[goofy81]

Hi
I've noticed that the biggest colas have less trichomes and are cauliflower like inside.
Would this mean the giant dense colas are less potent than the smaller ones? I *hate* giving out bad weed..

[Centrum]

I think its strain dependant. I noticed the strain your growing doesnt shine like a sugar covered frosty. I see the trichs in your close up but only on the calyx. I have seen some strains damn near cover the fan leaves in sugar coats.

I think with your system you should grab another strain known to get frosty and run her again then try to make the same assumption and see if your theory was right.

Good luck, great job so far on your buds

[one Q]

i notice sometimes that the buds closest to the light can have a tendency to have "less" trichs. I believe it's a heat thang. gotta keep them in that sweet spot.

[thinkin]

my .02

GH 3 flora
kool bloom powder
using same strain and very similar conditions.

high ppm= high bio mass!
thats not my goal! hope its not yours!

my goal is decent size and as many trichomes as can be developed.

Ran high PPM (1.5-2k) and lots of kool bloom powder(.5 tsp per gallon).
I was able to grow impressive colas. Great porn appeal but, effects were limited.

Next run, less ppm, less kool bloom (lucas formula and .25 tsp per gallon)
Decent size colas, MUCH better effects!

Put them both under the microscope difference was very apparent.

Running even less PPM now. (lucas to haed) Results are looking great!

[Sabertooth Phar]

Resin is a defense mechanism from herbivors. It grows to protect the important areas of the plant to continue the spieces. In a tight bud the seed pockets touch and they sense that the area from the other bud has resin there and is protected. No more protection is needed so the effort is put into another unprotected area.
You can check this with a loop or microscope. Cut the bud open and look where the resin is. It will be toward the outside or exposed area of the bud. Tighter bud means less resin on the inside as per similar strain. Tight buds look good and weigh a ton. Both good for selling. But you are smoking plant material, not resin.
I hope this helps you understand how, why and what to do in growing. Separate yourself from the old hippy dippy folk lore and experiment and talk to others that do the same. You'll improve and just maybe come across or create the next super weed.

Peace

[AeroJoe]

I can't be sure w/o seeing your environment, but I think there is something causing it. what are your temps at canopy? for me the top nugs are usually the biggest/dankest and I don't think it's just strain based.

[highonmt]

Originally Posted by Sabertooth Phar

Resin is a defense mechanism from herbivors. It grows to protect the important areas of the plant to continue the spieces. In a tight bud the seed pockets touch and they sense that the area from the other bud has resin there and is protected. No more protection is needed so the effort is put into another unprotected area.
You can check this with a loop or microscope. Cut the bud open and look where the resin is. It will be toward the outside or exposed area of the bud. Tighter bud means less resin on the inside as per similar strain. Tight buds look good and weigh a ton. Both good for selling. But you are smoking plant material, not resin.
I hope this helps you understand how, why and what to do in growing. Separate yourself from the old hippy dippy folk lore and experiment and talk to others that do the same. You'll improve and just maybe come across or create the next super weed.

Peace

One can not make generalizations about such a diverse genus. Some cultivars I have had have massive colas and truely massive trich production, such as the Gallatin Green we grew for a decade plus, known to others as the pacific G13 pheno. This thing had trichs on the leaves, buds , and stems every calyx from the first preflower to the final donky dick was covered with em. The bottom of your 1/4 bag would have about a tablespoon of pure golden trichs the stuff was a legend, lost vigor in y2k and was never the same. I have a strain in the warehouse currently that rivals the trics but less productive and way less potent. My point is that cutting up a few colas and finding less trichs does not mean this holds true for all cannabis cultivars. I just ran down and looked deep into a quarter pound cola, way more tricson the interior than the exterior of the bud it's like a carpet in there...I'll take a few pics and edit em in. Damn camera battery is dead I'll post up later. Still the interior of the buds has WAY WAY WAY more trichs than the exterior. The strain is sugar cane kush x erkle and is light on the exterior trics I had to look inside when I read this and was impressed looks like diesel on the outside kush on the inside lol.
HM

[Phaeton]

All the sticky around my buds fills with those flying bugs that are so annoying. When I have a bad infestation there will be over a dozen stuck bugs, none of them make it to the bud itself. I have to go with the defense scenario on that score.

I grow two strains, the trimmers save the trim from the northern lights and sell blunts for bonus income. The sativa does not have trim worth saving. Nutes and lights are the same, must be strain dependent.

Damn but this stuff is hard to figure sometimes.

[señorsloth]

All the sticky around my buds fills with those flying bugs that are so annoying. When I have a bad infestation there will be over a dozen stuck bugs, none of them make it to the bud itself. I have to go with the defense scenario on that score.

lol no offense but thats kinda gross...and i might also mention that the fungus gnats your speaking of aren't trying to eat the buds, they are just crappy fliers and get stuck in the resin sometimes...as for the whole resin protects from eating theory...it is true that resin is pretty bitter and gross, and can burn your eyes like bleach, the only animals that ive seen eating pot are birds, they love digging beaners out of sticky hemp buds, it doesn't seem to bother them but they aren't eating the bud.

i have read that it may be a defense against uv light, to protect developing seeds, that would also explain why there aren't as many within the bud... i don't know it would seem to me that evolution would favor things that killed the most birds with the fewest stones, so yeah, tricomes probably evolved that way because it has lots of different uses to the plant. did you know tricomes are very common on other plants as well? even tobacco has trichomes. they just aren't thc ones.

another thing to note,(though not really relevant to this thread) is that cannabis, being closely related to the stinging nettle plant, also has millions of crystalline hair/needles covering it's surface, intermixed with the tricomes, they work exactly like the needles on stinging nettle aka, itchweed. if you stick a fresh bud under your shirt for 5 minutes you will find your belly covered in itchy welts, also if you eat it uncooked you will have a very unpleasant stomach ache.

i think most people who smoke street weed would disagree with you, though to them the inside seems more frosty than the outside because the outsides been tumbled for keif on a lot of street weed. i personally think it's mostly about the density, really dense buds don't have any room to push out resin, one of many reasons that i prefer less dense buds, although as others mentioned i have noticed higher heat lends to less resin as well. not sure if a bud would build up heat internally, but i could see how a rock hard and overly hot area inside a bud would be less conductive for ample gland growth compared to the outside...

[whatsupdoc]

Originally Posted by goofy81

Hi
I've noticed that the biggest colas have less trichomes and are cauliflower like inside.
Would this mean the giant dense colas are less potent than the smaller ones? I *hate* giving out bad weed..

Excellent question. Here's the deciding factor - Do trichomes only grow on the surface of a bud? I'd say yes (from experience)... someone correct me if I'm wrong. If this IS true, a smaller bud will have a higher trichome/vegetable matter ratio. Following this, wouldn't more, smaller buds be more desirable than one giant cola?