What are Terpenes
Tue, 20/Aug/19
Taking a walk and smoking in the environment where weed is still disgraced can become inconvenient enough because of that famous smell. The weed in your pocket or a backpack or smoked produces smell in a way that you cannot help it. We would wish to be discreet at times, but the scent is strong and merciless, it spreads out and identifies us as stoners. One may think that such an “aromatic situation” is only useful for the bees and cops, and a ecstatic pleasure when consuming weed. However, not solely.
The proper fragrance helps us to select a strain of the personal preference, the same way we choose fruits or coffee or cognac, whatever. The chemicals that are in charge for the smell in plants, including marijuana plants, are terpenes, where the marijuana plant contains the hell amount of these. That is why so many smells of weed we have on the market, and we love them. Besides, the consumption of terpenes has a medical application, also used in beauty products, etc.
What are terpenes?
These are organic compounds present in practically all plants, they give smell of flowers and smell of fruits, cannabis is not an exception. Studies indicate that there are over 20,000 different types of terpenes in nature. Amongst these, over 100 types of terpenes are in the cannabis plants. We question the amount of CBD or THC when choosing a strain for growing or smoking or eating as edibles, and we question the aroma, but we can know the preferences reading the terpene names in the description. Know your weed, yah! The cannabis market grows greater and the legalization spreads around the world, the competition gives us the opportunity to choose the odor along with other properties, and we make our choice wisely, hopefully.
What is the entourage effect?
Have you ever thought of how effective a strain is after you take it in? It might be as a result of the entourage effect. Studies define it as a synergistic relationship that helps with improving the impact of cannabis on your body. When cannabinoids and terpenes interact, an entourage effect is what determines how an individual feels. The outcome may work in terms of enhancing the effects of cannabinoids or regulating them to improve your overall experience.
The terpenes of marijuana
Here is a short list where one can start the exploration of terpenes.
Limonene
Some strains aim at lifting your mood and providing you with a creative front and an inspiration to complete your work. These strains are mostly of the Sativa family and contain limonene more often rather than Indica. From its name we understand it is responsible for the taste similar to lemon, let’s call it a citrus fragrance. Other than cannabis, for example, rosemary and peppermint contain lemonene.
Also, consider smoking weed using glass bongs, it may help to accumulate smoke, mix it with air, and feel the presence of terpenes better. The same effect comes when you take wine from a wider glass with a narrower top, such holds the volatile molecules over the wine level yet preventing them from flying out of the glass for a while.
Click on the picture to discover Larry Lemon, the very implementation of lemonene, as its names suggests:
Pinene
If your stash has a pine tree scent or fir trees or orange-like, its composition has lots of pinenes. This terpene also occurs in many Sativa dominant strains.
Myrcene
This terpene occurs mostly in Indica strains. Myrcene provides an earthy smell that characterizes most of the cannabis plant types found in the world today. However, it may also be fruity and sweet. For example, the scent of grapes, and sometimes, it may have a gassy like fragrance like that of nutmeg.
Beta-Caryophyllene
This terpene’s identification is a spicy aroma similar to that of black pepper.
Also forms the famous Diesel taste when in combination with Lemonene and additions of Myrcene depending on a particular diesel-family strain.
Find more: Caryophyllene Terpene: Responsible For Pepperly Taste
Humulene
Its identification comes from its musky or earthy fragrance and sometimes may include being spicy. The Mediterranean dish “humus” shares the same root in it’s name, I’m not sure which of these two comes first and which inherits the name.
Linalool
It is characterized by its floral scent with a hint of spiciness.
Understanding terpenes is fundamental in the identification of different cannabis strains we purchase and use. Some terpenes enhance the high effect, some bring it low, and others have different medical benefits. And of course the best use of terpene comes of our preferences in smell, and now we know just a small bit more about the cannabis plant!!+)))
Love and peace.
Anthocyanin in the Buds, Why your Weed is Purple?
Fri, 24/May/19
Purple color of weed come from Anthocyanin pigment, a universal plant colorant responsible for the red, purple, and blue; evident in many fruits, vegetable, grains, flowers. Anthocyanin suggests the vast list of health benefits; and many medical theories (traditional ones from all around the world and the official science too) use Anthocyanin historically and traditionally to treat conditions such as liver disorders, diarrhea, kidney problems, infections, it provides the reduction of blood pressure, it improves the eyesight; and it even cures the common cold. Many shall agree it’s extremely easy to imagine, for example, raspberry (which contains the hell amount of anthocyanin) as a medicine, in a form of a grandma’s anti-cold raspberry recipe. Besides the healing anthocyanin is used as a natural color in food/health/cosmetic industries.
