black weed buds

Bud Rot or Mold

Extreme Case of Cannabis Bud Rot 🙁

Sometimes the first sign of bud rot is a few leaves on the buds turn yellow seemingly overnight. The base of these leaves is where the bud is rotting

How to Prevent & Stop Bud Rot (quick summary)

Air circulation – It’s a really great idea to have an exhaust fan constantly venting out hot humid air and replacing your grow space with fresh air whenever possible. But no matter what, make sure there’s always plenty of air moving over all the buds and leaves, and through the plant. This can take some planning.

Avoid wetness and especially high humidity – Don’t allow buds to sit in damp or overly humid conditions for long. Cover plants when it rains, and otherwise shake them off when they’re wet. Bud rot is a fungus, and like all fungi, it needs a wet place to germinate.

Consider defoliating extremely bushy plants – If it’s extremely bushy and you can’t keep the humidity down, consider defoliating (removing leaves) on the middle and bottom of the plant. Each leaf is constantly adding moisture, and removing leaves helps lower the humidity around the plant. Any leaves that aren’t getting light are only stealing energy away from your plant by the time buds are big enough to worry about bud rot. Those leaves are better off gone especially if you need to lower the humidity!

Keep an extremely close eye on your longest, fattest and most dense colas. Almost like a cruel joke, bud rot usually attacks your biggest colas 🙁

Remove all affected buds immediately – Carefully remove and discard all buds with bud rot, as well as nearby buds – this is incredibly important if you don’t want to lose the whole harvest! Don’t let anything any of the rot touch other parts of your plant, as it can further spread mold spores.

“When I had to throw away most of my plant due to bud rot, I cried a little, on the inside.”

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What Does Bud Rot Look Like?

Usually, a bud rot infection becomes visible in just certain parts. Sometimes just the bigger and denser buds are affected, but other times you’ll get patches all over the plant, especially after a few rainy days.

You may see areas on the colas where everything (buds, pistils and/or leaves) are darkening, becoming discolored and/or drying up, unlike the rest of the plant.

The deadened spots usually stand out and catch people’s attention, even if growers don’t know what’s wrong, they often instinctively know that something is wrong since the spots don’t look like the rest of the buds on the plant.

In addition to the rot itself, you may see white mold on the outside of the bud at first – this is the first stage and it means plants need to be treated immediately! With advanced bud rot, the bud will easily separate so you can see inside. When the bud in question is inspected, it will be dark on the inside, usually gray or brown, and possibly dusty (this “dust” is fungus spores).

Depending on the life stage, bud rot can look…

white and fluffy

dark gray or brown (sometimes even dark purple)

the buds can be full of dark speckled dust which easily blows away (fungus spores)

“I lost half my plants last year to bud rot… After a couple of drizzly days, I noticed spots, and then I saw that it had spread to all my plants.”

Sometimes you might see a few yellow leaves appear suddenly on some of your biggest colas. It can feel like it happens overnight. That could be a sign that there’s mold at the base of these leaves. Always investigate any cola with yellowing leaves ASAP. If there’s mold you will be able to see the leaves are basically falling out, with mold or brown spots being revealed in the middle 🙁

Different Stages of Bud Rot – Catch it Early!

When plants are afflicted by cannabis bud rot, it starts as fluffy white growth in the middle or sides of buds, but the white mold quickly darkens into gray or brown and burrows deep into dense buds as the fungus takes hold. Sometimes you’ll see the initial stage on the sides of buds, giving you a possible chance to catch the infection early.

The Botrytis fungus looks white and fluffy in its initial stage, but you’ll probably never even see this stage before the mold quickly darkens and starts rotting the buds from the inside out

Once bud rot has taken hold over parts of a cannabis plant, the buds can sometimes look almost the same on the outside, at first, but they usually start looking like they’re dying in patches. Often the area will dry out and easily pull apart. The inside of buds can turn brown, gray or even purple.

“I noticed one brown sugar leaf and it came out unfortunately easily, exposing what was inside.”

Some growers might think these drying spots mean that the plant is almost ready for harvest, but you know something is definitely wrong when just parts of the colas are being affected.

