The Trichomes are Whispering, But What Are They Saying?

[bboyfromwayback]

Purple Haze #1 was harvested December the 15th, #2 on the 22nd. I’ll test them again in a few more weeks with the app but the fun testing will begin around 7ish tomorrow morning with #1 followed with sample 2 on Sunday. Plus it’s playoff games all weekend. I’ll have a few others to test it out with and see what they think. Nobody knows I grow weed so it’s fun to see how they like it.

Whenever I use this app, I always do the test 3 times and all 3 test with both plants were 17% every time tonight. On the 28th I tested #1 at 19%, 17% then 18% so I kept the one in the middle.

[bboyfromwayback]

This one has been in a jar 10days, decided to try her out. Measuring 18% THC per HighGrade. I’ll do a side by side grading followed by a wake and bake smoke test on consecutive days in a few weeks. Want to see what the fuss is about though, I’ve jammed Hendrix too many times to not try his favorite strain

[bboyfromwayback]

I’m excited for the smoke test, that’s for sure 👍🏻 I just put the first Purple Haze in jars last night and the second one is about to get trimmed then harvested.

You’ll love that Magical Butter Machine. My wife gave me one last weekend as a early Christmas present and I made some tincture. That’s the first time I’ve ever made anything and it was super simple. You just put everything in it, close the lid and hit a button.

[YYCannabis]

grouchyoldman here’s the pic of the actual vs potential THC/THCa numbers for a Jack Herrer from them. You will notice the “Potential” includes the “Actual”.

[YYCannabis]

You could be correct on why Cannoli want surface area over density.

Regarding potency, i believe there is higher potency in looser buds. My reasoning is more based from conversations I’ve had with my prescription licensed producers. Their products always have two numbers, “Actual” and “Potential”, on the labels so i called them to ask for clarification. The “Actual” is the measurable amount of THC we see *ON* the material. The “Potential” is the measurable THCa *IN* the material. More THCa the better 😁
So to me that implies that increased volume size of the individual calyx forming the bud is where all the true goodness of the THCa is stored. Let’s say a kola is made of 100 loose calyxi plump with THCa and create a volume of 2 cubic inches. It will contain more THCa than the same kola made with 100 small densely packed calyxi at a volume of 1 cubic inch. And since the loosely built buds have more surface area, it allows more real estate for trich expression on the surface.

I may be waaay off base on it, but it all makes sense to me.

Since i can’t put a pic in the comment, I’ll add a pic of a label showing the 2 numbers below.

[grouchyoldman]

YYCannabis, do us a solid and ask them what technique they use for their testing? Thin Film Liquid Chromatography seems to be the gold standard.

[grouchyoldman]

Hey there bboyfromwayback, turns out we both managed to hold out for a late harvest. Dunno bout you but I had a hard time with that! Staring at beautiful ripening buds day after interminable day! Looking at that B/W pic I took of the Widow in the dark reminds me that those buds were literally dripping with frosting.

Perhaps, in the end, "oozing with bud juice," is the ultimate Harvest Signal?

Let's wrap up this thread with a "Taste Test" in late Jan to report the subjective results of our experiment? My little Late Harvest Widow is drying slowly in the grow room right now. I intend to do a proper cure after that before adding the jars to my library. After that maybe put a taste test on on the schedule. I bet we can get JohnEmad to participate as well.

-Grouchy
PS, an Estimable & Magnanimous Friend just gifted me a Magical Butter machine for Christmas, so some Late Harvest Widow bud will go into edibles & Tincture!

[grouchyoldman]

Hi @YYC, In my personal experience, loose bud means more terpenes but less potency. Tasty but not as strong?

Mayhaps loose bud is better for Cannoli-hash production? More surface area to shake potential hashish from?

[YYCannabis]

I had looked into buying a fairly decent testing device and offering on-site testing services for $10/test. Then I realized that not many home growers would want a stranger coming to their grow op. If they ever got robbed, I’d be one of the first people they accuse of doing it, or being an accomplice to it, and I don’t need that headache affecting my professional life.

[bboyfromwayback]

Are they hiring testers? That would be a evening gig I could handle

[YYCannabis]

One of my local hydro stores does free testing...well, free other than you have to give them 2 grams to test. I’m pretty sure .5 gram gets tested in the machine, the other 1.5 gets tested by the dude operating the machine 😂😂😂

[9fingerleafs]

Well. Molecules inside the trichomes are not breaking apart, only the outer layer letting oxygen in. I think the biggest mistake in all of this is treating thousands of subspecies as one single plant. As you can see two strains can grow very different trichomes. I guess you’d need to do some experimenting to know each Individual plant highest thc point. Take a bunch of clones and harvest with one day apart and then send to a lab to test thc. But would only work for that one strain. A lot of practice is needed to know each strain and the best time to harvest. Then cross analyze with trichomes and come to some conclusions about that one strain.

Commercial growers have other things to consider more critical to their bottom line. Logistics rule commercial operations

[grouchyoldman]

@9Fingerleafs: Oxidation, meaning O2 bonding of some sort, Degradation, meaning compositional distancing from the predecessor compound or molecule. So, probably both of those. Right?

I'm interested in the color of the trichomes as our only visible or at least quantifiable indication of peak THC production. Does Peak THC lay amongst the Snowy White mushrooms or Amber Waves of grain? Or is it the day those Trichs all turn Snow-Piss Yellow?

Let's disconnect "Harvest Day", which is really a personal preference,unlike THC peak production which is a Biochemical data point. The question seems to boil down to, when does my plant hit peak THC. Beyond that as a grower we can decide whether we desire an early harvest buzz or a late harvest snooze.

Isn't it a bit odd that this most basic parameter is still controversial? Even the commercial growers seem to be arguing about this.

Whatever, pardon the rant, I sometimes wax rhapsodic.

Saludos y Pesetas, y tiempo para gustarlos!

-Grouchy

[9fingerleafs]

Its definitely oxidation, we say thc degrades into CBN changing The effect but neither The bud nor the trichomes are actually degrading

[Ace1973]

You might try watering before harvest, that would put more water into your plant and slow down the drying.