Funky Musty Smell In Flower

[wilhoitorwhatever]

Strain: White Widow Auto (can't remember seedbank this one came from, think it was a freebie)
Soil Grow: FF Ocean Forest and Happy Frog mix
Environment: In my 3x3 tent in attached garage, carbon filtered intake fan and separate carbon filtered exhaust fan, with oscilating mini fan inside tent
Temp: has ranged from 60-74 F
Humidity: has remained pretty low, has dipped into 30's and I've struggled to keep it into 40's
Nutes: I've used 1/2 dose of MegaCrop 2.0 during veg and very beginning of flower, I've used 1/2 does of Dr Earth Golden Bloom a few times since beginning of flower.
Watering and pH: I let her dry out and get nice and light, then soak which ends up being about every 2 days in her 3 gallon pot. pH details next...
A little history of this grow: When she was in solid veg maybe around week 3 I started seeing spots on her leaves and the tips were turning a little off color and it looked like some type of deficiency. I'm no pro but it looked like potassium or maybe calcium, I'd been feeding her a little the MC which I've read should cover the nute spectrum, so I assumed lockout with low pH (this was a mistake and lesson learned). I didn't verify that, just ran with that assumption and gave her just 1/4 dose of CalMag to be safe and raised my pH to around 7 thinking it would offset the low pH of my soil. Well I should have verified, the pH of my runnoff a few days later was a 7.5. I tried to make adjustments and lowered the pH on my next watering to around 6, after a few waterings she started looking better although you can still see some signs of the issue. Don't know if it's just because she's an auto and is moving too fast to make it up, or if I was even right about the issue. I still have plenty to learn.

My Question for Today: She wasn't really putting out any smell until 4 or 5 days ago. Then suddenly I began smelling a musty smell. My tent is dry, she's had great airflow, and the humidity has been really low, too low actually. This smell, it smells like mildew or something, just musty. I've never grown Cat Piss but it smells like what I'd imagine that strain to smell like. I don't see anything on her that looks like mold, in fact her buds are still open and hairs are white and with the air flow she gets it's hard for me to figure she could be moldy, but still I'm nervous about it.

She has been in my attached garage, which isn't underground or musty itself but there isn't great airflow in the garage even though the tent is exchanging air pretty nicely. I was really kind of hoping someone could make me feel better about my buds, do any better trained eyes see any signs of mold? Any thoughts about this musty, pissy smell she's putting out? Any other general tips or advice about anything you think I've screwed up or could do better? Verifying the pH and not running with an assumption is an obvious one I won't do again.

Thanks for your help.

 

[wilhoitorwhatever]

Well I actually did read several threads on here about musty smelling plants before I posted, but this one I just found so maybe this is just something that happens sometimes. I've just not encountered it before so it worried me, still interested in anyone's input they care to give.

Musty Smelling Lady

 

[Phytoplankton]

Could be the smell is coming from the catch pans if there's water sitting in them.

 

[wilhoitorwhatever]

No it's not the drip mat or catch pan, I thought that at first too. I took her out of my tent and put her in an inside room (where the pics were taken). I let her sit for about 2 hours and when I opened the door the scent about knocked me down. It actually smells just like, I mean JUST LIKE cat piss, like a male cat sprayed or something. While she was inside I went back to my tent and the smell was gone, I took the opportunity to sanitize the tent and clean it out really well and dried it out before I put her back in, although the tent was already clean. All that to say the smell is definitely coming from the plant.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Must be the strain. I remember in my Humboldt Daze, around late August, just driving around, it would smell like a herd of skunks had been run over! Now trying to find that old skunkweed strain is difficult. (brings back memories)

 

[wilhoitorwhatever]

Must be the strain. I remember in my Humboldt Daze, around late August, just driving around, it would smell like a herd of skunks had been run over! Now trying to find that old skunkweed strain is difficult. (brings back memories)

Thanks, I guess it is the strain. I at least feel good that there's no mold or anything bad going on with my buds.

I think with the fans running in the tent it was dulling the intensity of the smell and it just toned it down to a level where it smelled mildewy and musty. When I put her in the room with no fans or filter and let her sit for a while she stinks but it no longer smelled moldy or musty. I gotta say I've never smelled anything quite like it, I've grown a few strains that had skunky tones to them but this is like a cat screwing a skunk on your face.

 

[TheGrimReaper]

Sounds like it will be some good smoke!

 

[wilhoitorwhatever]

Sounds like it will be some good smoke!

Thanks, I'm hoping so!

 

[grayeyes]

I have hard water, ph from 8 to almost 9. The cheap fix is a tablespoon of white vinegar in a gallon of water. Brings the ph down to the 6-6.5 range.