visual observation vs effects

[HerBnGorE(illa)]

I know everyone on here has flipped through one of the many "post your frostiest bud pics" threads here on icmag. There are definitely some beautiful, frosty, saliva-inducing pictures here on icmag. Plants that appear to be dipped in powdered sugar, they are so frosty.

My question is; is that visual observation a reliable tool in determining potency?? Can a lack-luster plant be equally potent?

The reason i ask is, i have a tangerine dream from barneys farm. it is now sitting at week 10 of flower (i believe) and it still has a bit to go. The plant is very sativa leaning. however, upon inspection there is only a minimal amount of visible trichomes.

Now, i know there are different types of trichomes. I know there are other substances in our beloved plant that aid/transform the effects. So i have hope that this plant is more than just ROPE!

Anyone have any insight?? should i just "cut" my losses, remove all clones, and move on to another seed???

....or should i ride out the storm and hope for the best?

 

[I wood]

Look closely with a scope.
A loa highland that was just picked looked like it had no glands at all with the naked eye, under magnification the glands were completely covering the calyxes but we're tightly packed without stalks it appeared. Surprised the hell out of me, first time I ever put that much time into anything without any visible sparkle.
Clear head buzz that could be unnoticed by some indica lovers.
It works for me.

 

[Phaeton]

I dedicate a large portion of my crop to extracts. Not the leaves and shake, trimmed bud is used for better quality and taste.
Normally, after the buds are dead bone dry, they are squeezed when putting into the measuring cup, not sifted but broken enough to eliminate air holes. Forty five seconds to a minute in hexane pulls 90% of the THC.

Once, the squeezing was eliminated and the whole buds were gently soaked without agitating for two minutes. After carefully pouring off the hexane the intact buds dried to a sparkly shiny crystal laden bud that even had some smell left when lightly spritzed with distilled water.
Some of this was allowed to fall into the hands of a pesky inebriate, who, after a night of smoking and drinking, gave the opinion that it wan't very strong.
Guaranteed it was under one percent.

Sure looked good.


More to the point, there are four types of trichomes, the stalked trichomes are visible on the leaf and are used to check maturity.

The bumpy trichomes can be seen with the correct microscope/light combination and are like pimples on the bud.

Flush trichomes are flat with the surface and difficult to see.

The embedded trichomes are inside the bud surfaces and cannot be seen at all from the outside.

Due to natural variation some plants are going to have less of one type than others, and more of another type than others.
A plant with an abundance of inside and surface trichomes but few stalked trichomes will outstone a bud with lots of stalked trichomes but not much else.

Shake leaves with lots of stalked trichomes are stony, but buds with all four types are three times as stony.

 

[HerBnGorE(illa)]

thank you guys for the insight. i will carry on patiently. i guess the only real proof is in the smoke report in a couple months!

 

[HerBnGorE(illa)]

So this plant in question has, in the past week and a half , put on some nice trichome coverage. Guess it is a late bloomer!

 

[stoned-trout]

I have had sativas with not much visable trichome production that were awesome..indigas not so much....yeehaw