Trichomes color.

[DrPhoton]

This page is being rewritten and moved. TBA

[bobsakamoto]

DAN...holy crap...SO informative!!! thank you!! and as an added bonus, some of my own and my friends' different reaction(s) to the *exact* same thing--same stuff, same amount, same time, same place, etc.--are now explained...as is a whole whole bunch of other stuff. definitely gonna have to read this a few more times. thanks.

[DrPhoton]

Thank you so much, i worked on it for ages. I hope it helps others. I believe that a good understanding in what you are working with, goes a long way to cultivating more high quality products.

[bobsakamoto]

true that. could not agree more. again, thanks. that clearly took a tremendous amount of time (and work).

[StoneyTony]

Just caught this thread. Damn DoD That was a good read! I've often read that when big pharma isolates chemicals (the active ingredient), and makes a pill out of it, they often battle side effects, because they have excluded the plants other compounds. This is why herbology is and has been so successful. It's that synergy of ALL the compounds that eliminates the side-effects and leaves zero overdoses. Nature knows what shes doing. Big pharma keep thinking they know better.

[DrPhoton]

Avoiding side effects when you are creating a physiological change in the human body is almost impossible. At least one person is going to have a problem. The body was never designed to consume substances that change our physiological state, its only by chance that this happens. But we take advantage of that. Overdose or toxicity is only more aparent with synthetic chemicals because they hold more of a physiological potency compared to natural derivertives. But there are plenty of natural components that can easily kill you if you are not careful.
I agree that pharmacutical manipulation is highly uncomfortable in the US. Although its not as impacting for the rest of the world. Its US alone, that consumes over 80% of the worlds drugs, yet are only 2% of the worlds population. But that does not come down to a faulty medical system, it comes down to greed and money. No matter how perfect something is, money can turn the best of things to the worst.
When it comes to the prevention of cannabis for medicinal purpose, i feel the biggest hurdle is the government. I mean there are states that have now allowed the use of cannabis for medical purposes. It seems, whenever law is passed the flood gates open.

I do need to update this thread and also create another about the medical side of the cannabis profile. But theres so much to cover, i feel the political side is far more complex than the science of the thing.

[DrPhoton]

Omitted with updated version to make it more easy to read.

[Minoo96]

Hi Dan, new grower here. Sorry, haven't read the bit of information. Usually I take the time, but after skimming through it I think its a concentrated version of what I already read in other places. Its nice to find the information here, don't get me wrong (I'm also very stoned and very lazy tonight haha)


You first asked "I am curious about peoples preference with trichome ripeness and its effect. Most people appear to strive for peak THC. I myself am no different. But how many actually like the couchlock effect of amber trichomes and how many don't and why ?" and that's what I wanna answer.

I like couchlock! Its not even I like, its I need.
Sativa, according to what I understood, how I feel when I smoked some low grade (I've smoked only once some high grade marijuana. Hope to smoke more when I will harvest), is more for a recreational purpose. It makes you laugh.
Indica, is more for a medicinal purpose, due to its CBD content. This one is supposed to be couchlock.

Me, big stressed guy, suffering from insomnia and anxiety -panic attack at the worst times-, I grew to like Indica. It took me time to understand that I wasn't smoking it like others, they smoke it to have fun. I smoke it to relax. So about tricomes, I think I need 2 types of weed, one of the day, one for the night. Night one I would like to have it covered with amber, a joint of this and its sleepy time no doubt about it. (I hope, I guess it also depends on the strain ) Day time, that's the tricky one. It should relax, but let me do the work, focused even. So a good strain that has a reputation for such effect, with some amber tricomes but not all. Most clear.

Like I said I'm a new grower, haven't harvested even once. Will have a better judgement after this fall. (8 plants, 5 different strains)

[DrPhoton]

That was really interesting and helpful, i do support your conclusions about the different effects and their associated needs. It also seems to transpond over to strain types too, some are daytime strains, some are nightime. Some are both. Or some are somewhere in the middleground. Its diversity in characteristics and what people seem to look for in the drug are amazing.

[DrPhoton]

Also where you grow up and whats around you seems to impact peoples taste and the qualitys they chase for. Sort of like food or alcohole.

[Minoo96]

What amazes me the most, is that it seems to not only be efficient to my problem (any other solutions I tried except taking chemical medicines like xanax for instance) but cannabis also work for other problems too, pain, cancer. There's not enough research on that, I do not feel I can properly claim cannabis "cure" cancer. But I can definitely say, after years of trying out, it helped me. It still do. Others say the same about pain. That's a wonderful plant just for that much. No other plant helped me like it does (I tried essences, herbal medicines, yoga, teas, really lots of things).

