Uncle Arthur

Resurecting an old thread I know but I still reckon it"s fullproof. Give it a go!!

Man!! I like the way you sum up the whole subject. I think I am going to dedicate myself to the task of getting back the best of the best. Even if it means I get cancer doing it. Only joshing of cource. Great post. thanks

Allright it's the day after and I better confess. I didn't make it. Almost!! I ended up having a joint before bed. I just couldn't resist. What can I say, Maybe I'm ADDICTED. I did have a pretty lousy day yesterday though. It realy wasn't a good day to go without.(excuses excuses excuses) Bottom line is I FAILED.

What sort of a rediculously STUPID article is that. Where do these idiots get off. God it makes me angry.

As everyone said definetely overwatering. If not overwatered then a severe drainage problem. Amounts to the same thing, not enough air geting to the roots. The roots need air otherwise the plant drowns. At this stage of it's life in that size pot only water every 3 to 4 days. Adjust that as the plant grows and starts drinking more, dependent on your temperatures of cource. A good way to customise watering to the plant is to count the days from watering to first signs of wilt, and allways water the day before wilt. The plant will then let you know when to re-adjust every time. Allways water from the top of the pot and don't leave water sitting in drip-trays too long. Good drainage is very important.

What a girl!! I'M IN LOVE Is she maried?

OK!! Experiment time for me. I can not remember how many years since I have gone without a smoke for a day. I have always said I should take a break but I never get around to it. Is that addicted? Sooooooo!! Tomorow I am going to go the entire day without a smoke. There I've said it. Wish me luck.

That's it. I'm moving to Oregon.

By the way if any of you indoor brothers from another mother want to experiment with UV-B in your cabs HERE is an exelent link passed on to me by Mullaway. I don't know of a better UV-B light than this one but maybe others do. Thanks Mull

Young Jedi, You always seem to have access to the most amazing information. Your coments on any subject always seem informed and well researched. I am glad you have waded into this discusion as it seems you have done it again. I have been attacking this subject from every angle I could think of, but had not come across anything that pointed at the THC-Tobbaco research. Any links to this would certainly be greatly apreciated. Jess Stone, As one old timer to another(although I believe I am younger) I agree with everything you said to a T. My observations over the same period of time have paralelled your own in almost every respect exept maybe one. I too have grown killer Thai Budha from seeds off Thai Sticks from the seventies and eighties. The only difference being that I am still growing this very same strain today! It has only ever been crossed once 25 years ago to a very trippy Mullumbimbi Madness. I never considered that a real outcrossing as at that stage Mull was basically Thai anyway. I certainly didn't end up with much Pheno change or diversity from the cross. I mention all this because in all these years of growing this strain I have not come across anything that matches it in potency or quality of high.(Yes I have smoked some of the suposedly super strong Indicas and Indica x's. I don't consider something that throws you into the couch and keeps you there for an hour or whatever as a high.) Yet in all these years of growing this superb smoke I have only achieved tripping quality grass a couple of times and for the life of me I could never work out why those grows were different. It certainly wasn't genetics. This line of research has started to tie up loose ends for me. I live in victoria so closer to the hole in the ozone layer, hence high uv levels. I don't have the records to check back on those years but I have spent some years when it happened that I had the time available surounding my plants with mirrors. I would spend my days moving mirrors to keep our qreat Ausie sun focussed on my plants from every angle possible. I found that MJ could handle this just fine as long as water and nutes were kept up to them. Bloody amazing plant. I have used up to 7 mirrors at a time. That means 8x Full sun. Any other plant or animal I know of would quickly shrivel up and die under those conditions. MJ on the other hand takes it all in it's stride and I have grown some of the fatest heads I have ever seen by this method. Unfortunately the seasons where I find I have the time to do this are few and far between. Now I am wondering if these were the years that my Thai developed it's trippy qualities as I certainly would have uped its UV exposure heaps by doing this. I do wish I had kept records. Apart from what I have already posted on this subject I have now collected a huge mountain of evidence/information that all points to the fact that UV-B radiation is one of the main ingredients(although possibly not the only one) for converting precursor Cannabinoids to THC and THCV. I fully intend to put all this info to the test next season (as I am still a dedicated outdoor grower) Especially inducing parthenocarpia early enough in the season to take advantage of the higher UV-B levels in summer. Anyway enough of a ramble for now. I have just got home from a very long day at work and my head hurts. I have a real need to get realy stoned RIGHT NOW. cheers

