What do you think the purpose of resin is to a Cannabis plant?

[Roy Growin]

What is your understanding of the purpose of Cannabis resin?

 

[Melville Hobbes]

I looked at studies done on this subject, and while they all say more research is needed (don't all studies ever say that?) there does seem to be a general consensus forming that blue and UV light increases cannabinoid content. Here's a snippet from one of them.

Cannabis plants grown under blue light with a short photoperiod (12 h light:12 h dark/flowering stage) improved cannabinoid content (Magagnini et al., 2018). This same study suggested that there is a synergy between UV-A and blue wavelengths that induces cannabigerol accumulation in cannabis flowers.
Source

That could easily just be a side effect, so I guess more research is needed.

 

[Lady Cannafan]

In nature, one of it's purposes, not having anything to do with cannabinoids etc., the sticky nature of the resin deters or stops bugs and animals from munching on the buds/seeds, is the way I've always understood it.

 

[Canachris]

I always thought the sticky trichomes we're to catch pollen. maybe I'm behind the times but resin is what we called the brown sticky stuff at the end of a joint or all inside ur pipe

 

[Canachris]

I looked at studies done on this subject, and while they all say more research is needed (don't all studies ever say that?) there does seem to be a general consensus forming that blue and UV light increases cannabinoid content. Here's a snippet from one of them.

Cannabis plants grown under blue light with a short photoperiod (12 h light:12 h dark/flowering stage) improved cannabinoid content (Magagnini et al., 2018). This same study suggested that there is a synergy between UV-A and blue wavelengths that induces cannabigerol accumulation in cannabis flowers.
Source

That could easily just be a side effect, so I guess more research is needed.

Again I'm not up with all the new science, but I've always been told 2700 K was best for flowering. Some of my best grows were when I used 400 Watt 2700K HPS

 

[Roy Growin]

I always thought the sticky trichomes we're to catch pollen. maybe I'm behind the times but resin is what we called the brown sticky stuff at the end of a joint or all inside ur pipe

I get that, but the resin comes mostly after pollination/flowers pistils retracting doesn't it?
Why would the calyx produce trichomes on the outside of the seed pod?

 

[Melville Hobbes]

Again I'm not up with all the new science, but I've always been told 2700 K was best for flowering. Some of my best grows were when I used 400 Watt 2700K HPS

I've heard the same thing, but no one seems to have numbers.
I'm particularly interested in seeing someone do a two tent grow with clones, same environment, ppfd, and nutrients, just with different spectra.
One more blue/white bias, the other with red/white. If I get the opportunity to set up a second 60x120cm tent, maybe I'll be able to do it myself.

But back to the subject at hand, another study I just found said this.

In indoor cannabis production, the primary goal of exposing flowering plants to UV radiation is to upregulate the production of cannabinoids which are predominantly synthesized in the copious glandular trichomes that are found on and around inflorescence tissues (Potter, 2014) and which have UV-photoprotective properties (Hazekamp et al., 2005).
Source

I haven't looked at the Hazekamp et al. study yet, but it's on my reading list now.

 

[Joe Brewster]

I get that, but the resin comes mostly after pollination/flowers pistils retracting doesn't it?
Why would the calyx produce trichomes on the outside of the seed pod?

Defense against pest, animals, drought & death. It's only goal in life is to get pollinated & make seeds

 

[Roy Growin]

Defense against pest, animals, drought & death. It's only goal in life is to get pollinated & make seeds

So you're saying it is prophylactic, the smell/cannabinoids are incidental?

 

[SmokingWings]

.. the sticky nature of the resin deters or stops bugs and animals from munching on the buds/seeds,...

Because the resin is considered to be bitter tasting which helps to deter animals and insects from eating parts of the plant covered with resin.

It's only goal in life is to get pollinated & make seeds

And the plant is one that is pollinated by wind and not insects.

 

[SmokingWings]

So you're saying it is prophylactic, the smell/cannabinoids are incidental?

I am thinking that the smell, and maybe the cannabinoids, are evolutionary traits that increased the bitterness that deters animals.

 

[Joe Brewster]

the smell/cannabinoids are incidental?

Yes & can change with environmental conditions
The smell is also defense

 

[Melville Hobbes]

The problem I have with that hypothesis is that it doesn't work.
Deer and rabbits certainly aren't deterred, and given the number of bugs we have to deal with in flower, they don't seem to be either.

 

[Roy Growin]

I've always pondered the purported idea that things evolved to have [for example] red stripes or feathers, thorns etc
I don't believe that surviving creatures/plants deliberately decided to do what they do, moreover that the ones that incidentally developed the way they did survived, so they are the ones still around today
That is the root of the question - how does resin help?

 

[Joe Brewster]

The problem I have with that hypothesis is that it doesn't work.
Deer and rabbits certainly aren't deterred, and given the number of bugs we have to deal with in flower, they don't seem to be either.

If they are hungry, they will eat anything that's not poison

 

[SmokingWings]

Deer and rabbits certainly aren't deterred,

The eat the leaves and stems and tend to stay away from the maturing buds.

given the number of bugs we have to deal with in flower, they don't seem to be either.

How many of them are eating the actual buds? From what I have seen the bugs are doing most of their damage on the leaves. The mites also seem to stick with the leaves and only go after the sugar leaves when that is all that is left on the plant that they have not already destroyed.

 

[Joe Brewster]

The eat the leaves and stems and tend to stay away from the maturing buds.


How many of them are eating the actual buds? From what I have seen the bugs are doing most of their damage on the leaves. The mites also seem to stick with the leaves and only go after the sugar leaves when that is all that is left on the plant that they have not already destroyed.

Yes was just going to post this Thanks @SmokingWings

 

[Lady Cannafan]

@SmokingWings
Yep, same here. They are snacking on the outer leaves and and stems. Danged deer...danged critters in general. LOL

 

[Melville Hobbes]

If they are hungry, they will eat anything that's not poison

The eat the leaves and stems and tend to stay away from the maturing buds.

I've seen plants where deer had stripped a section of everything, without moving on to the next patch of leaves, but maybe local deer have different tastes.
Goats too.

How many of them are eating the actual buds? From what I have seen the bugs are doing most of their damage on the leaves. The mites also seem to stick with the leaves and only go after the sugar leaves when that is all that is left on the plant that they have not already destroyed.

Caterpillars are, and I've seen grasshoppers in the act as well. I've heard about beetle damage to buds, but haven't seen it happening myself.
Most of the bugs we deal with aside from caterpillars are sap suckers, so it makes sense for them to stay on parts of the plant that are easiest to access.

 

[SmokingWings]

Danged deer...danged critters in general.

Deer, at least the Whitetail, have gotten the nick-name of "Rats On Stilts" by home-owners, gardeners and deer hunters.

And if it ain't deer it can be squirrels or rabbits. Each has their own way of destroying gardens.