Indoor grow, coco coir, drain-to-waste, tap water @ 200ppms, nute Ph 6.0-6.3, nutes: GH 3part, Liquid Karma, CalMag+, GH Liquid KoolBloom, hand water every 3 days, 600W HPS lights @ about 16" (air cooled), room temps 68-79, ventilation: charcoal fan filter with can fan, air exchange @ 1 per minute.

Genetics: Green House Seed Co - White Rhino. Clones taken from mothers grown from WR seeds that I popped personally.

Are my plants over-fertilized? Yes. They are. Does over fertilization result in completely deformed buds with super soft flexible stems? I hope the answer is YES.

Two threads that sent me down the "possible TMV" path, only problem is that these only have pictures of problematic leaves. No one discusses how fully matured flowers are affected.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=106396
Persistent leaf issue...A phenotype trait or other? - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums


I believe this person has the same problem I do, and better pictures (and they are fully flowered). When you look at these pictures, notice that instead of a fan leaf with 5 blades at the top, there are leaves growing out that have only 1 leaf.
strange new growth at end of cycle - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums


Assuming it's not an actual virus, can "plant stress" be responsible for completely deformed buds? Does it manifest itself that way? To re-iterate... here are the main problems/symptoms:

1. Flexible tops - Can easily bend the top 2" of my plants over 90 degrees.
2. Deformed buds - Buds go from typical compact, dense, round flowers with mini fan leaves
underneath to longer, light, looser, sort of funnel shaped, like rose petals.
3. New growth - Plants have been in flower for a full 9 weeks. Trichomes are perfect. 1 week
ago most hairs were healthy and red. Now, the tops are exploding with new deformed flowers
with new white hairs.

The last time this happened, after I was done trimming the plants and removing the buds from the stems, I noticed that the stems were nice and smooth up to the tops. Where the plants were "infected" the underlying stems were kinda gnarly and knotted. I set some of the bud aside and smoked it after it cured. It was kinda harsh and less potent (i.e. not very stoney).

Last grow I assumed plant stress due to lighting or nutes. This grow I lowered the nute dosage and kept the plants further from the lights. This grow the leaves are less burned, but all of the above symptoms have not changed.

Yes, it sounds encouraging that I'm using phrases like "tops are exploding" and "new growth". But these are unusually deformed buds, that are harsh to smoke and not very potent. Not at all something to aspire to.

On a typical good grow, my buds are like little baseball bats. The cola's are firm and thick all the way to the top of the plant. There is NO flexibility at the tops of the plants. NONE. ZERO. Healthy plants DO NOT BEND EASILY at the tops. And it's not just the tops. It's the tops of all the buds including the side growth.

As I start harvesting these I'm going to pull them apart and take more detailed photo's. Hopefully, that will help. I'm having a difficult time communicating my problem and the pictures are too hard to make out the details.

I really appreciate any help with this. thanks