Neostone as I said before I am not convinced about the conspiracy (yet!!). The fact of the matter is though that the further I look into this the more I am convinced about the THC development side of things. The evidence abounds if you go looking for it. Scientific studies and papers dating from the early 80's to today. Most of them funyly enough are US gov funded. I could inundate you with info but if you are realy interested google works for everyone I think. Just to wet your apetite have a read through this. Chemical ecology of Cannabis David W. Pate International Hemp Association, Postbus 75007, 1070 AA Amsterdam, The Netherlands Pate, D.W., 1994. Chemical ecology of Cannabis. Journal of the International Hemp Association 2: 29, 32-37. The production of cannabinoids and their associated terpenes in Cannabis is subject to environmental influences as well as hereditary determinants. Their biosynthesis occurs in specialized glands populating the surface of all aerial structures of the plant. These compounds apparently serve as defensive agents in a variety of antidessication, antimicrobial, antifeedant and UV-B pigmentation roles. In addition, the more intense ambient UV-B of the tropics, in combination with the UV-B lability of cannabidiol, may have influenced the evolution of an alternative biogenetic route from cannabigerol to tetrahydrocannabinol in some varieties. http://www.druglibrary.org/olsen/hemp/images/gland-01.gif Figure 1. Resin-producing stalked glandular trichome (Briosi and Tognini 1894). Introduction Cannabis may have been the first cultivated plant. Records indicate use of this crop for paper, textiles, food and medicine throughout human history (Abel 1980). It is a dioecious annual with rather distinctive palmate leaves, usually composed of an odd number of leaflets. Best growth occurs on recently disturbed sites of high soil nitrogen content, so it is commonly found as a persistent weed at the edge of cultivated fields. Mature height ranges from 1 to 5 meters, according to environmental and hereditary dictates. Typically, the male plant is somewhat taller and more obviously flowered. These flowers have five yellowish tepals, and five anthers that hang pendulously at maturity, dispersing their pollen to the wind. The female plant exhibits a more robust appearance due to its shorter branches and dense growth of leaves and flower-associated bracts. Its double-styled flower possesses only a thin, closely adherent perianth, but is further protected by enclosure in a cuplike bracteole (i.e., perigonal bract), subtended by a usually monophyllous leaflet. A single achene is produced per flower and shed or dispersed as a result of bird predation. The life cycle of the male is completed soon after anthesis, but the female survives until full seed ripeness. Cannabis seems a virtual factory for the production of secondary metabolic compounds. A variety of alkanes have been identified (Adams, Jr. and Jones 1973, De Zeeuw et al. 1973b, Mobarak et al. 1974a & 1974b), as well as nitrogenous compounds (ElSohly and Turner 1976, Hanus 1975b), flavonoids (Gellert et al. 1974, Paris et al. 1975b, Paris and Paris 1973) and other miscellaneous compounds (Hanus 1976a & 1976b). Terpenes appear in abundance (Hanus 1975a, Hendricks et al. 1975) and contribute to the characteristic odor of the plant (Hood et al. 1973) and some of its crude preparations, such as hashish. The compounds which comprise the active drug ingredients are apparently unique to this genus and are termed cannabinoids. Cannabinoids were originally thought to exist as the phenolic compounds, but later research (Fetterman et al. 1971a, Masoud and Doorenbos 1973, Small and Beckstead 1973, Turner et al. 1973b) has indicated their existence predominantly in the form of carboxylic acids which decarboxylate readily with time (Masoud and Doorenbos 1973, Turner et al. 1973b), upon heating (De Zeeuw et al. 1972a, Kimura and Okamoto 1970) or in alkaline conditions (Grlic and Andrec 1961, Masoud and Doorenboos 1973). There are over 60 of these type compounds present in the plant (Turner et al. 1980). Much has been published concerning the influence of heredity on cannabinoid production (e.g., Fetterman et al. 1971b, Small and Beckstead 1973), but ecological factors have long been thought to have an important influence by stressing the Cannabis plant (Bouquet 1950). The resultant increased biosynthesis of the cannabinoid and terpene containing resin, in most cases, seems likely of advantage to the organism in adapting it to a variety of survival-threatening situations. This work reviews these biotic and abiotic challenges and speculates on the utility of Cannabis resin to the plant. Anatomical distribution and biogenesis of the cannabinoids The major sites of cannabinoid production appear to be epidermal glands (Fairbairn 1972, Hammond and Mahlberg 1973, Lanyon et al. 1981, Malingre et al. 1975) which exhibit a marked variation in size, shape and population density, depending on the anatomical locale examined. While there are no published reports of glands present on root surfaces, most of the aerial parts possess them, along with non-glandular trichomes (De Pasquale et al. 1974). These epidermal glands seem to fall into two broad categories: stalked and sessile. The stalked gland (Fig. 1, front page) can consist of a single cell or small group of cells arranged in a rosette on a