Sick of clear trichomes!!!

[HempKat]

I started with autoflower, crop king (lol) mephisto, night owl, was unhappy with that, switched to photoperiod. Got better results but still nothing on the level of what I think weed used to be and what weed "should" be. I've had luck with ethos skunk hero and I had rly good luck with barneys tangerine dream. I've had some luck with cannarado strains. I grew a cpl dna genetics kandy kush and la confidential. The LA was ok. I've got some top dawg flowering now and some bodhi seeds that I just started. I've just been trying a little bit of everything in Hopes I find something good in there

Well now that I've heard you list the strains you've tried I also have to wonder if your dissatisfaction is down to the strains not being the right ones for you. I will admit though I'm saying that based on the fact I've not tried any of the strains you listed. I kind of wonder if you're just an unfortunate victim of poor breeding? Obviously since I'm unfamiliar with the strains you've listed I'm therefore unfamiliar with the breeders they came from. I do know though in recent years that a lot of new names have turned up in the breeding world and some don't put even half the time and effort into isolating good stable genetics that more well known breeders do. So I would say keep trying and if none of the more recent choices you've made do the trick for you then maybe try some more well known strains and breeders even if it costs you a bit more. Because no matter how much of a bargain price it is when you buy the seeds it ends up being a rip off if ultimately you're unhappy with what you've bought.

 

[BobChronic6505]

HempKat do you have any recommendations?

 

[HempKat]

HempKat do you have any recommendations?

Not really any solid ones, I've been in a circumstance where I haven't been able to grow in the past 6 years and back when I was actively growing I was getting a lot of what I grew as clones from other growers I knew and in those situations I was always able to sample what they would be giving me first. Really the only breeder I've ever got seeds from was a breeder out of the Netherlands that went by the name and website of femaleseeds.nl and the strain I got was C-99 aka Cinderella-99 it was a pretty decent strain for me as far as the high but I wouldn't say it's one of the best strains out there these days. Now the thing that's good about femaleseeds is as the name suggests they sell feminized seed which means everything you grow from their seeds should be female. The bad thing about that though is if you don't keep a mother plant to get clones from when you use up your seeds you have to buy more. Another strain I enjoyed a lot was called "cheese" named for it having a smell kind of similar to blue cheese, it was a fairly potent strain at the standards at that time. Pretty much everything else were crosses made by the growers I got the clones from and I didn't really have a good idea whose genetics were involved but like I said, with most of those I was able to try before I buy.

Since I've not grown anything recently probably the best thing for you to do would be to just ask people that you get to know here that are actively growing, what strains and breeders they would recommend.

 

[flylowgethigh]

Do u mean tom hill? I've seen that name in here but idk anything about who that is or anything

I think the Strawberry Banana is Reserva Privada, at least mine was. I sure wish I could get tric expression like that dude does. He's been growing 25 years, while I am less than one.

 

[fonzee]

I started with autoflower, crop king (lol) mephisto, night owl, was unhappy with that, switched to photoperiod. Got better results but still nothing on the level of what I think weed used to be and what weed "should" be. I've had luck with ethos skunk hero and I had rly good luck with barneys tangerine dream. I've had some luck with cannarado strains. I grew a cpl dna genetics kandy kush and la confidential. The LA was ok. I've got some top dawg flowering now and some bodhi seeds that I just started. I've just been trying a little bit of everything in Hopes I find something good in there

Its not the genetics
I can't think or a reason these genetics will not turn in trichome color in time.

Well if you can judge the trichomes accurately with your naked eye then you have an ability that the overwhelming majority of growers on this site lacks. But hey if your eyes are that good, then more power to you.

In sunlight its not that much of a superpower. In a growroom I can't

 

[HempKat]

Its not the genetics
I can't think or a reason these genetics will not turn in trichome color in time.



In sunlight its not that much of a superpower. In a growroom I can't

So you're saying you can make a good evaluation in the sunlight but in the growroom you can't? I hadn't thought of that perspective really as the vast majority of my growing has been indoors. I did grow outdoors briefly many years ago (40+ years ago) but back then I didn't even know about evaluating trichomes so it was never something I attempted. If it ever becomes legal for me to grow outdoors I'll have to put that to the test. Although I wasn't referring to the lighting in any way but rather just how small unmagnified trichomes are. Then again I was born with vision problems and as such have never known what it's like to have 20/20 vision in both eyes. I think the best mine ever got to was something like 20/40 in one eye and 20/20 in the other. Now a days the uncorrected vision in my weak eye is more like 20/100 and my good eye is like 20/30

 

[BobChronic6505]

I have a couple of thoughts. How does par/ppfd effect the trichome? How does DLI effect the trichome. What about plant size? Does a smaller plant require a smaller DLI? Would the same size light be more powerful to a smaller plant?


