Small buds and parts of colas turning brown and drying out

[Organic357]

I am having an unusual problem that I do not remember experiencing in my 8 years of cultivation. I have parts of colas and buds on plants drying out completely and turning a very light to brown. Initially it was just my Northern Light, then I noticed it on my Aurora Indica.

A little more background. I am growing in a 5 x 5 Gorilla Grow Tent under two Electric Sky 300 LED lights. I have 2 rows of 3 plants with an oscillating fan at the back of the tent on one’s right when looking in the tent. I say this because the first plant to display this condition was the one closest to the fan. This has been happening over about a 6 - 8 week period.



For more detail:

[SoOrbudgal]

It looks like they be decarbed in the oven? Man i sure don't know but that's a real shame. Are they too close to the lights?

[Organic357]

Hi SoOrbudgal. They are not too close to the lights. What is so strange is how they are so very, very dry, light and airy. It is as if every bit of water is gone from them. The closest comparison I can think of at the moment is that they are like tissue paper.

[SoOrbudgal]

Very odd i have no clue?

[Adammer]

Have you considered possibly a root problem?

[D.A.A.S.69]

Man what a shame, ive seen bugs do that over the years, ain't sayin your problem is bugs though, it's hard to tell just by pictures, though.
I'm like Addamer above said, I'm thinking root problems, killed her, or is trying too.
Looks like she's been ready for awhile to me, but again look in at pictures is hard to tell.

[Organic357]

Addamer and D.A.A.S.69 I also thought it might be a root issue but the way it appears so randomly on the plant made me think maybe not. Also it started with my Northern Light, then went to my Aurora Indica and one other. Finally is started at the back of tent closed to fan and then began to move forward. All plants were in the same soil. Having said that I have been out of town and away from my grow for most of the past three months. My wife is caring for plants my plants when I am gone. I do remember now that there was a small patch of a white growth on the topsoil of the all plants that dried out I think. Maybe it is some obscure pathogen.

On a side note D.A.A.S.69 I hope that you have been well. I am thinking of trying autoflowers for one of my next grows.

[Crowdad]

I'm into my first grow with living soil (Blue Sky Organics) and I'm getting a similar disorder on some of the new growth as well as a variety of mineral deficiencies. It started in week eight on one plant and moved to the rest. Two weeks later and I'm still in veg mode struggling to get it back from what I think is a water problem. I was accidentally using RO water that I thought was spring water. I've also had a bit of a time finding water with the right Ph and no chloramines. Also the super soil I'm using hasn't necessarily been vetted by the group and the company is suggesting to use their additives to it to make it as good as possible. That seems off to me from what I've learned about living soil. I know I've got almost zero experience but maybe this could trigger a thought or help somehow.

[Organic357]

Hi Crowdad,

I apologize that I have not responded sooner. Simply put my life is very difficult at the moment and has been for over 3 months. I think that we are both experiencing something that is very uncommon. Some have told me it was mold, bud rot or root rot. I do not believe this is any type of mold because my leaves just went dry and there is none of the sliminess one associates with mold. I have harvested my crop since posting those pictures. I am now in week 1 day 4 of curing my crop. My problems started in flower as far as visible symptoms. Also whatever this is as mentioned before started at the back of my tent and moved forward relatively slowly. It moved from my Northern Light at the back right, moved to my Aurora Indica at the back left and heavily impacted these two plants. I am fairly sure that may have impacted one other plant but am not certain.

My gut tells me that this is a rare leaf type disease or possibly a microscopic pest. I am sending the pictures of this to someone who who might give me an accurate answer or refer me to someone who could.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hey 357, Doing just fine thanks.
I think you will love autos, i know you'll do a great job.
HappyGrowing
sure hate that happened to your plants.

[Organic357]

Glad to hear that you are doing fine D.A.A.S.69.

I do have a question for you. With this last grow I manifolded/mainlined my girls. I did not do it close to perfectly but it was an improvement over not doing so, at least from a post harvest trimming perspective. In her article in GWE, Nebula Haze said that one should not manifold/mainline autos. When I see pictures of auto's it looks like they do this naturally, one example being your icon picture. So am I correct in believing that when one grows autos this happens on its' own?

[D.A.A.S.69]

Organic357 No, you've got to train your autos, or else you want get much bud, if you dont.
It's not hard to do, an yeah Nebs wrote that before anyone was doing it to autos.

[Rwise]

I have a question, can you remove one of the dead buds and dig into it looking for seed, or where a seed may have been. I have seen this on seeded plants where the seed gets ripe but the plant is not done. The little budlet dies, and the plant grows another. IF they have had seed in them just remove them.

[Organic357]

Rwise I did not notice any seeds. The plants were harvested Monday.