How colorful Weed Occurs

You’ve probably seen this from a few of the growers, but there are now more weed strains than ever before. While most of these are the typical green color, there are breeders who have managed to make different cultivars, otherwise known as strains, possible. You can get weed that’s now in yellow, purple, pink, blue, red, and even black colors. So how did they do it? What did they change to make this type of thing possible? It does boil all the way down to the genetics of the plant the environment, and the chemicals, but here, we’ll go over what types of molecules are responsible for making weed pretty colors. 

Understanding cannabis colors 

Cannabis is similar to other kinds of plants, where you can get a rainbow of colors. If you look at some of the different veggies that are out there, they usually have one specific color, but there are rare varieties of different types of plants that have different colors. Cannabis that are involved with a variety of colors have this element, offering a choice of experience and luxury. While seedlings and most plants that are vegetative have leaves that are green, there are some buds and leaves that you can manipulate and “turn on” in order to give these colors the showstopping aspects hat people love from these. 

The role of Anthocyanins 

This is a flavonoid that’s become super popular, and it’s something that actually is quite beneficial for a lot of people, simply because of how vital of an antioxidant it is. This is actually what’s responsible for the reds, blues, purples, and other colors that you see in different plants. Blueberries, cranberries, cabbage that’s red, and even purple potatoes all have this. 

This is something that’s still being researched, with over 700 of these anthocyanins so far. This is basically a secondary metabolite, and while it’s not a part of the growth and development of plants, it’s actually used to get insects that are beneficial and biotic viruses out of there, and also helps with the stressors hat might be there due to the light, insects, and whatnot. 

These phytochemicals that are radiant are actually one of the many components of the weed plant, and they’re responsible for the colors, but also, pH plays a big old role in this. Anthocyanins offer reddish-purple colors when it’s at a neutral ph. If you want it to be pinker, you want it to be more acidic, and if you want green tones, you want to make it more basic in pH as well. 

How this plays into cannabis 

This is definitely what’s responsible for the differing colors in cannabis and is responsible for the gene expression of such. Green of course is the typical color that you see, and it’s the most common. This is due to the chlorophyll that you see in there, which is basically hat gives the plant food, similar to how mitochondria works in our own cells. This is why a lot of leaves in the cannabis plant are green. 

But that’s not all. Let’s say we start to see the plant becoming orangish and yellowish. This is something that’s due to the carotenoids that are in there, and this is similar to what gives carrots their orange color too. If this is representing in the cannabis plant, it means that there is a lot of beta-carotene in this and is quite common in the plant itself. Red and pink is when you have plenty of anthocyanins and carotenoids that are out there, and it usually means that the cannabis plant is acidic too.