Is this bud rot or something else?

thehole

New Member
i have a few smaller buds on a sativa that's about 2 weeks from harvest.

One of the brownish buds is down low, another up a little higher on the other side and another mid height.

I have gotten this brownish color before on a few strains usually always on lower buds.
The true leaves are all dried up.

I cut this off to inspect it further. No gooey center, no stink just normal candy smell which this strain has, but the color is obviously quite different and brownish.

I have four girls in a tight room, the others will be harvested early this week, no signs of any brownish buds on those.

Can buds just dry out and go brown without molding up? My flower room doesn't even get to 50% rh at night after watering, it usually sits at about 35%. I have a lot of air circulation and good exhaust and intake.

I looked at pieces of the bud under scope at x100 and all i see is clear, cloudy and a few ambe/darker brown trichomes. I don't believe the trichs would change to brown if moldy, but the few that are amberish are more brownish. No obvious visuals of damage. But it has to be something. Not heat OR light related as the 2 of the 3 are lower branches.

Any help is always appreciated.


 

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hydrosoil78

Active Member
some of it might be ok, only one way to find out. if its really rotten it wouldn't get you high, you wouldn't like it
 

thehole

New Member
Ya I don't want to smoke it if it is mold though. I guess all I can do is observe the plant for any continuing browning or find myself a guinea pig.
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
i'll dissent and say it's not bud rot.

sometimes those lower buds don't receive enough light, or get the shit end of the stick for air circulation.

kinda reminds me of lower leaves that turn brown and dry out after long enough.

bud rot and mold have a distinctly different look than what we see in those pics. also, bud rot usually starts in the densest, largest buds of the plant. not the lower stuff.

my guess is that those buds are dry and crispy to the touch and have none of that disgusting "rot" feel.

OP menitoned it was a sativa, how long was she flowered for so far?
 

Samwell Seed Well

Well-Known Member
looks like fuzzy grey mold to me . . . . . .

i would not smok eit even if it wasnt grey rot


took a thrid look, and maybe not grey rot, but damn it looks off for sure
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
looks like fuzzy grey mold to me . . . . . .

i would not smok eit even if it wasnt grey rot


took a thrid look, and maybe not grey rot, but damn it looks off for sure
i would trash it as well, but i don't think it's mold. it would just be too odd for mold to start in the locations he described and to look and feel like that.

methinks the plant had better things to do with her resources and culled those sites.
 

thehole

New Member
It's a 11 week strain(breeders recommendation) trichs are a 50/50 clear cloudy with a stray amber now and then. At day 65 from early signs of white pistils, about day 78 from 12/12 switch.

No gooey anything, very dry and crisp as are the other few buds that look this brownish/golden brown. And all those buds have all their true leaves burnt to a crisp to.

This particular plant was as was this entire round of 4 were somewhat burnt in early flower, they were then fed water only a little too long so in order to keep some green leaves on them I fed grow nutes lightly a little later then normal. Other girls mostly recovered as this one did other then the fact this one continued to keep her ram horn canoed down leaves throughout most leaves throughout most of grow. So the plant has issues but bud is producing well. I quit light grow nutes just 10 days ago and it's only on blooms now. Buds that are effected just began to turn this color in the last week. Like I said two near the bottom and one up high to the side, all smaller-medium sized. Main top is not effected.
 

thehole

New Member
looks like fuzzy grey mold to me . . . . . .

i would not smok eit even if it wasnt grey rot


took a thrid look, and maybe not grey rot, but damn it looks off for sure
No gray anywhere, just light brownish tint everywhere and darker brown around where larger dead true leaves are. Dry as shit.

No rot small. Caked with trichs.

But still weary of course. Should a guy cut this sativa early and get her drying, or monitor it more. There are definitely other areas effected but again, of all the bud rot/mold pics I've looked at none look like mine.
 

thehole

New Member
Just peaked at my temp/humidity gauge which is secured to outside of flower room and after 8 hours of darkness it's sitting at 41% RH, average. I cannot see how with low RH, plenty of air circulation and with larger buds not being effected how it could be mold.
 

thehole

New Member
Just gave this sample in the pics to a friend who is a heavy everyday high quality smoker who was just at the end of his sack. He took a look at it and said it was not mold or rot. Didn't say what it was but he also saw the drastic contract of colors. Without the bud being properly dried or cured, although it was real dry, and just being cut off the plant no more then 24 hours ago, after toking a small bowl of it and having his usual after bowl cig, he said he was very high and that this sample was better then most the strains I have "given" him. This not only surprised me being it was an odd colored bud with an unknown issue and mostly clear trichs, but it was also a bottom popcorn bud on a plant that still, according to breeder times, has at least 2 weeks left.

