I’ve been doing some research on Cannabis sativa, and THC lately, and there is something that has been bothering me…
A marijuana bud, if it is really “good” has these things that look like little red hairs. What are they? Do they contain a large amount of THC (and if so, how much?) When I’ve done some google research, I keep coming up with something called Trichome. However, I’m not much of a botanist, and don’t understand what exactly they are, and why are they are on a bud.
AFAIK they don’t hold much THC. The white crystals hold THC. The hairs are bred for aesthetic reasons, but they may very well be pollen-catching organs. Aren’t choice marijuana flowers all female?
The “hairs” are valued as a sign that the plant has (probably) reached its highest levels of THC potency–they don’t really contain that much THC themselves (as has been pointed out, the resin crystals are where the real action is), but when they’ve turned red, it’s a fairly reliable sign that the buds are ready for smoking.
Serious cultivators would rely more on examining the color and transparency of the crystals under a magnifying lens (apparently, when the crystals start to turn yellowish and opaque their THC content is about to peak), but the red hairs are easier to notice at a casual glance (since they turn red around the same time as the crystals turn color themselves).
And yeah, only female plants will produce the real goods. Male flowers have some THC content but it’s much weaker than what you’d find in a female bud bursting with sticky resiny goodness.
Since the question has been answered, I’ll share an anecdote. The other weekend I went to use the computer that is my 16 year-old’s at his dad’s house. I saw his screensaver and froze. Uh… oh my god. I call his dad in, and asked him if he knew what that was on the screen there. Sure, he says, it’s a… coral reef. It was actually a big sparkly crystally red-haired fat bud. :eek:
Well, I’ve heard theories of co-evolution where the marijuana plant increasing THC development was a successful strategy because it encouraged humans to cultivate it around the world – though the guy was a stoner.
Would you call that co-evolution, or human-assisted selection? Certainly lots of plants changed properties because of us. The THC-poor hemp plant may have been the original species and marijuana is artificial. Any scientists ever try to trace back pot evolution?
I guess there are no experts on here, well… were no experts. The proper term is Pistil, NOT TRICHOME, globular trichomes are for the production of resin. A white hair is found on a female plant, called a ‘Pistillate’ flower, a male is called a ‘Stanimate’ flower. On the Pistillate flower there are two white hairs protruding from the ovum, or, in Botanical terms the Calyx of the Pistillate Cannabis flower. The Pistils are there for one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is, for reproduction, by capturing an air born pollen particle. The Pistil acts as not only a collector, and delivery tube. It pulls the pollen particle down a tube into the calyx where it combines it’s DNA with that of the female to create a seed. The Pistil then dies turning a red or brown colour. The pistil also has a life span less than that of the plant and will only live so long anyway regardless of success or not. This process happens at different rates for different strains. For instance, MK-Ultra has nearly 90% of it’s Pistils still alive at resin maturity, whereas, Green Crack Kush has none.One cannot go by Pistils when attemting to determine maturity, one must view the trichomes under a fifty times viewer and see the difference between clear, milky, and amber trichome heads, then harvest when the majority have progressed passed the milky point to amber. Or harvest when over half of the stalks on the trichomes have started to bend over from maturity.
I guess there are no experts on here, well… were no experts. The proper term is Pistil, NOT TRICHOME, globular trichomes are for the production of resin. A white hair is found on a female plant, called a ‘Pistillate’ flower, a male is called a ‘Stanimate’ flower. On the Pistillate flower there are two white hairs protruding from the ovum, or, in Botanical terms the Calyx of the Pistillate Cannabis flower. The Pistils are there for one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is, for reproduction, by capturing an air born pollen particle. The Pistil acts as not only a collector, and delivery tube. It pulls the pollen particle down a tube into the calyx where it combines it’s DNA with that of the female to create a seed. The Pistil then dies turning a red or brown colour. The pistil also has a life span less than that of the plant and will only live so long anyway regardless of success or not. This process happens at different rates for different strains. For instance, MK-Ultra has nearly 90% of it’s Pistils still alive at resin maturity, whereas, Green Crack Kush has none.One cannot go by Pistils when attemting to determine maturity, one must view the trichomes under a fifty times viewer and see the difference between clear, milky, and amber trichome heads, then harvest when the majority have progressed passed the milky point to amber. Or harvest when over half of the stalks on the trichomes have started to bend over from maturity.
For the last 4800 years, the most valuable product of the hemp plant was hemp rope (up until the 1940’s when nylon rope started making inroads). That’s why hemp was bred to grow so tall – the longer stems produced better fibers for ropes.
But now that height is a disadvantage to modern growers – it makes it easier for police authorities to locate the plants (and it wastes plant energy on something no longer important to the grower). So now growers are breeding for shorter, more bush-like plants – with higher THC concentrations.