Now there's the recreational effect too. I like it also, but not 24 hours a day. A few hours after dinner, or before to get the munchies. It's really different from the medical side I use it for. Like an added bonus. (Said added bonus has contributed to make cannabis look like a bad drug).

Nowaday, when we say drug, we often associate something bad with it. But then coffee and tea are drugs also. Coca cola too. So I do not like to consider marijuana a drug. A drug for me, is xanax. LSD.

[Minoo96]

So after reading online and re-reading your post, I think I will harvest my plant when its fully cloudy. I think it makes sense that CBN is an ersatz of CBD, that to know the true high of a plant you should harvest it when its cloudy. Amber will "fake" the high, changing the true effect of the strain. How can I know which strain is best if I harvest them at different times. Not sure I make myself clear...
I found this subject of THC/CBD/CBN very confusing at first (and still do somewhat). Its not growing plants anymore but human/plant biology, to a high level!

[DrPhoton]

Yes, its a real challenge trying to figure out whats best, i still find that understanding the science gives me the answer before i even get the physical results. I did wonder for a while wether CBN was more of an aquired taste or preference. But i feel it has too many negatives to be classified as such. We wouldnt consider nausea as a personal preference.

[Minoo96]

I still consider it a question of personal preferences, everyone should try both way and see which one they prefer. For first harvest I will try both ways, but in my head its much "cleaner" to harvest cloudy.
Let me/us know if you find more infos by experience or on the internet, this is actually the most important part I think... And of course the most complicated.

[DrPhoton]

Yes, hence the question of the thread.

Il leave you with a conflicting phenomenon. THC converts to CBN when it interacts with oxygen and oxidizes. Hence the amber. However, some strains dont amber and makes it difficult to observe peak or beyond peak levels.
Hmm.

[Minoo96]

Yes! Very true. Those strains are sativa mainly, and we know they take much longer than indica to mature. Maybe its related to that? Sativa would be of higher 'quality' because it takes longer to mature, so it has to protect itself in a more efficient way against oxydizing (correct word? I dont think so but you know what I mean). Those have low CBD though, maybe its also related to that?

[Soilscience]

Great stuff dano. It explains some experiences I've had over the past year. I had a high CBD, moderate thc strain that required a few more hits, but what a wonderful, easygoing space.
I then had a strain that was supposed to be high thc, but began going amber a week earlier than I expected. So I ended up harvesting a lot of yellow and brown because I wanted the buds to swell a little more.
Intense, focused and forgetful...then unavoidable sleep in 2 to 3 hours.
Amazingly different experiences. Genetics, timing. Cool.

[DrPhoton]

Thanks for your input, its interesting hearing peoples experience.

[GanjaGed]

Certain strains I'll do a complete harvest at one time once I try my grown version of them. My first harvest of a strain and the default I do is harvest an amount, usually small, early with some clear/cloudy, Usually I'll harvest the second batch around mostly clouds with some amber, and the last comes with mostly amber.

I'll try to save the tops and best buds or best plant if I harvest multiple plants, for my target trich color for that strain.

I'm not much for the early stuff but occasionally it's ok for a change and I have a friend or two that prefer it. My big harvest almost always centers around Cloudy with some amber, and I like to always have some good, time to sleep stuff around because I will get terrible bouts of insomnia at times. Heavy amber also seems to help some of my other symptoms better but at the cost of wanting to sleep.

I've always found it amazing that you can harvest for 3 different profiles off one plant, it just begs to be taken advantage of.

[Minoo96]

DrPhoton I noticed you edited your first post, when will the rewritten version be out? It was so interesting and full of details!

[DrPhoton]

You noticed Well after many conversations and new discoveries over the last year. It was clear this article was outdated and frankly poorly structured. A recent discussion on trichomes gave me some really good insight into the biochemistry of the resinous glands. Also reading robert clarks book on cannabis botany pretty much gave me all i needed to know. So i will be now taking this information to create a more up to date, hopefully long term article. But i was planning to take a break from writing as i kinda had writers block, but perhaps il attack this subject.

Subscribe to keep up to date on my latest work.

[Minoo96]

Take your time, friend. It should be enjoyable for you!
Thanks for the link, will read it later today
I'll always wait for your final version though, the first one really made an impression on me haha.

I imagined something like this (after discoveries of last year it would be outdated, we always keep on learning new things here haha) when I saw it was edited recently.