Here’s an example of advanced bud rot on an outdoor cannabis plant

What Causes Bud Rot?

Cannabis bud rot is caused by a type of fungus known as Botrytis cinerea.

In cannabis plants, Botrytis causes buds to rot out from the inside, hence the name “bud rot.” If you crack open an infected bud, the inside will be a moldy dark gray or brown.

Bud rot can show up in many ways. For example, this cola here responded to bud rot by turning purple and mushy. with leaves that becoming crispy and dying. This is what the grower came back to find after a few days of rain.

Did you know? In addition to cannabis bud rot, Botrytis causes problems for many different types of plants, including wine grapes, strawberries and peonies.

Botrytis the fungus is sometimes referred to as “botrytis bunch rot,” “botrytis blight,” “bud rot,” “grey mould” or “gray mold.”

When it comes to cannabis, it is often only called “Bud Rot” since that’s the main symptom cannabis growers are worried about.

Any part of the cannabis plant affected by bud rot should be discarded immediately! This helps prevent further infection and all buds touched by this toxic fungus should never be smoked or used.

Throw Away All Buds with Any Sign of Bud Rot!

This is What Bud Rot Looks Like Ground Up

There are different stages of Botrytis as it matures and tries to release spores. An infection starts as fluffy white mold (or brown mold) and then spreads throughout the inside of vulnerable buds. The inside of those parts of the colas darken to gray or brown. Once that has settled in, the mold tries to reproduce. The insides become filled with dark speckled dust that easily floats and spreads if the bud is cracked open. These are the spores of the fungus, so be careful to avoid breathing in letting this speckled dust ever touch other parts of your plants.

Luckily, healthy cannabis plants will not develop bud rot unless exposed to stagnant air and wet conditions for an extended period of time. Your plants are more susceptible to bud rot, fungus, or mold when the temperature is hot or cold. Aim for a temperature of 75°F (24°C) in the late flowering stage if possible.

How does the Botrytis fungus get to my plants?

Bud rot is spread to plants by dusty gray spores, usually in wind or water.

Most common ways Bud rot fungus spores get to plants

• Wind
• Rain Water

If your plants are never exposed to these spores, they will never get bud rot.

Unfortunately, the spores can easily be carried to your plant by a breeze, rain, from contact with animals, or even by clones from another grow room. Dormant spores can survive in many conditions only to affect your crops another time!

But… it’s not so bad. The fungus will never germinate if you take good care of your buds. And in any case, your plant needs a “wound” of some sort for the spores to take residence in your buds.

Possible wounds that can let Bud Rot fungus in include cracks in the stem from wind or over-training, damage from caterpillars, snails, worms, white powdery mildew, other pests, and larva, or any other type of injury or weak point can be the point of entry for bud rot spores into the plant.

Luckily, even if your plant has been exposed to spores, Nothing will be able to survive and begin the cycle of a bud rot infection if you provide your cannabis with a cool, dry, breezy environment.

Bud Rot needs warm, humid conditions and stagnant air to thrive.

What triggers spores to grow into a full-blown case of bud rot?

Wetness or High Humidity

How to Control Bud Rot (these are most important!)

The biggest thing you want to focus on is getting the humidity under 50% (most important!) and giving plants plenty of air movement.

How to Prevent Bud Rot

These are the most important points to remember…

Keep humidity under 50% RH (Most important!) – This is the most important thing you can do to prevent bud rot from growing. It’s rare to see Botrytis in dry conditions. Learn how to control the humidity. If you don’t fix this, the bud rot may keep spreading even after you’ve removed all the affected buds.

Good air movement – Create good air circulation and make sure there’s always plenty of air moving over all the buds and leaves. Make sure your plants are getting access to cool, fresh air.

Keep plant from big temperature swings between day and night – Controlling temperature and keeping the grow space from experiencing big temperature changes can go a long way. Aim for 75°F or 24°C when you’re worried about bud rot, and avoid letting plants get hot or cool.

