If I am you, I am carefully removing any of
effected leaves and putting them in a bag to discard. Then I would make a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water and spray down all the foliage (try not to soak buds if you can help it, it won’t hurt them persay but wet buds can cause rot). Here is a link to help you mix it

https://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html
 
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Hop&Buds

Well-Known Member
94A45ABC-3051-472C-9087-A8DC359B1A08.jpeg
waterproof808 said:
I've never seen PM have a hard edge like that, usually it has a soft edge and fuzzy appearance. Looks like dried residue of something
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If you zoom in to the first and third picture, you will see it’s actually arranged in a circular formation. Look at the upper leaf on this fan, that’s mildew
 
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shmible

New Member
Hop&Buds said:
That is mildew! you don’t want that getting on your buds. How far away are you from harvest?
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I actually harvested yesterday and today lol. I took the pics while harvesting because I was so unsure. If I saw any nugs with white spots I made sure to remove them from the good ones. I still have those nugs. I'm still trying to decide what to do with them.
 
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Hop&Buds

Well-Known Member
shmible said:
I actually harvested yesterday and today lol. I took the pics while harvesting because I was so unsure. If I saw any nugs with white spots I made sure to remove them from the good ones. I still have those nugs. I'm still trying to decide what to do with them.
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You can actually rinse them. I know that may sound strange but look up “hydrogen peroxide bath”. I saw a video where jorge cervantes did this on a plant at harvest that had mildew
 
pulpoinspace

pulpoinspace

Well-Known Member
Hop&Buds said:
You can actually rinse them. I know that may sound strange but look up “hydrogen peroxide bath”. I saw a video where jorge cervantes did this on a plant at harvest that had mildew
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shmible said:
I actually harvested yesterday and today lol. I took the pics while harvesting because I was so unsure. If I saw any nugs with white spots I made sure to remove them from the good ones. I still have those nugs. I'm still trying to decide what to do with them.
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i was just about to suggest that

i tried it on my most recent harvest. no regrets.
 
S

shmible

New Member
pulpoinspace said:
i was just about to suggest that

i tried it on my most recent harvest. no regrets.
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Awesome! Thanks for this! I have one plant left (Purple Kush), and I'm thinking I'll at least try this with the affected nugs. I'm sure it would be a good idea to do it with all of the buds to be no the safe side, but we'll see if I'm up for it haha. Would it be okay to trim first and then do the rinse? To me, it doesn't seem like there would be much of a difference.

Also, thanks to everyone else who replied. I appreciate your input.
 
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Hop&Buds

Well-Known Member
Do it to the entire plant you’re harvesting. Even though they don’t look infected, the spores are all over the plant. You worked this hard to get to this point, don’t take a chance with one week or two left before the cure. Better safe then sorry
 
S

shmible

New Member
Hop&Buds said:
Do it to the entire plant you’re harvesting. Even though they don’t look infected, the spores are all over the plant. You worked this hard to get to this point, don’t take a chance with one week or two left before the cure. Better safe then sorry
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So is it okay to trim first and then rinse?
 
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Hop&Buds

Well-Known Member
I don’t have a solid answer for you because I really don’t know. I rinsed prior to trimming so it was off the plant prior so that my snips didn’t get any spores on them but assuming you’re wet trimming, I would think as long as you haven’t started drying yet, It would be ok. Sorry. Maybe someone else can answer this for you with certainty
 
Craigson

Craigson

Well-Known Member
pulpoinspace said:
i was just about to suggest that

i tried it on my most recent harvest. no regrets.
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Im doing this to my current crop now. Unreal the amount of crap that come out of the buds. And so much mildew that you wouldnt even know was there otherwise.
 
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