Seed harvest and bud rot?

[Grandma Weedstein]

Judging from the wet start to autumn we’re having in Western Oregon, I am planning to chop some colas early as a hedge against total disaster. I’ve pollinated some colas intentionally as a DIY breeding project and I’m wondering how late I need to wait for the seed to develop. Does the bud need to be super ripe or past ripe? Also, if I wait a long time and bud rot develops, will it hurt the seeds? Attaching pics from a couple colas I pollinated. I trimmed the leaves for better access with my brush.

 

[Weaselcracker]

The ripeness of the bud overall isn’t really relevant. It takes around a month for seeds to get mature, give or take a week. The easiest way to know where you’re at would be to poke around in there and take a look at the seeds and see whether they are mature (brown) or not. At some point the calyxes open right up and the seeds start falling off onto the ground but you do not need to leave them that long.

Yes budrot will destroy the seeds as well as the bud if left unchecked.

 

[Grandma Weedstein]

Thanks, that’s super helpful. So does the bud rot just turn the seeds to mush or what?

 

[Weaselcracker]

It creates its own moist environment and basically turns everything to slime. Being protected in a hard shell, seeds might survive for a day or two longer than the rest of the bud, but I wouldn’t count on it.