Plant Hormones for Cannabis

Hormones are something that we as humans use to help with our metabolism, the way we behave, and our development physically, but it’s actually a major part of plants too, and it’s a big part of their life cycle, helping with the development and growth of different parts of it. These chemicals that are in it are called phytohormones, and usually, it not just helps with metabolism, and morphology, but also helps with stress responses and reduces damage physically from different conditions of the weather, pathogens, and pests too. 

Plant hormones are actually very similar to our hormones, but it does work in slightly different ways. However, they do affect growth in other ways and it does interact with some of the other phytohormones that change the metabolic means of this, rather than just one plant hormone that’s isolated, and it also will change the hormone levels, and some of them can cause a variety of reactions. With that said, let’s go over some of the most popular plant hormones used. 

Auxins 

This is really good for elongating or diving cells, forming leaves, forming roots, apical dominance to help with growing vertically, developing fruit, plant growth, and also helps with photoreaction to gravity and light. This works to help with growth control, and it actually helps the way the stems are able to move and bend towards the light sources, based on the secretion of this hormone in the plant. 

Cytokinin 

This is also an important one since it helps with the element of cells, differentiation, and also the division of cells too. It also pushes for the development of axillary buds, along with adventitious roots, which help with the enlargement and formation of leaves. It also boosts the metabolic activity of seeds, breaking it out of dormancy. 

It helps with the leaves, keeping them greener for a bit longer, stimulating the morphogenesis of the tissues that are there, helping to create buds and initiate the shots, and it also helps with the nutritional signaling of this too, helping with seed transport too. 

Gibberellins 

This is another hormone that helps with elongating the cells by stimulating it, pushing for germination, inducting the flowers, improves the trichome sand buds, helping to delay senescence in a plant, helps with the development of roots, and is good for showing the sex expression, especially in cannabis plants. It’s basically a huge growth stimulator that plays a major part in vascular plants. It also pushes seed dormancy out, and imitates flowers, helps with the development of trichomes, elongates the stem, and improves the growing of roots. It also helps to mitigate environmental stress in plants. 

Abscisic acid 

This is another acid and important hormone for growth too. However, this one is for inhibiting different aspects of this. It stops the shoot growth, improves the seed dormancy, stops transpiration by closing the stoma, helps with the environmental response, stops the ripening of fruit, improves the color development, also helps to abscission the flowers and the fruit that are there, and it also helps with pushing for rooting. It basically is used to counteract the other hormones that were listed before. 

Ethylene 

Finally we have this one, which stimulates the ripening of fruit, helps with the germination of seeds, the senescence of leaves, helps with abscission of leaves, helps the plant survive flooding to too much oxygen or too little oxygen environments, helps with the internode and petiole length, helps determine the gender of the plant, and is used the development of female flowers. It’s basically very volatile, but it works with the other hormones. 

How to Improve trichome Production in Cannabis

Cannabis has a resin that comes with trichomes, which gives you some amazing cannabinoids and terpenes that give it the flavor that you’re going for. With more and more resin production happening with some strains, some growers want to definitely look at the best way to improve this growth. We have the answer for that here. 

Get Grow Lights 

When you’re looking to improve the trichomes and the resin in cannabis plants that are auto-flowering or feminized or clones, the first place to look is the grow lights. You want to get the most bang for your buck out of this. Sodium-vapor lamps, or HPS ones are the best ways to get light that cultivates the cannabis. This is due to the major light spectrum, the output of this, and also the new results from the luminaries of this. 

There are also broad-spectrum kits that you can use too. You want to definitely find items that do bloom under lights that are new, and also consider using LED panels, since this can offer more light for a bud for each square meter, boost terpene production, and offer better terpene and trichome growth from this as well. It can make up to a 28% difference in THC levels, so do keep that in mind. 

Look at Nutrition 

A big part of improving the trichome production is to look at the nutrition of a cannabis plant. A cannabis plant will not thrive if it gets the wrong nutrients, and it can definitely change the way the plant responds to different life stages and cycles, and it plays a focal part in the boosting of reins. It’s also important to make sure it gets the right nutrients when flowering. You need the following for good plant growth: 

• Macronutrients, specifically potassium and phosphorus 

• Micronutrients of various kinds 

• Amino acids and vitamins 

If you’re looking to make sure that your plant has the right growth, you want to make sure that they’re being fed the right items, to help boozing the resin production that’s out there as well. 

Check irrigation 

If you have a plant that’s dealing with hydric stress, it’ll cause more problems with the terpene production. It may increase the CBD and THC, but it also may cause more acids to form.  Some people realize that if they are giving the plant a controlled drought when flowering, it impacts the trichome production, increasing the production of it, especially not for the items secreted, but also what’s stored inside. 

Look at humidity and temperature 

If you have the right grow room temperature and humidity, it will markedly boost the glandular trichome production that comes with this. The plant will not develop if the temperature is too low. If it’s too high, you will not get enough resin from this. 

You want to make sure that the plant is growing at the ideal temperatures, and over time, say it flowers, you can lower it slightly. Humidity is the other thing to look at too. If it’s too high, it causes fungi, if it’s too low, it will not be good for plants. You should go for a 50% humidity, and that’s something recommended. You can usually lower this down to 30% too over time, especially if you want more trichomes to be the focus. 

If you decide to use this, you should consider having a dehumidifier, or an air conditioner to also help with this. Trichomes can be controlled by the person, and in this, we went over just what people can do to control this in their plants.