Tips for increasing THC content in your plants

Discussion in 'Advanced Growing Techniques' started by NewSalvia, Feb 28, 2005.

  1. I've been doing some research online to find tips that increase the THC content of your plants.

    Here's what i've come up with:

    1. Water
    Many studies have been carried out on the relationship of water and THC content and all seem to agree that when faced with low water supply and low humidity THC levels are increased.

    2. Light
    These [studies] showed that under conditions of high UV-B (280-315 nm) exposure, cannabis produces significantly greater quantities of THC.

    3. Stress
    I have also come across many tips about wounding your plant to increase THC. "Wounding" refers to maybe bending the stem a little or cutting it with a clean razor. I'm told anything above these wounds, will become stronger when it heals. "What doesnt kill you makes you stronger."
    I dont know the exact numbers, but I know that those who do this, definitely see in increase in crytallized resin, stem and flower growth.

    Any other tips are greatly appreciated. Anyone who finds anything contrary, PLEASE post and correct the mistakes. :)

    Happy Growing!
     
  2. i'm not sure if them things work or not but its worth a try.
     
  3. ya newsalvia, i can vouch for the first two. if you read about why cannabis, or other resin producing plants, create their tricomes it is mostly to protect the delicate flowers and seeds. the resin helps stop the plant from "sweating" thus losing water, so the plant will increce resin production during a drought.

    the plant also tries to protect from the intence UV light by produceing more resin.

    as for the last one i'm not too shure.
     
  4. Exactly right, what i read told me that when u wound the plants, they react in the same way. The plants "feel" moisture leaving through the wound and resin up to stop the loss.

    For a neat comparison: I think of it like cutting a person. Your wound scabs up to stop the bleeding. With MJ resin is the scab.
     
  5. you are all right............ its the same regarding fans...to strenghteen talks :D :D :D
     
  6. I would definately say that letting the pot dry out(starting the last 3 weeks of flowering). Let it dry to the piont that the leaves just start to hang because of lack of water the stress from that will increase the thc content somewhat. :smoking:
     
  7. i'll have to try some of that
     
  8. #8 KronicDreamz, Jan 5, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2011



    ok iv heard of all of the top 1s and 1 u didnt mention iv read that buy clipping the top of each leaf you creat the worst looking marijuana plant put very potent iv seen a cople other growers with some ugly plants that looked like it had a disease but he said it was to increase thc and resin that buy not having so much leaf it uses it to produce thc and resin and come to think of it that would come from the wounding or causing stress to ur plant so come to think of it this is the last thing u said im sorry drr i guess ima just blazed well im trying this out myself on my grow check my post to see if its workingitsjust the point tesearch it
     
  9. dont chop off ur leaves. if u dont have leaves, the plant cant get sunlight. ^ if wat he said was true then the plant would make resin and the resin would blocck the light anyways
     
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  10. most underlooked factor is how much you handle them. grow (be kind to the flowers even while alive dont touch if u dont have to. cut, hang, then when you trim try to handle the bud as little and gentle as possible. its amazing how much thc u can loses from poor handling of the buds.
     

  11. No shit. This is why I can't believe any growers who care about their buds would use an auto trimmer. I hand trim everything. I hire ten guys to come trim sometimes. I'll hire 100 if I have to. I'll never stick my nuggets in a auto chopper. Talk about fucking up a good thing.
     
  12. I would say the 3 most important factors are 1-genetics 2-bud handling 3-light

    If you cut off the full water supply then you´re giving up bud volume, less growth.

    To apply the water reduction at what point would you reduce it. For example a cup of water every three days, or every 5 days in a 5gl bucket indoor.

    At what point would you hurt the plant´s stem? how deeply? how long of a cut?
     
  13. light spectrum and temperature is the key. in the future, custom programmable LED's will offer us THC ratio's higher than we've ever seen. there was a magazine article recently called HASH TIPS and it was on the cover of SKUNK magazine I think. I was surprised at the data myself, it really is about temperature and light spectrum. with that being said, Genetics plays a GIANT role. you and I can dribble a ball all day and all night, but if you're not Michael Jordan, you're never going to be.
     

