Curious --- looks like my girl has herpes

So this may be completely normal, but I was wondering exactly what it is that I'm seeing? There are little white nubby things that look like the start of roots protruding out from the base of the stalk. They are even up about 4-5" from the base of the soil. Is this just some confused roots that tried to come out and died? I only see these on one plant - the other doesn't have them.

Also - you can see where there is paper-like material on it. The paper looking stuff peeled almost all the way off, but there are still remnants of it near the top of this picture. It almost looked like my plant was "shedding its skin" for a while. Both plants did this. I'm guessing it's normal? The plants are doing great - nice & healthy and starting to get buds all over. I'm not worried about them at all, just a little curious as to what the little bumps are. I feel bad for her because they look like herpes, but I tell all my friends she's not contaigous!

weird stalk.jpg

I just figured they were roots trying to come out but wanted to be sure. Has anyone else seen them before? What about the paper looking stuff? It pretty well doubled, if not tripled, in thickness in about a week- then a thin layer of paper looking stuff peeled off like the bottom 5 inches of stalk. Again I'm not too worried cause she is healthy in every other aspect... Its just weird looking. A while back I did have another plant do this too. And I watch my humidity VERY closely, so I know that's not the cause. And nutes have been regular the whole time too