so you're saying that the trichs are there to harness more light energy basically...

what do you say to the idea that the trichs are there for UV light protection? the two theories are kinda quite conflicting... or maybe not?

__________________
i'll cut you yo

Lumberjack needs some trees to cut down again...
And trying to keep a constant supply going

If trich's are a response to high UV radiation then why do they take so long to come? By the time the trich's arrive in any numbers is when there is less UV radiation.

Boy I wish I could offer more to this but my mind is just stuck in a circle thinking about light in general and, light and UV both A&B in particular.

Okay, I've done the wake & bake so this might seem, way out there, but could trich's be natures sunscreen??

Could the low light, reds/orange_over millions of years_be the signal that stronger light cometh and to prepare? Years in the desert has given me a perspective of how things adapt first to survive and then to pro-create. This would make sense, kinda sorta, if approached from the fact that plants are Hermies.

Just thinking

__________________
I tell you this ~ No Eternal Reward will forgive us for wasting the dawn.

i agree skunkushybrid, the later arrival of the trich (when the light intensity's lower) supports your argument

__________________
Don't drink and drive, smoke and fly!

Chemical ecology of Cannabis

Seems to indicate the trichomes are not for catching light but protecting plant from dessication, predation, UV-B, etc., all previously mentioned. Fucker is Dutch, so who knows.

__________________

Later arrival of trichs, as I mentioned in a previous thread, is to protect the seed from the degrading affects of light and heat. The plant is out to do one thing, not gather more light to grow big, which it would if it had enough energy left over. The plant wants to produce seed, period. Keep this in mind when thinking about the trich; seed production. This is why the highest concentration of trichs, by far, is on the seed bract, not the fan leaves.

__________________

Then if this is true, why are trich's on the fan leaves at all? Also, why do males get them?

if trichs where there to intensify light wouldn't they show up most during vegettative growth when the plant needs the most light?

i think they are there to protect the seeds and help the seeds travel to further locations. ie: sticking to animals fur.

__________________
i'm the guy i've always wanted to be

To protect the plant in the other ways mentioned, predation etc. I personally believe that the development of trichs in such profusion is almost entirely due to selective breeding. Marijuana has been cultivated for thousands of years and not always for the drug. Paper, food, and other uses are recognized throughout the ancient world. However, like all of humankinds crops, the selective breeding of the plants with the highest concentration of trichs, for hash say, over thousands of years, has no doubt changed the plant in order to suit our needs. Many of the crops we buy at our supermarkets today bear little or no resemblance to the original plant from which the selection process began. This must play a very important role in the evolution of the marijuana plant.

__________________

i'm riding in this boat.

__________________
i'm the guy i've always wanted to be