How to Grow Purple or Pink Buds

Would you like to produce herbal buds with vibrant colours? Buds of MaryJane that were pink, purple, red, orange, or even blue may have caught your eye. How, though, do you cultivate colourful buds at home?

You must select the appropriate genetics if you want to grow pink, red, or purple buds.

You cannot force any plant to produce colourful buds because the strain and genetics have a significant impact on the tendency to turn colours. To enhance their genetics and bring out more colours on your blooms, you can get seeds from strains that naturally produce colourful hues.

Without a strain specifically engineered to create purple buds, you cannot produce buds this colour. There are techniques to enhance your genetics’ natural colour, but you must start with the right genes.

Your favourite plant Has 4 Different “Parts” That Can Become Colourful

Most people picture holding vibrantly coloured buds in their hands when discussing “colourful” buds. However, different portions of herbal plants can exhibit non-green colours, and occasionally people will combine all of them. Each one is a little bit different from the others, and some have a big impact on how your bud turns out, while others don’t really change anything.

The entire plant, as well as many other sections, can turn purple!

The plant’s sections that can change colour are…

• Pistils (Hairs): Some colour persists even after drying or curing
• Calyxes (the buds themselves) have a significant impact on the ultimate hue.
• Since many leaves are removed by trimming, their impact on the final bud colour is quite minimal.
• Trichomes have a minimal impact on the final colour.

Buds are composed of various components and typically have multiple colours.

Colourful pistils or hairs

The majority of growers prefer colourful buds, thus the colour stays even after the buds are dried and cured.

The buds have two components that can change colour. The hairs or pistils that protrude are one component. There are various strains that have pink or purple pistils.

Sometimes the leaves and buds remain green while only the pistils or hairs turn pink or purple.

When buds are dried, they retain some of their pistil colour, but you will still be able to see the colour coming through underneath.

Bright Calyxes and Bracts (Buds Themselves)

The “calyxes” (also known as “bracts” by some growers) are what create the actual buds. Herbal “buds” are actually hundreds of calyxes stacked on top of one another; any or all of them may change colour from green to another colour.

This amazing image demonstrates how the ratio of colourful to green calyxes affects the overall appearance of buds.

Almost all buds develop a few pink calyxes here and there, and under the correct circumstances, some plants can create buds with nearly all deep purple calyxes.

Your buds’ most vibrant colour comes from their calyxes. When you split open the buds, you will find some sections that are entirely purple. Even a few purple calyxes can give the buds an overall purple tinge.

After being ground up, you can see the purple pieces distributed throughout. The higher the percentage of purple calyxes, the more vibrant your final bud colour will be.

Colourful Leaves – Sometimes It’s Not the Buds That Turn Colour!

With other strains, the buds mostly retain their green colour while the leaves change to purple. This can result in quite beautiful plants, but since leaves are typically clipped after harvest, a lot of the purple will typically no longer be as evident on the buds.

For some strains, the buds may remain green as the leaves change colour to purple. This frequently occurs following the plant’s exposure to chilly night time temperatures (but not always). The leaves in direct sunlight are more likely to turn purple than those in the shade, especially under LED grow lights. On some strains, low pH at the roots can result in nutrient deficiencies that cause the leaves to appear purple, while on other strains, low pH results in brown patches on the leaves.

Strong LED grow lights can turn leaves purple on some strains. When this happens, leaves in the shade often stay green. The purple is essentially a “tan” to protect the leaves.

However, many strains turn yellow in response to too much light, like a human that burns instead of gets a tan in the sun.

Although the leaves have turned purple, the buds themselves may be mostly green.

Only the tops of buds exposed to direct light have any purple left after trimming off all the leaves. Trimming removes a lot of the purple colouring. You can still see some hints of purple but they’re not really “purple” buds.

Colourful Trichomes

Prior to withering and dying, trichomes often transition from clear (not ready) to white (maximum T-H-C) to amber/yellow (more of a mellow effect). The ideal time to harvest is frequently determined by these colour variations.
The trichomes might occasionally become purple or pink, making it challenging to determine when to harvest. In that scenario, you need also examine the pistils to decide when to harvest the crop.

Although purple or pink trichomes are unusual and attractive, they might make it difficult to decide when to harvest. After drying and curing, the colour of the trichomes may leave a faint tinge on the buds, but the colour of the actual bud will be more noticeable.

Now that you know all the parts of the plant that can turn green, let’s move on to growing pink and purple buds at home.

How to Make the Most of Genetics and Colour

The appropriate genetics must come first, before anything else. There is little you can do if your plant’s DNA do not produce coloured buds! In order to achieve the best results with colour maximization, you must start with a colourful strain.

