I wrote this one for Skunk
The Color Purple
Purple Cannabis is all the rage in the Nocal clubs and it is highly sought after by both consumers and producers, lets explore this phenomenon and learn some things about Cannabis and Color. Do we see any great demand for purple today? Not in normal things because theyre readily available but when it comes to Purple Pot its another story.
Cannabis floral clusters are basically green, but changes may take place later in the season, which alter the color to include various shades. The intense green of chlorophyll usually hides the color of accessory pigments, Chlorophyll starts to loose its vibrant green color late in the season and anthocyanin pigments also contained in the tissues are uncovered and the amazing colors are produced at this time. Purple, resulting from anthocyanin accumulation, is extremely common in Cannabis, this color modification is usually triggered by seasonal change, and also can be influenced indoor by a temperature drop of between 20-30 degrees.
[FONT="]Insert Pictures of Purple Cannabis occurring naturally[/FONT]
This does not mean, however, that Purple is controlled by environment alone and it can be passed on genetically. For purple color to develop upon maturation, a strain must have the genetically controlled metabolic potential to make anthocyanin pigments and be responsiveness to environmental change such as cold nighttime temps. This means a strain can have the genetic potential to change color but if conditions never exist you may never know it. I have grown Jacks Cleaner for a long time and when I moved west and it found some dramatically cooler temps I got a nice maroon/ purple coloring at maturity.
[FONT="]Insert Outdoor Purple Picture here or EQ[/FONT][FONT="].[/FONT]
There are other pigments that effect the color of mature cannabis for example Carotenoid is largely responsible for the yellow, orange, red, and brown colors in buds. I find this effect is much easier to accomplish in Organics and soil but in order to really call a strain Purple it needs to have more than colored outer leaves and the inner buds need to actually be Purple.
[FONT="]Insert Color faded plant possibly SSK or JCbx[/FONT]
One aspect that I also find interesting is the purple potency debate, for those that have collected a few plants that produce Purple buds under any conditions like certain Black Russian phenotypes we have noticed something that seems to be consistent. When growing out females of a hybrid that have both color females and non colored females the colored one seems to always be less potent. Now in our case this is to be expected with Sputnik white/green females being more A-13 dominant but I have traveled far and wide and have yet to smoke purple weed that I would consider elite.
[FONT="]Insert one purple pic and one pic of whitey[/FONT]
This doesnt mean I havent smoked great Purple weed, Pinky is awesome but if you have read the strain guide I point out the white pheno is more desirable.
My friend Sticky Lungs grows a local Purple Urkle Clone that taste out of this world. It is a clone only strain that originated in Northern California It may be one of the better tasting Purple strains around and its purple to the center of the cola, every single part of the plant is purple. I would give the high intensity an 8 very enjoyable, something I might keep around and so far the one I like the most. After an afternoon session I determined its main attraction is the lip smacking Grape/Lavender taste of the smoke.
The Purps and Mendo Purps are both rumored to be good but I wasnt impressed with the first Mendo I sampled, it didnt taste at all grapey or berry like I may have been a poor sample though. We also sampled many strains in Amsterdam with color but none stood out. There are so many Purple cuts in California its hard to really know what any one really is but I recently smoked a Sputnik 2 female with nice outer purple that kicked my ass in about 3 hits. Recently Badboy gained a cut of a strain called Purple Helmet he says its very good and is currently growing her out. Double Purple Doja a creation of Sunycheba knocks me on my ass but I still would not place it in a league with an Apollo 13 or something like OG Kush.
Other Northern California Strains:
Granddaddy purple, Godfather purple, Super Purple Kush, Gods Gift, Urkle, Purple Midnight, Purple Rainbow, Purple Princess, Purple Fire, Purple Cream, Purple Rainbow, Lavender, Purple Friday, Purple Magic, Ray's Purple. Most of these can be found in the clubs but they could all be a few strains grown by different people with jazzed up names.
I cant confirm it but many people think Urkle and Lavender are the same cutting.
We continue to explore this paradox of color and potency. I recently sampled some very Berry Surprise and while it looked amazing I didnt even finish sample it just had no real taste other than burning. For now we are growing the Lavender and crossing her with certain males to establish what traits she will pass on.
Lets look at ways to maximize coloring in your garden.
The first trick to inducing some good color change is what I like to call the fade this is when using an organic soil mix you achieve the perfect balance of N-P-K allowing the plant to use up all the available nitrogen and start loosing its Chlorophyll and the colored pigments are allowed to bleed through as the green fades. This can be achieved I am sure in Hydro as well but plants react so fast and absorb so well in water that its more normal for a hydro plant to be green and vibrant that multi colored like in soil organics.
The second thing that can really make a huge difference is a large temperature swing between day time and night time temps. The nice thing is with a simple A/c unit and a well built bud room its pretty easy to chill a 12x12 room to 60 degrees year round. That same room running 3000 watts will have a day time temperature of between 80-85 degrees making a 25 degree temperature swing. This will easily unlock that fall color hidden inside a strain provided the genetic coding is also there. I have to say from experience its a trait of a large percentage of Cannabis that I have grown. Bringing in outside air in colder climates can also be helpful in adding some color as well as keeping bugs in check and a bud room can stand bitter cold if your not worried about reservoir temps.
Last proper application of nutrients is very important if you jack up the N far into bud your not going to see this fading and you may even effect the taste I have found plants that faded to early actually tasted sweeter but then you hurt your yields. Using a good catalyst can also help a lot as the citric acid and sugars seem to speed up the maturation process I currently use sweet leaf at week 4 and week 6. There are many good products and many old timers even make up there own using cane sugar and citric acid but I think the big companies have better research to support there recipes.
I have not given up my quest for finding the perfect Purple strain, the recently acquired cutting of a strain called Purple Urkle mentioned above may be the best tasting strain I have smoked in many years and we love the way it grows and are currently working with it to create our own Lavender Queen hybrid. Look for our next installment featuring the breeding of this strain.
Subcool can be found helping others at his support Forum @
Cannabis Forum, Cannabis seeds and Cannabis Seed Auction from Breedbay.
[FONT="]You can find TGA genetics @
cannaseur Seeds
[/FONT]
A Brief History of Purple
Optional Text
Throughout history Purple has been connected with royalty,
why was purple considered the royal color? The answer lies in economics not in aesthetics. Purple is rare in nature. A Toga's worth of Tyrian purple die, about 1.5 grams, required the beating, drying and extracting of mucus from the hypobranchial gland of some twelve thousand Murex mollusks. Legend records the discovery to Herakles, or rather to his dog, whose mouth was stained purple from chewing on snails along the Levantine coast. King Phoenix received a purple-dyed robe from Herakles and decreed the rulers of Phoenicia should wear this color as a royal symbol.
The practice was later adopted by the Romans; to wear purple, therefore, was to show off your great wealth.