Remove all affected buds immediately – Carefully remove and discard any and all buds that have possibly been affected by bud rot. Don’t let any rot touch other parts of your plant. This helps prevent bud rot from spreading, but it’s not enough if you don’t take care of the environment. Remember, the spores are always around, and it’s just a matter of whether they get the right conditions to grow.

Other tips to help prevent bud rot…

Avoid plant wounds. Avoid injuring your plants, especially in the flowering stage. Don’t leave open wounds to seep out water and nutrients – cover any open injuries with tape or some other “cast” until injury closes up. Avoid pests and keep plants healthy. A healthy plant is much less susceptible to all kinds of infections.

Keep some space between buds. Cramming a bunch of plants with a lot of buds in a small space can increase the chance of bud rot. Buds should never be touching each other. Try to make sure every big bud has at least a few inches of “breathing room” to itself.

Defoliate leafy plants. Remove leaves on very leafy plants. If leaves are touching each other, they’re likely creating wet spots between them. R emove big leaves that are covering or touching bud sites, as well as any leaves that are laying on top of each other. Your plant won’t “mind” if you only remove leaves from leafy areas, and this prevents moisture from collecting into damp spots, while also improving air circulation around buds.

Watch out. Watch plants closely for signs of bud rot in the late flowering stage, especially on large or dense buds, and especially after humid or wet weather.

When growing outdoors…

Get a strain meant for your local climate. If you live in a place that has short summers and gets humid or rainy early in the fall, don’t get a strain that was developed near the equator!

There are fast-flowering, cold-resistant cannabis strains which are designed for growing outdoors in more rainy climates. For example, many auto-flowering strains have quick lives – perfect for a short summer before the Autumn rain or frost.

A good outdoor strain for those worrying about bud rot might be Auto Frisian Dew, an award-winning, mold-resistant strain made for outdoors. This strain goes from seed to harvest in about 12 weeks. Just plant seeds after the last frost in the Spring, then harvest 3 months later.

AutoFrisian Dew is resistant to fungus like bud rot. This strain is quick to harvest and will grow in any climate which has (at least) 3 warm summer months before it starts getting cold or raining.

Breezy location – Try to plan your grow spot so your plants get a breeze, but not too much wind. This can be tricky, and it may mean visiting the grow spot a few times before planting.

Protect your buds from rain. If you know there will be drizzly conditions, cover your plants with a tarp to protect them from most of the rain. Don’t put tarp directly on plants or you’ll hurt your buds. Install the tarp up above the plants, and make sure it’s held up by the center part, that makes it so rain runs off the sides of the tarp instead of collecting in the middle.

Shake plants. Some growers shake their plants on dewy mornings or after rain, so any water drops that form on the leaves don’t become breeding grounds for spores.

Fungicides, Neem Oil & Burning Sulfur

In the flowering stage, never use fungicides, spray affected buds with Neem oil, or burn sulfur.

These common tactics are not effective at stopping bud rot and will make your buds taste, smell and look terrible.

Some growers use fungicides made specifically for Botrytis in the vegetative stage. But when it comes to cannabis, fungicides can only be used as a preventative before any buds have formed.

If you already have bud rot and can’t fix your environment (which is the best way to kill Botrytis), I highly recommend cutting your losses and taking down the plant.

Most fungicides are not effective for bud rot. If you do plant to spray plants, it’s recommended to get one that’s specifically been developed to combat Botrytis.

Any treatments for Bud Rot should be applied in the vegetative stage as a preventative.

There’s nothing you can spray on your plants after bud rot has already formed. Unfortunately, there aren’t any effective fungicides or other treatments that are safe to use with cannabis in the flowering stage

How to Stop Bud Rot from Spreading

The inside of dense buds provide a great place for Bud Rot spores to grow, and that’s the main place you’ll find developed Bud Rot on cannabis plants. Once you’ve spotted bud rot, it’s important to act immediately.

As soon as even one part of a single bud starts showing signs of grey mold, the rot can spread to the rest of the cola and then to other buds on the plant. If triggering conditions (lack of airflow, wetness) have not improved, a single point of infection can quickly ruin the harvest of an entire plant.

