Spend long enough on cannabis forums and you’ll hear people refer to cannabis phenotypean observable set of characteristics resulting from the inte... More, or simply “pheno.” Some who repeat the term are also not sure what it means. By definition, a phenotypean observable set of characteristics resulting from the inte... More is an observable set of characteristics resulting from the interaction of genetics and the environment. But what does that really mean?
Cannabis is fascinating in that, given different environments, the plant can express its genetic make-up in different ways. Take this example for instance; I and an outdoor farmer planted identical Orange Kush plants. They were literally the same in that they were taken as cuttings from the same plant – therefore the genetic make-up was identical. The plant that resulted outdoors was short, bushy, and had far more leaves than the indoor variety. There was certainly more biomass, but a good portion of that was simply leaf matter.
The indoor version of Orange Kush was grown under LED lighting in organic soil. It was less bushy and contained far fewer leaves. Although the scents were similar, there were no other apparent signs that these plants were related, much less the identical plant. You certainly don’t need a magnifying glass to see the difference.
The phenotypical expression of the outdoor plant was driven by extremely bright light, broad swings in humidity, as well as day after day of 95+ degree heat. It survived winds and storms, bug and other pest pressure, not to mention the very cool fall nights. On the other hand, its identical indoor sister enjoyed temperatures between 65-85 degrees, humidity between 45-65%, a reasonable amount of light, as well as gentle breezes. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that their genetics express themselves different provided these vastly different growing conditions.
We also hear of breeders and growers doing ‘pheno-hunts.’ Some are even looking for ‘unicorn phenos.’ This is exactly as it sounds. In a pheno-hunt, the grower is looking for particular traits. They may be looking for high-yield and high-THC in a plant that most represents what the genes were designed for. If you plant 100 seeds of the same hybrid, you may get a wide variety of plants in regard to smell, height, leaf size, and so on. One of these may be very, very rare to find. This is your unicorn.
With all this in mind, the new grower shouldn’t be concerned when they plant 6 seeds of the same genetics and get 6 different plants. However, breeders these days are pretty good at what they do, so most seeds tend to be very similar with only an outlier now and then.
Stay tuned – in coming articles we’ll explore the concepts of genotypes and chemotypes.
Happy Harvests!
— The Lit Farmer —