I'd love to hear about outdoor growers and what their trichomes look like. I've heard the sun puts out over 2000 ppfd!!! Plus the sun emits vitamins and shit too right? How many 1000 watt hps would it take to get full spread coverage at 2000 ppfd?

Is it possible that 400w just isnt enough?

 

[BobChronic6505]

 

[HempKat]

I have a couple of thoughts. How does par/ppfd effect the trichome? How does DLI effect the trichome. What about plant size? Does a smaller plant require a smaller DLI? Would the same size light be more powerful to a smaller plant?


I'd love to hear about outdoor growers and what their trichomes look like. I've heard the sun puts out over 2000 ppfd!!! Plus the sun emits vitamins and shit too right? How many 1000 watt hps would it take to get full spread coverage at 2000 ppfd?

Is it possible that 400w just isnt enough?

Let me start with the 400W question first as that's the easiest, whether 400W is enough all comes down to the size of your grow space and the height of your plants. I've seen grows where the grower had two plants well trained to no more then 3 feet tall under a 250W light and he still got great results for those parameters. From the things you've said in previous posts I think you understand this well enough so don't let the troubles you're having with the trichomes cause you to doubt what you do know.

As far as PAR/ppfd/DLI/plant size really has much of a direct impact on the resin beyond just the resin will do it's best when the overall conditions for the plant are well dialed in. you got to look at it more from the perspective of what purpose the resin serves for the plant. The way I see it there are four main things the resin does for the plant and none of them has anything to do with the quality of the high you get from the resin, that is just a delightful coincidence we growers enjoy about the resin. The four main functions is that the resin acts as an insulator kind of like a coat or a jacket to help protects plant's from cooler night time temps in flowering season. It also acts as a seal to help lock moisture into the delicate buds in the lower humidity that is common in the flowering season. Another thing is it acts as a shield from harmful UVa and UVb radiation from the sun and finally it serves as a defense from insects and other pests either by trapping the insects in it's stickiness or by having a bitter unpleasant flavor to large pests that might try eating it because they are attracted by the scents the plant gives off. Now if the plant had more of a consciousness and thought proses you might be able to argue the quality of the high from the reason is created to attract human who will then help protect and feed the plant until it's ready to be harvested but I'd say that's a bit too farfetched to even consider. So then the plant doesn't care at all what the high is like and the only goal of the resin is to help protect the bud long enough for it to mature and to ripen the seeds should it get pollinated. That's it resin serves no other real purpose. Now there may be other benefits it provides to the plant other then the four things I named but if there are I'm fairly confident it all has to do with helping to give the plant every possible chance to reproduce since that's the only real objective of the plant.

Therefore it would be these four areas a grower might exploit in order to achieve the high they seek from the resin. Now obviously you don't want to introduce more insects or pests into the growing environment as that would only increase the damage that might be done plus nobody wants to be smoking a bunch of insects that might get stuck in the resin so we can rule that out of the things to exploit. So that leaves temperature, humidity and UV radiation as possible things to play around with. Of course you can only play with these things just so much, if you take any of them too far you could push it past the ability of the resin to defend against. Now UV radiation deserves some special consideration. Cannabis resin has excellent qualities for protecting against UV radiation and if it could be produced enough it could actually be worth developing into a sun screen for humans but that's getting off the trak for this discussion. If you're growing outdoors the UV radiation is built into the equation as it occurs naturally from the sun and there is just no practical way to manipulate that outdoors. Fortunately the UV radiation protection in the resin evolved naturally to protect the plant from the sun and so outdoors you don't have to do anything about that to get whatever enhancement it provides to the resin, other then maybe do the best you can to trim and/or train the plant to get the best exposure to the sun possible. Indoors is different because the grow lights we normally use don't really provide any UV radiation so in an indoor environment you can manipulate that aspect by adding special UVa and UVb lights to your other grow lights. However there are two problems there one is the right lights at the right strength and wavelength aren't easy to find and therefore can be expensive. additionally UVa and UVb radiation creates a risk for the grower as prolonged exposure can cause skin cancer. So in my opinion it's just not worth the hassle, expense and potential risk to try to exploit that function of the resin. So that narrows things down to just two things, humidity and temperature. Both of those are relatively easy to manipulate in an indoor environment. Again though you wouldn't want to go too far with it as you could end up pushing things past the ability of the resin to protect against modest manipulation may however cause the plant to produce more resin in order to protect from a greater risk. I have on a few occasions and with a couple of strains did play with temps and humidity and it did seem to result in a greater amount of resin. Although I should add that the increased resin in my limited experience did not seem to translate into a stronger, more potent high.