Never Spray Your Buds with Anything!

Bud Rot Removal

• Immediately remove all rotted parts and nearby areas. The only way to stop the spread is to remove all signs of mold from the plant, then move plants to a cool, dry area with a nice breeze.
• Be extremely careful not to let any rot touch any part of the rest of your plant.

What Happens Next?

• harvest the cannabis plant now
• let it continue to ripen, but only if you fix the environment

If your plant has been affected by bud rot, it means they need less dampness and air that’s more dry. If you can improve the environment, you can allow the plant to continue ripening after you’ve removed the infected buds. However, if you don’t fix the environment it will usually come right back, sometimes even attacking other buds overnight.

Here’s how to fix the environment:

• add additional air circulation
• lower the humidity (40-50% RH is optimal in the late flowering stage)
• defoliate leafy plants (remove leaves covering bud sites, through the middle of the plant, and any leaves that aren’t getting light anyway)
• prevent wet spots on plant

If you can’t fix the environment, I highly recommend cutting your losses at this point. If you know that it’s still going to be cool, humid or wet for your plants, it’s recommended you harvest immediately to prevent further buds from becoming infected. Buds harvested early are better than moldy buds!

Whenever you do harvest your healthy buds, be extremely careful during the drying process. Normally growers want to slow dry buds, but if you’re worried about mold it’s better to dry them faster, with plenty of air circulation and movement.

Bud rot is a mold that develops in the thickest parts of cannabis buds. Read for more information on how to prevent and solve bud rot before spreading!

How to Grow Pink or Purple Cannabis Buds

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Would you like to grow colorful cannabis buds? You may have seen marijuana buds that are pink, purple, red, orange, or possibly even blue! But how do you grow colorful buds at home?

If you want to grow buds that are pink, red, or purple, you must choose the right genetics!

The tendency to turn colors is almost 100% determined by strain/genetics, so you can’t force any plant to produce colorful buds. However, you can purchase seeds of strains that naturally turn vibrant colors, and there are tricks to maximize their genetics and bring out the colors of your buds.

You cannot produce buds this purple without a strain that has been bred to makes purple buds. There are tricks to maximize the natural color of your genetics, but you have to start with good genes!

4 Different “Parts” of Cannabis Can Become Colorful

When people are talking about “colorful” buds, most people imagine brightly colored buds in their hands. But there are actually different parts of cannabis plants that can display non-green colors, and sometimes people will lump all them all together. Each one is a little different from each other, and some have a significant effect on the final looks of your bud, while others don’t make much difference.

Many different parts of a cannabis plant can turn purple, including the whole plant!

The parts of the plant that can become colorful are…

• Pistils (Hairs) – some of the color remains after drying/curing
• Calyxes (Buds Themselves) – very strong effect on final color
• Leaves – relatively small effect on final bud color since many are removed by trimming
• Trichomes – small effect on final color

Buds are made up of different parts and are usually more than one color

Colorful Pistils / Hairs

Most growers want the buds themselves to appear colorful, so the color stays even after the buds are dried and cured.

There are two parts of the buds that can turn color. One part is the pistils/hairs that stick out. There are several strains where the pistils turn pink or purple.

Sometimes just the pistils/hairs turn pink or purple, while the leaves and buds may still be green.

When buds are dried, they retain some of their pistil color, but you will still be able to see the color coming through underneath.

Colorful Calyxes (Buds Themselves)

Calyxes are what make the buds themselves. Cannabis “buds” are actually made of hundreds of calyxes stacked on top of each other, and some or all of them may become colors other than green.

This fantastic picture shows how the overall appearance of buds changes with the ratio of colorful vs. green calyxes.

Nearly all Smooth Smoke buds (by Tropical Seeds) produce at least a few pink calyxes here and there, and some plants in the right conditions can produce buds where almost every calyx is a deep purple.

Calyxes are what give the most color to your buds. Even a few purple calyxes can give the buds an overall purple tint, and when you break open the buds there will be some pieces that are completely purple.

This nug contains several purple calyxes.