single or multicellular pedestal. Lack of thorough ontogenetic study has led to the speculation that some of this variation may be attributable to observation of various developmental stages (Ledbetter and Krikorian 1975). The sessile gland possesses no stalk and has secretory cells located at or below the epidermal surface (Fairbairn 1972). In either case, the glandular cells are covered with a "sheath" under which the resins are secreted via vesicles (Mahlberg and Kim 1992). This sheath consists of a cuticle that coats a polysaccharide layer (presumed cellulose) originating from the primary cell wall (Hammond and Mahlberg 1978). The resins accumulate until the sheath bulges away from the secretory cells, forming a spheroid structure. The resin is then released by rupture of the membrane or through pores in its surface (De Pasquale 1974). The cannabinoid content of each plant part varies, paralleling observable gland distribution (Fetterman et al. 1971, Honma et al. 1971a & 1971b, Kimura and Okamoto 1970, Ohlsson et al. 1971, Ono et al. 1972), although Turner et al. (1978) have disagreed. Roots contain only trace amounts. Stalks, branches and twigs have greater quantities, although not as much as leaf material. Vegetative leaf contains varying quantities depending on its position on the plant: lower leaves possessing less and upper ones more. Leaf glands are most dense on the abaxial (underside) surface. The greatest amount of cannabinoids is found in the new growth near each apical tip (Kimura and Okamoto 1970, Steinberg et al. 1975), although Ono et al. (1972) seem to differ on this point. This variation in leaf gland placement may be due to either loss of glands as the leaf matures or a greater the endowment of glands on leaves successively produced as the plant matures. Additional study on this point is required. Once sexual differentiation has occurred, the generation of female reproductive organs and their associated bracts increases total plant cannabinoid content. Bracts subtending the female flowers contain a greater density of glands than the leaves. The small cuplike bracteole (perigonal bract) enclosing the pistil has the highest cannabinoid content of any single plant part (Kimura and Okamoto 1970, Honma et al. 1971a & 1971b). Second only to this is the flower itself (Fetterman et al. 1971b). Since it has no reported epidermal gland structures, the cannabinoids present must be due to either undiscovered production sites or simple adherence of resin from the inner surface of its intimately associated bracteole. This conjecture is supported by the finding that the achenes do not contain substantial amounts of the cannabinoids (Fetterman et al. 1971b, Ono et al. 1972). Reproductive structures of the male plant are also provided with greater concentrations of the cannabinoids (Fetterman et al. 1971b, Ohlsson et al. 1971). Stalked glands have been observed covering the tepal, with massively stalked glands occurring on the stamen filament (Dayanadan and Kaufman 1976). In addition, rows of very large sessile glands are found situated in grooves on the anther itself (Dayanadan and Kaufman 1976, Fairbairn 1972) and apparently provide the pollen with a considerable cannabinoid content (Paris et al. 1975a). Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the cannabinoid responsible for the main psychoactive effects of most Cannabis drug preparations (Mechoulam 1970). In some varieties of Cannabis, additional cannabinoid homologs appear that have the usual pentyl group attached to the aromatic ring, replaced by a propyl (De Zeeuw et al. 1972b & 1973a, Fetterman and Turner 1972, Gill 1971, Gill et al. 1970, Merkus 1971, Vree et al. 1972a, Turner et al. 1973a) or occasionally a methyl group (Vree et al. 1971 & 1972b). Other claims have been made for butyl (Harvey 1976) or heptyl (Isbell 1973) substitutions, but the latter announcement seems particularly tenuous. THC is thought to be produced by the plant (Fig. 2, next page) from cannabidiol (CBD) which, in turn, is derived from cannabigerol (CBG) generated from non-cannabinoid precursors (Hammond and Mahlberg 1994, Shoyama et al. 1984, Turner and Mahlberg 1988). CBG is also the biogenetic precursor of cannabichromene (CBC). Some of the cannabinoids (e.g., cannabielsoin, cannabinol, and cannabicyclol) are probably degradation products of the enzymatically produced cannabinoids (e.g., CBD, THC and CBC, respectively). http://www.druglibrary.org/olsen/hemp/images/molecule.gif Figure 2. Biosynthesis of cannabinoid acids (redrawn after Shoyama et al. 1975): 1 = cannabigerol (CBG); 2 = cannabidiol (CBD); 3 = cannabichromene (CBC); 4 = delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Cannabinoids and environmental stress Ultraviolet radiation Another stress to which plants are subject results from their daily exposure to sunlight. While necessary to sustain photosynthesis, natural light contains biologically destructive ultraviolet radiation. This selective pressure has apparently affected the evolution of certain defenses, among them, a chemical screening functionally analogous to the pigmentation of human skin. A preliminary investigation (Pate 1983) indicated that, in areas of high ultraviolet radiation exposure, the UV-B (280-315 nm) absorption properties of THC may have conferred an evolutionary advantage to Cannabis capable of greater production of this compound from biogenetic