White fluffy stuff inside of bud during harvest.

So I harvested my second grow a few days ago and have had it hanging in my tent with the humidity at around 50%, temp around 70. Fan has been going to pull the air through the filter so there is constant air flow. I started taking down some of the dryer looking and feeling buds today and trimming them off the stems to put in jars when I popped open one of the larger buds and saw this white fuzz looking stuff. I immediately thought it was mold but none of the other buds I have has had this on the inside and has left me a bit confused. I have turned my humidifier off till I can with out a doubt identify what it is. Here are some pictures below, any ideas?

It's mold. You should keep your humidity under 50% next time. I would chop all of it if it were me. I've had mold lots of times.

textbook budrot aka botrytis aka grey mold; would have started before you even harvested. tends to attack the top nuggets first (hence why you found it in one of your bigger nugs).

it's a bitch because it tends to start from the stems and grows outwards. and it's not easy to find unless you're actively looking for it. i live in a high humidity area and we have to be very vigilant about it, especially when we're growing strains that tend to have hard, tight nugs.

what was your humidity like during flower?

He said 50%, and he is using a humidifier. He should leave the humidifier off or on a lower level or something.

Ya I have taken the humidifier out, thought I would try it this time. I have already harvested and it is currently in the tent drying out. This was the only bud so far that I have seen with it and I will be checking it more closely as I trim them off the larger stems. Turned up my fan higher as well to get more air flow through there. I live in CO so the humidity is super low and thought I would give this a whirl. I will just keep letting it be a short dry then jar it. Flowering it was only at normal room humidity which hovers around 30-40% in my part of the world.

Thanks for the diagnosis, alwaysn ice to have other eyes on a situation. Will be able to combat the spread now.

here's another question: when you have dead/dying leaves, do you pull them out or do you pinch them?

I only pull leaves off if they need very little force to pull them. If something is dieing or looks bad and it doesn't come off with a little pull down i cut it with my shears. Though dieing leaves come off easily with a pull down.

It was only in the larger colas, maybe about 9 or so grams got tossed out of my 10oz haul.

I have got it all of the stems now and sitting in some jars with the lids open. Really loose in the jars so the air can move freely. Shouldn't see any more being produced now.

Dark... Im in colorado too let it dry out for 4-5 days, no humdifier no fan . It will seem like too long and over drued..but its not cuz the stem is still wet...then paperbag it for a day or 2 then jar it.... I was having problems here too when i started, kept drying and curing like its cali, but its diff here...CO has its own way to dry and cure unlike other more humid areas

i just want to reiterate that botrytis isn't generally a post-harvest issue; depending on the conditions involved, it can spread VERY voraciously but it would have started while flowering. i asked about pulling/pinching because if you're susceptible to it, you want to make sure any 'wounds' you make on the plant are on the outside of the buds (ie. cutting dying leaves off their stems instead of pulling them).

i go by smell now, and have sniffed it out in its early stages in rooms with thousands of flowering plants; now that you've had it, try to remember That Smell. if you catch a whiff of something similar on any of your next grows, start peeking inside your top nugs right away.

welcome to the wonderful world of bud rot you can almost always tell cause the small leaves of the bud curl and very easy to pull off

Bud Rot is usually more common amongst less dense flowers and as mentioned is most prone towards the top in the beginning stage of infection . I grow Hydro using Coco and this is a downfall that relates to high humidity with some strains .. I have many strains that are resistant to this and they are all heavy dense producers but then again I have Haze plants that never are subjected to this so within it all there are odd variables within genetics that can relate to a plants ability to be resistant or not . A good example of no resistance from my experience is Thai and Thai dom hybrids , I can always tell when bud rot is going to set in with them and I ll harvest at day 60 then instead of 70 .. As Colon said , Welcome to the world of bud rot

The cut of next generations grape god was freaking horrible for this. If your humidity was even 50% you were getting rot, had to cut it early every summer. Had to find a more resistant strain.

mellokitty said:

i just want to reiterate that botrytis isn't generally a post-harvest issue; depending on the conditions involved, it can spread VERY voraciously but it would have started while flowering. i asked about pulling/pinching because if you're susceptible to it, you want to make sure any 'wounds' you make on the plant are on the outside of the buds (ie. cutting dying leaves off their stems instead of pulling them).

i go by smell now, and have sniffed it out in its early stages in rooms with thousands of flowering plants; now that you've had it, try to remember That Smell. if you catch a whiff of something similar on any of your next grows, start peeking inside your top nugs right away.

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I started cutting three plants today and found some nasty ass Botrytis or some other type of mold in one of my colas. It was in the densest plant and luckily only in one small area. Probably just started in the last few days. I cut all that nasty shit out and only lost maybe 5 grams - so I caught a break. I have inspected all the others and haven't found anything else nasty yet. The humidity has been between 40% to 50% so I was surprised to find any. I guess it was the density of the bud itself and the extended flowering time. I am glad I decided to trim wet or else I would not have found it and would have probably lost the entire cola.


Moral of the story - if you don't trim wet, make sure to inspect between the clusters on your colas before you hang dry.

PS - I believe I know what caused the mold - pulling a few fan leaves from that spot and the wound weeped and molded. I'll never do that again. I didn't notice a smell myself - I caught it before it was all mushy.

can you still smoke it if you cut it out?

Running a dehumidifier or air conditioner in the area your growing can help. Fans too.

The Wise Man said:

can you still smoke it if you cut it out?

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Its not too good for ya. The mold that is

mellokitty said:

i just want to reiterate that botrytis isn't generally a post-harvest issue; depending on the conditions involved, it can spread VERY voraciously but it would have started while flowering. i asked about pulling/pinching because if you're susceptible to it, you want to make sure any 'wounds' you make on the plant are on the outside of the buds (ie. cutting dying leaves off their stems instead of pulling them).

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Great advanced observation and note , even a stupid twist tie injury can induce bud rot . This recently happened to me and it did not take long to notice it was setting in along with yellow mold Might have lost a few grams due to this but it was caught just in time .

colonuggs said:

welcome to the wonderful world of bud rot you can almost always tell cause the small leaves of the bud curl and very easy to pull off

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Good advice, always inspect your buds carefully, and if you see any of the little leaves that grow out of your fat buds start to look a little different, in any way, give them a little tug... gently, if they pop right out without resistance...bud rot...MAYDAY, CODE BLUE.

The Wise Man said:

can you still smoke it if you cut it out?

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ideally you want to leave yourself a 'clean' radius of at least 1/2 inch around what's visibly affected.

mellokitty said:

ideally you want to leave yourself a 'clean' radius of at least 1/2 inch around what's visibly affected.

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As well do the cutting far away from the grow room , as spores will most likely fly into the air while being exposed and moved by the cutting action . Its best to cut the contaminated bud away while immediately sealing it up inside a bag or container for disposal ..