Is UV necessary during the veg process? I always thought that it was helpful for resin production, basically the plant puts out more trichomes as a sort of sunscreen.
resin content and trichome production are definitely related, but they dont always go hand in hand.
My biggs f2s are never my frostiest plants, but they are almost always my highest resin content and back in KC frequently tested near 30% thc. I had a plant i called moonsocket that was WAY frostier and smellier, sold on bag appeal alone a lot better then the biggs. The biggs was more resinous, more potent, and tasted better because it just produced resins like crazy. The resin in those ones are usually extractable in the entire plant even the stems.
Cannabis resins are quite literally just ther non-water components to the plant's sap and nothing more. Cannabinoids are usually concentrated mainly in the trichomes's sap, but not always the case. Most of my favorite plants over the years have tended to be ones were trichome and resin production arent super intimately related, and in my own tinkerings with UV these are the plants that respond the most in flower to a little extra UV supplementation.
Most (not all) cannabis plants dont do much different under extra UV besides light burn easier but it definitely gives a chunk of em a resin boost for sure.
Weve
all experienced the two "types" of cannabinoid production im talking about though. Weve all had those crazy frosty fluffier buds that smell incredible that were pretty dry on resins and burned hot and left ya disappointed (blue dream comes to mind for me there). And weve
all had those dense earthy buds that are very lacking in the frost department, but are dank as F*CK (kosher kush comes to mind there)
18% thc kosher kush will almost always be danker then 28% thc blue dream entirely because the resin content of the flower makes it burn at a lower temperature destroying less of the stuff youre after in the process of smoking it. The only downside to these kinds of plants is less potent concentrates by weight and people dont want weed that says 18% thc on the side of the cup regardless how good it actually is to smoke on.
If anyone wonders why kosher kush is going extinct in the market (or if you hadnt noticed) even though its one of the best indicas of all time... it's because it rarely tests over 18% thc and the younger crowd wont touch it because of that.
Source: Used to work in commercial cannabis. There are many commercial growers that are a bit irked they cant grow kosher k anymore because it has to be tested to legally sell, and when its tested only older heads buy it, and that means you dont make money on it.
My Special queen and Peaceblaster3 are like that too, low thc around 16-20% if i guessed, but resin contents off the charts. Burns slow, burns even, burns tasty, and i get more stoned from a full doobie of them then just about anything else i have because i enjoy it more and get a lot more pulls before its gone, and it burns at a much lower temperature.
This all comes back around to my opinion on silica only being worth using in certain contexts and with plants with high enough resin contents for additional trichome production to actually increase the quality of the flower (or a wimp stemmed plant of course). Itll make most buds frostier but actually disperse the resins in the process. Silica and UV supplementation on the right plant could potentially make a world of difference, but on the wrong plant you might just cause an alkaline lockout and light burn lmao. Silica is used in trichome production, not resin production, and it upping resin content is just an assumption used for easy marketing of a product. The trichome is just a shell essentially, and increasing the size and coverage of such a thing can be a double edged sword 100%.
TL;DR: Words and rambles and stuff, hope your having a wonderful day!
at those happy roots.
