I'm a sucker for interesting looking phenotypes, so I was reading up on white/albino plants. The main thing about them is that they have very little to no chlorophyll so they can't produce food for themselves. However, it was then stated that in rare cases a strain can become parasitic and feed off of other plants? I want to know which strain does this if anyone knows because I'd really like to breed with it. Thanks for the help!
Parasitic Strain?
- Thread starter Dfk88
- Start date
I.G.Rowdit
Well-Known Member
As you state, albino seedlings cannot survive on their own because they produce no chlorophyll and cannot 'feed' themselves. In the horticulture world albinos are often grafted on normal plants. The normal plants do have chlorophyll and supply the grafted albino with carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis.
Calling a grafted plant a 'parasite' is a very strange interpretation of the above situation.
I've never seen an albino Cannabis seedling but they probably do arise from time to time. In order to keep this plant going you would have to graft on a normal cannabis. I've never heard of anybody doing this even though Cannabis grafting is pretty easy.
Calling a grafted plant a 'parasite' is a very strange interpretation of the above situation.
I've never seen an albino Cannabis seedling but they probably do arise from time to time. In order to keep this plant going you would have to graft on a normal cannabis. I've never heard of anybody doing this even though Cannabis grafting is pretty easy.
kermit2692
Well-Known Member
Do you know if a seedling can sustain itself long enough or do you graft as a seedling and it can survive?
I.G.Rowdit
Well-Known Member
@kermit2692
As I said, I've never seen a Cannabis albino seedling. I have seen American holly and Japanese maple albino seedlings. These seedlings lasted about a week on their stored food supply then just died.
If such an albino seedling is grafted to a normal plant the albino portion will grow along with the rest of the plant.
As I said, I've never seen a Cannabis albino seedling. I have seen American holly and Japanese maple albino seedlings. These seedlings lasted about a week on their stored food supply then just died.
If such an albino seedling is grafted to a normal plant the albino portion will grow along with the rest of the plant.
kermit2692
Well-Known Member
I just didn't think a seedling would make it through a graft? I'd out common to graft seedlings?
I had never heard of it either, here's the link I read this at. https://www.lamota.org/en/blog/albino-marijuana-myth-reality/
From what I was reading they made it seem like an albino cannabis plant grew from a seedling that had some mutation that allowed it to take nutrients from other plants in a "parasitic way."
As far as I know it just increases the amount of nutrients being passed from the soil to the host plant
Yeah, this topic is rather interesting to me however. I wanna find out some more about alternative means for cannabis plants to absorb nutrients
I.G.Rowdit
Well-Known Member
I just read the original article and it is pure stupidity! It reads like a book report submitted by a 12 year old who did not have time to read the book and just made up a story after looking at the pictures.
The first second and third photos are variegated Cannabis, quite a bit different than an albino. The last photo is possibly an albino but many variegated plants produce seedlings that have no chlorophyll until they have grown a bit then they develop green (chlorophyll present) and white (no chlorophyll) areas. This is well illustrated by second and third photos.
I believe this is the sentence of the article that got DFK's attention:
"That having been said, there are cases (which science has not been able to fully understand) in which the albino plants develop other mechanisms to obtain food (when they proceed from a seed). It is believed that one variety of albino marijuana could obtain its energy in a parasitic way, by depriving other plants or organisms of nutrients they had previously produced"
First of all, there is no documentation for this claim. "It is believed..." by who? Someone who is capable of actually understanding how plants obtain nutrients?
Secondly, the well worn phrase "which science has not been able to fully understand" comes straight from the creationists playbook. The article does not appear to be creationist propaganda but it illustrates very well the scientific illiteracy that drives creationist and other anti-science rhetoric.
If you (not just DFK but anybody) are interested in plant nutrition read a horticulture book intended for non-horticulturists. I can recommend two. Both are really cheap on used book sites and easy to understand for the non-scientist.
Practical Horticulture fifth edition (later editions are much more expensive and contain little new info)
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Horticulture-Laura-Williams-Rice/dp/0130946346/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476972528&sr=1-2&keywords=practical+horticulture
Plant Watching: How Plants Remember, Tell Time, Form Partnerships and More
https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Watching-Plants-Remember-Partnerships/dp/0333445031/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476972598&sr=1-3&keywords=plant+watching
The first second and third photos are variegated Cannabis, quite a bit different than an albino. The last photo is possibly an albino but many variegated plants produce seedlings that have no chlorophyll until they have grown a bit then they develop green (chlorophyll present) and white (no chlorophyll) areas. This is well illustrated by second and third photos.
I believe this is the sentence of the article that got DFK's attention:
"That having been said, there are cases (which science has not been able to fully understand) in which the albino plants develop other mechanisms to obtain food (when they proceed from a seed). It is believed that one variety of albino marijuana could obtain its energy in a parasitic way, by depriving other plants or organisms of nutrients they had previously produced"
First of all, there is no documentation for this claim. "It is believed..." by who? Someone who is capable of actually understanding how plants obtain nutrients?
Secondly, the well worn phrase "which science has not been able to fully understand" comes straight from the creationists playbook. The article does not appear to be creationist propaganda but it illustrates very well the scientific illiteracy that drives creationist and other anti-science rhetoric.
If you (not just DFK but anybody) are interested in plant nutrition read a horticulture book intended for non-horticulturists. I can recommend two. Both are really cheap on used book sites and easy to understand for the non-scientist.
Practical Horticulture fifth edition (later editions are much more expensive and contain little new info)
https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Horticulture-Laura-Williams-Rice/dp/0130946346/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476972528&sr=1-2&keywords=practical+horticulture
Plant Watching: How Plants Remember, Tell Time, Form Partnerships and More
https://www.amazon.com/Plant-Watching-Plants-Remember-Partnerships/dp/0333445031/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476972598&sr=1-3&keywords=plant+watching
Thank you very very much, I thought it sounded to weird to be true but it just caught my attention as something pretty cool. You're a huge help and thanks for the book recommendations I'll definitely look into those.