So then this might lead you to ask the question of, "If it doesn't improve the high one gets from the resin then what's the point in messing with any of these things at all?" well to be fair I can't give you anything but a theoretical answer to that question. Maybe what causes the resin to change beyond just sheer age and the plant dying is perhaps as the resin is called upon to perform the functions it serves for the plant that causes the resin to begin to change and eventually degrade and we perceive that as a ripening of the resin to a state that gives us the coincidental effect of improving the high. Maybe and I stress maybe because its just theoretical, in your case the problem you've had is that the conditions have just been too mild and since the resin was never really called upon to do what it does for the plant, the trichomes were less inclined to go from clear to cloudy. If that is correct then manipulating the temperature and humidity such that the resin actually begins to protect the plant from those things, it will also cause the resin to transition from cloudy to clear and then eventually to amber? At worst, as long as you don't make any changes that are too extreme it won't have any real effect at all and it will result in disproving my theory. That however is worth exploring since I've yet to see anyone offer any other solution for your problem of clear trichomes.

Now I do apologize I've given you a whole bunch to read and think about but in the end all I've really presented was a big maybe on how to solve your problem. Hopefully though it has also caused you to think in a more proper direction because I really don't think exploring things like PAR/ppfd/DLI/plant size are going to solve your problem. All of those are excellent things to understand better and to maximize though just for the sake of having more productive grows and harvests, so I'm not saying any of those things are pointless or have no value at all. Anyway I wish you luck and if all I've said feels like it's no real benefit to you then I sincerely hope someone else offers up something that does help you. I can't imagine how frustrating it must feel to put all the time and effort into a grow that is required only to end up with something that leaves you feeling unsatisfied.

BTW the pictures you posted above look pretty good as far as there being a high percentage of cloudy trichomes and therefore if those pictures are typical of what you usually get then maybe your dissatisfaction is all just the result of the strains you've been working with haven't been the right ones for you? I know that's already been suggested but it may be worth repeating. Everyone is different as far as what they want and what the experience in terms of effect from cannabis and one of the great things about cannabis is there is so much variety that there is something for everyone. To illustrate what I mean, generally speaking I've found a lot of enjoyment from various Kush strains and there are many others who have found much enjoyment from Kush strains. There is on Kush strain though that left me completely unsatisfied and yet many other seem to have a more favorable opinion of it. That particular strain was "Purple Kush". So I can only conclude that there is just something lacking in that strain that I value but for others they get the satisfaction they desire. What that particular thing is however is hard to say because there is so much of the cannabinoid profiles of various cannabis strains that we don't fully understand. We have tended to focus on just a handful of cannabinoids, mainly THC and CBD but there are so many other cannabinoids that we really don't understand or pay attention to. I'm pretty sure my lack of enjoyment comes from it just not having the right cannabinoid profile for me because I've shared the same harvests with friends, that has left me dissatisfied but for my friends they very much enjoyed it. So in summary just keep trying different strains as well as trying different things to enhance the strains you do try and I'm confident you'll eventually find the right strains to scratch that itch inside your brain.

 

[fonzee]

So you're saying you can make a good evaluation in the sunlight but in the growroom you can't? I hadn't thought of that perspective really as the vast majority of my growing has been indoors. I did grow outdoors briefly many years ago (40+ years ago) but back then I didn't even know about evaluating trichomes so it was never something I attempted. If it ever becomes legal for me to grow outdoors I'll have to put that to the test. Although I wasn't referring to the lighting in any way but rather just how small unmagnified trichomes are. Then again I was born with vision problems and as such have never known what it's like to have 20/20 vision in both eyes. I think the best mine ever got to was something like 20/40 in one eye and 20/20 in the other. Now a days the uncorrected vision in my weak eye is more like 20/100 and my good eye is like 20/30

You can take an indoor bud out to the sunlight...

 

[grayeyes]

The answer to getting 50/50 buds? WAIT, the plant will mature when it matures, not on your timeline. Not long ago I waited. 21 weeks for Malawi Gold. Wasn't quite 50/50 but close.

Not on your time, on the plant's time.

 

[Greenheart]

I agree. The pics look harvestable. There is a decent cloudy percentage. Closeup pics show amber alongside the cloudy. There is still clear. There is almost always some clear remaining. Known seeds and strains have a suggested window but each plant is different and environment also plays a role. When I was supplementing with no filter halogen lighting I found it would finish quicker.

