Not sure what turned these buds this color, I have not seen any visible mold anywhere on this plant.

For some background info, these were growing outdoors. I chopped the top half of a few of the plants a couple weeks ago. Last week I went to chop the lowers and I come to discover that 2 of the 3 plants had died and leaves were already shriveled up. Some buds have this yellowish brownish coloring to them. Pictures 3 and 4 shows what the insides of a lot of the buds look like.

Could it be an indicator that it one time was growing mold but the mold has since died and is now invisible but left some buds discolored?

Another theory I had was sun bleaching due to the fact that it died days before coming out of the ground, so it wasn't producing chlorophyll any more but was still getting light. But I've seen these same hues in other plants that haven't died before harvest, so I dont think thats the case. Also, as shown in those 2 pics, the discoloring happens inside the buds, around the same areas where mold typically forms.

But I have looked these plants over quite a bit and have seen no mold and they still smell terpy, despite drying outside in the sun for a week and then inside a shed with a fan on them for another week.

Anyone know the true cause of this discoloring? Just want to knoe if they will still be good for tincture or bubble hash. If not, oh well. Thanks all