— Read carefully the government’s message about cannabis effects on health. This webside provides no advice, but the compilation of material, personal experience and opinion. My grandma cured me with Northern forest’s berries, I felt better, they were yummi, may be a witchcraft=))) All the said herein is not a call to action, neither a promotion of weed. We make websites, not a cure, not a grass.
Here below there’s the very nice close-up from @chewberto420, where you can see the purple (or red) colour of Anthocyanin as it approaches into cannabis trichomes:
Anthocyanin in cannabis trichomes (source: @chewberto420)
Being a phenolic compound, Anthocyanin may also behave as the pro-oxidant, means numerous medical effects, and used traditionally to prevent blood issues or flew and other sicknesses — that’s based on that people intake anthocyanin-rich fruits and berries in the extreme Northern regions where those forest berries are the only source of vitamines (that’s my grandma used upon me, I dunno if it was a science or a grandma’s witchcraft=)))).
Yet it is not well known by now about how exactly it works, whether by itself alone or being a component of a more complicated sequence, but it however works as it’s said and it makes your body stronger for sure. So! Eat berries! They are yummies, and you can cook them along with cannabis into delicious cannabis desserts, find the hot edible recipes here by this link: The Cookbook App by Chef420
How To Make The Weed Purple
Exposure to cold
Exactly the thing happening when summer turns into fall when all plants change leaves to yellow and red: all plants produce Anthocyanin when the temperatures drop.
Basically from any stress plants produce Anthocyanin, and the cold is one of such stresses. The science does not know for sure, by far, but this may serve as some sort of explanation why it helps against health issues, right because plant just do the same when synthesize the anthocyanin in itself, and it works to suppress a stress, illness or cold or a wrong nutrition. Exposure of the cannabis plant to colder temperatures shall make buds more purple, the “how long” and “how cold” can be a more tricky technology, but the basic idea is to expose the plant to the cold.
Genetics
Genetic food engineering uses anthocyanin as a visual marker, as soon as this is a quite forgiving genetic material easy to deal with (sources say so, I don’t know))). And then it may be yet another reason for purple buds – the genetically determined amount of anthocyanin in a certain strain.
Anthocyanin Color from PH
Anthocyanin is very sensible to the PH level (and this is another stress for the plant too), and the colourful compound is degraded to none in an environment with a higher PH. It changes it colour as soon as PH level changes, it can be red in acidic (pH < 7), purple in neutral (pH = 7), yellow with greenish in alkaline (pH > 7). Can serve as the natural PH indicator either.
Do experiments. Keep notes of what you’re doing.
This is how you get the amount of Purple into the trichomes of your weed. And here the following is about what else to do with it:
Where Else?
Except of in the Cannabis flowers, especially those showing a lot of the purple colour, a whole lot of Anthocyanin can be also found in these:
Pretty everything as long as it is a fruit, or a vegetable or a flower and have the vast and the obvious cyan / purple component in the color (in terms of CMYK or RGB idea of describing the color), alike to all the images above. Anthocyanin carriers can be Red Cabbage, Cauliflower, Raspberries, Blueberries, Grapes (especial like those on the pictures with a lot of cyan component of the overall color dominating), red oranges also called blood oranges, cherry, eggplant, black peas, blackcurrant, etc., etc.
More of a totally crazy Scientific stuff about anthocyanin can be found here, in the US National Library of Medicine, for example: Anthocyanin and Human Health, An In Vitro Investigative Approach
This one we’d recommend for further reading, little bit easier and smaller in size: Anthocyanins, More Than Nature’s Colors – and we used it as a source of knowledge too, it is curious having a number of interesting facts. Hope you’ll enjoy the reading of the whole thing, yet for me personally it happened to be too far scientific.
Cooking Weed and Berries together?
Why not! Having the said you only imagine that a cheesecake which is hardly infused with both — blueberry and marijuana must be an ultimate weapon, a BFG perfect weapon against many health issues, I can see that now (ha!ha!ha!)