• Select a colourful strain (very crucial!)
• Select a strain that Generates Extremely Dark Colours (if you want buds to maintain colour after being harvested and dried)
• Temperature: Hot days and chilly nights
• Bright Light – Particularly with LEDs, bright light can assist highlight colour.
• PH at the Roots – At lower pH values, some strains may exhibit colour.

If at all possible, choose strains with vividly coloured buds and pistils.

This enhances your buds’ overall vibrant appearance.

You want to select a strain with as many colourful plant components as you can for the most noticeable end effect on your dried and cured buds. As a result, the pistils and calyxes, which contribute the majority of the final colour, should ideally be both brightly coloured. Additional coloration of the trichomes and leaves will enhance the look.

In this case, the buds are purple, but the pistils are orange.

Select Deep Purple Buds for the Most Bright Colour After Drying/Curing – After drying/curing, buds with deep colours—sometimes referred to as “black” strains—often have the most vibrant colours.

With this strain, all the leaves stayed green. Only the buds became colourful

After they’re trimmed and dried, the pink colour has become more subtle.

These buds were deep purple at harvest…

Note: During the drying and curing process, your buds will lose some of their overall brilliance and colour naturally (but not all of their strength!). Because of this, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever encounter vivid purple buds that have been dried and cured for more than two weeks. Even green buds change colour after a few weeks of curing, going from a vibrant green to a more muted green. Very vividly coloured buds nearly always indicate that they are still rather young.

Although colour is determined primarily by genetics, there are a few things you can do to help your plant express its natural colours…

Temperature: When the night time temperature is a few degrees lower than the daytime temperature, some strains express colour.

If you’re cultivating a strain that changes colour, some strains, especially near the end of flowering, won’t display their colours unless night time temps are at least a few degrees lower than daytime temperatures. Although several strains almost always turn colour regardless of the weather, some plants do not respond to chilly night time temperatures.

When it’s warm during the day as opposed to when it’s cool at night, some strains are more likely to change colour. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to strive for pleasant warm days and cool, cosy evenings because the contrast appears to help many strains’ colours pop.

How to Use Temperature to Enhance Colour:

• Days that are warm (24-27°C)
• Cool, pleasant nights (18–21°C)

Notably, some strains change colour regardless of the temperature. You can get in touch with the breeder and inquire if they have any suggestions for bringing out the colours in a specific strain. If you visit a breeder’s website and ask a question, most will respond to you right away!

Colours may be enhanced by intense, direct light (especially LED grow lights)

In some instances, a plant may respond to strong, direct light by turning purple (on buds and leaves). Similar to a “tan,” this usually appears most prominently on the sections of the plant receiving direct sunlight (other parts of the plant tend to stay green). Depending on the strain, different light levels are more or less important.

Strong HPS grow lights (especially 400W and bigger) also can bring out colours when temperatures are under control, but to a lesser extent than LEDs.

Bud colour expression may be impacted by the pH at the roots.

There are a few plant species with flowers that are known to change colour depending on the pH at the roots outside of the canna bis realm.

For instance, certain varieties of hydrangeas’ blossoms can turn blue in extremely acidic soil, but they can also turn pink when grown in neutral or barely acidic soil (though this type of variation is rare in the plant world).
However, there have been sporadic reports of certain strains that, depending on the pH at the roots, create various bud colours.
When the pH is low, some strains—especially those that already have a tendency to turn purple—often turn even more purple (under 6 pH). Use this strategy with caution and keep an eye out for brown spots on plants because for some strains, this results in brown spots on plants (a calcium deficiency).
Some strains, particularly those that are predisposed to turning purple, might exhibit purple hues when the pH at the roots is low (sub 6 pH).

This is how it appears at first.

Here is that plant a few weeks later

For many (if not most) strains, low pH can cause brown spots and sometimes yellowing, so use this tactic with caution, and it’s probably only good to try it close to harvest in case your plant becomes riddled with brown spots. T

If growing multiple plants of the same strain or from clones, you might consider giving plants different pH ranges to see what effect it has on the final bud colour.

Why Do the Leaves and Buds Turn Purple?

Although purple leaves can occasionally be produced by nutrient deficiencies, they are frequently brought on by normal plant processes.

There are numerous plant species that produce purple leaves. The presence of a lot of anthocyanin, a purple pigment, gives the leaves their purple colour. Anthocyanin shields plant leaves from UV-B ray deterioration, making it possible for it to function as a sunscreen. On a physiological level, anthocyanin is also known to aid in cellular defence against cold or heat stress.

Examples of strains that turn purple:

1. Photoperiod (Regular) Strains

• Frisian Dew
• Peyote Gorilla
• Panama
• Smooth Sm*ke

2. Auto-Flowering Strains

• Auto Frisian Dew
• Auto Pink Kush C–B–D 
• Auto-Flowering Bloody Skunk
• Auto-Flowering Dark Devil
• Purple Kush Auto
• Frisian Duck