Purple buds - Anthocyanin production and Chlorophyll degradation

Daub Marley

Active Member
Lowered nightime temps (behind genetics) are the most influential in purpling a plant. You're trying to mimic the natural seasonal progression though.
"When a number of warm, sunny autumn days and cool but not freezing nights come one after the other, it's going to be a good year for reds. In the daytime, the leaves can produce lots of sugar, but the cool night temperatures prevent the sugar sap from flowing through the leaf veins and down into the branches and trunk. Anthocyanins to the rescue! Researchers have found out that anthocyanins are produced as a form of protection. They allow the plant to recover nutrients in the leaves before they fall off. This helps make sure that the tree will be ready for the next growing season. Anthocyanins give leaves their bright, brilliant shades of red, purple and crimson" http://dnr.wi.gov/eek/veg/trees/treestruecolor.htm
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
A green plant wont turn purple unless genetically predisposed to the condition typically. Nitrogen at the end of flowering is a mistake, as it should be in flush by this time. Excess nitrogen is not only unhealthy, but also will be food for mold spores and rot during flower, and dry times.
Depends on what you call excessive. Flushing is newbie bullshit, a myth. I usually fertilize with a slow release 18-4-9 until the end with excellent results.

I wouldn't worry so much as fooling friends into thinking purple is somehow cool as much as I would growing a good plant.
 

pmgrowers

Member
Lowered nightime temps (behind genetics) are the most influential in purpling a plant. You're trying to mimic the natural seasonal progression though.
"When a number of warm, sunny autumn days and cool but not freezing nights come one after the other, it's going to be a good year for reds. In the daytime, the leaves can produce lots of sugar, but the cool night temperatures prevent the sugar sap from flowing through the leaf veins and down into the branches and trunk. Anthocyanins to the rescue! Researchers have found out that anthocyanins are produced as a form of protection. They allow the plant to recover nutrients in the leaves before they fall off. This helps make sure that the tree will be ready for the next growing season. Anthocyanins give leaves their bright, brilliant shades of red, purple and crimson" http://dnr.wi.gov/eek/veg/trees/treestruecolor.htm
Any Updates of new experiments on this topic?

This is the best scientific response I have found for "Why Marijuana Plants Turn Purple"...It is definitely a phenotype of the plant, so genetics is at the forefront of this debate. My best advice for getting a purple strain, get a bag of seeds 20+ of something that has a tendency for the purple and grow it with a 20+ degree swing in temperature from day to night. Should yield at least two (on the low), 1 being a female which you can clone. also follow DJ Shorts advice (blueberry creator) and use the light schedule 11/13, on/off respectively, this help express the phenotype of the plant (color).
 

Psyphish

Well-Known Member
If it doesn't turn purple on it's own, helping it turn purple will only make the buds worse.

Here's a happy purp accident, I'm sad about losing the genetics, I flowered the mother three times and she kept getting better every time.



I've grown it a few times. It's great stuff. Truly purple. My current Sannie's favorite is his Sugar Punch.

Above all just pay attention to the basics and plant biology 101.
Grew a sugar punch, it was wack shit even though it looked and smelled good. I'm probably going to run the rest of the seeds at some point, because the one I grew had to be a bunk pheno.

 

SamsonsRiddle

Well-Known Member
Depends on what you call excessive. Flushing is newbie bullshit, a myth. I usually fertilize with a slow release 18-4-9 until the end with excellent results.

I wouldn't worry so much as fooling friends into thinking purple is somehow cool as much as I would growing a good plant.
There's a few people at the beginning of this thread saying that lowering the temps "excessively" during late flowering is bad for the plant, but from what i've gathered it's just the opposite. Don't most fruits turn out better if they have a larger nighttime swing in temps? I believe i read before where you outlined that lowering nighttime temps during the last few weeks of flowering (15 degree swing) will create a better product. Am i remembering right, because i've been doing that the last week on a couple test plants?
 

caveman117

Well-Known Member
A lot of strains I've noticed will purple on their own if you let them go way past maturity. I'm not sure why exactly probably just the plant dying I guess, but I've left small plants of a lot of different strains/phenos go like 4-5 weeks past maturity and they get purple all through the buds.
Some strains are more extreme than others
 
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