potency test scores for our cannabis cuttings

Frequently Asked Questions

What is your process for propagating clones?

We take all of our cuttings from healthy, green, vegetative growth plants. Before we dip the stem into a rooting gel, we first coat it in a root innoculant containing mycorrhizae, trichoderma, beneficial bacteria, seaweed, humic acids and vitamin B1. We then insert the cutting into an oasis root cube and place it into a humidity dome. After 6+ days when the roots form we transplant the cutting into a natural and organic potting soil mix. Once the cuttings have made it passed the sensitive transplant-stage we then start giving them a very light dose of nutrients. Once they are around 6 inches or so, we deem them to be ready for market.

How often do you add new strains to your permanent collection?

Networking is an important part of our business. We are always forming new relationships, while maintaining long standing ones. It is in this way that our web of connections grow larger and larger, giving us a broader base of folks from whom we obtain new strains from. There is always someone out there who is eager to share "the next BIG strain" with us, and that is good, but we learned a long time ago to let the plants do all the talking.
At ThrivingGardensCC, we grow a larger variety of strains than the average gardener. Sometimes every single plant in a harvest will be a different strain. It is both a blessing and a curse, but it must be done so we can stay on top of the newest, hottest strains around. To give all of our 'new hopefuls' a fair opportunity we give each one a chance to prove themselves in one of our flowering rooms. If they make the first cut they are flowered out a second time to see how hard we can push them, in hopes that we can reconfirm our previous observations. The entire process of weeding out the productive strains from the lackluster ones takes a minimum of 4 months. The vast majority of the strains only get one run in our garden before we've seen enough. However, when a new strain demonstrates it has the right qualities to make it into our collection it's really something special. So, to answer the question simply- a new strain is introduced into our permanent collection approximately three times a year.

Do you flower all of your strains before offering them?

Every featured strain on ThrivingGardensCC has completed a minimum of two life cycles; starting from the small vegetative growth (clone) stage all they way through peak harvest of the flowering cycle. It's a long process, but we want to make sure we go about it the right way, so we can make the right decision in the end. We have never offered a strain on this website that hasn't followed this protocol. However, we do regularly offer a large variety of strains that are not listed on this website and that have not been tested or verified. These are typically BIG-name strains and we don't acquire them blindly, so we usually have a very good idea of how the strain will perform, its growth characteristics, growing tips, etc. These off-site strains are still a very safe bet for a productive harvest.
If you are looking for a particular strain and you don't see it, ask us! We could have it sitting in our garden. Or we can surely ask around and find it!

How do I interpret the potency test scores?

Cannabinoid potency tests serve a few purposes. A potency test result can help to identify a strains full cannabinoid profile, it can differentiate a high THC strain from a high CBD one, and it can give patients a general idea as to what effects to expect from specific medical marijuana strains.
There are a handful of local facilities that provide the industry with cannabinoid and terpenoid testing services. The testing results provide insight into which cannabinoid compounds are present and at which percentages. Although the potency test scores give us hard numbers for strains of which we previously had no data for, one should interpret the results as a general estimate. There are many influencing factors that can lead to different findings. This can happen because of the test sample itself, or because of the testing facility. Individual buds taken from separate sites on the exact same plant can yield different cannabinoid percentages because of their location on the plant, light intensity, temperature, maturity of the bud, etc. Likewise, one bud, ground up, and sent off to a handful of independent testing facilities can yield different test results as well. There is currently no national standard to determine what all of the testing equipment should be calibrated to, so even in perfect conditions the results can vary greatly, sometimes with a double-digit difference. Additionally, an extremely resinous plant is not necessarily an indication of a potent plant, or of that sample yielding high THC scores. The trichomes of the cannabis plant contain within them all the cannabinoids, terpenoids, and flavonoids of that strain, so even if a plant has heavy trichome production it could be other cannabinoids present (CBD), and almost no THC whatsoever. That plant could also have terpenes helping to influencing the users high. Terpenes are incredibly medicinal themselves, and certain ones like Myrcene, can influence a users high just as much, if not more than most cannabinoids do. (See our Terpenes page) Additionally, many times low THC scores are interpreted as a direct reflection of the overall "quality" of the buds causing patients to label them as being lesser quality than they really are. The scores can also be interpreted as being inaccurate, and the fault is placed on the testing facility. Most times, in both these instances, this thinking is wrong.. As an example, the West Coast Sour Diesel x Lambs Breath we had has buds that are solid white and furry with trichomes. When we initially sent in our sample buds to be tested we figured it would come back at around 18%-20% THC judging by its appearance. But when we got the score it came back at only 11.24% THC! It left us scratching our heads and thinking about what might have went wrong, but the same results held true for our Fruity Chronic Juice- a highly resinous, trichome covered plant yielding test results of 11. 52% THC. As we learned, it's a common misconception to assume that a bud with elevated levels of visible trichomes will have equally elevated levels of THC.

Should I trim my plants before the flowering cycle?

In our experience it is beneficial to trim up marijuana plants before sending them into the flowering cycle. With the various techniques used to manicure a plant, trimming can be an art form in itself. While some people choose to simply trim off stray branches here and there, others prefer a more elaborate trim job, sometimes trimming off up to 90% of the foliage leaving it looking naked and bare with only the very top leaves remaining. No matter how you go about it as long as the plant still has one leaf left it will continue to grow, but some ways are certainly more beneficial than others. What has proven to be the most successful in our gardens is trimming off all of the smaller, wispy branches from the lower half of the plant. By removing these inferior branches the plant can focus all its energy on the remaining branches instead of expending it on weak, insignificant branches that may only produce airy buds come harvest time. Equally as important, and also a part of our routine, is making sure to trim off most all of the dense foliage from the middle core of the plant. This opens up the canopy of the plant allowing for improved air flow as well as better light penetration. When deciding which branches to cut off or keep during trimming we've always used the motto "Make it count." Meaning whatever branches you decide to keep better be able to contribute their fair share of the overall harvest. For the most part a skinny, small branch will likely produce skinny, small buds.
For those out there that are still not convinced that its a good idea to trim off the green, healthy leaves that their plant worked so hard at growing please consider that most varieties of cannabis experience tremendous growth in the first 2.5 weeks of the flowering cycle, typically doubling or tripling in size/height. Assuming that the plant was trimmed properly, the leaf sets that are currently on top of the canopy at the end of vegetative state will soon become the bottom branches of the flowering plant after its tremendous growth phase. If the bottom leaf sets are not trimmed off and removed then they will become the bottom of the bottom and will receive very little light, if any. The airflow will also consequently, be less than optimal. We have found that the more leaves you trim off of the plant as its entering its 12/12 cycle the more that plant will explode in growth to regenerate as many leaves as possible. It knows that it has a very narrow window of time (2-3 weeks) to recoup any lost leaves, so it rushes to grow out as many new leaves as possible.

All 4 pictures posted to the right are of the exact same Purple Urkle plant at different stages of growth...

Veg state prior to pruning.

Immediately after pruning.

Week 3 of the flowering cycle.

Week 8 of the flowering cycle.