During a period of 10 months, between September 2004 and June 2005, the Green House Seed Company has conquered a new milestone in cannabis photography. Together with Joop Dumay, one of the world leading experts in micro-photography, Green House Seed Company developed the first micro-photography study on resin development on a complete range of sativa and indica plants. For the first time ever, the microscopic world of trychomes and THC glands is visible in its shiny brightness of mushroom-like shapes. This amazing photo-study includes the most popular 11 strains from the 2005 Green House Seed Company catalog, with each strain being shot from the fourth week of flowering to the harvest. Thanks to a close cooperation between the Green House Seed Company and Joop Dumay, also known as the Crystalman, for the first time a seed bank can document the THC development on its strains. The study has been realized in a completely controlled environment, growing all the plants in the ideal conditions for each particular strain. Every week samples of the flowers were taken, freshly cut from the branches of each selected plant, and then transported to the photo-lab facilities for the shooting session. Here Joop the Crystalman photographed the trychomes, using a special camera and a microscope. The images are magnified 1200 times. By adding different pigments to the Petra dishes (small glass trays used to hold the samples), Joop the Crystalman enhances the clearness or opaqueness of the THC glands. The result is an amazing overview at the spectacular world of glands and trychomes forming the magic resin, the physical representation of a jungle of forms and shapes that remind of surreal landscapes. Besides being wonderful pictures, these shots give the grower the chance to really understand the development and decay of cannabinoids, offering a unique tool to get the right moment to harvest. During the fourth and fifth week the glands are very clear and transparent, with shorter stems. As the plants get ripe, the glands become bigger, some of them beginning to lose clarity and beginning to look opaque and mat. This means the THC acid is degrading into other cannabinoids, mostly CBN and CBG. The glands that have a shiny “see-through” kind of look are composed mostly of THC. The glands that look mat and grey are made of other cannabinoids, mostly CBD, CBN and CBG. Naturally, new trychomes are produced until the last week of flowering, creating a balance between clear and mat glands. The accurate grower can look at the glands and decide the right moment to harvest to obtain a balanced high in the final product.
The study also gave the opportunity to smoke the different strain samples harvested at different stages of maturation; it was found that a difference of just one week in the harvest time can change the flavor and the high in a significant way. The growers that have the possibility to experiment can try to harvest at different stages to determine the “peak moment”of a particular strain. If a strong indica is harvested one week earlier, the effect will be slightly more mental and less heavy on the body. On the contrary, harvesting the plant one week past the optimal maturation stage will give a really sweet and heavy smoke, with an more narcotic and stoney effect.
The work of art of Joop the Crystalman and the great genetics of Arjan’s collection made this unique study possible. The rest is the magic of nature.