What is the purpose of THC to marijuana plants?

[RNDZL]

or perhaps an example of epigenetic influence on the evolution of a sybiotic relationship between flroa and fauna

we have evolved to be pots bees and pot has evolved to be the safest external organism for us to consume.imbide to maintain homeostasis

shark.remora

bee.flower

hippy.cannabis

 

[TLoft13]

Wouldn't understanding this process lead to better harvests?

Could it be that it provides the plant with protection against ultraviolet radiation ?

Natural defense against beeing eaten.
A cow who likes MJ much more and eats it all day will be turned into a lazy stoner cow by the THC. Now it cares for nothing else, doesn't go to work, can't support a family. So it will gradually be bred out of the genepool.
1:0 for THC, RIP lazy stoner cow

 

[Danks2005]

I have always thought it was a defense against being eaten also. My dog has swiped edibles, and once a couple of buds. If you've ever seen this, the dog is miserable, and I assume it would be the same for deer and other herbavores. I believe the point is that if an animal eats the cannibas plant, it won't do it again.

 

[foomar]

Stolen from somewhere and relevant.

An elaboration on the phytochemical process that makes cannabis THC

The resin exuded by the glandular trichome forms a sphere that encases the head cells.

When the resin spheres are separated from the dried plant material by electrostatic attraction and placed on a microscope slide illuminated with a 100W incandescent bulb, they appear very dark when observed through a 300X microscope. Since orange, red, and infrared are the component wavelengths of incandescent light, and since the absorption of light makes an object dark or opaque to the frequency of the incoming wave, one can conclude that these wavelengths are probably not directly involved in energizing the cannabinoid pathway.

However, the resin sphere is transparent to ultraviolet radiation.

The author found through trial and error that only one glandular
trichome exhibits the phytochemical process that will produce the amount of THC associated with pain relief, appetite stimulation and anti-nausea; euphoria and hallucinations are side-effects, however. This trichome is triggered into growth by either of the two ways that the floral bract is turned into fruit.

Of all the ways that optics are involved in the phytochemical production of THC, the most interesting has to be how the head cells and cannabinoid molecules are tremendously magnified by the resin sphere. These and other facts are curiously absent from the literature. The footnotes update the literature to include electrostatic separation of the resin sphere from the dried plant material and cannabis parthenocarpy.


(1) "For all spheres, a ray drawn perpendicular to the sphere's surface will intersect the center of the sphere, no matter what spot on the surface is picked, and the magnifying power(a) of a glass sphere is greater the smaller its size. A sphere of glass can also bring light that is heading to a focus behind it to a point within it, with freedom from two aberrations, spherial aberration and coma, but not from chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration results when different wavelengths are focused on different planes and is the most difficult of the aberrations to correct. The human eye lens also exhibits chromatic aberration, but a yellow pigment(b) called the macula lutea in the fovea, an area at the rear of the eyeball, corrects this problem by the way it absorbs blue light."

(a)"The formula to calculate the magnifying power of a sphere is l=333/d, where l is the magnifying power and d is the diameter of the sphere expressed in mm."

(b)Interestingly, the resin exuded by drug-type flowering female cannabis plants has a yellow tint. Could this pigment work to correct chromatic aberration in the resin sphere like the macula lutea does in the fovea for the eyeball?

(2) Quoting from the Mahlberg and Kim study of hemp(a) "THC accumulated in abundance in the secretory cavity where it was associated with the following: cell walls, surface feature of secretory vesicles, fibrillar material released from disc cell wall, and cuticle. It was not associated with the content of the secretory vesicles."

The resin spheres contain the THC. It is not contained in the leaf or floral bract. After the resin spheres are dissolved in solvent or dislodged by electrostatic attraction, and a microscopic examination of the leaf or floral bract has revealed that only the glandular trichomes' stalks remain, no effect will be felt after smoking the dried plant material from which the resin spheres have been removed.

