HELP, first time indoor grow, bud problem, maybe

[Bluey]

Hi all and thanks for having me

Fantastic website with an amazing amount of info....it's really helped me enormously.

I'm at a little over midway of the flowering stage...medium coco, pH 6, watering schedule on lights on and 5-6hrs later, good ventilation, humidity and temp lost control of (power issues) but maintaining as best I can.

First issue is what I think is minor nute burn.....tips of leaves minor drooping and just the last millimetre of the tip browning off. I haven't posted photos of this as I don't think it is related to the next issue.

Main issue as follows

First symptom a slight browning of sugar leaves on effected buds...effecting only part of the leaf and only a few on the bud...more pronounced under far & deep red lights than natural light.

Second symptom what appears to be a tiny solid growth on the top of the bud, cauliflower like...pistols whiting off, light yellowy milky colour...

3rd symptom a slight whiting off of the tips of the sugar leaves, but not powdery mildew, doesn't wipe off.

It's effecting 3 buds on 1 plant (planted late) and none on the other. Distance from LED lights varies, so doesn't seem to be the issue.

I have checked inside the buds and they look good....no mildew or fungus visible, no smell

Does anyone have any knowledge on what might be happening and should I be worried?

Thanks

 

[DreamCatcher]

Are you checking your runoff? That should tell you everything that is wrong in the root zone. You need to water until you get at least 20% runoff (1L in, 200ml out, approx), which you test pH and EC. What is the EC/PPM of your nutrient mix and what is the runoff EC/PPM?

 

[Bluey]

Thanks for the response

I am using rainwater (EC 0.0) for my nutrient mix.

Recommended part a & part b for flower is 30ml/10 ltrs...I'm using 20ml. Also using 15ml silica supplement/10ltrs, Recommended for this srage 25ml/10ltrs
.
My EC is on the low side about 1.4 but that's the input not the run off..not measuring run off....it goes to waste...pots are 50ltr (12 gal) pots.

Every 4th water I give just plain water with pH adjusted to 6.

I'm achieving at least 30% run off...the pot gets 5lts/feed....plenty of run off.

My concern is the initial slight browning of the sugar leaves, then what appears to be like a mini cauliflower on top of the head then a slight powdery whiting of the sugar leaf tips...and I have no idea what it is...

I have no idea of the strain I am growing but could be related??

More pics of the grow and a close up of the most effected head.

It could be that the pistols (the white hairs) are just balling up on top.

This is my first indoor grow and as you can see I probably have a bit too much foliage and a tad cramped but all in all its going great!

 

[DreamCatcher]

The "cauliflower" phenomenon is light bleaching and usually happens due to light intensity.
I think the leaves might be related to that as its the sugar leaves that are most affected..

 

[Bluey]

Thank you...the tallest buds that are 100mm (4") closer to the lights are coping pretty well..I'll lift them back to 600..currently about 500...
thanks again.
Quite surprised as I expected the leaves to pray to the sun then a curl upwards along the edges but haven't seen any of that to indicate a problem with light...

 

[dilvish]

The coloring of the leaves may just be the strain you are growing, which you did not mention. I would do some defoliating and make sure you have good airflow and that your temps and humidity are correct.. You should still be checking the PH of the water regardless of the source, especially after you have mixed in the nutrients. A lot of growers get happy when they see buds forming and then get perplexed that they won't fatten up for some reason...likely due to the roots being unable to absorb the bloom nutrients because the PH is out of whack.

 

[Bluey]

pH is checked often...keeping it close to 6.0
I have no idea of the strain or genetics, random seeds.
Just checking inside buds daily now...I may have a little fungus...not sure...I need to do further checks on those buds with sugar leaf problems.
Temps are good, humidity not so good...
I have maybe 30 colas on the plants and about 5 are showing sugar leaf issues of curling/browning/reddening.from a couple of high ones and a couple of lower ones but still not sure..tome will tell...I'm watching it closely.
still 2 weeks or there abouts from the start of the harvest window..fl

 

[Rwise]

You may want to consider raising the PH to 6.5-6.8 range while in flower.

 

[AGH]

Congrats on your first indoor grow! And don't worry - worry is betting against yourself and there's no point in that!

Sounds like you know all of the most important pieces: temperature, relative humidity, air movement/ventilation, and watering. If you don't have those things under control, nothing else matters since those are what create the foundation for healthy plants. You mentioned that the temps/humidity may have gotten out of whack and that the humidity isn't back in check yet. You also mentioned that it's pretty crowded in your tent. The humidity levels being off (you didn't mention what they were, but I'll assume too high probably) and the crowding are ideal conditions for botrytis (bud rot) and it sounds like what you're describing is very much that.

There's a great article on GWE about bud rot (you may have already read it) here: https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-plant-problems/bud-rot

Bud rot is tough because it usually starts from the inside and works its way out which is why it often causes sugar leaves to discolor/die before you see anything on the actual bud.

