Jul 14, 2024
Checking your cannabis flower is important. I'm not saying you need to break out your jeweler's loupe every time (because of course you have one lying around), but just giving an overall evaluation of your bud can tell you a lot about what you'll be putting into your body.
If you're concerned, I'm happy to discuss my findings with via email.
Today I opened a strain from a company that up to now, I've felt I can safely rely on. Of course their lower end will be lower end for a reason (less terpene content, fewer trichomes), but I've never looked at one of their buds and thought, "What IS that?!" until today.
Mind you, this strain was not "lower end." It was smack-dab in the middle. In fact, I was about to forgo my usual up-close visual check before grinding and partaking because it smelled so good... so I did a double double-take (quadruple take?) when I saw what I did.
Small holes dotting the flower.
My first thought was missing trichomes. -Except these holes are far too large to be trichomes.
Next up: seeds? Nope, too small to be seeds.
"But what if the plant went hermaphroditic and these are just small seeds?" Still nope. I ground the flower and didn't find a single seed. (Although this would be a VERY close answer!)
Okay, what about the flowers just being brittle, causing easier physical degradation? Unfortunately, dear reader, that would leave larger patches, not tiny holes.
I looked at the pistils. They verged on brown. The trichomes were more white than milky. So what I did know is that this flower had been harvested later than it should have been. This still didn't answer my question, but it gave me a good place to start.
I'd like to thank growers on Reddit for answering my question and teaching me a really cool new fact: what I saw was damage due to auto-trimming an over-ripened plant.
But isn't most inflorescence harvested by auto-trimming?
So, what's up with this batch?
When a cannabis plant is past full maturity (which I could tell from the color of the pistils and trichomes), calyxes (which carry seeds when fertilized) may continue to grow and plump. Auto-trimming is aiming for bracts and stems. A swollen calyx both resembles and is in the immediate area of bracts.
So what are these holes?
Where swollen calyxes used to be.
Why did this happen?
Because the growers were going for maximum quantity and not maximum quality of their harvest.
While there's no reason to toss this bud- the holes are simply cosmetic- it's not a strain I'll be buying again. This is a batch that should have been used for concentrates or pre-rolls (at best). I'm saddened that any farmer would look at this and say, "Yes, this is good enough for medical patients." Because it's not.
If you're a cannabis company and reading this, please take to heart that what you sell is a patient's medicine. What I've been sold is a subpar product. This lack of care makes me rethink whether or not a business has my best interests in mind.