(3) The electrostatic collection of the resin spheres from dried cannabis plants with plenty of ripe seeds has been for hundreds of years the method indigenous people of North Africa and Lebanon have used to make hashish. Obtain a round metal can 8" or so in diameter x 3" or so in depth (the kind that cookies come in) with a smooth lid. Obtain 2 ounces of dried cannabis with plenty of ripe seeds in the tops. To remove the seeds and stems, sift the cannabis tops through a 10-hole-to-the-inch wire kitchen strainer into the can. Close the can with the lid and vigorously shake the closed can three or four times. This gives the resin spheres an excess negative charge. Let the can sit for a moment and then remove the lid. Opposites attract. The negative-charged resin spheres have been attracted to the metal surface of the can and lid which has a positive charge. Take a matchbook cover or credit card and draw the edge across the surface of the lid. Note the collected powder. Observed under 300X magnification, the collected powder from this "shake" is composed of resin spheres with an occasional non-glandular trichome. As the cannabis is shaken again and again, and more of the yellow resin spheres are removed from the plant material, the collected powder gradually becomes green-colored as the number of non-glandular trichomes increases in the collected powder. The greener the powder, the less the effect.

(4) "Cannabinoids represent a dimer consisting of a terpene and a phenol component. Cannabigerol (CBG) is the first component of the pathway. It undergoes chemical change to form either cannabichromene (CBC), or cannabidiol (CBD). Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is derived from CBD."

(5) "Pate (1983) indicated that in areas of high ultraviolet radiation exposure, the UVB (280-320 nm) absorption properties of THC may have conferred an evolutionary advantage to Cannabis capable of greater production of this compound from biogenetic precursor CBD. The extent to which this production is also influenced by environmental UVB has also been experimentally determined by Lydon et al. (1987)."

The writer's own experience allow for a more specific conclusion: If the UVB photon is missing from the light stream(a), or the intensity as expressed in µW/cm2 falls below a certain level(b), the phytochemical process will not be completely energized with only UVA photons which are more penetrating but less energetic, and the harvested resin spheres will have mostly precursor compounds and not fully realized THC(c).

(a)Examples of an environment where the UVB photon would be missing from the light stream include all indoor cultivation illuminated by HID bulbs and in glass or corrugated fiberglass covered greenhouses.

(b)"The maximum UVB irradiance near the equator (solar elevation angle less than 25 deg.) under clear, sunny skies is about 250 µW/cm2. It was observed that the daily solar UVB in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (N24.4Lat.) decreased from September to December by about 40% (Hannan et al. 1984). The further a person is from the tropics, the less UVB radiation there is: the average annual exposure of a person living in Hawaii is approximately four times that of someone living in northern Europe." Below are some UVB readings taken in Hoyleton, Illinois, on a clear sunny day in June by David Krughoff as reported in Reptile Lighting 2000.

7am: 12 microwatts/cm2
8am: 74 microwatts/cm2
9am: 142 microwatts/cm2
10am: 192 microwatts/cm2
11am: 233 microwatts/cm2
12pm: 256 microwatts/cm2
1pm: 269 microwatts/cm2
2pm: 262 microwatts/cm2
3pm: 239 microwatts/cm2
4pm: 187 microwatts/cm2
5pm: 131 microwatts/cm2
6pm: 61 microwatts/cm2

(c)Cannabinoid pathway: Anywhere in this pathway UVB does a better job than UVA in energizing a phytochemical reaction that will produce more fully realized THC because "all cannabinolic compounds show an absorption maximum between 270 and 280 nm in the ultraviolet region."

(6) Capitate-stalked glandular trichome.

(7) #1: The ovum has been fertilized and there is a seed developing: In the areas of the Northern Hemisphere where indigenous people have grown heterozygous drug-type cannabis for hundreds of years, pollination is used to trigger the growth of the capitate-stalked glandular trichome on the floral bract and concomitant leaves of the flowering females before the autumnal equinox(a) so the majority of seeds will be ripe(b) before November.