Download the Cookbook app here: The Weed Edible Recipes by Chef420
Complete Guide To Using LED Lights For Growing Marijuana
Fri, 21/Dec/18
Using properly LED lights for growing weed indoors is the essential and vital for the plants and for the quality of the future marijuana harvest. Read how to avoid the common problems, how to choose a led-light for the best efficiency and how to install it properly inside a home growing space: proper distance, proper schedule, enough power, …
Modern LED grow-lights already have a wider light spectrum for a better, greener and healthier growth, and as the specialized lenses have been developed to point the light directly onto the plants to increase light penetration, yields are much bigger than when compared to the models from just a couple of years ago. This guide to using LED lights for growing the indoor medical weed will tell you everything you need to know to have a successful harvest.
Why Choose LED Grow Lights?
There are several different types of grow-lights to choose from, so why are LEDs the best choice:
1) LED grow lights are cutting edge and use a customized light spectrum for the best growing results. They evolve permanently, and entertain us with new inventions like COB, for example, which is a new chip-on-board technology for lightening your home crops of hemp or weed, whatever your reason is.
2) This type of light produces plants of the excellent quality: impressive smell, high THC potency and trichome development.
3) There is no need for any ducting or exhaust system – LED grow lights can simply be hung in place over the plants and allowed to cool down by themselves
4) LED grow lights produce a higher yield for a comparable amount of electricity than CFL grow lights as they are more efficient
5) LED lights require no daily adjustment
6) This form of lighting produces less heat than a more traditional CFL set up and comes with a range of convenient cooling options such as in-built fans and heatsinks so maintaining a comfortable temperature is easy
7) LED lights offer a “plug and play” lighting system, allowing them to simply be plugged straight into the wall with no need for a ballast
— MarsHydro COB Led-growlight – www.mars-hydro.com. COB stands for Chip-On-Board, the latest all-in-one technology in lighting the indoor marijuana crops.Read more about fancy new technology – the COB – by this link: COB LED LIGHT — ILLUSTRATED
How Far From The Plants Do The LED Lights For Growing Need To Be?
One of the things to watch out for when using LED grow lights is that they must be placed at a greater distance from the plants than traditional CFL lighting, and this means that you need sufficient height in your growing space. LED grow lights must be kept at least 30cm to 45cm away from the top of the plants – a big different when compared to the few inches which is suitable for CFL lights.
Many LED lights come with manufacturer’s guidelines as to where to the height at which to place the lights above the plants, however many growers produce good results by starting higher and then moving lower towards the tops of the plants as they grow. When using 400W or 600W LEDs, some manufacturer’s recommend beginning as high as 90cm and then gradually lowering their height to around 18” over the course of two weeks. Although lights vary between manufacturers, a general guide to the correct height for LEDs is as follows:
Seeding
24” (60 cm)
Germination
24” to 30” (from 60 cm to 75 cm)
Vegetative Stage
18” to 24” (from 45 cm to 60 cm)
Flowering
12” to 18” (30 cm to 45 cm)
How To Use Your LED Lights For Growing
When choosing LED grow lights, often you will find that you achieve a better result when using several small panels rather than a couple of larger ones. For example, two 125W LEDs (with a total of 250W) often produces a better result than a single 250W model and this is because it is easier to spread the light around to the most needed spots with more panels.
LED lights for growing with a 3W chipset are generally the most effective at producing a larger yield and are unlikely to burn the tips of the plants. Overall, you should aim for 50W to 60W per square foot of growing space when buying LED panels to get the best result.
Avoiding Common LED Grow Light Problems
Although LED lights for growing produce great results, they can be tricky to get to grips with since they grow plants in a different way to other types of grow lights.
One of the main problems is that if the lights are placed to close to the top of the plants, they can cause the leaves to become discolored, in the same way as a nutrient deficiency woord, even if you know the nutrient levels are ok. This is an especially common situation during the budding/flowering phase, particular toward the end of the flowering phase. The tops of the buds may also bleach due to excessive light, so it’s important, therefore, to keep the lights a minimum of 30cm to 45cm inches from the tops of the plants to guard against this light burn problem. You will be able to tell if your plants are suffering from light burn as opposed to nutrient deficiency because the lower leaves will look healthy and green while the top ones look discolored.
