Why Is My Weed Purple?!

With more people legally cultivating cannabis, purple weed isn’t as rare. Have you ever wondered what could give weed that color? Getting a bag of odd colored weed would leave some skeptical and for good reason. You don’t want nugs dipped in grape kool-aid for appearance. However, natural purp is something exciting and safe to smoke. We’ll go over the various reasons weed could be purple.

What Makes Weed Purple?

Anthocyanins are responsible for the purple color found in weed. The word was created by German botanist, Ludwig Marquart. And it translates to “Blue Flower.”

Anthocyanins are water-soluble flavonoids that contain blue, purple and sometimes pink coloring pigments. Their job is to protect plants from light and an insect repellant. Some bugs assume the purple is a sign of an unhealthy plant.

These flavonoids can be found in plant tissues, leaves, fruits, and more plants. In fact, they make give eggplants and blueberries their color.

When there’s not much light chlorophyll production ceases. As a result, anthocyanins are produced in their place giving the plant some pigmentation. A few anthocyanins present in cannabis is all it takes to bring out colors other than green.

Anthocyanins can be found down to the trichome, so it’s possible to see colors other than green in kief and concentrates as well.

Cold-Shocked Weed

One way to create dark colored buds is by exposing the plant to cold temperatures for an extended period. However, this isn’t the best way to go about it. Cold temps may lead to some purp, but it will also slow the plant’s growth, yield, and quality.

When it’s very cold plants, have a hard time uptaking phosphorus and photosynthesizing. They need to photosynthesize for the energy necessary to grow.

So, freezing your weed will change the color but at what cost? If you’re going to use temperature to manipulate the color, we recommend doing it before harvest to keep your yields high.

Today, selective breeding and genetic modifications have allowed cannabis cultivators to produce purple nugs without ever introducing cold weather.

Is Purp Any Better Than Regular Weed?

The vast majority of cannabis consumers use appearance to select their buds. However, smoking purp won’t necessarily get you any higher than the regular stuff.

While it’s not guaranteed to get you higher, there are some benefits you can get from the anthocyanins in purple weed:

“Flavonoid accumulation involved in many aspects of the plant growth including pathogen resistance, pigment production, and protection against ultraviolet radiation, which contributes to the growth of pollen and seed coat development,” according to one study.

The protection anthocyanins can lead to more resinous flowers which are what you want for the best high. However, there is no evidence to suggest purple buds are more potent than green buds. So don’t choose based on color alone.

Final Hit

Purple weed can be good or bad depending on the circumstances that were taken to make it. If you want to try some get it from a reputable source, so you don’t end up with cold-shocked or dyed nugs.

" Ab Hanna : @https://twitter.com/dabhanna Ab is an East Coast editor for Green Rush Daily. He enjoys learning new information about cannabis and cannabis products through research and experience. His work is also featured in High Times Magazine.."