After being ground up, you can see the purple pieces distributed throughout. The higher the percentage of purple calyxes, the more vibrant your final bud color will be.

Colorful Leaves – Sometimes It’s Not the Buds That Turn Color!

With some strains, the leaves may turn purple while the buds stay mostly green. This can make for absolutely gorgeous plants, but since leaves mostly get trimmed off after harvest, usually, a lot of the purple will no longer be visible on the buds after the trimming process.

For some strains, the leaves may turn purple while the buds stay green. This often happens after the plant gets exposed to chilly night temperatures (but not always). The leaves exposed to direct light are most likely to turn purple, while leaves in the shade often stay green.

Although the leaves have turned purple, the buds themselves are mostly green.

Only the tops of buds exposed to direct light have any purple left after trimming off all the leaves. Trimming removed almost all of the purple coloring.

Colorful Trichomes

In general, cannabis trichomes go from clear (not ready) to white (highest THC) to amber/yellow (more of a mellow effect) before they eventually wither and die. These color changes are often used to determine the best time to harvest cannabis.

However, sometimes, trichomes can turn purple or pink, making it difficult to know when to harvest. In that case, you want to also look at the pistils to determine the best harvest time!

Purple or pink trichomes can make it tough to know when to harvest, but they’re exotic and beautiful! The color of trichomes may leave a slight tint on the buds after they’ve been dried and cured, but the bud color underneath will be the dominant color.

Now on to making purple buds at home!

How to Maximize Color and Genetics

Before you do anything else, you need to begin with the right genetics. If the genes of your plant don’t make colorful buds, there’s nothing you can do! So, you must start with a colorful strain to get the best results with maximizing color.

• Choose Colorful Strain (Most important!)
• Choose Strain that Produces Very Dark Colors (if you want buds to maintain color after being harvested and dried)
• Temperature – Warm days & cool nights
• Bright Light – Strong light levels can help bring out color
• PH at the Roots – Some strains may express colors at higher or lower pH ranges

Choose Strains with Brightly Colored Buds and Pistils If Possible – This maximizes the overall colorful appearance of your buds.

For the most significant final effect on your dried and cured buds, you want to choose a strain where as many parts of the plant as possible are colorful. So ideally, you want buds where the pistils and calyxes (which make up most of the final color) are both vividly colored. If the leaves and trichomes are also colorful, that will improve the effect even further.

In this case, the buds are purple, but the pistils are orange.

To maximize the final color, you want to choose a strain with brightly colored buds and pistils. For example, this bud has purple calyxes, mostly purple pistils and even some purple leaves. This combination makes the entire bud appear bright purple.

Choose Deep Purple Buds for Maximum Color After Drying/Curing – Deeply colored buds (sometimes called “black” strains) tend to be the most vibrant after drying/curing.

To produce the most colorful buds, you need to make sure the color goes all the way through the buds, and ideally, also through all the surrounding leaves. This level of color-penetration is most likely to happen with intensely dark colored buds. Buds that are paler in color tend to lose a lot of their vibrancy in the post-harvest processing.

These buds were mostly pink at harvest, but the color doesn’t go all the way through the buds.

There was still a lot of green on the parts of the buds that didn’t get direct light.

After they’re trimmed and dried, the pink color has become more subtle.

You will “keep” the most color after drying/curing by choosing strains that are dark purple through and through, from buds to pistils to leaves if at all possible. Deeply colored buds keep more of their color after drying and curing than pale purple or pink buds.

These buds were deep purple at harvest…

When buds are darkly colored, they tend to keep more color after being dried and trimmed.

Note: Your buds will naturally lose some of their overall vibrancy and color during the drying/curing process (but not any of their potency!). That’s why you will likely never run into neon purple buds that have already been dried and cured for 2+ weeks. Even green buds go from being bright green to a more muted green color by the time they’ve cured for a few weeks. When you see very brightly colored buds, it almost always means the buds are still relatively fresh.

