top of the cola turning brown near harvest...what to do?

My friend has a soil grow and one of his plants is browning at the top of the bud and he has switched it off blooming nutrients to just a water flush as he's nearing harvest time. Can anyone help me out with this?

Its beyond ripe. This is salts beginning to build up. I have left some go because I think its beautiful. Some find this to be a bad thing, you'll hear people say it makes it harsh smoke.You should take it down and compare the differences. It looks really good though.Good job!

I would tend to think that's bud rot. Look inside the bud for fuzzy white mold. If you find any cut out all the effected areas and the rest of the plant might be alright. Wash your hands before handling any other plants.

J Scmo said:

I would tend to think that's bud rot. Look inside the bud for fuzzy white mold. If you find any cut out all the effected areas and the rest of the plant might be alright. Wash your hands before handling any other plants.

Click to expand...

I bet those leaves are cripsy, its not bud rot.

FirstTimeGrower420 said:

My friend has a soil grow and one of his plants is browning at the top of the bud and he has switched it off blooming nutrients to just a water flush as he's nearing harvest time. Can anyone help me out with this?View attachment 2864062

Click to expand...

That top looks dead as hell and possibly beyond saving.

Mr John said:

That top looks dead as hell and possibly beyond saving.

Click to expand...

yeah, inspect the cola...

Looks like budworm damage to me. Take all the dead bud and leaf off and look for a worm and worm shit. I take it you are outdoors?

It kind of looks like rot to me also since the rest of the plant looks healthy. You will have to inspect it yourself. Do you have more pics of the plant from different angles?

I'll have to get some more pics but the leaves did not appear to be crispy, they seemed moist. My friend said he went to Ace hardware and they told him it was due to overwatering..idk if thats the case, but I told him since the white little hairs or pistils or whatever theyre called have pretty much receded that it was likely about time to chop em down and harvest. So if it does end up being a worm, rot or whatever what should we do? just cut out the brown part?

Could me just me, but there's no way in hell I'd smoke that. Yuck. Yes, definitely cut out the brown. The un-affected buds should be fine. That's too bad, it always seems to happen to the prime buds. I know this year I trashed some prime buds because of worm damage.

Check out in the Outdoor Grow section- 8 weeks into flowering and I'm getting budworms. Looks the same.

Whatever the cause what has happened is something has messed up the stem and nutes and water are no longer getting to the upper part which is why its dead. I have never had the bugs other people mentioned but bud rot (botrytis) will have the same effect. Get rid of the dead part and anything below it which looks contaminated. Don't leave the stuff you cut off laying around. Get it away from your plants. Whether or not you smoke the dead part is up to you but taking one look at it should make that an easy decision.

Ya that's deffinitely worms man...never had them but like BWG said looks the same IMO...

U outdoors or indoors?

Check for bud worms

FirstTimeGrower420 said:

I'll have to get some more pics but the leaves did not appear to be crispy, they seemed moist. My friend said he went to Ace hardware and they told him it was due to overwatering..idk if thats the case, but I told him since the white little hairs or pistils or whatever they're called have pretty much receded that it was likely about time to chop em down and harvest. So if it does end up being a worm, rot or whatever what should we do? just cut out the brown part?

Click to expand...

I was wrong then.
I don't understand why its just the top cola though. If its conditional you would thing it would be on every bud, or I would at lest. I hope you figure it out and let us know what it is.
I will tell you I left a Ebb and flow 24 site system go for a week on just water( I was working out of state and came home on weekends to change water ) I forgot to turn the water off before I left for the week and when I came home the crop was YELLOW the whole crop. The flowers were pulling nutes from the rest of the plant, the whole plant. Yours is just at the top and its brown, red, orange, black. I don't thing its over watering.
If your worried about it cut it out and don't smoke it.

FirstTimeGrower420 said:

My friend said he went to Ace hardware and they told him it was due to overwatering..idk if thats the case

Click to expand...

Tell "your friend" to take the whole plant in for them to look at. That's what I'd do. The guys at True Value are generally better trained on MJ problems though.

Unfortunately I would have to agree, looks like budrot/mold. Sadly had experience with this.
It's usually from too high humidity and dense buds can be extra prone as they get packed up tight and warm and moist and then rot out. Cut off that whole top down to green matter, and get it hung and dried asap I would say. It's very possible though that the mold will spread down the plant.

Best of luck