Cola leaves drying and crumbling... is this normal?

[Toripony]

First grow and I've not found this condition in other threads: The bigger sweet leaves in my colas are drying up and crumbling... is this normal? Some I can pull one out of the bud, others just crumble. Hopefully, in the pics you can see where I've been pinching/crumbling the dry stuff off. Immediately below the colas everything is still green except the expected handful of wilting yellowing leaves every day or two. This is day 77 since first flowers for these WW (4 wks on 10-14 light schedule under T5s). Starting week 12 tomorrow and I've seen almost no other change in past week to 10 days besides 2 buds getting so heavy and tired that they laid down (pic 3). It doesn't seem like there's any ripening progress in the trichs (pic 4). At this rate I'm still looking at weeks to finish (would like to see a few amber trichs). Will they live that long or are the colas dying? Is something wrong? Even if I can't fix a problem now, I'd like to know before I start another crop. Your opinions/knowledge please?

[Smokesteve]

I think your into the harvest window. It is normal to yellow but not to dry out like that. Whats the temperature and rh in the room

[Toripony]

Average day temps 78-82 (76-84 min/max), night average 72-75 (68-80 min/max), rh 38-46. Humidity was way too high for a while but got a dehumidifier and now I need an A/C. Had expected for them to be done before it got hot and it's been more humid than usual this summer. Overall they've had it pretty nice though.

[9fingerleafs]

looks to me like a little starved, its been hungry for weeks, the only problem comes when those dead leaves get inside the bud and rot. best way to deal with it (its too late to fix) is to pluck out the leaves before the crispines reaches the bud, next time just feed a little bit more after week 3 or 4

[Toripony]

Thanks for the help 9finger! Will def do that next time. Half dose.

[RosettaStoned]

I would use an organic bloom solution instead of the gh bloom. If you're trying to go organic, gh is far from that. The synthetics will kill off all the good microbes. Counter productive in my opinion

[Toripony]

Agree, Rosetta. That's why I used very little of it (just checked, it's actually called "Flora Bloom"). On the upside, it did come out very sweet tasting... on the downside they taste exactly like that florabloom smells. Which is also how half of the stuff I buy here in Oregon tastes. I'm not a major fan of that taste. Do you have a recommendation? If not, my next grow I plan to stick to bone meal and add molasses (I hear it's good for the microbial life??).

[Smokesteve]

Dude those are some wicked looking pups!

[Toripony]

Thanks! Gotta love those 2 that just laid down, lol. The squares in my screen are 4x4" to give you a size ref. on that lazy one in front. The one behind it is laying on another stem like a pillow, lol. And those aren't even the biggest ones. I'm really surprised (and happy)! I think I'm in love with FFOF. Btw, these are 32" plants, 18" at end of veg.

[Canuck147]

Really nice looking! You can check for bud rot just by holding it with both hands gently start bending it in half enough to look inside with a light. Green is good - brown is bad.

[Toripony]

Thanks, I'll check it out! There's one, the biggest and least done one of all, that has funky leaves that worry me. Although, that branch has always had a few funky leaves for some reason.

[Toripony]

Well, 3 of us just tried some dried flakes off a bud that I picked Tuesday and hang-dried (yea, it's a little too dry in my drying space) and it feels like it's done. The potency is there, it tastes great and amazingly smooth without curing. It's a little heady for me personally but maybe that's just the way they're going to be. I'm afraid they'll rot or go wacky before they turn amber! I think I'm going to take Enki's advice and start harvesting those big colas over the next 2-3 days. Some of the biggest still have a few white hairs plus the brown ones have not collapsed and the trichs are still too clear and glassy, but I'm beginning to think I can't go by just the trichs on these. There was a lot of ongoing growth on the colas and I think the trichs I'm seeing are newer/younger ones. I think underneath that they are done. Overall, I'm just getting too worried about losing them. This beginner is out of her league with buds this size and old, lol.

[gbauto]

On most of the plants I've run over years past, it's unusual for sugar/fan leaves on colas to get crispy and crumble. I did run into this on a 'mutant' pheno of Ripley OG this grow and while it looked unappealing while it was finishing, she smokes just fine. Just trim off the leaves for shake and enjoy.

[Toripony]

Took the tip by Canuck147 and looked inside... found out these are little fan leaves from back when the buds were smaller. At that time they were green and feeding the buds so I left them alone. Now they're dying which seems logical. They're old and no longer needed. During the big swell (about 10 days), the bud growth added lots of calyces and engulfed the base of those fan leaves. Inside the bud is only a stem; it's green so no rot problems (yay!). Harvested one plant today and snipping those stems and crumblies out is easy.

[Canuck147]

Bet your hands got nice and sticky.

[Toripony]

OH yea!!

[Toripony]

I was wrong that the buds stopped doing anything... now they're getting frostier, getting a few patches that look like the snow WW is famous for, popping out more and more trichomes. Which makes me think they're still pumping good stuff into those buds. So, I'm still babying the last 2 plants which have the biggest colas and very few amber trichs. Am halfway through week 12! Am wondering if my T5 lights and the 10/14 schedule might be slowing them down. It's almost as if everything is happening in phases separated by pauses. Or maybe that's normal? I've never had buds this mature.