(7) #2: The floral bract has become parthenocarpic: Parthenocarpic fruits develop without fertilization and have no seeds. Except for transmutation and turning lead into gold, there has been more nonsense written about seedless cannabis than on any other subject. In cannabisparthenocarpy, the floral bract (the fruit) enlarges in size as though there were a seed growing inside, and the capitate-stalked glandular trichome is triggered into growth on the floral bract and concomitant leaves. "Most popular supermarket tomatoes are parthenocarpic which was induced artificially by the application of dilute hormone sprays (such as auxins) to the flowers." In a trial, cannabis parthenocarpy was not induced by the application of the spray used on tomatoes. Only the photoperiod(c) will trigger parthenocarpy in flowering female cannabis plants. Cannabis parthenocarpy occurring before the autumnal equinox is considered by the author to be "long-day" and cannabis parthenocarpy occurring after the autumnal equinox to be "short-day".

The longest photoperiod that will trigger parthenocarpy in unfertilized flowering homozygous(d) Indica female cannabis plants is 13:00 hours, give or take 15 minutes. This effect can be obtained in the month of August at N35Lat, and because the capitate-stalked glandular trichomes received plenty of UVB during this month at this latitude, the harvested resin spheres had fully realized THC. Rating: euphoria and hallucinations, major appetite boost and pain relief, deep dreamless sleep. These plants seldom grow taller than four feet but potency makes up for the reduced harvest.

The gene pool is heterozygous if a flowering female cannabis plant is not parthenocarpic by the end of the first week in September in the Northern Hemisphere. If this is the case, pollination is used instead of parthenocarpy to trigger the growth of the capitate-stalked glandular trichome before the autumnal equinox to obtain as much fully realized THC as possible in the harvested resin spheres by the time the majority of the seeds are ripe.

The longest photoperiod that will trigger parthenocarpy in unfertilized flowering heterozygous female cannabis plants is 11:00 hours, give or take 15 minutes: This effect can be obtained in the month of November at N35Lat. Because of the low intensity of UVB radiation at this latitude at sea level during November, the harvested resin spheres evidenced only slightly more THC than precursor compounds. Rating: mild to medium euphoria, appetite boost and pain relief, good snooze.

Thai cannabis falls into this 11:00 hour category, and its parthenocarpy is characterized by an inflorescence in which many floral bracts are attached to an elongated meristem. It is these elongated meristems that are harvested to become a THAI STICK. On the other side of the world, Mexican cannabis grown around the same latitudes (Michoacan, Guerrero, Oaxaca) also falls into this short-day parthenocarpic category and the unfertilized cannabis will become "sensimilla" in the 11:00 hour photoperiod which begins in mid-December in that region. The winter sunshine in those latitudes has enough UVB intensity to produce fully realized THC--unlike the winter sunshine at N35Lat.

All unfertilized flowering female cannabis plants will become parthenocarpic in a 9:00 hour photoperiod (15:00 hour dark period): This can be obtained in the month of December at N35Lat. At this latitude in this month there is not even enough UVB in sunlight for precursor vitamin D3 to develop in human skin. The phytochemical process will not produce fully realized THC when UVB falls below a certain level of intensity expressed in µW/cm2. Rating: no effect.

(a)In the Northern Hemisphere above the Tropic of Cancer, the key to all cannabis potency is this: The more days of sunlight the capitate-stalked glandular trichomes' resin spheres accumulate before the autumnal equinox the more fully realized THC.

(b)It is recognized in the indigenous world that drug-type cannabis with a majority of ripe seeds will produce more euphoria, hallucinations, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and sleep aid than with a majority of unripe seeds.

(c)The photoperiodic response is controlled by phytochrome. "Phytochrome is a blue pigment in the leaves and seeds of plants and is found in 2 forms. One form is a blue form(Pfr), which absorbs red light, and the other is a blue-green form(Pr) that absorbs far-red light. Solar energy has 10X more red (660nm) than far-red (730nm) light causing the accumulation of Pfr." The first and last hour of a day's sunlight is mostly red light because of the scattering effect on blue light. "So at the onset of the dark period much of the phytochrome is in the Pfr form. However, Pfr is unstable and returns to phytochrome Pr in the dark." The red light in sunrise returns the Pr to the Pfr form. "Phytochrome Pfr is the active form and controls flowering and germination. It inhibits flowering of short-day plants (the long night period is required for the conversion of Pfr to Pr) and promotes flowering of long day plants."