Another thing to watch out for is the possibility of accidentally over-watering your plants. This often happens when switching from more traditional grow lights which produce a lot of heat since plants grown in hot environments need a lot of water. As LEDs produce considerably less heat, less water will be required and giving your plants too much can result in damage. The roots of your plants will need oxygenation in order to grow quickly, and over watering will reduce this process, thus reducing yield and plant growth.
Since LEDs produce less heat than traditional grow lights, you may also need to think about investing in a heater for your growing space, especially if you live in a colder environment. You may have been used to your traditional lighting providing sufficient heat for your plants to grow, but without this added warmth, your plants may fail to flourish unless you add an additional heat source.
LED grow lights are a costly investment, so you need to make sure that you take good care of them. While the money that you spend on this light type offsets the expenses of other types of lights such as venting systems, air conditions, reflectors and ballasts, not to mention the excessive electricity consumption, you could find that your LED lights for growing can be damage if a lot of high wattage devices have been connected to the circuit as this can result in voltage fluctuations which may damage the power drivers in the lights which provide power for the diodes. This is especially important to note if you are powering your grow space with solar energy, since this type of system is prone to power surges and spikes. The best way to take care of your LED lights for growing is to buy a power stabilizer which can regulate the voltage being emitted from the power box, eliminating the power fluctuations which could damage your device.
One further problem to look out for is a possible magnesium and calcium deficiency in your plants. This is again because of the lower heat levels that LED lights produce. Since the plant leaves will transpire less moisture then when grown under an HPS system, this means that the magnesium and calcium ions will be less mobile, thus causing deficiencies that will need to be correct with extra nutrients. Although this is a simple problem to rectify, it’s important to be aware that it could occur, since the soil will already contain the right level of magnesium and calcium. The good news is that supplemental magnesium and calcium nutrients can easily be bought in grow shops and will solve this issue quickly and easily.
The Advantages of LED Lights
One of the greatest advantages of switching to an LED grow light system is that they can hugely save on electricity. As an energy efficient form of lighting, LEDs can cut your bills dramatically since they use up to 60% less electricity than more traditional forms of grow lights. Another advantage of LED grow lights is that they reduce your growing footprint, especially when compared with running HPS systems which draw a lot of energy.
For even greater convenience, LED grow lights provide full spectrum light wavelengths, and that means that there isn’t any need to switch your bulbs for the flowering and vegetative stages, since one set will work for both phases of your plants’ growth. Since LEDs also produce up to 80% less heat, it is much easier to climate control and vent the growing area, and much cheaper too, especially if you’ve been using an air conditioner to keep the space at an appropriate temperature.
One further advantage is that LEDs contain UV light for less fungus, mold and pests, and as they have a lifespan of up to 50,000 hours, you won’t need to replace them very often. Yes, they may be expensive as an initial outlay, but they recoup the expensive in around four to five growing cycles.
As LED grow lights produce considerably less heat than traditional lighting types, there is no need to water your plants as often since evaporation will be reduced. You’ll also need to add fewer nutrients since the plants will use up their food less quickly due to reduced heat and reduced water. This means you’ll have much less maintenance to worry about, less chance of unwanted nutrient build up in your growing medium and also less risk of accidentally over-fertilizing. Not to mention the cost savings that you’ll enjoy too!
LED grow lights are also known for producing a better aroma and taste than other types of grow lights since the lower temperatures in the growing space allows more flavonoids and terpenes to stay inside the plant tissues instead of being lost into the atmosphere. This means that there will be a less strong smell in your growing area and a more tasty and flavorful bud.
Since LED grow lights are conveniently and much smaller than bulky HPS lights, they will take up a lot less room in your growing space. This means that you can use a small grow tent for a more discreet approach, or grow more plants in your available space than you would have been able to with larger lights.
With the advantages of switching to LED grow lights becoming clear , it’s easy to see why they have become so popular with growers over the last few years. Modern LEDs are powerful yet efficient and are also cheaper to run compared to older style lighting systems, and since they run cooler they are a much more convenient solution to growing at home.
As they are optimized to the plant light spectrum, they provide a customized approach to growing that doesn’t waste energy and yet produces an impressive yield and product. As time goes on, it’s likely that even more people switch to this style of grow light as their benefits are fully realized.