Work on getting those temps and humidity under control and then make sure you have plenty of air circulation and fresh air to keep everything moving around. You may consider removing some of your extra leaves to help reduce humidity and increase airflow, but remember that at this stage of their lives, your girls won't grow any new leaves so it's best to take off fewer leaves at a time so you don't remove too many or stress them out. Keep a very close eye on the affected buds (it seems like it's spreading). You may have to cut your loses as buds with ANY mold at all are not safe to consume. But don't fret! When you homegrow, it's all about learning and using that knowledge on your next run.

Regarding the lights, LEDs can be tricky (I use 2 Electric Sky 180s) because they never really feel hot, but the intensity can be a problem. Sounds like you're doing a good job of adjusting those and seeing what happens, but know that light burn (the telltale sign is leaves closest to the light becoming light green/yellow-ish) doesn't repair itself, so any potential damage from the light will remain however once corrected, it won't spread. All of the pistils could be a result of stress of some sort, or sometimes buds throw out a bunch of new pistils randomly, especially with unstable genetics from mystery seeds.

When it comes to seeds, it's important to know that some mystery seeds work out great while others are duds. Even the best grower can't make great things from shoddy genetics!

Keep us posted with how it goes!

 

[Bluey]

Can now confirm the discolouration of the leaves was the first sign of a what is now appearing as a white spiderwebby fungus/mildew inside the bud...bud rot I assume...

It's in 5 buds on 1 plant, nothing on the other plant. The effected plant was started 4 weeks later than the other so had 4 weeks less vegetative growth stage than the other..may also have very different genetics.

Cutting out effected buds and disposing..

The grow did start well. I had fully automated pretty much everything and had great control on humidity but that changed with a 1 week power failure and had to run on back up power.

It's been quite wet here the past few months and that has added to my woes.

Anyway, still got lots that are healthy and will see it through.

Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[AGH]

Sorry to hear about the bud rot, but good thing you caught it! Make sure to follow the suggestions at the end of the article I linked in my previous reply. It will be super important to get rid of anything and everything that might have been compromised and then to make sure that you've corrected the environment to make sure that even if there are any little spores hanging out that they're not able to take hold and destroy more of your crop since moldy buds are unsafe to consume.

Part of the fun of homegrow is that you learn to roll with the punches...even if they bring a tear to your eye when something like this happens. At least you know why and how to prevent it (and spot it!) in the future!

 

[dilvish]

Humidity being too high can always lead to mold and white powder mildew. That's why it's a really important factor...better to grow with less humidity than too much.

 

[Bluey]

Back again

The bud rot I had has been identified as a mucor infestation. Its basicaly the same stuff that gets on your bread...
this one attacked the main stem which slowly killed the flower...it then spreads into the bud as the bud gets tighter and more humid. I lost almost all the bigger buds and 80% at least of th
e bigger buds I thought I could save.

The medium to small was a good return, dried well and now into 1st week of curing....pulled some straight after the dry and it smoked well and did the job nicely...quite happy although they would have been much better if not for the mould.

Humidity was my problem..running not below 80%....

Thank you all for your help and input...great stuff

I love this new hobby

 

[Blowdout2269]

Have you found a way to control your humidity?

 

[Bluey]

Yes I have.

I had a cut to my power supply and lost my temp and humidity sensors and heating and ventilation and Air-conditioning..

All I coukd control was the lighting and watering..

That's now all fixed. It's all automated so I can just input the numbers for different grow stages and it will control it perfectly....works exceptionally well when I have reliable power..just need to control the lighting height and intensity manually and refill the tank and balance the pH...too easy

 

[Bluey]

Smoking update and critique of 1st far from perfect crop.
The two plants yielded around 18oz total, some 80% of flower lost to mould and disposed.
Smoked the first 5 Oz.. no curing..stored in Tupperware. Smoked fine and did the job..it was nice. Same for the next 4 jars.
Hello jar 5..about 3 months curing...most days opened first month twice a week next month...less than once a week last month.
This jar is spectacular..I will try and describe it...buds look all the same as the others...once "vitamised" into mix with wet and frozen tobacco
day 6 since vitamized...10% & 30% tobacco mixes

So this sneaks up on you...you'll be feeling mild effects of relaxation and happiness before finishing the joint...extremely minor psych effects but substantial full body effect 20 to 30 minutes later, relaxation...concentration on movies and conversation not diminished..zero coughs...clumpy initially in mix feels and looks wet but it's not. Smoked by about 10 long term smokers and all describe as above...some say extremely happy...most report heavy eyelids a half hour after the joint. I'm not picking up on flavour but it is arctic smooth...a pleasure to smoke and often followed up with another a few hours later.

I didn't separate the buds into jars of different plants...it's a complete mix so these effects and improvement must be mostly down to the curing....its made my first crop a winner where before this jar I would have said it was okay to get me through to my next harvest...

And it is this website where I have learnt everything about growing indoors & curing...the harvest and dry I'd worked out from years of outdoor grows.

 

[AGH]

Drying and curing is something that is often overlooked but makes a HUGE difference in the quality of your buds! After harvest, I usually dry for 4-7 days and when they are ready for the cure, I open them at least once a day for the first month. Flavors and aromas develop so much during that month and while it can be difficult to hold off on consuming it's totally worth the wait!