(d)In Nepal and nearby areas of India where the capitate-stalked glandular trichome is triggered into growth by parthenocarpy rather than by fertilized ovum, great care is taken to make sure that all male cannabis plants are destroyed as soon as they reveal their sex. This is because unfertilized Indica flowering females can have both stigma and anther protruding from the floral bract. In the Indica gene pool, female-produced pollen carries an allele for long-day parthenocarpy, and seeds resulting from this female-produced pollen will produce another generation of female plants that will also exhibit long-day parthenocarpy during flowering. But if pollen from male plants is introduced into this gene pool, the resulting seeds will produce a generation of females that will exhibit short-day parthenocarpy instead. The allele for long-day parthenocarpy in the female-produced pollen is carried into the gene pool by self-pollination and cross-pollination, and perhaps homozygous is used too loosely here to describe the genetic result.

(8) It appears that the resin sphere acts as an UVB receptor and magnifying lens. The latter apparently lets it gather in a lot more photons than would otherwise be possible; because a lens also acts as a prism, the resin sphere may prevent some wavelengths from being focused where the phytochemical processes are taking place because they could interfere with the phytochemical process that makes THC.

[/quote]

 

[Kcar]

I wish I could read all that ^^^^

 

[foomar]

Then just read the best bits ....

..... in areas of high ultraviolet radiation exposure, the UVB (280-320 nm) absorption properties of THC may have conferred an evolutionary advantage to Cannabis capable of greater production of this compound from biogenetic precursor CBD. The extent to which this production is also influenced by environmental UVB has also been experimentally determined .....

The writer's own experience allow for a more specific conclusion: If the UVB photon is missing from the light stream , or the intensity as expressed in µW/cm2 falls below a certain level , the phytochemical process will not be completely energized with only UVA photons which are more penetrating but less energetic, and the harvested resin spheres will have mostly precursor compounds and not fully realized THC.

Examples of an environment where the UVB photon would be missing from the light stream include all indoor cultivation illuminated by HID bulbs and in glass or corrugated fiberglass covered greenhouses.

The more UV of the correct wavelength the more THC in the end product , just need an affordable lightsource at the right time

 

[Telegraphist.]

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=152167

nyy27 explains it rather well here

 

[sunwukong]

I'm no botanist, but I believe the THC crystals have a two fold beneficial effects. 1) I think the thc crystals protect the buds and seeds from harmful uv rays by reflecting it away, or dispersing the rays so that they are not as strong when they hit the green plant material. 2) In drier environs, instead of transpiring water at such a fast rate, the plant excretes various oils, the cannabinoids being one of them.
Wanna increase THC production? Grow in a dessert, on a mountain top, on the equator. The heat, sun intensity and lack of atmosphere to dilute the suns rays should stimulate thc production. Just my $.02.

 

[Frankenstein]

I always speculated that it was a defense mechanism. I'd like to know more about this as well.

Bingo. THC is produced by the plant to ward off pest and from stealing/eating their seeds, such as birds, deer, and insects.

The plant itself has no other use for THC. Think of this plant like a fly trap plant, not the one that has leaves that close, the fly trap that has sicky shit on its leaves, which by happen stance, the little sticky things look just like tich's on a weed plant, only super sized. This is preschool shit, dont need a scientist to tell me what a defence is lol, i know one when i see one. On our level THC might get us high, Think about some lil 70 pound deer eating a whole plant. Thats one fucked up deer. What about a bird having to fight through all the sticky skunkness of the weed plant to get to seeds, think that lil thing going to have trouble navigating. Come on people its just like anything else on the planet, its protecting its offspring.

A Awesome example of this is in the last 2 weeks of flowering, Drive something through the bottom of the main stalk and leave it there, this "Wound" Threatens the plants offspring and forces it to start massivly producing resin. Ill be doing this to one of my plants near the end of the grow, did it on 3other plants in my time of growing and have had very very nice results.

So for those of you waiting on scientist to show you something, pick up the touch and run test the plant for yourself. Personaly i think its a denfense system created by the plant, so i test that, as stated above. I also look for new ways to test the plant.

Edit:
The UV thing seems agreeable, I mean over the years Weed plants have grown more and more potent, and over the years we have fucked up our atmosphere leting more and more UV rays in. So yeah i can see that. But still, It cant be by that much i mean strongest weed out there got what 20%-30% THC level? Tell you what, im not exposing my plants to artifical radiation on any level....EVER. There could be risk that might not show for years.

