White silky web like substance inside buds

Hi guys,

Sorry if this isn't the correct place for this, but it seemed the most appropriate of the options. If I need to post this somewhere else just let me know.

While I was cutting up a bud, I noticed a white silky substance that I did not notice on the bud before I started cutting it. It is stretchy (when I try to pull it apart it seems to stretch before actually breaking) and sticky. It looks almost like tissue paper, but is definitely more dense and doesn't feel like paper (feels more like silk / smooth).It was definitely inside the bud, not on the outside. It appeared to all stick together (came out in a single piece, no small fragments that I can see. I was using scissors to cut it too, so I'm surprised it didn't break up). I do not grow, this is something I got from a friend. I asked him about it, but he didn't seem to know what it was either. I inspected the rest of the buds that I had gotten, but only one other one had any sign of the same substance. When I inspected the second one I had found, I could see that it was definitely the same substance. I carefully pulled the bud apart, but this one only had a very small amount of the substance attached to it. I have taken pictures of the substances (both from the first bud that I cut up, and the second one that I tried pulling apart). From what I've found online it looks like this should either be from spider mites or bud rot (mold). I wasn't able to find any information that fully convinced me of what it was, so I'm hoping with these images someone could help me figure it out. I can take some more pictures if needed.

The first image is of the larger piece of the white substance that came out of a bud in one piece. Also, just to be clear, all of the little pieces of stuff on the white substance in this first image are little bits of bud that got stuck to it as I as cutting/grinding it up.

The second image is of a much smaller amount of the white substance that is still stuck to a bit of bud attached to a stem. I pulled everything else off the stem and broke it up, but there was no more of the substance to be found.

mold

Should I not smoke anymore of the bud from the same bag? I had already smoked a few buds before I saw any sign of this stuff. Should I be concerned about that?

Also, the guy has offered to replace the stuff since he didn't know what it was either. Should I only accept bud from a different plant/source? Would anything that came off the same batch of plants be contaminated?

Final question for now, is there any good way to tell if there is mold on/in the buds other than breaking it up and visually inspecting it?

that's the only way, unless you have allergies you can use the good parts, the rotted stuff will be brown or pale. It could be in any of the rest of it from the same plant.

dylan_80 said:

Should I not smoke anymore of the bud from the same bag? I had already smoked a few buds before I saw any sign of this stuff. Should I be concerned about that?

Also, the guy has offered to replace the stuff since he didn't know what it was either. Should I only accept bud from a different plant/source? Would anything that came off the same batch of plants be contaminated?

Final question for now, is there any good way to tell if there is mold on/in the buds other than breaking it up and visually inspecting it?

Click to expand...

Sounds like your guy was a surprised as you were and he's reasonable about the problem. This could be a one-bud issue or not but no way to tell without a thorough inspection.

A way to tell if bud is dry enough is to put it in a mason jar with a humidor hygrometer and seal it. This one is pretty cheap and does the trick for me.
https://www.amazon.com/Caliber-Digital-Hygromter-Western-Humidor/dp/B00JXOKQVW/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_201_tr_t_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FC6A8GT4JA9G0XZ20K88

Humidity in the jar should stay at or below 60% after the bud equilibrates with the air in the jar at room temperature.

This will at least tell you if the bud was dried enough to prevent mold during storage. It won't tell you if mold grew before hand.

I wouldn't advise you smoke the bud but I might if I went through the bud in good light with a hand-held 10x or 15x loup and didn't find any and the bud is dry. What I read on the web is healthy person without an allergy to mold can get bronchitis from smoking infected weed. Takes a week to clear up.

Take care. If in doubt throw it out is a simple axiom.

I second what has been said already. Smoking mold can't be great on you. I'd check another bag maybe but it may be best just to get a different batch.

Thanks for the answers guys! I really appreciate the the help, especially the great detail in your response Frogdog. That was incredibly helpful. I'm definitely going to get the remainder of the stuff switched out. I'm also going to go ahead and get the suggested humidor hygrometer to prevent mold while I'm storing it as well as a 15x hand held loupe to inspect future buds before I put them into the storage container.