  14. i do believe that cutting off water supply is a bad idea. my 5 gal. buckets need water every 2-3 days. i wouldnt hurt the stem like that either... especially in flowering.
    my plan for my babes: Water kind of heavily with lots of nutes for the first 6-7 weeks, then let them get real dry the last two weeks, then flush a lot to increase taste/aroma, then let them get dry the last 3-5 days for its easier to dry after cut... 48 hr darkness too. First grow... i think thats what im gonna do. 5 gal. bucket indoor scrog. link in sig.
     
  15. uv is a myth in terms of potency. dont fucking give yourself skin cancer and vision loss for bullshit reasons. research red to far red ratios. also, would you grow faster after breaking your bones and shit? i dont think so, the scar issue is tough but all that did was retard the plants use of resources. same thing with leaves, they didnt grow for no reason are we smarter than nature?
     
  16. Nobody is claiming to be smarter than nature. However, nature's goal isn't to increase resin production, our's is. We are using what we have learned about the plant from observation, trial and error, etc. to make the flowers more beneficial for what we are going to use them for. The resin on the plant is to protect the flowers, so with lower amount of factors that need protection from, the less trichomes are needed.

    Also, the whole goal for the plant is to grow and protect the seeds until they can be ready to be spread and grown again. We pull the males, because again, this isn't always our goal.

    Super-cropping does have actual benefits and noticeable effects, you should take some time to read about it, plants are not people.
     

  17. Can you link to studies that show it is a myth. Everything I've read supports it as being true. I'll have to look a little, but there is research out there that supports the theory.
     
  18. #18 clongo, Jan 16, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 16, 2011
    no studies, experiments done by people on forums with monochromatic led setups that lend themselves to a photoperiodic/morphological response. others do UV testing and it comes back negative or inconclusive everytime because they are not considering far red (~730 nm) to red ratios and the number of hours of different spectrums of "very blue light" read about rauber enhancement and photosynthetic artificial darkness experiments. People however, who do consider light spectrum pollution do not get these mixed results about UV, they are clearly useless in terms of thc production because all they do is break down cannabinoids, meaning, if you have a plant with cloudy trichromes, uv light makes them amber faster than other kinds of light.
     

  19. You are right about supercropping, but you have to be very careful while doing it because you can slow the plant down if you dont do it right or are too extreme/tortuous of the branches. i find lst with some conservative supercropping on main cola branches to be very effective. in terms of stressing by leaf removal, only remove leaves that are blocking a budsite in a way that cannot be fixed by tucking or bending. Stressing them too much breaks the logic of having provided a perfect environment for them in the first place. lower relative humidity is definitely good for resin production during the end of flower too (again to a reasonable degree.) The best harvest is to keep the plant green long enough to produce mature flowers twice, top half/ most mature colas then let everything else get more layers of calyxes before chopping the rest.
     
  20. I wonder if anyones tried anything like this I know its about peas but it has potential





    Electric Shocks Boost Plants' Production Of Commercially Useful Chemicals

    \t\t\t\tScienceDaily (Apr. 1, 2008) - Now for some "shocking" news about plants: Exposing plants to electricity can boost production of useful plant chemicals and may provide a cheaper, safer, and more efficient method for producing medicines, pesticides, and other commercially important plant-based materials, researchers in Arizona and Oklahoma report.
    \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t Researchers have known for years that plants can produce a diverse array of substances as part of their natural response to environmental factors such as microbial infection, sunlight, and chemical exposure. To boost levels of plant chemicals for commercial purposes, scientists have often turned to synthetic chemical additives as well as genetic engineering, which can be expensive and potentially harmful. A better method is needed, scientists say.
    In the new study, Hans VanEtten and colleagues studied the effects of electricity on the ability of the pea plant to produce pisatin, an antifungal substance. They found that exposing pea plants to certain sub-lethal doses of electric current produced 13 times higher amounts of pisatin than plants that were not exposed to electricity. The researchers observed similar increases in plant chemicals produced by a variety of other plants when exposed to electricity. There were no adverse effects on the plants.
    The article "Sub-lethal Levels of Electric Current Elicit the Biosynthesis of Plant Secondary Metabolites" is scheduled for the April 4 issue of ACS' Biotechnology Progress.
     

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