Your projects are always awesome @JoeCrowe 
I recently read that rice pollen will be different colors depending on if it is viable or not.
I wonder if the same can be said for cannabis?
Have you noticed any color differences?
2 Likes
There is actually a stark difference between viable and non.
The viable pollen are round, with something inside.
5 Likes
Thank you for the reply @JoeCrowe
Very interesting.
2 Likes
So Joe, What’s Inside?
Can we see little DNA helix chains yearning for a chance at some frisky meiosis with a cute canna clone?
Laughing out loud at myself here, but your images are solidly in MindFuck territory now.
Keep em comin Maestro; What IS inside a viable pollen nodule?
FanBoy,
-Grouchy
3 Likes
A quick snap of another OGK plant. This one is in veg, but the trichome coverage looks average like the other plants. Haven’t found a stand out one in the OGK batch yet.
3 Likes
Very cool, do you have the ability to zoom the gland head?
1 Like
I can get to 20x objective which is 2x magnification of that image. Really tricky to focus!
2 Likes
I bet, breath wrong and it is out.
What I did was just rub the calyx on the slide and some trichomes broke off and stuck to the slide. Breaking off the trichome caps is really easy, I would say there is a structural problem where the secretory disk attaches to the trichome stalk. It’s really weak at that point and easy to break off.
5 Likes
It looks like most of the trichome caps are intact?
Cheers
G
1 Like
Almost seems like it was designed specifically for that purpose.
1 Like
Yah I designed them so I could make hash
So I’ve been progressing on the…well… perhaps, lunatic fringe observation thing. Without further introduction I give you the aged weeeeeeed.
This is a time lapse of weed sealed in a container for 5 years.
There is a three year lapse between the first image and the last.
7 Likes
2 Likes
Fantastic images @JoeCrowe, you never disappoint!
When time permits… how’s about making another slide where you just tap loose some trichomes. Then add a drop of ethanol on the slide so we can see what is left behind when the tric heads dissolve and release their chems into solution with the alcohol?
The before and after pics would give a good idea of what’s happening in a QWET extraction.
Thanks for the continuing education! 
-Grouchy
3 Likes
I can make another video of it! It’s actually a lot different than you could imagine. Things get wild!
4 Likes
That would be awesome!
Here’s couple of pics of some very frosty weed looks like right after a QWET extraction. If you look closely it is hard to find a trichome head still on the stalk! The alcohol must really bust them open.
8 Likes
I’m getting excited about this one. I finally have viable pollen and plants I can afford to fuck around with! Next is my attempt to in vivo image it!
4 Likes
How can you see viability?
With seeds of orchids the tetrazolium is used to check viability.
What do you look for or what reactive do you use to check pollen viability?
Thanks
2 Likes