I guess I will assume this is just some real good smoke, and that the buds with this discoloration are just buds that are not getting anymore energy for whatever reason and they are drying out as they are on the plant.
 

Damnecro

Active Member
thats black mold, the bane of my outdoor grow! I see it quite often and yea the weed will come off as epic but for most it makes you catch your breath after you inhale. Slightly sick/flu symptoms and some people just go tits up and end up in emergency room... b careful.
 

thehole

New Member
thats black mold, the bane of my outdoor grow! I see it quite often and yea the weed will come off as epic but for most it makes you catch your breath after you inhale. Slightly sick/flu symptoms and some people just go tits up and end up in emergency room... b careful.
Where is the black? The only discoloration is the golden brown.

I appreciate the reply being I didn't get many responses here, but I just called my buddy again and he smoked it up with 3 other people and they all love it and nobody is feeling sick or anything. I guess time will tell but there is 4 hardcore smokers toking it and liking it and they are all telling me it's not mold. But, none of them can tell me what they think it is either.

I just want to know why. I'll go look at my plant when lights turn on and look for any spread but so far I have to rule mold out. RH at a steady 30-40% the entire grow in flower along with massive air circulation and ventilation, so I just can't see it being mold.

If you could shoot up some pics to show me what you had that would be great.
 

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
Buds on the right side of pic1 are exactly what my sativa nugs looked like last year after budworms got up in them.
They eat that shit up from the inside out n the nugs start to brown n die off just like that. Bummer.


Give it to some middleschool kids to test it out. lol. just kidding. but seriously. do it.
 

thehole

New Member
Buds on the right side of pic1 are exactly what my sativa nugs looked like last year after budworms got up in them.
They eat that shit up from the inside out n the nugs start to brown n die off just like that. Bummer.


Give it to some middleschool kids to test it out. lol. just kidding. but seriously. do it.
lol More like middle school adults in my case. Four hardcore smokers doing it up as we speak for the last hour and they love it, no ill effects.

I guess I should of stated that this is an indoor grow with optimal conditions. 68 night/83 day, some days up to 87. Rh in veg 50%, in flower 30-40% even at night. Just no chance of normal mold issues or pests. Only sign of incests ever are in early veg with gnats.

Right side of pic 1 is the pic that shows the most contrast between the bud. It's actually all one small bud just broken up, the lower being the greener and 80% or more of it being the golden brown.

But still, I have no idea what it is.
 

SwissCheese

Well-Known Member
Take a look at it under a microscope if you still have a bud, looks like rust mites if its not bud rot. Could potentially be millions of little bugs on your bud or if its mold you will see spores. Microscopes are like $10.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
i have a few smaller buds on a sativa that's about 2 weeks from harvest.

One of the brownish buds is down low, another up a little higher on the other side and another mid height.

I have gotten this brownish color before on a few strains usually always on lower buds.
The true leaves are all dried up.

I cut this off to inspect it further. No gooey center, no stink just normal candy smell which this strain has, but the color is obviously quite different and brownish.

I have four girls in a tight room, the others will be harvested early this week, no signs of any brownish buds on those.

Can buds just dry out and go brown without molding up? My flower room doesn't even get to 50% rh at night after watering, it usually sits at about 35%. I have a lot of air circulation and good exhaust and intake.

I looked at pieces of the bud under scope at x100 and all i see is clear, cloudy and a few ambe/darker brown trichomes. I don't believe the trichs would change to brown if moldy, but the few that are amberish are more brownish. No obvious visuals of damage. But it has to be something. Not heat OR light related as the 2 of the 3 are lower branches.

Any help is always appreciated.


Sounds like some form of wilt if the stem was not right and combined with the color. If it is wilt and you caught it before rot set it you should be good. Didn't bring in any new plants or go visit another grow?

Could also be some electrolyte (nute) imbalance as her chemistry changes.

Will be interested in seeing if the stem base is rotted when you harvest. It happens quickly.
 
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