Purple Phenotypes and Potency

[Ktaadn]

This is something I've pondered for a long time and couldn't find anything relevant in a search. I've noticed over the years when looking at lines with both purple and green colored phenotypes present that the purple ones nearly always have less "kick" than their green counterparts. I'm talking purple buds here, not purple leaves or buds with a slight purplish hue, but straight up purple calyxes.

My experience is limited to outdoor only, and sometimes this trait could be triggered by cold temps and not entirely genetic, but it seems to hold true ime that the phenos that stay green are the more potent ones. I've seen this in enough different lines that there seems to be some correlation there. It's also interesting to note that the purples tend to be more flavorful.

I'm just a hobbyist that grows for my own needs and I'm certainly not a scientist nor do I run large enough numbers to sufficiently test the theory, but I thought maybe others here could help shed some light on the subject. Have others noticed the same thing? How about indoors vs. outdoors?

 

[zamzia]

I was lucky enough to be one of the testers for Santuary Gardens 'Khalisi project'. I got two keepers phenos - one green and one purple. Not one person said the purple pheno was lacking in power and a few of the people I deal with are normally quick to moan when the potency isn't there. I just think not many breeders are that fussed about colour over other qualities in a plant.

 

[soserthc1]

Limited experience with purple plants but the few I had lacked potency. Its common to here most say that purple plants lack potency
@zamzia post is a exception to most I do believe and I do believe there is some correlation to purple and low potency.
Would love to here Sam's or chimeras opinion as a scientist I'm not .
That said purple sells as in bag appeal

 

[mukuku]

I have smoke recently an ace purple haze x malawi thas was really purple at the end of flowering and it was an astronomic high. very psychedelic creeper.

that's not always true (green more potent than purple).

 

[Ktaadn]

zamzia - would you say both phenos of the khalisi were equally potent?

soserthc1 - I've heard it mentioned from time to time as well, but often referencing certain purple strains. I can't recall any specific mention of green vs. purple in the same lines, but I'm surely not the first to notice and wonder about it.

mukuku - were there any green phenotypes of the line to compare to?

I know purple buds can be quite potent, but each time I've had good purple there were green siblings that blew the purple away in terms of potency.

 

[Cannabisso]

GNW you are right

 

[Ktaadn]

Funny you mention that Cannabisso - I was just looking at seeds from one of my personal lines that I had seperated by pheno, and the seeds from the purple mother are indeed much darker!

 

[St. Phatty]

Most of my experience with Purple Cannabis is getting GrandDaddy Purple from a dispensary in Sonoma County.

Great high, Indica leaning.

Tried Urkle and GDP as buds (purchased as a patient), and got a GDP clone - and that was good too.

 

[EastCoast710]

I believe that purple thing is a myth.. because honestly. if u think about ti. with the right weather u can purple out a ton of shit.. with the right ph u can also purple out leaves and sometimes buds.. so in reality. its all genetics. purple has nothing to do with power. ive had some purple bubba that was amazing.. ive had purps that was strong too. its not anything to do with purple lol . its all about the grower and genetics;

 

[MrBelvedere]

I believe that purple thing is a myth.. because honestly. if u think about ti. with the right weather u can purple out a ton of shit.. with the right ph u can also purple out leaves and sometimes buds.. so in reality. its all genetics. purple has nothing to do with power. ive had some purple bubba that was amazing.. ive had purps that was strong too. its not anything to do with purple lol . its all about the grower and genetics;

Agreed, color and potency have absolutely nothing at all to do with each other.

No idea how this crazy idea got started.

 

[CosmicCharlie]

^it got started by some dumbass know nothing rappers rapping about "that purp yo".

 

[Cannavore]

The genetic purples that I consider low potency all likely share a common ancestor. There are purples outside of that family tree that are nothing like the flat yawn inducing GDP/Purple Kush/Urkle high.

 

[Ph-patrol]

I have heard others claim purple being a sign of low potency.I have found color to have no bearing on that claim.
I have had super duper frosty plant that turned out be just good.

 

[RoyalFlush]

The way I see it Purple indica leaners have a high % of low potantcy vs Purple sativa leaners which still blow your phucking head off.

 

[porkchop buddah]

anyone run grab daddy terps? this clone is floating around and never heard anything about it

 

[ChasingGreen]

Do purple strains come in both pure indicas and pure sativas or just hybrids? If they only come in one, it's probably just that they don't like indicas for example, they're looking for the sativa high. Just my 2 cents.

 

[CosmicCharlie]

^both

Purple color doesn't really mean anything. Some people just think it looks cool.

 

[Croissant]

here is my theory.... I could be wrong.

Around 2006 or so people began to get really interested in purps on the net. At that time the available stock was from strains like shaman and subcools purple strain. They lacked potency from what I hear. some people used those strains in their own hybrids and people would say the green phenos more potent.

All the while in Norcal they had been having purps likely for generations. I think a few different ancestors too like "da purps" strain Jason king wrote about in the cannabible and the other purps strains like the urkle. Da purps, I tried it, wasn't very potent but it was extremely pleasant and very unique.

The other purps strains, that seemed to all have common ancestry weren't lacking in potency at all.

There were also purps that came from phenos of reefermans Kodiak gold, some motorebal strains and the purple chitral. That make up most of the rest of the purp strains on the seed market. Also old timers purple haze and leb 27.

anyway flash foreward a few year since then and now everyone has access to chemdawgs and og kushes and it has skewed the overall perception of what people expect out of weed in general. So, people will egotistically compare everything to og kush they identify with when they feel like being dissmisive of some other strain.

Also, I think even for most the popular even elite strains we know about. Most of the time it is some lesser phenol that gets passed around and the people in those inner circles have access to phenols that express those terp profiles at its very finest.

What comes to mind is train wreck I have tried too much trainwreck. On a few select occasions I tried trainwreck that was truly remarkable and so much better than every other trainwreck that it must be a different phenol or something grown by someone who has mastered it.

All that said, the average easily accessible og kushs and chems are extremely potent in a specific way that now that they have become the standard in general and people are just dismissive of other strains.

 

[browntrout]

The terps are almost always different in my opinion.
BT

 

[MrBelvedere]

here is my theory.... I could be wrong.

Around 2006 or so people began to get really interested in purps

...pretty sure Jimi Hendrix commanded the world to appreciate good purple weed in 1967 with the song Purple Haze.

Then the rappers reminded us we are supposed to like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJunCsrhJjg