googling around i see a mix between the two diagnosis. a couple of dead/brown flowerlets mostly near the bottom and inside a bit but some near the outside. no white fuzzyy/moldy ook anywhere at all - just looks like a dead flower. brittle crumbles easily. looked very close with 2 pairs of reading glasses and no sign of bugs or caterpillars. plants have been very healtyh with irrigation through 100++ heat all summer. 6’ tall and robust.
growing outside in Texas Gulf coast - i.e humid and hot.
rest of cola looks fine as you can see.
so whatever some of you may think it is - if i remove it and continue with the trimming and drying will it stop or spread? if it just stops as i dry i am good - easy to remove it and there really isnt very much of it - maybe a flower or two on a 10" cola. i am drying indoors in a/c ad 40-50% humidity with a ceiling fan on med for air circulation. typically 7-10 days and they are good to go to cure - i.e. small twigs snap just right.
Im no expert but, it looks like some greyish mold (bud rot).
Ive dealt with this, and removed infected areas, and had luck drying.
I Also dried some buds that i could not see BRot but it was all inside the the cola when i was jaring.
Good luck
I just cut this dead cola off one of my outdoor plants and also didn’t find anything obvious within the flower but since then I have been locating caterpillars roaming about on my other plants. They blend incredibly well.
i have by now trimmed an lb easily and zero signs of cats, spiders, anything else. so its not that - just a bud rot i suppose - so it should not spread if i remove what i can and should dry ok?
As long as you’re at a low enough humidity when you bag or jar up your harvest mold shouldn’t be able to grow in that condition. I do a thorough wash when I chop to kill off any lingering mold spores to reduce the possibility of mildew appearing during the cure.
If you search the site you can find a lot of bud washing advice.
Me personally I start with a hydrogen peroxide in water soak first and usually forget about it for an hour. Next I drain and shake baking soda all over the plant and add water then white vinegar and again forget about it for an hour. Rinse with water three times and off to a wet trim by my husband.
What I have read says 5 minutes in each cycle. I don’t fret about it. So far extra soaking time hasn’t degraded the high according to my users. I don’t imbibe.
roaming about on my other plants. They blend incredibly well.
