I observed plant behavior that i feel is desirable, i want to understand why the plants have done this and attempt to replicate it again in the future and potentially establish a standard practice for producing such growth, this is the growth, curled sugar and fan leaves with a drastic increase in trichome production:
I hadn’t heard the term until today… someone on a reddit post referenced the behavior as “sugar rails” claiming it’s “a common mutation”, i can’t find much on the subject… considering reddit was one of the only sources i could find I’m doubtful there is much in the way of public information on this subject… due to the nature of this expression… i wouldn’t be telling people what I’ve done to prompt this growth either… but in my case i didn’t do anything which means nature did this and that excites me as it suggests the use of natural factors to influence this growth in the future to replicate it is likely possible… hopefully establishing repeatability… everyone growing cannabis should have access to this information if it comes to light as a natural factor that we could potentially recreate.
Better buds for us all.
I do not believe this is a mutation or even a genetic trait that could be selected for as i have 5 plants of 4 different strains producing this behavior, I’m unsure of the cause but the cause is in my mind without a doubt an external factor of influence and has nothing to do with the genetic structure of the plant whatsoever and has to do with the plants surroundings/developmental factors.
These plants were grown outdoors in cultured vegetable garden, surrounded by companion plants, they were not grown in raised beds, they were directly sown, they were not given chemical fertilizer, they were only fed artisan well water and rain water (geographical location gives me access to some of the purest natural water on the planet), they were grown using the primary teachings of organics and permaculture.
Here is multiple pictures of the behaviors across 4 different strains and 5 different plants. (I should probably label things but if you’re curious about what is who i have all my babies memorized by their looks so i can reference the strain in a photo if requested)
If anyone has any experience with this behavior i would appreciate the input… I’ve been covering the environmental factors in my mind that these plants were exposed to, i will also be conducting a soil analysis… even though I’m not sure it was anything related to nutrient composition in the soil as this garden has had cannabis grown in it for over 40 years, there was also plants grown in this garden last year that did not have this expression… or even anything close to it. I’m not sure if this is something I’ve done as cause or if it is something that happened naturally without my human hands having interfering/influenced… if it was a natural cause what was the cause is the most important question to be asked.
Any ideas as to what could have caused this or factors that i can/should analyze while the plants are still living would be greatly appreciated and i will keep all findings public here in this thread.
Resin rails for the win! I’ve seen this every time I grow La Plata Labs Durango OG. I’d say this is 100% a genetic expression. Never had any personal data to suggest an outside factor was causing it. Outdoor, indoor, hydro, soil, she always threw resin rails like this.
That’s a possibility, I’m only interested in this because of the fact it happened across 4 different strains in my experience, if it was only one strain i likely wouldn’t have questioned it… i suppose the case could be that nothing caused this at all but I’d like to explore it first before writing it off as genetic… there was both clones and seedlings involved here, neither were selected/bred for this trait. I also have these genetics growing elsewhere (about 400ft away) and the expression is completely absent, in not one but all of them.
I noticed the leaf curl gene in one plant out of a few old seeds I popped of c99xg13. Leaf curl generally is stress or too much light, but I think what we are seeing is a gene that makes the plant leaves have a much greater propensity to curl.
Very interesting. Any parents shared in the genetics? Or a common genetic link between the 4 cultivars? May be a dominant trait impacting its progeny. Leaf curl can also be a stress response, perhaps these genetics respond with resin rails as a defense to excessive light radiation? Who knows honestly, got to love the wonders of weed!
It’s entirely environmental and strain dependent. The cause is super high over saturation of 0-x-x where the x values are higher than the plant can handle. Or your ec is too high. This also comes from using dehu in a room where the air is so dry the moistest part is the part of the leaf that sweats the easiest. The curl means it’s having moisture sucked out faster than it can replenishment it.
The mechanism is based on high x values that are beyond the ec threshold of a solution being fed. Certain stuff that has excess 0-x-x some cases those trace elements can trick the plant into thinking it’s near a forest fire and then it excessively sheds carbo hydrates like excess non bonded molasses compounds or like fruit smelling solutions for growing. A solution (of the ec is under the stable amount for feeding) mixed with for instance humic acid will prevent the sugars from straight sweating out watery sugar based crystals.
They do not share any of the same parents, they are all hybrids… so I’d imagine somewhere along their lineage they could potentially share a common ancestor… nothing direct to my knowledge. The clones were cultivated in Canada, the seeds came from Spain.