Although color is determined primarily by genetics, there are a few things you can do to help your plant express its natural colors…

Temperature – Some Strains Express Colors When the Night Temperature is a Few Degrees Cooler than the Day

If you’re growing a strain that turns color, some strains will only show their colors when night temperatures are at least a few degrees cooler than during the day in the flowering stage, especially towards the end. However, some plants don’t react to cool night temperatures, and many strains (like Panama) nearly always turn color no matter what the temperature.

Certain strains like Querkle turn color more easily when the temperature is warm during the day as opposed to cool at night. So, it’s always a good idea to aim for nice warm days, and cool, comfortable nights, because that contrast seems to help bring out colors for many strains.

How to Maximize Color with Temperature

• Warm Days (75-80°F / 24-27°C)
• Cool Comfortable Nights (65-70°F / 18-21°C)

Note: Some strains turn color no matter what the temperature. You can sometimes contact the breeder and ask if they have advice on how to bring out colors for a particular strain. I’ve found that most breeders will get back to you quickly if you go to their website and ask questions!

Temperature makes a difference! Some strains need contrast between day/night temperatures for their buds to turn colors. For example, the buds of this Auto Frisian Dew turned bright purple after it started getting below 70°F (21°C) temperatures at night.

Strong, Direct Light may help bring out colors

In some cases, a plant may produce purple tones in response to intense, direct light (on buds and leaves). Although we’re not sure exactly why it’s possible this may act as a sort of sunscreen for the plant! The importance of light levels varies on a strain by strain basis.

The pH at the Roots may affect cannabis bud color expression

Outside the cannabis world, there are a few species of plants with flowers that are known to turn different colors based on the pH at the roots.

For example, the flowers of specific types of hydrangeas can turn blue in very acidic soil but may turn pink if exposed to neutral or only slightly acidic soil (though this type of variation is rare in the plant world).

Yet there have been occasional reports of cannabis strains that produce different bud colors based on the pH at the roots, though unfortunately, more testing is needed!

If growing multiple plants of the same strain, you might consider giving plants different pH ranges to see what effect it has on the final bud color!

Pictures and Examples of Colorful Strains

Here are some pictures of cannabis strains that sometimes grow colorful purple and pink buds.

Photoperiod (Regular) Strains

Frisian Dew

The next two pics are of the strain Frisian Dew, a popular strain by Dutch Passion, who specifically designed the strain for growing outdoors. It is exceptionally hardy, high yielding, and is also mold and pest resistant. About 50% of the time, Frisian Dew buds will turn bright purple instead of green!

The plant in the middle with the dark purple buds is Frisian Dew.

Purple Trainwreck

Purple Trainwreck buds are usually purple-tinted, with purple leaves or pistils.

This Purple Trainwreck plant is growing purple pistils.

For this Purple Trainwreck cola, it’s mostly just the leaves turning purple. In either case, the effects are the same!

This Purple Trainwreck bud turned particularly purple.

Panama

The following plants with pink pistils are from the strain Panama by Ace Seeds

This is what Panama buds may look like when they’re first growing in.

beautiful pink pistil pic by trippergreenfeet

As the Panama buds develop, the pistils and even the buds themselves may intensify their pink color

Smooth Smoke

Smooth Smoke buds (by Tropical Seeds) can become quite colorful, with colors from hints of pink to deep purple!

Auto-Flowering Strains

Auto Frisian Dew

Auto Frisian Dew by Dutch Passion (this is an auto-flowering version of the original famous marijuana strain) – Unlike the regular Frisian Dew which gets about 50% purple bud plants, the breeder claims only 10% of the plants from this strain produce purple buds. Still, some growers are getting far better odds than that. When purple does appear, the color is incredibly vibrant and spills out onto the nearby leaves!

This Auto Frisian Dew plant got a little stunted at first, but still ended up producing beautiful purple buds!

Auto-Flowering Bloody Skunk

Auto-Flowering Dark Devil

Dark Devil Auto is another fabulous auto-flowering strain by Sweet Seeds that turns a gorgeous purple or even a deep red.

This Dark Devil Auto bud turned completely purple from top to bottom.

