i considered damping off, but the the characteristics are not the same as what i'm experiencing. my soil smells earthy. i also thought maybe i underwater, due to the fact that my plants in the back rows tend to stay wetter longer. everything in the front is semi dry by day 7, and have yet to have a droopy plant from waiting those three days to water everything at the same time. also i've done this successfully for three runs.
now some bacteria that drys a portion of the plant branch and leaves the base where it infects soft and spongey. hmm. some kind of dry rot or some kind of bug maybe burrowing into the branch that causes it. hard to say doesn't seem like this is very common. wouldn't damping effect the whole plant, or a least the wetter ones in the back. most of this where found up front. and if under watering was an issue i would expect this far more prevalent in entire plants in the front rows. maybe my plants are just self purning (not really but wouldnt it be nice) to give more juice to bigger buds. anywho thta as much thinking about this as i want to do, so read you on the up side......