Me and my buddy were just talking about this the other night while harvesting a plant. We see a huge amount of trichome development on the backs of some of the smaller leaves that form around the buds... What we find odd is that on the topsides of these leaves, there is almost NO trichome production what so ever. Seems backwards, doesn't it??? Seems odd to us, anyways...
What you said was something I just thought about and was going to draw attention to, that the small leaves that grow between buds, and eventually are at least partially if not fully engulfed by bud matter are covered with trichomes. It is a simple observation that anyone who has grown a while should have made and then knew.
It does not see logical that there might be more trichomes on the bottoms of small leaves caught in and or protruding from buds than on their top surfaces but it is very common. While I never researched it my own opinion was those leaves commonly are twisted and turned due to bud growth and at times what would be considered to be a lower surface might receive enough light that the trichomes there increase in numbers and of course swell and the leaf surface that logic tells you should be thickly covered has less to no trichome production.
Then again it could possibly just be genetics. Regardless of the numbers of strains that have been created there is almost something of a garden of eden/adam & eve thing in that when skilled amateur breeders and professional breeders really got going there was a somewhat limited number of strains existing to begin working with and of course not all breeders had access to them all. That meant that certain strains were at least part of many original crosses that eventually led to very many others and a genetic trait could easily be shared over a wide range of fairly differing strains because of that alone.
What has been more of a question over time is can and will it, trichomes, occur on large fan leaves. It will, and it does, but that is less common and when it happens normally the trichomes, of whatever type, are less dense and there are less THC producing trichome heads in those parts of the plants, per equal area size, than on bud and the small bud leaves.
In other words depending on where frost may be located, regardless of strain, it might possibly be deceiving and appear to be more impressive than it actually is. I have grown sativas where finding trichomes was almost like trying to find Waldo, but one hit would more than let you know something intense was happening and two hits left you unsure if you were afoot or horseback, and I have grown indicas so covered in trichomes where my trays to collect watering runoff were almost needed for a secondary purpose, to collect the droplets of resin falling from the plants, and while they were very relaxing if someone likes mind bending, it just wasn’t there to be found.
While it is a fairly safe bet when comparing similar strains to see one that grows frostier as being more potent … not always as in a higher potency percentage level as in say 21% compared to 23%, but instead as in just far more of the basic same potency found on the plant due to increased levels of trichomes, as being better, once you get beyond comparing strains that are generally similar things like what something looks like can go right out the door. What had become the scale that always accurately ‘measured’ your plants progression and success in the past is found to not be calibrated to be accurate when used with a dissimilar enough strain or strains than what someone is used to.
If you want to test to see if that is correct, first locate a site to purchase the original pure Panama Red and purchase it. Second, if it is the real deal, tell me where I can purchase it too. Third, grow the strain long enough until you could do it in your sleep and still top 85% of other growers ….. and then pick some pure indica and grow it and see if what is normal to you often seems to happen.
Other than plants being grown and very basic growing musts like pH levels, almost every other thing would be different starting right after germination right until the end, including drying and curing due to the difference in bud size and density between the two extremes in genetics.
You can fall into something of a comfort zone when more or less sticking to some general range/type of genetics but if you step well out of it now and then, sooner or later you will find yourself looking at something and being amazed by what you see. It will just be so different from what you had grown accustomed to that it will almost feel like you are doing something new instead of just different.
I always enjoyed those, holy smokes, have you ever seen anything like that or expected something like that before in your life, moments. They are always interesting and you learn things that sooner or later somewhere down the road it will be very handy to known it.
lol..i think its really cool!