Purple Kush Auto

Brilliant color on Purple Kush Auto plants! The buds turn almost black after being dried!

pics by kingkola1

Colorful “Duck” Strains (Stealth Leaves)

“Duck” strains are characterized by their oddly shaped leaves. The idea is that the plants look less like cannabis with 3-finger leaves. The bright colored buds also help make them look less like cannabis.

Frisian Duck

One of the most popular variations of the Ducksfoot (Ducksfeet?) strains is called Frisian Duck by Dutch Passion. This strain thrives outdoors and grows with the traditional stealthy leaves. This strain also often makes bright, beautiful purple buds (with cold enough temperatures) that have a fresh scent that is sometimes even a little fruity.

Frisian Duck plants react well to growing in a living soil that’s been composted and amended with slow-release organic ingredients.

This is a Frisian Duck plant in the vegetative stage.

This Frisian Duck plant was grown outdoors in a greenhouse. More than half of Frisian Duck plants grow bright purple buds!

Frisian Duck is based on the famous Frisian Dew strain which also produces purple buds and has been bred for generations specifically for growing outdoors. The Frisian genes thrive under sunlight, and buds are resistant to bugs and mold!

This Frisian Duck plant is just about ready to harvest!

However, even with stealthy strains, be aware that they still smell like cannabis in the budding stage!

Why Do Cannabis Leaves and Buds Turn Purple?

Sometimes you’ll see purple leaves because of a nutrient deficiency, but oftentimes purple leaves are actually caused by natural plant processes!

There are many species of plants that make purple leaves. The leaves appear purple due to high levels of a purple pigment called anthocyanin. Anthocyanin may act as a sunscreen for plant leaves because it protects against damage caused by UV-B rays. Anthocyanin is also known to help protect against cold or heat stress on the cellular level.

It’s not just cannabis plants that grow purple leaves. Here’s an example of a False Shamrock plant, which has glorious purple leaves from top to bottom!

With some cannabis strains, the leaves may turn purple while the buds stay green. Just like with buds, the leaves are more likely to turn color when the plants are getting cool night temperatures in the late flowering stage.

The leaves most likely to be affected are the top leaves and other leaves getting direct light. With this purpling, the leaves in the shade of the plant usually stay green.

For some strains, the leaves may turn purple while the buds stay green.

The leaves of this plant turned purple overnight after that plant was exposed to chilly night temperatures.

The leaves exposed to direct light are most likely to turn purple, while leaves in the shade often stay green

In this case, all the leaves that are exposed to the light have turned purple, including the sugar leaves. However, once the leaves are trimmed off, the buds will be mostly green.

Buds may still be purple-tinted from leaves that weren’t completely trimmed off.

If there’s a lot of purple leaves, there may be a lot of color left even after trimming.

Case Study – Super Purple Haze plant

The top leaves of this Super Purple Haze plant have turned a vibrant purple

Here are the buds from that Super Purple Haze plant drying – you can see that the parts of the buds that were exposed to the light have strong hints of purple

A closer look at those buds so you can better see how much bud is purple and how much is green after being trimmed and dried (click for a closeup!)

This cannabis plant has grown vibrant red and purple leaves.

This outdoor cannabis plant has turned purple everywhere it received direct sunlight. Splendid!

Cannabis sometimes has neat mutations, like this two-tone plant where only half the leaves turned purple!

These Swiss Cheese plants by Nirvana exploded with red, pink and purple leaves when it got cool at night right near harvest time, but the buds themselves did not change color. Unfortunately, when just the leaves turn color, the buds themselves will often look mostly green once they’re trimmed. But this beautiful picture lives forever!

Bright purple stems may be a sign of a phosphorus deficiency, but this “symptom” is sometimes actually caused by genetics, just like purple leaves, pistils or buds!

Blue Dream (rare deep purple phenotype)

Blue Dream buds usually don’t turn this deep purple, so if you want to see buds like this you’re better off with a strain that’s bred to always grow dark purple buds. However, the pictures were so beautiful I just had to share!

How can you grow colorful buds that turn purple or pink? Learn which strains to get, as well as what you can do to maximize color during your grow.