What's this Sap on My Buds
If you’ve been growing for a while, you’ve probably noticed something like this on your plants in late flower or in the drying room.
When pictures like this are posted, almost always you’ll see someone in the comments saying that these sap droplets are a result of something called guttation. I’ve been guilty of believing and perpetuating that misconception myself in the past.
If you’ve been curious enough to taste one of these sap globs, you’ll know that it’s actually really sweet, almost like honey. That amount of sugar is only present in phloem sap, whereas xylem sap is pretty much just water with some dissolved minerals.
The Xylem is responsible for transporting water and minerals from the roots to the shoots, and the phloem is responsible for transporting photosynthates (mostly sugars) to all of the growing tissues throughout the plant.
Guttation has a specific definition in botany. It’s the excretion or exudation of xylem sap through specific structures called hydathodes, which are found along the leaf margins in some plant species. Cannabis is not one of those species.
What you’re actually seeing here are phloem sap exudates that are released slowly enough that most of the water evaporates. What remains is a concentrated mix of photosynthates, meaning products of photosynthesis, mainly composed of sugars like sucrose.
As for how the sap ends up outside of the plant rather than staying contained within the phloem, it most likely seeps out through little areas of tissue damage that expose the phloem sap to open air.
Another possible explanation is that late flower is often associated with a buildup of turgor pressure within the phloem. If that pressure becomes too much, it’s possible for weak spots in the plant tissue to rupture, causing sap to spill out.
There is not really a specific word (like guttation) that refers to this phenomenon. It’s generally just called phloem exudate.
Bottom line? If you’ve never decided to taste the weird sticky liquid coming out of your buds, I highly recommend it.
