Trichome Talk

[Rucifer999]

Hello all I would love to get more input on trichomes and how others feel about it. Here is my opinion and what I've learned from some growers.
People talk about sativa and indica and how one is suppose go for this long and that long. Well after running various strains and letting them flower for so long I've noticed. Some do not turn amber. I've also talked to some people who explained the process like a fruit. You pic it too early it's under ripe and too late it's over ripe.

Now like I said I've ran different strains sativa and indica different stages of trichomes and now always cut down when they are all cloudy which is the best time. I've been doing this for awhile now and no complaints always quality product and even with indica stains cut at cloudy yet still had a couch lock.

Clear trichomes being under ripe and Amber being over ripe. Meaning by the time you hit amber trichomes the "fruit" is decaying. LIke a banana too green no good/when it's bruising it's decaying and yellow is just right. Also look at the resin gland usually they stand straight up by a certain point they start to fall over "lean" this could be an indication that they are decaying.

I've also heard go by pistils which in my opinion is not good to go by. Wait until the pistils turn red some people say. Yet during the cure the pistils always turn brown even if cut while they are white.

It's my understanding the only reason you watch the pistils it to see how many times they pop out start changing colors then new ones form. I've noticed they form a few times. So new pistils burst out while those decay more burst out and then there comes a point where they just stop bursting out all together or slow down by that point she they "plump".

I would really enjoy other people's feedback on this. Thanks!

 

[Swagymcfly88]

This would make sense to me by the time amber is showing THC is becoming cbd is it not ? That to me would be over ripening

 

[Dwight Monk]

This would make sense to me by the time amber is showing THC is becoming cbd is it not ?

Actually it breaks down into CBN.

In the plant, CBD is a precursor and CBN a metabolite of THC. As cannabis gets older, THC gradually breaks down to CBN

.

So yes it is at that point it is starting to deteriorate the amount of THC, though you have trichs that haven't matured yet in the same Flowers........so one of them "who knows if any scientific experiments have been done or not to validate anything"

 

[Rucifer999]

This would make sense to me by the time amber is showing THC is becoming cbd is it not ? That to me would be over ripening

Could be but I haven't dived too much into trichome glandular studies. If it's reverts over to cbd with amber that's odd I just thought cbd was in a whole realm itself. I'm going to be running a cherry wine CBD strain in the future. Have you ran two strains yet in comparison letting one go amber yet?

 

[Rucifer999]

Actually it breaks down into CBN.

.

So yes it is at that point it is starting to deteriorate the amount of THC, though you have trichs that haven't matured yet in the same Flowers........so one of them "who knows if any scientific experiments have been done or not to validate anything"

Are you allowed to give your input on the subject? I would really enjoy staff input also on the subject.

 

[Carcass]

The plant I just harvested went 4 weeks over the suppliers projection-at harvest (yesterday) I could only find about 10 amber trichs on the entire plant,and they were on the oldest bottom leaves.

I've always grown outdoors up till this grow,when the leaves start to yellow,and most of the pistils are brown,I've always seen the trichs starting to amber up...but this plant (LowRyder#2) just wouldn't show me any amber at the expected time.

I would think it was just a strain that didn't ever show amber....Except that I grew one of the same strain,actually from the same seed pack,3 years ago outdoors,and It showed amber at the expected time,just like all the other strains I'd grown outdoors...

So what I'm wondering,is could it possibly be the LED light that keeps the trichs from turning amber?
Maybe not enough UV light to degrade the THC?
Probably not,but the light source is really the only difference between the 2 plants.

The outdoor plant was fed MiracleGro,and the indoor plant was fed Mega Crop,but I don't think nutes play a big part in ambering the trichomes,but I don't really know if they do or not.

 

[Rucifer999]

The plant I just harvested went 4 weeks over the suppliers projection-at harvest (yesterday) I could only find about 10 amber trichs on the entire plant,and they were on the oldest bottom leaves.

I've always grown outdoors up till this grow,when the leaves start to yellow,and most of the pistils are brown,I've always seen the trichs starting to amber up...but this plant (LowRyder#2) just wouldn't show me any amber at the expected time.

I would think it was just a strain that didn't ever show amber....Except that I grew one of the same strain,actually from the same seed pack,3 years ago outdoors,and It showed amber at the expected time,just like all the other strains I'd grown outdoors...

So what I'm wondering,is could it possibly be the LED light that keeps the trichs from turning amber?
Maybe not enough UV light to degrade the THC?
Probably not,but the light source is really the only difference between the 2 plants.

The outdoor plant was fed MiracleGro,and the indoor plant was fed Mega Crop,but I don't think nutes play a big part in ambering the trichomes,but I don't really know if they do or not.

Great info! Now that you mention it I only grow indoor but under HPS for flower. Ran into the same thing Only had one strain show very few amber trichomes. Maybe it does come down to the UV rays. I haven't grown outside yet. One day I might. I'm just not a fan of outdoor grows because too many variables especially with pests. I don't like my cannabis with bugs on it haha.

