How to Increase Trichome Production on Your Buds

To increase trichome production, start with genetics known for heavy resin, then give your plants plenty of good light (including some UV), drop the humidity toward the end of flower and keep temperatures between 21 and 26 °C (70–79 °F). Trichomes are the tiny resin glands that hold most of a plant's cannabinoids, and they also act as sunscreen, temperature control and bug defense, so a bit of well-timed stress makes the plant pump out more of them. That's why every grower wants them working overtime.

Trichomes are essential to the cannabis plant, and they show up both in veg and in flower, in different forms. Learning how they work makes you a better grower and gets you better harvests. Remember: without trichomes there'd be no THC, no CBD, no terpenes and none of the other plant compounds we love so much as growers and consumers.

How do you increase resin production on cannabis buds?

Using nutrients to get mature trichomes

Bloom boosters like Delta 9 are a popular additive for pumping up flowers and trichomes. Amino acids are another good option.

Genetics: the key to resinous buds

Two main factors get you trichomes worth harvesting: genetics and environment. Genes come first: if you want as many milky trichomes as possible, you need to pick genetics you know are heavy resin producers.

Do your homework on the best seeds, so you've already got one of the big factors locked in before you start. Keep in mind that trichomes aren't the only thing that affects potency, so look into each strain before you plant it.

If you're chasing max trichome production, we could give you a long list of promising strains. A couple of them are Lemon Shining Silver Haze and White Widow, both known for buds caked in shiny resin. That kind of trichome coverage usually goes hand in hand with high levels of THC and terpenes.

Lighting

Light is essential for growing cannabis, and that includes boosting trichomes. Light is what powers the plant, driving its metabolism and cell function, which is what lets those trichomes develop and ripen. 

Giving your plants more ultraviolet (UV) light is another way to boost trichome production. UV can damage the plant, so cannabis responds by producing more trichomes to shield itself from the radiation. So if you want more trichomes, there are a few types of lighting you can use:

LEC lights

LEC (light-emitting ceramic) lights use ceramic arc tubes that give off a natural-looking spectrum. They emit UV-B and boost growth and yield. This kind of light mimics what cannabis gets outdoors, so as a defense mechanism the plants ramp up trichome production.

UV lights

Ultraviolet (UV) lights give off this kind of light too. They're easier to get hold of and easy to find in stores. You'll need to install them in your grow room or grow tent.

Humidity and heat

In the wild, cannabis plants produce resin as a survival mechanism. Cannabinoids and terpenes have an important job: they don't help the plant grow or reproduce, but they do protect it from the outside world.

Besides defending the plant from pests and predators, the resin made up of terpenes and trichomes also protects it from harsh weather. When you want to stress the plant before harvest (enough to boost resin, but not enough to hurt its development), you can take advantage of these survival mechanisms.

How does lower humidity help?

Lowering the humidity in your grow puts your plants in a more stressful environment, but it also protects them from mold. For frosty buds, drop the humidity by roughly 30% toward the end of flowering.

What role does heat play?

You can also use temperature to get more ripe trichomes. If it's too hot, the terpenes the trichomes produce start to break down. If it's too cold, the plant's metabolism takes a hit. Try to keep the temperature between 21 and 26 °C (70–79 °F).

Indoors and outdoors: how do you get more harvest-ready trichomes?

Outdoors you're working with natural light, so there's not much to play with there. What does help are nutrients and bloom stimulants to boost flowers and trichomes. Another trick some growers swear by is putting ice on the roots before the chop: do it a week before harvest, with the lights off, to try to boost production.

Indoors, your best tool for loading the plant with these little drops of joy is light. A popular technique holds that trichome production goes up when light is taken away: you stress the plant with total darkness for 48 to 72 hours, starting about 4 days before harvest. On top of that, LED panels that include UV diodes put out enough UV to make the plant protect itself by coating up in trichomes.

As we've laid out throughout the article, growers have plenty of ways to increase trichome production. Some start with one or two techniques and, once they've got those dialed in, gradually add more to improve trichome quality and the effects of their buds. Over time, you'll start pulling stickier and stickier buds loaded with cannabinoids and terpenes.