That’s what I’ve heard/read too that the curling can be a stress response (to what specific stress, i do not know), I’ve seen people say overwatering/overfeeding them can be a cause aswell. In my case i don’t think this has to do with excessive light radiation… instead of afternoon sun these plants received afternoon shade due to their placement.
I have also been wondering if a species of insect that typically doesn’t interact with cannabis in this climate (invasive beetles) have triggered this response, there was a lot of insect species there for the vegetables that interacted with these plants, they didn’t cause much harm… but there is one culprit in particular (Japanese Beetle) that i can recall in my mind that was actively interacting with the cannabis plants and these beetles are quite large… now they didn’t cause any damage but i had to remove them plenty of times, i also didn’t have these pests last year.
To my knowledge the purpose of the trichome is a defense mechanism against insects, the curling is one factor but the significant increase in trichome production on the curling sections is another part that i feel needs attention in my analysis, the growth seems intentional, i feel the plants have a reason for performing this trick.
I’ve taken good care of these plants, everyday attention, they weren’t even given fertilizer. I can investigate the water they’ve been receiving but i bet nothing will be out of the ordinary as they are not being subjected to a lack/abundance of anything to my knowledge and show nothing but signs of health and vigor.
It’s the plant perspiring. She’s trying to sweat but cannot and she curls her leaves, all of the extra energy spent doing this leaves resin coated leaves.
Interesting thought… stomatal closure… for the sake of testing this idea, I’m going to stop watering the garden where the same strains are currently growing and this expression didn’t happen, I’ll restrict their watering for a few weeks (i won’t be able to totally mimick a drought, missing the heat factor and I’m running out of time, they’re near harvest)… I’ll monitor it closely and if they start suffering i will water them but i am going to try it… if this is indeed the “stress” that induces the expression, we have the trick for prompting this behavior in the plant.
Less water… more resin? Seems too easy lol.
I’m skeptical, the stomatal closure could explain the curling… you could be right about the excess energy to perform the curling as the cause of the increase trichome/resin production too.
We’ll find out, I’ll try it and see what the plants have to say about the lack of water this far into flower.
Note: Stomatal closure can occur for two reasons (i think?) and one of those reasons is inadequate light exposure and the second is the lack of water… now these plants recieved afternoon shade instead of afternoon sun for the entire season… i wonder if that shading triggered stomatal closure during daylight hours… i wonder if the shading could’ve triggered it as they would open at dawn… close during the afternoon and then open again towards the evening… then close again at night, even if they’re only experiencing a partial close during light hours… hmm…
Outdoors, open air. No GH. Can’t control those factors… in this case outright restriction of their primary water source is the my best shot at testing the stomatal closure as the theory of cause… it’s far from an adequate grouping of test parameters but if they start curling and resin production increases at the curl sites… the behavior of the plants stomata are the “cause” and their manipulation will be a future endeavor of mine next year… i will know where to focus my attention if this yields any favorable results and that’s progress.
I have established my initial understanding following the initial observation, the stoma are indeed responsible for this expression (i think).
I was able to trigger the curling and increase of trichome production mechanism (that’s right, i figured out how to make cannabis plants produce more trichomes without the use of chemicals or additional/enrichment of nutrients) now my artificial results aren’t as pretty as the natural results i first observed and the pictures illustrate it quite well and the difference is clear but surely i have discovered a neat new trick, once mastered and fully understood i bet this could push the plant to new limits.
I do believe this to be both environmental and genetic, more testing… deeper study… is needed across a broader spectrum of genetics to establish which is what but i do believe both factors play a role… I’m unsure of which is the dominant factor… regardless i can make it happen at will.
To me there is a clear difference here between i wanted to do this and i was forced to do this and i would imagine that’s due to my lack of knowledge… I’m likely missing another variable.
Little stresses improve production. Big bad stresses decrease production.
Ie using crab meal to amend soil. It tricks the plant into thinking there is an infestation and the plant grows with the vigor like it’s fightiNg off pests.
I see it on platinum cookies or ogkb crosses and it’s there every time. I’m guessing it’s just a genetic trait from og kush. I see it every time in that lineage and nothing else.
Or are you talking about °Bx level? (Balling Relative Intensity Index).
Considering i essentially had to starve them completely of water to trigger the response, i doubt the BRIX levels are a factor, it would be cool to measure though… i wonder what the difference is between a plant without curled leaves and a plant with curled leaves.