 

[Carcass]

Yeah-the pests are one of the main reasons I moved indoors...Outside it's a constant battle with caterpillars,spider mites,aphids,snails,whiteflies,etc. ...and no control of the environment like indoors.
Interesting thing...I've got a male plant growing outside (for pollen),and no pests go anywhere near it...
It's growing in an area of the yard that is notorious for whiteflies and aphids,but that plant is clean as a whistle...Maybe it's the lack of odor or something...I don't know,just seems odd

 

[Rucifer999]

Yeah-the pests are one of the main reasons I moved indoors...Outside it's a constant battle with caterpillars,spider mites,aphids,snails,whiteflies,etc. ...and no control of the environment like indoors.
Interesting thing...I've got a male plant growing outside (for pollen),and no pests go anywhere near it...
It's growing in an area of the yard that is notorious for whiteflies and aphids,but that plant is clean as a whistle...Maybe it's the lack of odor or something...I don't know,just seems odd

That is odd. Maybe you can lock in that trait for females! One day I'm hoping I can have a controlled greenhouse for the environment but clear roofing for the sun to penetrate to eliminate the problems you stated.

Do you prefer milky or amber? Did you notice any quality difference in amber trichomes? I've also ran the light cycles differently still no difference in trichomes. I was thinking maybe longer exposure to UV might with a 12/12 or 13/11.
I personally stick with 11/13 for flower.

 

[Carcass]

I usually go for what I see as 20% amber-I do think the amber gives it a little more"sedative" effect,
But not really enough for it to be a "must do"in my future grows-

I smoked a little scissor hash last night from yesterdays trimming,and it was a little bit
more of an energetic buzz than the last LoRyder,which had "the usual amount" of amber.

I can't really use it as an indication that the whole plant is going to be that way,because scissor hash
always seems to hit me pretty hard...or I smoke too much of it....or both...

 

[Rucifer999]

One of my favorite parts of the harvest! Scissor hash! Always do the same haha I roll it up like a booger ball!
Then. Usually half though.

 

[Carcass]

Yeah,I've still got one blade to go-I did smoke the gooeyest one last night....

 

[Aroxol]

I have a few Jack Herer seedlings that will be grown together coming up, if they end being the same pheno I think I’m going to bite bullet and pay $75 per plant to test this whole theory out.

I’ll chop one when I think it’s ready based on common visual sense (no loupe or scope) and I’ll chop the other according to amber trichs under a microscope. I feel like this whole trichs concept is fundamentally flawed and an example of people over rotating, but I’m also prepared to eat crow and give myself a proper samurai death if I’m proven terribly wrong.

 

[Dwight Monk]

Could be but I haven't dived too much into trichome glandular studies. If it's reverts over to cbd with amber that's odd I just thought cbd was in a whole realm itself. I'm going to be running a cherry wine CBD strain in the future. Have you ran two strains yet in comparison letting one go amber yet?

It goes to CBN when the THC degenerates. According to my Sister who works for a Hemp farm they have found out the highest CBD level is when you harvest earlier than one would think (compared to Cannabis for THC level), so if looking for highest CBD when you grow you would go a week or two earlier than you would normally do it.

Are you allowed to give your input on the subject? I would really enjoy staff input also on the subject.

Staff label doesn't mean we more knowledgeable on anything especially in my case ......that said personally I think it is one of those areas when growing Cannabis where there are various opinions on opposite ends of the spectrum at times, I tend to experiment a bit personally and find what "works best for me" (or appears to be anyway), and a "if it ain't broke don't screw with it as it will be broke if you do". As you said some Strains won't go amber at all and other Strains the pistils never turn red, so IMHO not an "etched in stone" approach/methodology/standard to really go with. That and IMHO the window is wider than some make it out to be, as it don't go from too early to way too late and ruined in 4 days , they do bulk up in weight at the end so you may lose quantity. But I feel (again IMHO and no science) probably one wouldn't see any/much difference in the high either end of the spectrum within a week or two of harvesting, as the "high" is a lot more complicated than just the THC % numbers, as I have bought Flower at the Dispensary that was 16% that kicked just as hard as the 28% stuff (and some where the lower % kicked harder even).
In my limited experience I have noticed that my ladies won't go thru the water as fast at the end (takes longer for pot to become light or they just quit taking in water period), so I go more by that and when the leaves start dying off as the plant is dying and knows it.

 

[Swagymcfly88]

Could be but I haven't dived too much into trichome glandular studies. If it's reverts over to cbd with amber that's odd I just thought cbd was in a whole realm itself. I'm going to be running a cherry wine CBD strain in the future. Have you ran two strains yet in comparison letting one go amber yet?

