The Evolution of the Trichome

There is more light available to a plant during the veg' stage, also more UV radiation.

A plant needs to grow much more during flower, not just grow but also develop fruit, and in just 8 short weeks can triple in height. Where does this energy come from? From a dwindling sun?

Stored carbohydrates?

This could be why the plant grows such an extensive root system in the veg phase. Storing carbs that it will later use for flowering. It eats its own root system. This may relate to your root development link. It may be why root growth seems not to be related to bud size in indoor grow situations. No dwindling light at the end of life!

If anything, a crystal is going to diffuse the light, a lens would focus the light. But in order for the lens to provide any benefit to the plant, the lense would have to be larger than the area that it's focusing light on.

ccodiane said:

This could be why the plant grows such an extensive root system in the veg phase. Storing carbs that it will later use for flowering. It eats its own root system. This may relate to your root development link. It may be why root growth seems not to be related to bud size in indoor grow situations. No dwindling light at the end of life!

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I believe the plant grows a more extensive root system with age. In my last post in the root development thread are side by side pic's of a 4, 5 and 6 week flowering plant's root system.

There is a dwindling light, as soon as we put them in the dark. The trich's are a reflex to this. I don't believe the dark is actually needed, merely a certain level of low light for a certain amount of time. Once this level is reached, the plants respond by producing the trich's throughout the dark period in preparation for the sun (which is much less intense during the flowering weeks).

sry skunkush but i have to agree with ccodian... there are amazing points on both ends.. but skunkush is a little out there ...remember marijuanna is just another plant..it isnt something special ....it still abides by the rules of nature... research some other plants ...where there has been more research done ...u may be surprised.just a thought

fdd2blk said:

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

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That makes so much sense, IMHO

*First law of engineering ~ Does it make sense

FourTwentyMan said:

sry skunkush but i have to agree with ccodian... there are amazing points on both ends.. but skunkush is a little out there ...remember marijuanna is just another plant..it isnt something special ....it still abides by the rules of nature... research some other plants ...where there has been more research done ...u may be surprised.just a thought

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marijuana is just another plant? No, it has no classification... it is a class unto itself.

Obey the laws of nature? Since when does nature provide 24/0 sunlight?

Yes, they do encourage animal intervention too, as well as discourage it. I'm not saying they don't.

I'm suggesting a primary purpose for trich's... a reason for their development in the first place... or second place... doesn't matter.

What does matter is that there is enough evidence to suggest that trich's also magnify light. To my mind, the immediate survival of the plant itself would come first... else how would it produce the seed in the first place?

skunkushybrid said:

Yes, they do encourage animal intervention too, as well as discourage it. I'm not saying they don't.

I'm suggesting a primary purpose for trich's... a reason for their development in the first place... or second place... doesn't matter.

What does matter is that there is enough evidence to suggest that trich's also magnify light. To my mind, the immediate survival of the plant itself would come first... else how would it produce the seed in the first place?

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evidence please......

take a crystal ball and shine a spot light into it. i bet you end up with a big blurry spot on the wall.

look here:

Cannabis THC

skunkushybrid said:

There is a dwindling light, as soon as we put them in the dark. The trich's are a reflex to this. I don't believe the dark is actually needed, merely a certain level of low light for a certain amount of time. Once this level is reached, the plants respond by producing the trich's throughout the dark period in preparation for the sun (which is much less intense during the flowering weeks).

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Maybe because I want to believe, but this theory has lot o' validity in my mush mind.

It seems to me, there are ± latitudes from the equator which historically have produced, consistently excellent marijuana. Could this have happened as a pure Darwinian result due to the angle of the sun?

This paragraph in particular:

(1) "For all spheres, a ray drawn perpendicular to the sphere's surface will intersect the center of the sphere, no matter what spot on the surface is picked, and the magnifying power(a) of a glass sphere is greater the smaller its size. A sphere of glass can also bring light that is heading to a focus behind it to a point within it, with freedom from two aberrations, spherial aberration and coma, but not from chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration results when different wavelengths are focused on different planes and is the most difficult of the aberrations to correct. The human eye lens also exhibits chromatic aberration, but a yellow pigment(b) called the macula lutea in the fovea, an area at the rear of the eyeball, corrects this problem by the way it absorbs blue light."

Your Grandfather said:

Could this have happened as a pure Darwinian result due to the angle of the sun?

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This is what I'm thinking.

not to get off the point too much, however could the increase in production of trichomes be somehow related to the fact that alot of large fan leaves die off during the autumn flowering period, not to mention all the environmental hazards to the leaves?

Lets not forget the several thousand years of evolution that human beings have influenced. At one point corn was nothing more than a simple grain called teosinte, that had few uses. Now after several thousand years of cultivation the two don't even look alike. So much so it took years for scientists to even recognize the ancestral plant. It's almost imposable to know what marijuana's pre-cultivated form was and how we have effected it. Although I have to say, this thread is very interesting.

this thread makes my brain hurt. i'm gonna go smoke some trichromes now.

fdd2blk said:

this thread makes my brain hurt. i'm gonna go smoke some trichromes now.

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ROFL..... Good idea.
Think I'm gonna vaporize some.
Helloooo Mr. Volcano

From the piece "Cannabis THC" one of the plants uses for the magnifying effect of the glandular head is to concentrate UVB which hastens the production of THC in the gland. Very interesting. I have heard of growers giving their plants UVB thoughout flowering, probably not a bad thing.