That nugg you posted in pic 3 looks dank! It should be ripping your socks off! Are any of these strains you smoked before?

HempKat put it out there for sure. I personally had the opposite experience as HK. If it says Kush on it I pass and let those who enjoy have at it. It just doesn't hit me. I've seen people take 3 hits and be all stupid giggly on the redeye express. I can smoke it pretty much all day and not get that high I'm looking for. It still smells and tastes good!

IMO it is either not the strain for you or not cured properly.

It might help to post your curing process as well. Have you successfully cured buds in the past? Even things like hanging a whole plant versus hanging branches and plant sizes can make a difference. How long did it hang? Did you trim the nuggs off and then burp or did you burp it with stem mass intact? Did you use a hygrometer? What where the readings at various stages? How long did you cure it?

Not trying to sound insulting or anything just trying to help solve it. There is plenty of experience on these boards to help you solve the mystery. Growing it is only half the show. A lot goes into the curing stage for the top notch smoke.

 

[BobChronic6505]

HempKat I'm on mobile so I cant type out as big of a response as I want to, but thanks for your help and for your insight. I appreciate the fuck out of it. Since I've been growing my own I've always equated cleartrichome with being the sole cause bad buzz. I now have to reevaluate those ideas. Which leads me to another thought....all these seed companies rly ain't shit. It seems like buying a pack of seeds is like buying basketball cards back in the day, like 1 seed in every 20 might be a jordan, while the rest is bench players, and that really sucks. I guess I was naive for thinking every seed was a winner!!!

 

[BobChronic6505]

Greenheart my curing definitely needs improvement. I've gotten the best results from hanging individual branches for 7 days, then into paper bags for at least 7 days. Then bud goes into a jar. This is the only way I've had the bud retain it's original smells. When I hang for 7 or 10 days then cut buds off straight into a jar, burping it several times a day, etc, it smells bad and tastes harsh. I've never gotten good results this way.

The strain in the pics is an ethos crescendo and that fucker is probably the best smoke I've grown so far. I just wonder things in the back of my head, like, how much better would that same bud have been if there wasnt so much clear trichome!!!!!!!

 

[gizmo666]

the best advice i can offer is advice that i recieved
"when you think your plants are ready give them another week"
i'm so tempted to pull mine now at 10.5 weeks
but nope i'll give it another week lol

good things come to those who wait

 

[BobChronic6505]

gizmo666 I'm with you on giving them an extra week or two, but I've also waited so long that buds start kinda shriveling and looking all dark and shit, start throwing nanners, with no real change in the trichome, at least with the cultivars I tried it on

 

[Greenheart]

like 1 seed in every 20 might be a jordan, while the rest is bench players, and that really sucks. I guess I was naive for thinking every seed was a winner!!!

Very true. Maybe even 1 in a 100! That is why cloning can become so important.

This is the only way I've had the bud retain it's original smells.

The strain in the pics is an ethos crescendo and that fucker is probably the best smoke I've grown so far. I just wonder things in the back of my head, like, how much better would that same bud have been if there wasnt so much clear trichome!!!!!!!

If you are getting quality smell and flavor then the cure is probably good. I had thought I read you say something about hay taste and smells.

Generally if I take it too long the trichome heads start disappearing. This used to happen to me when I tried to get a really dominant amber color. That is when I started going for the dominant cloudy.

 

[Switcher56]

Greenheart my curing definitely needs improvement. I've gotten the best results from hanging individual branches for 7 days, then into paper bags for at least 7 days. Then bud goes into a jar. This is the only way I've had the bud retain it's original smells. When I hang for 7 or 10 days then cut buds off straight into a jar, burping it several times a day, etc, it smells bad and tastes harsh. I've never gotten good results this way.

... as stated before... if it is working for you, then by all means. But, there is a lot of fallacy with your statement.

 

[BobChronic6505]

... as stated before... if it is working for you, then by all means. But, there is a lot of fallacy with your statement.

Ok pal

 

[HempKat]

You can take an indoor bud out to the sunlight...

Sure if you cut the bud off the plant or it's no problem to haul a whole plant outdoors but that seems a lot of trouble just to evaluate the trichomes and if you went with the cutting the bud off option then what if it turns out to be not ready? With a good camera in Macro Mode or a good 30X jewelers loupe you can accomplish the same thing indoors without having to cut anything off or move the whole plant outdoors. Plus I think for most of us that grow indoors, if we felt comfortable enough to take a plant nearing harvest outdoors to inspect the buds we would just grow outdoors.