Strange Strains grow log

[Sea Mac]

Sorry if I'm coloring outside the lines ...  

[Paradoxic]

No biggie. I was thinkin about how the trichomes are so large on that plant...its very interesting. Trying to figure out why sally does this would make for an interesting investigation. I wonder if its a method of defense...it would make sense to have stronger defense when small. Perhaps this is something we could look into as informal research when Salvia Lab comes out.

[MstryShovel]

air-roots mabey? she does do alot of moisture sucking. or are the tricromes more like MJ crystal fromation?

[strangeworld]

Theres some possible clues on the Trichomes page at wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichomes

Hairs on plants growing in areas subject to frost keep the frost away from the living surface cells. In windy locations, hairs break-up the flow of air across the plant surface, reducing evaporation. Dense coatings of hairs reflect solar radiation, protecting the more delicate tissues underneath in hot, dry, open habitats. And in locations where much of the available moisture comes from cloud drip, hairs appear to enhance this process.

[Sea Mac]

Theres some possible clues on the Trichomes page at wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichomes

Hairs on plants growing in areas subject to frost keep the frost away from the living surface cells. In windy locations, hairs break-up the flow of air across the plant surface, reducing evaporation. Dense coatings of hairs reflect solar radiation, protecting the more delicate tissues underneath in hot, dry, open habitats. And in locations where much of the available moisture comes from cloud drip, hairs appear to enhance this process.

Cloud Drip?!?

Isn't that stuff called "Rain"?              

[strangeworld]

Technical term

[strangeworld]

Oh I see, well I learned something today

Cloud drip = Horizontal precipiation in the form of fog/cloud forming droplets on plants as they pass

[MstryShovel]

Oh I see, well I learned something today

AS did I!

[Jupe]

Pine needles are the pinnacle of drip.....fog sweeps around them and runs to the tip.....roots extend out the "drip-line" of the tree.....redwoods also this.

This year I have 3 of Carl's strains, and some Lunas.  Awaiting a clone someday of the Jupiter Strain.


Last year plants produced 51 seeds, from approx 4900 individual blossoms (70 spikes X pehaps 70 max flowers per spike) and I tried to isolate various plants(blossers, wassons and lunas) from each other and keep track.....haha..yeah right!!!  I tried my hand at the Sea-mac protocol, finally decided to let hummingbirds do the work. I They can do aobut 50 flowers a minute....took me forever to do 3.....

This year, I will try and not touch anything, but harvest the flowers when they have mostly finished, as I did last year,  then  dry and sift for seeds.  It will be "interesting" to see what happens, although I suspect, that like most things, every year is different Maybe I'll get a whole bunch more.....maybe none?  (got 4 birds hired on already though, kept them  bribed all summer

[Paradoxic]

Hmmm, I didnt know trichomes had so many functions. I was thinking that most were just to hold chemicals for defense against insects and things.

However, In the case of Salvia it is unlikely that they would be to protect against frost because it Salvia cannot survive frost and would not encounter it in its environment anyway. Wind and solar radiation are also probably not potential harms as it grows on the rain forest floor. So that pretty much leaves them for defense purposes, there are probably a number of things to test that could help determine their possible functions.

air-roots mabey? she does do alot of moisture sucking. or are the tricromes more like MJ crystal fromation?

Trichomes are those structures on the leaf surfaces that hold the salvinorin A, so yeah they probably function more similarly to MJ trichomes. Salvia also grows air-roots, which might be to suck moisture, but I always thought they were just pre-growth of roots for when the branch snaps and grows into a new plant. What do you guys think?

[strangeworld]

It occured to me that as that strain had emerged from longterm salvia trees at SeaMacs place, where I believe its pretty hot climate, maybe that had pushed this new strain towards those aspects of water retention / gathering? Or maybe it was having to battle with certain types of pests every season, and thus the next generation was geared towards being spiky as hell?!

[Sea Mac]

Hmmm, I didnt know trichomes had so many functions. I was thinking that most were just to hold chemicals for defense against insects and things.

However, In the case of Salvia it is unlikely that they would be to protect against frost because it Salvia cannot survive frost and would not encounter it in its environment anyway. Wind and solar radiation are also probably not potential harms as it grows on the rain forest floor. So that pretty much leaves them for defense purposes, there are probably a number of things to test that could help determine their possible functions.

air-roots mabey? she does do alot of moisture sucking. or are the tricromes more like MJ crystal fromation?

Trichomes are those structures on the leaf surfaces that hold the salvinorin A, so yeah they probably function more similarly to MJ trichomes. Salvia also grows air-roots, which might be to suck moisture, but I always thought they were just pre-growth of roots for when the branch snaps and grows into a new plant. What do you guys think?

I'd heard somewhere (I think from Mr. Siebert) that only the trichomes on the UNDERSIDE Of the Leaves have Salvinorin A.

But All 'baby' Salvia plants, sprouted from seeds,

(Photo courtesy of Daniel Siebert)
 as well as ANY very tiny Salvia cutting struggling to get established, have these oversized "visible" trichomes on the top surface of their leaves. Normally, Salvias' Trichomes are invisible ... See http://www.alkemist.com/analytical_services/interactive/salvia_400x.htm for a photo-micrograph of them.

I took 30 - 40 pictures of that plant trying to get one that was "Just right" ... they lose the fuzz as they get bigger ...   

[Sea Mac]

Oh I see, well I learned something today

AS did I!

Mee three!  

[Paradoxic]

Oh yeah, you're right Sea Mac.

Studies have shown that salvinorin A is contained in the glandular trichomes located on abaxial side (underside) of the leaves of S. divinorum.

This quote came from the a research paper summary that I wrote, doh! Although, salvinorin A is definitely present on other areas of the plant because I also read a paper that found there to be a certain (but low) concentration of salvinorin A on the stems. So undersides of leaves is probably just the main place where its produced.

Yeah those visible ones are quite interesting. On my list of papers to read is this one: Localization of Salvinorin A and Related Compounds in Glandular Trichomes of the Psychoactive Sage, Salvia divinorum I skimmed it and its got lots of good info on the trichomes and such. I'll be sure to post up my summary when its done and hopefully clear up some more about the trichomes.

[DrYRHead]

It sounds like it would be best to roll the leaves down-side out for quiding.