I haven't done that but I very well could as I have 5 ww autos growing right now and could let one go longer then the other but I don't know if I should as @Dwight Monk just informed me it actually brakes down in to CBN thx for that info btw

 

[Aroxol]

I haven't done that but I very well could as I have 5 ww autos growing right now and could let one go longer then the other but I don't know if I should as @Dwight Monk just informed me it actually brakes down in to CBN thx for that info btw

It would be nice to see you do that, but it only makes sense if two of the plants appear to be the exact same pheno or super super close. If they aren’t it probably won’t produce as much info as you/ we want. Probably makes the most sense to test on 2 clones off the same photo plant. I’d just take them until you get a good calyx swell on at least one of them (or all 5)

 

[Swagymcfly88]

It would be nice to see you do that, but it only makes sense if two of the plants appear to be the exact same pheno or super super close. If they aren’t it probably won’t produce as much info as you/ we want. Probably makes the most sense to test on 2 clones off the same photo plant. I’d just take them until you get a good calyx swell on at least one of them (or all 5)

Ya it would definitely be a better test on clones but two of them do appear to be the same pheno so I could go with those two an see how it goes

 

[Aroxol]

Ya it would definitely be a better test on clones but two of them do appear to be the same pheno so I could go with those two an see how it goes

I’d def like to see it if you give it a go, please just message or tag me whenever/ wherever you’re posting it so I get an alert.

 

[Rucifer999]

It goes to CBN when the THC degenerates. According to my Sister who works for a Hemp farm they have found out the highest CBD level is when you harvest earlier than one would think (compared to Cannabis for THC level), so if looking for highest CBD when you grow you would go a week or two earlier than you would normally do it.



Staff label doesn't mean we more knowledgeable on anything especially in my case ......that said personally I think it is one of those areas when growing Cannabis where there are various opinions on opposite ends of the spectrum at times, I tend to experiment a bit personally and find what "works best for me" (or appears to be anyway), and a "if it ain't broke don't screw with it as it will be broke if you do". As you said some Strains won't go amber at all and other Strains the pistils never turn red, so IMHO not an "etched in stone" approach/methodology/standard to really go with. That and IMHO the window is wider than some make it out to be, as it don't go from too early to way too late and ruined in 4 days , they do bulk up in weight at the end so you may lose quantity. But I feel (again IMHO and no science) probably one wouldn't see any/much difference in the high either end of the spectrum within a week or two of harvesting, as the "high" is a lot more complicated than just the THC % numbers, as I have bought Flower at the Dispensary that was 16% that kicked just as hard as the 28% stuff (and some where the lower % kicked harder even).
In my limited experience I have noticed that my ladies won't go thru the water as fast at the end (takes longer for pot to become light or they just quit taking in water period), so I go more by that and when the leaves start dying off as the plant is dying and knows it.

Lucky! The dispensaries here in AZ are garbage. They started out great but started buying from a bunch of different vendors. In my opinion too many people grow who don't care about quality and just quantity or do it because they think the label "grower" is cool.

I stopped buying from dispensaries and grew my own because of mold and a lot of their bud not cured properly various other reasons. I've always been a humble man so when I've smoked with people who work at dispensaries and people who had just bought from dispensaries and they've all said "whoa this is better than what we have or just bought". That really made me proud to be "grower".

sorry got off topic. The new bud age with all the commercializing and getting in because who you know not what you know really irritates me.

 

[Dwight Monk]

Lucky! The dispensaries here in AZ are garbage. They started out great but started buying from a bunch of different vendors. In my opinion too many people grow who don't care about quality and just quantity or do it because they think the label "grower" is cool.

I stopped buying from dispensaries and grew my own because of mold and a lot of their bud not cured properly various other reasons. I've always been a humble man so when I've smoked with people who work at dispensaries and people who had just bought from dispensaries and they've all said "whoa this is better than what we have or just bought". That really made me proud to be "grower".

sorry got off topic. The new bud age with all the commercializing and getting in because who you know not what you know really irritates me.

Oh similar problems here, not like I need to buy it (I don't smoke much, mostly to take edge off pains and I'm my old ladies caregiver so can't get blotto anyway even if I wanted to), but I will see a Strain I want to try and buy from time to time from the Dispensaries in town. They gave out Growers Licenses to about anyone that wanted to pay the fee here in OR, last numbers I saw last year they grew almost 4x what was sold the previous year (and that just the legal grows), so prices have dropped like a rock and it will all sort out somewhere once all the folks that wanted to jump in on the "gravy train" but had completely no clue how to grow or anything about the business, as simple Supply and Demand kind of thing and folks in OR tend to be able to tell "craft" stuff from the "crapola" so eventually only the true craft folks will still be in the business (unless the Feds change their tone and allow interstate commerce, OR has more than they can even sell and keep good until it can be sold or processed into something else, as after a year it loses a lot of it's taste/smell/kick).