Matanuska Thunder

Day 50 - October 23, 2023 Unfortunately, the diary ends here. This one is a real stumper. She got white mold overnight, in a very dry growing environment, with dry soil that should have been watered yesterday. The infection is pretty bad on the lower main petioles and on the entire lower half of the plant's stem. I have no idea how this occurred, as it has been overly dry here lately, and the grow room sits around 78F/45% with a lot of airflow and good ventilation. Additionally, 9 other plants do not have any problems. I dunno...but moving on to the next! Day 51 - October 24, 2023 I did some research to figure out what I was dealing with, given my observations and the external factors like environment and water quantity this plant has endured for the last week. I found out about Sclerotinia, a fungus that can cause what is called "white mold" when infections are severe. This usually shows up as STEM ROT. And that is exactly what we see above. The humidity INSIDE the stem is not okay. This must have been caused by overwatering, or some nutrient lockout disguising it as such. Lesson learned. https://cropwatch.unl.edu/plantdisease/soybean/sclerotinia-stem-rot https://cropwatch.unl.edu/plantdisease/soybean/sclerotinia-stem-rot The above article says: ...but they can also infect through injured plant tissue... The day before, I broke a top in training. Stem rot + broken stem = spore release. The stem was rotten for weeks, from when it was in the tiny pot with bad soil. The last few weeks were just a waste of time, but it could have been a longer waste of time if I didn't break that stem.