Is biosynthesis from CBDA TO THCA happening during curing process?
Any data on this.
If I chop and dry my plant right away do I avoid this?
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CBD does not naturally turn into THC. Your dried plants will have the exact same amount and type of cannabinoids as when the plant is chopped. The only thing that changes during the drying process is that water weight is lost, increasing the mg/g of cannabinoids in the finished product.
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As Akoyeh says no, CBDA does not convert to THCA in the plant.
CBGA is turned to either CBDA or THCA and from there they can decarb to CBD and THC or degrade to other compounds like CBN
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Hey @joedbanks, @Akoyeh and @elchemy are both correct.
While it is conceivable that there is continuing biosynthesis during dry down, and it’s even conceivable that this continued biosynthesis favors CBGA=>THCA over CBDA, it seems unlikely (imo) that any biosynthesis is occurring during “cure” (post dry down).
nor is it likely that there is any isomeriztion going on in-situ during “cure”.
Unless it’s this years crop from the west coast, in which case it may have been sprayed with catalyst in the name of putting out fires, and then all bets are off (still not “biosynthesis”).
Edit: When you harvest (how ripe your plants are) can certainly affect the CBDA/THCA ratio and/or the absolute value (as well as total yield!) on a dry weight basis (that’s why I don’t recommend you do this without In House analytics ).
And you can turn THCA into THC during “cure” if you do it really wrong, but there are only a handful of states where THC counts against your hemp and THCA does not.
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ok, so you’re citing Leafly. that’s part of the problem.
you’re also reading
… the conversion of non-psychoactive cannabinoids to THCA will continue…
and have substituted “CBDA” for “non-psychoactive cannabinoids”.
CBDA is generally considered non-psychoactive, but it is by no means the only non-psychoactive cannabinoid. it is not in the biosynthetic pathway that leads to THCA. In fact, it competes for the same precursor.
As mentioned up thread, CBGA is the direct bio-synthetic precursor for both THCA and CBDA, turns out it’s also (you guessed it) a non-psychoactive cannabinoid…
you can probably dig up several pictures of the pathways involved around here.
what exactly is your concern?
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