precursor CBD. The extent to which this production is also influenced by environmental UV-B induced stress has been experimentally determined by Lydon et al. (1987). Their experiments demonstrate that under conditions of high UV-B exposure, drug-type Cannabis produces significantly greater quantities of THC. They have also demonstrated the chemical lability of CBD upon exposure to UV-B (Lydon and Teramura 1987), in contrast to the stability of THC and CBC. However, studies by Brenneisen (1984) have shown only a minor difference in UV-B absorption between THC and CBD, and the absorptive properties of CBC proved considerably greater than either. Perhaps the relationship between the cannabinoids and UV-B is not so direct as first supposed. Two other explanations must now be considered. Even if CBD absorbs on par with THC, in areas of high ambient UV-B, the former compound may be more rapidly degraded. This could lower the availability of CBD present or render it the less energetically efficient compound to produce by the plant. Alternatively, the greater UV-B absorbency of CBC compared to THC and the relative stability of CBC compared to CBD might nominate this compound as the protective screening substance. The presence of large amounts of THC would then have to be explained as merely an accumulated storage compound at the end of the enzyme-mediated cannabinoid pathway. However, further work is required to resolve the fact that Lydon's (1985) experiments did not show a commensurate increase in CBC production with increased UV-B exposure. This CBC pigmentation hypothesis would imply the development of an alternative to the accepted biochemical pathway from CBG to THC via CBD. Until 1973 (Turner and Hadley 1973), separation of CBD and CBC by gas chromatography was difficult to accomplish, so that many peaks identified as CBD in the preceding literature may in fact have been CBC. Indeed, it has been noted (De Faubert Maunder 1970) and corroborated by GC/MS (Turner and Hadley 1973) that some tropical drug strains of Cannabis do not contain any CBD at all, yet have an abundance of THC. This phenomenon has not been observed for northern temperate varieties of Cannabis. Absence of CBD has led some authors (De Faubert Maunder 1970, Turner and Hadley 1973) to speculate that another biogenetic route to THC is involved. Facts scattered through the literature do indeed indicate a possible alternative. Holley et al. (1975) have shown that Mississippi-grown plants contain a considerable content of CBC, often in excess of the CBD present. In some examples, either CBD or CBC was absent, but in no case were plants devoid of both. Their analysis of material grown in Mexico and Costa Rica served to accentuate this trend. Only one example actually grown in their respective countries revealed the presence of any CBD, although appreciable quantities of CBC were found. The reverse seemed true as well. Seed from Mexican material devoid of CBD was planted in Mississippi and produced plants containing CBD. Could CBC be involved in an alternate biogenetic route to THC? Yagen and Mechoulam (1969) have synthesized THC (albeit in low yield) directly from CBC. The method used was similar to the acid catalyzed cyclization of CBD to THC (Gaoni and Mechoulam 1966). Reaction by-products included cannabicyclol, delta-8-THC and delta-4,8-iso-THC, all products which have been found in analyses of Cannabis (e.g., Novotny et al. 1976). Finally, radioisotope tracer studies (Shoyama et al. 1975) have uncovered the intriguing fact that radiolabeled CBG fed to a very low THC-producing strain of Cannabis is found as CBD, but when fed to high THC-producing plants, appeared only as CBC and THC. Labeled CBD fed to a Mexican example of these latter plants likewise appeared as THC. Unfortunately, radiolabeled CBC was not fed to their plants, apparently in the belief that CBC branched off the biogenetic pathway at CBD and dead ended. Their research indicated that incorporation of labeled CBG into CBD or CBC was age dependent. Vogelman et al. (1988) likewise report that the developmental stage of seedlings, as well as their exposure to light, affects the occurrence of CBG, CBC or THC in Mexican Cannabis. No CBD was reported. Conclusions Although the chemistry of Cannabis has come under extensive investigation, more work is needed to probe the relationship of its resin to biotic and abiotic factors in the environment. Glandular trichomes are production sites for the bulk of secondary compounds present. It is probable that the cannabinoids and associated terpenes serve as defensive agents in a variety of antidessication, antimicrobial, antifeedant and UV-B pigmentation roles. UV-B selection pressures seem responsible for the distribution of THC-rich Cannabis varieties in areas of high ambient radiation, and may have influenced the evolution of an alternate biogenetic pathway from CBG to THC in some of these strains. Though environmental stresses appear to be a direct stimulus for enhanced chemical production by individual plants, it must be cautioned that such stresses may also skew data by hastening development of the highly glandular flowering structures. Future studies will require careful and representative sampling to assure meaningful results.

Yeh I'm another hardly. Social drinker only.Used to do a bit of coke though. Given that up nowdays. Still like the smell of it though!!!