UVB - No trichomes on SLH

[applegate]

Long story short - I cut and cultivated clones too early as I didn't know I'd be flowering my Super Lemon Haze (Greenhouse Seeds) for 13 weeks. I simply didn't have room for them and didn't have the heart to toss them so I planted them in 5 gallon buckets and set them in an unheated greenhouse in late July figuring they'd eventually subcome to the extremes before they matured.

To my utter suprise they thrived despite the daytime temps of over 115 degrees in the greenhouse and are currently healthy, robust 5 foot plants that appear to about 5-6 weeks into flower. Because I live in a colder northern state I'm now supplementing heat at night. Other than a fan to circulate air and an oil filled radiant heater I have done nothing to earn these beautiful plants.

The mother was grown under a 600w LED and was absolutely saturated with trichomes - exceptional in every way. These clones - despite the multiple colas that appear to have promise to be massive have almost no trichomes. The indoor grown mother showed trichome development early, frost setting up at the bud sites from almost the beginning.

I researched the material we built our greenhouse with - SunTuf - and found that it is UV resistent. Is it possible that the absence of UV is the reason that trichomes are so scarce on these clones? I bought a couple of reptile UVB lights to supplement the regular sunlight these plants are receiving but am unsure if the UV is the issue.

I'd appreciate any ideas. Having finally experienced SLH I'm eager to bring these plants to their most potent maturity if I can!

 

[Dwight Monk]

I have read that UV helps contribute to more trichs, but not sure what kind of experiments have been done with that, as like everything lots of different opinions out there. Let us know if the UV lights that you now supplementing with change anything for you, though may have been needed earlier in Flower.

 

[applegate]

Will do. I'm absolutley flummoxed with this situation. The only obvious variable between the mother and the clones is that the mother was grown indoors and the clones are in the greenhouse. If trichomes are in part a reaction to stessors (as I've seen theorized hundreds of times) it would seem the clones would have them in droves as they've been subjected to a far harsher and more unstable environment.

Thanks for your response!

 

[Scientific]

> Is it possible that the absence of UV is the reason that trichomes are so scarce on these clones?

No.

Probably your greenhouse plants are just getting much less intense light than under a 600 watt lamp. How bright the light is in my experience is what determines how many trichomes you get (other things, e.g. nutes, being equal).

Do be careful with UV light. It can damage your eyes.

 

[applegate]

I think Scientific's assessment is spot on. But for those curious about using reptile UV lights to supplement, it does make a difference. I'm running the UV light about 6 hours a day and the colas that are closest to the bulb (about 12-14 inches) are heavily dusted with small trichomes. Those that are more distant from the UV bulb continue to show little to no trichome development.

I'm going to use the other UV bulb in the flower room where the other girls are finishing under HPS and see if anything noteworthy happens.

 

[Icemud]

> Is it possible that the absence of UV is the reason that trichomes are so scarce on these clones?

No.

Probably your greenhouse plants are just getting much less intense light than under a 600 watt lamp. How bright the light is in my experience is what determines how many trichomes you get (other things, e.g. nutes, being equal).

Do be careful with UV light. It can damage your eyes.

I agree with Scientifics comment as a good probability of why...

I've seen studies in the past that directly related the PPFD (intensity) of light hitting the plant to the amount of trichomes, so they may just not be getting enough light...

Other than that it it could be.......

The lack of UV could contribute to less trichomes, but I haven't seen any evidence of lack of UV producing little or no trichomes...UV increased the count of them, but is not the "sole trigger" that makes trichomes form therefore to the eye I doubt the difference would be something without actual lab analysis we would notice....

There could of been some morphological change when taking clones from the mother plant, or possibly an epigenetic trigger was changed somehow during the cloning which may have caused this too... Plants can change due to the environment, nutrients, temperatures, lighting, spectrums... all sorts of things effect how plants actually grow so there could have been some kind of stress down the line that caused the genetic expressions or phenotypical traits to change...this also is very possible. It could be as simple as a light leak, or a growth hormone in a product you are using... or??? many factors play into epigenetics.

The plant could have had heraphrodite genetics too, that were recessed or hidden which can and generally will appear a generation later down the line...which could contribute to the lack of trichomes. I've had seeds all from the same parental lines that have plants with tons of trichomes, plants with moderate trichomes and plants with no trichomes.. so very possibly the mother plant may have expressed differently than cuttings down the line.

Even things like the color of the ground or ground cover have been shown in studies to influence the trichome development due to either reflecting or absorbing different wavelengths of light... so there are a lot of possibilities of why...

 

[applegate]

I had to google "epigenetic". It's a cool word. I'm going to try to cram it into my regular vocabulary. But it all makes sense in the schematic of nature vs nurture. I'd like to eventually play around with breeding and you've given me much to think about.

Thank you very much, Icemud!

 

[Icemud]

I had to google "epigenetic". It's a cool word. I'm going to try to cram it into my regular vocabulary. But it all makes sense in the schematic of nature vs nurture. I'd like to eventually play around with breeding and you've given me much to think about.

Thank you very much, Icemud!

I'm glad that you appreciated the post

 

[josh223]

Icemud has the knowledge.