After surviving a pretty wet couple weeks things have become dry and mild again here in New England. Some temps into the low 40's are expected, but this is preferable over 60's with high humidities.
We noticed today that the plants had taken quite a beating from the wind gusts that went through our area the night prior.
It wasn't obvious as the plants are supported and weren't flopped over on their side.
What we noticed was a patch of ants around the snapped stem area. Any idea why they are there? We assumed this was for the sap of the plant.
Anyone have an idea if these little insects are helping or hurting the plant?
**update**
We have taped the plant and added another support rod. So hopefully they will not have any additional stem snaps before harvest.
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With all of the rain we have received over the last couple weeks, and the relatively high humidity levels our garden and surrounding area has been invaded with mushrooms.
It's not a good sign for fighting bud rot within the cannabis garden, when all around the plants we have wild mushrooms sprouting up. Basically most of New England has been the perfect conditions for fungi.
But we did our best to remove them from the area. Not sure if those mushroom are even a threat to the cannabis plants.
And since we have no idea if these cool looking things are a problem. I'm more or less going to ignore that possibility and geek out on mushrooms for a bit
Anatomy of the mushrooms in these photos:
Cap: is a yellow and light brown color
Scales: yes, they are a off-white color
Gills: are prominent and well spaced
Ring: hangs off the plant and is white with bits of yellow (better example in the photos below)
Appearance seems to fade out as the mushrooms progress through their life cycle.
Compare the younger mushroom (above) with the two older ones (below).
A basic search on the web, led us to believe these are Amanita frostiana mushrooms.
According to wiki, this genus contains some 600 species, including some of the most toxic mushrooms to be found around the globe.
Some of those well known species include:
Amanita muscaria - also called the fly agaric and fly amanita. They contain muscimol and ibotenic acid. Primarily found in the cap of the mushroom. It is these two compounds and their interactions with the body that cause the psychoactive (hallucinogenic) effects. We are merely citing wiki and related sites for information, and are not promoting human consumption of these mushrooms.
Two other infamous mushrooms for their toxicity are:
Amanita bisporigera and Amanita ocreata - Also called Destroying Angel, what a name right?
It contains amatoxin which inhibits RNA polymerase II and III (just nod like that means something to us). Symptoms do not appear for 5-24 hours when most of the toxin has been absorbed by the kidney and liver. And it is at this time that the damage is irreversible. As little as half a mushroom cap can be fatal. And these can be confused for the magic mushroom variety.
Amanita phalloides - Death Cap. I mean if the name itself doesn't drive a little fear into you you. This excerpt hopefully will.
And quote, "The death cap is one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the northern hemisphere. It grows throughout the entire temperate zone of Europe, Asia and North Africa. It was carried (probably with tree seedlings) to North America and Australia. This amanita is responsible for most mushroom poisonings, and even small doses can be very dangerous. Resistance to the poison varies among individuals, so specifying a fatal dose is difficult. The poison - amanitin, damages the liver and kidneys. Initial symptoms occur 8 to 48 hours after ingestion. In this phase, the person experiences fatigue, stomach nausea, dizziness, headaches and feelings of cold, even freezing. The nausea intensifies, stomach aches occur, accompanied by strong retching and watery diarrhea, leading to dehydration, and eventual circulatory failure. This is usually the immediate cause of death in children. If the patient survives this phase, his condition appears to improve (usually the fourth day after ingestion). In the second phase, the kidneys fail, and sometimes the liver as well. Death usually occurs four to twelve days after ingestion."
Full link to site: Safety about wild mushrooms and simply search wiki or call your local poison control. Better yet don't go foraging for wild mushrooms if you aren't a pro...
I don't believe these are Amanita mushrooms they are a lot smaller. But still pretty cool looking. I sort of gave up on researching these ones after doing a serious deep dive into the Amanita genus.
Artsy photos are easy. Looking through a ton of photos for, white small mushrooms with ring, less fun.
Here's, "the odd pair"
Calling this one, "the loner"
And this, "mushroom deep in thought"
Anyways like I said, I have no idea if these mushrooms are going to negatively impact our cannabis garden. But it was fun photographing and researching them.
Please be careful even just handling mushrooms. After researching the more poisonous ones, I went and washed my hands a couple times just for good measure.
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Weather in Massachusetts this weekend was perfect for fall and for our cannabis garden. Temps didn't drop too low into the 50's and the humidity levels were also below 70%.
After 3 days of rain with humidity levels exceeding 85% for most of the work week. We will take a couple dry days before more rain comes to the area.
We had our work handed to us this week, for sure... Removed a lot of lower branches and some bud rot.
Lots of spot checking on the garden for bud rot. It doesn't always look obvious. And the untrained eye may just see a collection of fuzz that could confused for a dense section of pistils. And then it can also be darker red which also has the appearance of aged pistils.
To any one else dealing with bud rot. It pays to look at the plant bud sites from different angles. Remove any dead leaves, and look for dead or dying fan leaves around bud sites. That can be an indicator of disease around your buds.
When in doubt cut away - cut often and cut deep - don't kill your plant with kindness
It is very to want to be gentle with your plants. But by doing so you can be setting it up for more issues later on in the grow. If you find bud rot, cut that area out from the plant completely. Leaving anything could just promote return of the mold in a week.
But this philosophy should really be practiced from start to finish. These plants required a ton of late stage stem trimming, because we didn't fully remove the lower third of the plant. We removed branches that are flowering but will not develop full buds. It's a waste of resources for the plant. And thats our failure to realize this from the start...
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