I think this is the key to this particular component of the discussion/debate (i.e., trich production female vs. male)....

"yes, i understand that males produce 'some' trics. and theTHC in them is just as potent as their female siblings of the same mother/father. they just hardly have any trics so they're not much good for a high."

what I mean is - has there been a factual and empirical measure that given the same care and attention, do males actually produce less trich density than females?

I'm not saying that what is being said is wrong or right - I just have not seen the data to support such a claim...and likely this is a function of everyone not having any interest in males and therefore not giving them "equal care and attention". And maybe that is appropriate, but this is leading back to the discussion relating to the purpose of trichs....dessication, antifungal/mircrobial and UVB protection - these are of eqaul importance to males and females...so trich production should not be markedly different ....UNLESS....the purpose of trich IS more important for seed production.

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Ride hard, Ride long....git put away Wet each and every time....no holdin' Back.....enjoy the journey ...... cuz that's ALL there is! Walk on and walk tall folks!

well, tahoe, i grew 1 male and two female White Widows outdoors towards the end of the season this year for seeds. i used identical veg nutes and then flowering nutes on both. the male was thin and spinly and i noticed NO trics on him. the girls were covered in trics and seeds.

i'm sure if i had a magnifying glass i could have found some trics on him. and i'm sure if i could have analyzed them i would find comparable THC% in him as the girls. there's just not alot of it. hardly any at all.

cool..thanks for sharing that info.. 'preciate that.

__________________
Ride hard, Ride long....git put away Wet each and every time....no holdin' Back.....enjoy the journey ...... cuz that's ALL there is! Walk on and walk tall folks!

Yes, this is not evident in all strains... maybe we need to go back to superior genetics.

yes Skunk. I am getting a stronger feeling that this is really what we are talking about here as much as anything. the genetic potential to be realized under ideal conditions (whatever they are?) and entering in environmental stress to trigger the plant to produce tons of trichomes.

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Ride hard, Ride long....git put away Wet each and every time....no holdin' Back.....enjoy the journey ...... cuz that's ALL there is! Walk on and walk tall folks!

Maybe there just there, like how stipules are just there. Now that would be a debate, what the hell do stipules do exactly?

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All the reason that I'm holdin' all the trees
And I gotta a lot a weed

So.... conclusions?

This is interesting... never thought about it before. So I googled it...

stipules are thorns... or at least in their evolved state now they are protective measures for newly forming leaves...

At one time I imagine these may well have been more prominent along the stem of cannabis. Much thicker... maybe at one time, cannabis would have tried to bite your finger off.

could this explain why the trichomes on my first indoor plants seem to orientate themselves towards the light? It's an interesting idea. I wonder if there other photosynthesis operations going on? at what point on the plant are the light signals received/processed that govern the duration of the flowering period? I sort of assumed it was an holistic, whole plant thing, but can this be the trichomes at work?

I don't think cannabinoids are a deterrant (just like the rest of us on these boards, lol).

Again, I think we need to look to Darwains theories to find what I believe was the prime motivation of the cannabinoids.

At one time in cannabis history, it was a carnivore... who knows how big it was... or what it looked like... but the plants of this period would have needed to devise all sorts of neat little tricks to catch their prey.

What better than sticky trichomes? The aromas of the THCV enticing it's victim into the promised heaven, bright colours, a calming feel in the air... Then what better than a powerful drug to incapacitate its victim as lengthy, sticky tendrils (early pistils) wrapped around it and devoured it?

I also imagine that back then cannabis may have been much more potent.