howtothc said:

Hey there!

This is my first time growing cannabis for fun, outdoors. I just put two plants in a planter, set them up with an automated watering system, and let them loose for the last six months. I planted them in about May, and I'd say they started flowering early August - so I'd estimate that they've been in the flowering stage for the last ~11-12 weeks. Aside from water, and occasionally pesticide soap, I've done nothing special with the plant - and up until now, the plant has been doing great!

In the last week, I've noticed that a few fan leaves nearest to the buds (and the buds themselves) have started to turn purple. More concerning, I've noticed that some of the fan leaves coming out of the buds themselves are wilting and/or have died. While the buds still seem sticky, I have a suspicion that they're drying out. Additionally, while I have a jeweler's loupe and have been peeking at the plant's trichomes every other day, I'm not seeing any amber trichomes even though these plants have been flowering for a while.

These are a few assumptions I'm running with:

• The discoloration was caused by the weather abruptly getting colder a week or two ago
• Yellowing and drooping central fan leaves at this stage of flowering is normal
• Because this has been an outdoor, low-maintenance grow - the lengthy flowering stage and absence of amber trichomes might relate to the fact that I'm not really doing anything to moderate the light the plant receives (and the days have been pretty long)

Because the plant has been in its flowering stage for so long, I can't tell whether this is just my plant's way of saying 'harvest me'. So, I figured I'd ask the experts - is it time to harvest? From these photos, is there anything that you'd find concerning?

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Growmie some out side sativa's can go an easy 16 weeks. Purple coloring is usually the girl just giving you eye candy. Next, at this point if you can cut your automatic water. Allow your ground to dry before next watering. You really need to keep a close eye your buds and be ready to chop, chop, and chop. There is a good chance Bud rot and mold is sneaking up on you. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be. And lastly leave the sun out of this conversation. If that big bright ball of joy was an issue. We wouldn't have all the beautiful plants today. Grow on growmie

howtothc said:

Hey there!

This is my first time growing cannabis for fun, outdoors. I just put two plants in a planter, set them up with an automated watering system, and let them loose for the last six months. I planted them in about May, and I'd say they started flowering early August - so I'd estimate that they've been in the flowering stage for the last ~11-12 weeks. Aside from water, and occasionally pesticide soap, I've done nothing special with the plant - and up until now, the plant has been doing great!

In the last week, I've noticed that a few fan leaves nearest to the buds (and the buds themselves) have started to turn purple. More concerning, I've noticed that some of the fan leaves coming out of the buds themselves are wilting and/or have died. While the buds still seem sticky, I have a suspicion that they're drying out. Additionally, while I have a jeweler's loupe and have been peeking at the plant's trichomes every other day, I'm not seeing any amber trichomes even though these plants have been flowering for a while.

These are a few assumptions I'm running with:

• The discoloration was caused by the weather abruptly getting colder a week or two ago
• Yellowing and drooping central fan leaves at this stage of flowering is normal
• Because this has been an outdoor, low-maintenance grow - the lengthy flowering stage and absence of amber trichomes might relate to the fact that I'm not really doing anything to moderate the light the plant receives (and the days have been pretty long)

Because the plant has been in its flowering stage for so long, I can't tell whether this is just my plant's way of saying 'harvest me'. So, I figured I'd ask the experts - is it time to harvest? From these photos, is there anything that you'd find concerning?

Click to expand...

12 weeks all of my indoor plants are done, it looks like an Indica, I'll bet your trichs have all gone cloudy with a good percent amber and its time to chop trim and dry.

You really need to keep a close eye your buds and be ready to chop, chop, and chop. There is a good chance Bud rot and mold is sneaking up on you.

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Bah - that’s what I’m worried about.

its time to chop trim and dry.

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I might end up doing this as a hedge against fungus.

If it’s bud rot, it doesn’t appear to be systematic enough where chunks of the bud are dead. I’m not seeing anything fuzzy, moldy or spore-y. Is there a way to proactively identify it at this stage? Do I crack open a bit of the drier bud to look inside?

Toohighmyguy said:

Growmie some out side sativa's can go an easy 16 weeks. Purple coloring is usually the girl just giving you eye candy. Next, at this point if you can cut your automatic water. Allow your ground to dry before next watering. You really need to keep a close eye your buds and be ready to chop, chop, and chop. There is a good chance Bud rot and mold is sneaking up on you. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be. And lastly leave the sun out of this conversation. If that big bright ball of joy was an issue. We wouldn't have all the beautiful plants today. Grow on growmie

Click to expand...

Heard some outright sativa never turn amber too. Not a sativa expert. But yeah be ready. I was worried about my sugarcane but this am I have amber popping everywhere. Chopping tomorrow maybe Saturday . Pics from yesterday

Alright, after taking a look, while it’s unclear if it’s budrot - the plant seems patently unhealthy if the tops of affected buds are dried out, wilted and break apart in my hand. I’d rather not take the risk and I’ll trash the plant. Kinda bummed, but trying to salvage what I can would drive me nuts (‘does this taste like mold/fungus?’) - so I figured I’d hope for better luck next year.

Thanks for the help, all!

Pics of the buds up close?

Yeah, sure! Apologies for the potato quality of some of the photos.

Currently, the only symptom I'm seeing is that affected buds are just dry and purple. They're still green (for now), they're not slimy (they're just dry), and if there's mold, I'm having a hard time seeing it.

I cut off the affected areas and took photos of the buds that were still on the stem - expecting what appeared to be 'healthy' to instead be rotting from the inside. However, the buds just look healthy - though I have an untrained eye.






Looking at the affected areas I cut off, the flower just seemed dry. I was able to break it open and crunch it up in the palm of my hand. I don't really know what I was looking for - I guess I was expecting more dramatic signs of rot from the inside-out, too - and I didn't really see that. If it was powdery, it was unclear whether it was because the flower itself was dry or could be caused from mildew/mold/fungus. It didn't taste like mildew/mold/fungus (jk). I'm just now noticing that the bud stem in one of the photos looks a little suspicious - maybe that's powdery mildew?



Ultimately, it's clear that something's wrong - my bud shouldn't be dying - and generally, all signs point to bud rot at this stage of growth. I'm just having a hard time seeing it. There's a good chance that this is early stage bud rot - as the weather + temps have only recently dipped into ranges that are conducive to botrytis growth.

Because I had another cannabis plant growing next to this one, the other younger plant is starting to show similar signs (the fan leaves at some of the top most sites are starting to wilt) - and I figure that it's affected too. I'm probably going to trash both of them.

If you notice any signs that I'm overlooking - please let me know!

It's definitely bud rot... that dry crumble effect is definitely bud rot... i always say better to chop early than to lose a whole plant