 

[Matanuskan Flo]

point 8 says it all....thanx for that info!!

 

[Telegraphist.]

Also this

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=110809

OM&tW onto something there i think, needs more stoner research

 

[Owl Mirror]

I have always thought it was a defense against being eaten also. My dog has swiped edibles, and once a couple of buds. If you've ever seen this, the dog is miserable, and I assume it would be the same for deer and other herbavores. I believe the point is that if an animal eats the cannibas plant, it won't do it again.

My dog loves to eat leaves. Only the dried ones from the bottom of the plant though, nothing green. Drop a dried leaf on the floor and it's gobbled up quicker than the eye can see.

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

(a)Examples of an environment where the UVB photon would be missing from the light stream include all indoor cultivation illuminated by HID bulbs and in glass or corrugated fiberglass covered greenhouses.

All unfertilized flowering female cannabis plants will become parthenocarpic in a 9:00 hour photoperiod (15:00 hour dark period): This can be obtained in the month of December at N35Lat. At this latitude in this month there is not even enough UVB in sunlight for precursor vitamin D3 to develop in human skin. The phytochemical process will not produce fully realized THC when UVB falls below a certain level of intensity expressed in µW/cm2. Rating: no effect.

That was an interesting read, but I'm having a hard time believing the author's conclusions due to the information above...

If UVB is so important to the realization of THC, and indoor systems lack UVB, why does indoor bud get me so high???

 

[Telegraphist.]

High or stoned?

High or stoned?

Just an idea, could be wrong though

indoor HPS only bud gets you stoned and outdoor/uvb treaded bud gets you high?

Just a theory, comments please

 

[Owl Mirror]

The resins are a built-in raincoat/windbreaker (like the oils on the coat of a water dog) ...

Could we simply turn on the garden hose and high powered fans to boost thc production ?

I've often wondered how plants cope with growing indoors, absent wind and rain.

 

[ayatayo]

just want to throw 2 ideas:

1 THC is just one stage of the resin changing during the plant's life....it's something else before becoming TCH, and it (the resin) will change into something else after being THC (degradation into CBD,CBN or what ever). so, it seems that the plant dont "aim" to produce THC. we just like to pick up the plants at that moment when the THC constitute the main constituant of the resin, because that's what interresting us....

2 not really interrested with that "adding uvb" thingy, but wouldn't be easier to irradiate the buds with UVB's after the shop?

just rambling here..........

 

[etinarcadiaego]

Personally I don't think it has anything to do with UV light, but it would be interesting to know why it is produced.

Still, I'm not sure I'd want my pot to have MORE THC, you know?

 

[mexilandrace]

THC is the plants natural sunscreen against UV rays.
Yes, using a UV lamp for up to 1-4 hours a day(no more, will kill the plant) will help tricome production = more potent bud.

I veg with actinic lamps and they are on 24 hours a day, my plants are very alive.

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

Just an idea, could be wrong though

indoor HPS only bud gets you stoned and outdoor/uvb treaded bud gets you high?

Just a theory, comments please

Indoor buds have been tested thousands of times at levels over 15% THC(whatever that means).

I dont think we can assume THC realization has anything to do with UVB. We are mistaking correlation with causation here. Just becuase an outdoor environment with more UVB produces more THC does not mean it was the UVB that did it: an environment with more UVB will also likely have stronger light, period.

We must isolate the UVB variable to make a sound conclusion. I wonder if this has been done anywhere?

 

[etinarcadiaego]

Indoor buds have been tested thousands of times at levels over 15% THC(whatever that means).

I dont think we can assume THC realization has anything to do with UVB. We are mistaking correlation with causation here. Just becuase an outdoor environment with more UVB produces more THC does not mean it was the UVB that did it: an environment with more UVB will also likely have stronger light, period.

We must isolate the UVB variable to make a sound conclusion. I wonder if this has been done anywhere?

Well said. I agree with you.

Why would Cannabis need some protection from UV rays when other plants lack the same protection?

We need some empirical data . ..