door Hesi Plantenvoeding

By: Siglinde from Hesi

The bloom of cannabis is switched on by the light period:

1 - Short night (6 hours of darkness) and long day (18 hours of light) means: the plant keeps on growing.

2 - LLong night (12 hours of rest at least) and short day (12 hours of light maximum) means: the plant is making blooming tissue.

During the start of the blooming phase it is very important not to disturb the rest at night (not for a minute). When the phase of darkness is disturbed by light, the whole development from grow to bloom can be destroyed.

Why does a cannabis plant make resin? The main task of making resin for cannabis - everyone agrees on this - is protecting the bud from dying out. The hemp plant loves the sun, and is made to bear the most intensive UV-radiation. Without protection the heat will dry out the buds too much and this would threaten the development of seeds.

We mustn't forget that the plants only make buds to produce seed. Only that is why she puts so much energy to produce new female buds. The fact that there are no male plants simulates again the female plant to make more flowers to enlarge the possibility to be pollinated by male pollen.

Other useful functions of resin:

1. The resin also keeps away the insects, they hardly can walk on this surface. Unfortunately red spider mites are no insects (but spiders) and they can weave their own web so they can easily move. So red spider mite can affect the hemp plant, especially in dry, hot rooms. Most of the time a cannabis plant has a lot of resistance for awkward parasites compared to other plants.

2. Big plant-eating animals don't like the resin. This is important for outside growing plants that grow in the wild. (Sometimes we see cats or dogs chewing the hemp leaves)

3. Besides the resin is very suitable to stick a male pollen for a pollination to the plant. The ladies don't know this wouldn't happen.

4. By the glow of the resin the light on the buds is reflected and in this way also stopped. A bud is fed by the green leaves and is not depending on an own photosynthesis. The light reflection of the resin diminishes automatically the heat on the flowers and protects by this.

The more light on a plant, the more resin is produced to protect the buds.

That is why the making of resin is defined by the intensity of the light and that is the reason that in the hemp cultivation chooses for strong sources of light. You can cultivate hemp under 100 Watt or at the window, but the buds will not contain a lot of resin and not be fat, because the profit of energy is low by less photosynthesis.

This is the difference between cultivating outside and inside. Inside you have the possibility to stimulate the production of resin by having a constant light intensity on the buds. Outside are some days with clouds or rain and the intensity of the light differs from dawn till dusk, with a maximum around noon. So the outside plant, in our degree of latitude, has no real need to make resin. Grown in artificial light the product will be brought to a THC-value that can hardly be equaled in nature.

But not always the weed with the most resin is the best. The lover of haze rather smokes a haze from outside that a bud44 from inside, in spite of the fact that the latter has twice as much resin. The typical taste of the different hemp species is hereditary and specific. Not the amount of resin, but only the composition of the active and not active components determines the aroma. There are 200 different components isolated form resin from cannabis and not all the matters are known.

Besides, we can find arguments for the making of the resin, but why a hemp plant makes psychoactive and stimulating matters, stays a secret of the plants. But the hemp plants are one of the most successful plants ever, and there is almost no place on earth where is no cannabis.

When must be harvested?

Light stimulates the production of resin but on the other hand decomposes the 'right' resin. The stimulating elements of the resin of the cannabis are the THC components (tetrahydrocannabinol). A few THC molecules (delta 9-THC and delta 4-THC) are known as active components.

By light the THC is decomposed and made into not psychoactive cannibidiol acids. Fresh resin (what is just made) is transparent and colorless. When the resin is decomposed it turns brown.

The right moment to harvest is when the decomposing of the resin just started, so when some resin glands turn brown. If you start too early, the product is fresh and high, but the crop will be less. If you start too late, the crop will be better, but it will not taste that good. It's just what you like.

Common influences on the production of resin

- The production of resin depends on the species. Some species and crossings are known as good producers and others are not (but maybe are very tasteful).The production of resin depends also from the mother plant. A good mother gives good cuttings, a less good mother always less good cuttings.

- The older the plant, the more resin she can make. A plant that is brought into the blooming period as a cutting, can never produce as much resin as a plant that is grown.

- The temperature in a room during the day determines the development of the resin. The hotter, the more resin is produced.(In the night are lower temperatures desirable, because this increases the making of the tissue of the buds).

- A plant that is full of energy and stocky makes more resin that a thin and long one (think of the long ways of transport). A well attended plant with optimal perspiration and an optimal water and nutrition absorption makes more resin then a plant that perspires a little. The composition of the nutrition is also very important: a lot of nitrogen in the blooming period will restrain the making of buds, phosphor and potassium are good for making buds.

Shortly put: the healthier the plant, the more THC.

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