When you buy cannabis products you usually find the following stated on the label: amount of THC and CBD. But when you grow weed at home, for example, you might want to know the exact amount of psychoactive substances in it. That's why it might be helpful to calculate the levels of THC or CBD in your marijuana.
Why Test Cannabinoid Levels in Marijuana
Although the seed bank provide detailed information on the THC and CBD content of their seeds, the actual quantity of these molecules also depends on other factors that intervene during cultivation. The amount of THC produced by marijuana flowers can depend on the lighting the plants receive, their health, the number of weeks of flowering and other factors. For those who want know exactly the THC and CBD content of your cannabis it is therefore advisable to carry out tests after harvest.
There are various reasons so you might want to know how much cannabinoids are in your marijuana:
- To know what to expect from the experience
Knowing exactly how much cannabinoids are present in your cannabis inflorescences helps understand what to expect from them in terms of consumer experience.
- To better dose cannabis
If you don’t want to take too much or too little cannabis or want to make edibles, knowing how much THC and CBD your buds contain can help you better dose them.
- To maximize future harvests
If the THC content is lower than you expect, you can correct your growing technique, perhaps changing the settings of the lamps or giving the plants supplements.
How to Test for THC and CBD in Weed
There are three main methods you can use to Testing for THC in Cannabis and are based on the use of gadgets and kits to be purchased from specialized retailers:
- Cannabis colorimetric analysis kit
The colorimetric analysis kit for cannabis is an economical and simple solution to use: the cost of three kits is around 25 euros.
How do these kits work? Simply take a small amount of material (flowers, extract, oil) and insert it into the appropriate container together with the test fluid. You must then shake the mixture well and wait for a couple of minutes. At that point the liquid will take on a very specific color which will be compared with the colorimetric table supplied with the kit.
These kits are very cheap but not very precise, in fact they reveal THC contents of up to 20% and CBD of up to 2.5%. However, they are a good solution for recreational consumers and the curious.
- Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) Plate Kit
TLC kits are more precise than the colorimetric ones but also more expensive. A kit that can analyze 20 to 25 samples costs around 135 euros. However, it is worth it, as this instrument can detect not only THC and CBD but even secondary cannabinoids such as CBN, CBG and THCV.
How does the test work? You need to mix 0.1 grams of material (flowers, extracts, edibles, oils) into the test fluid. The kit includes a pipette that will be used to take and add small amounts of liquid on a coated glass plate.You then need to place this plate in the test liquid and observe how the liquid is absorbed by it.
This process serves to separate and detect the properties of individual cannabinoids in our marijuana. After this, it is necessary to spray the plates a liquid that will reveal colored spots, which will be compared with the model provided by the kit to calculate the quantity of cannabinoids with 1% precision.
- Cannabis Testing Gadgets
Cannabis testing gadgets are technological devices connected to specific apps and are aimed in particular at growers. Their cost is around 850 euros. To use a gadget, you just need to connect the device to its app via Bluetooth. You then need place a sample of inflorescence on the device and select the “flower” option on the app. The analysis process takes 3 to 5 minutes, after which the app will reveal a detailed analysis of the THC, CBD and CBN content of the analyzed bud. These devices can also analyze the terpene profile.
Is it worth testing for THC in cannabis?
For recreational users, testing for THC or CBD in cannabis may be unnecessary. But if you are holistic growers or consumers, realizing the actual cannabinoid content in your buds can be important. Usually the information provided by seed banks is enough to give a general idea of the psychoactive substance content in cannabis, but for those who really want to understand what they are smoking and dose your weed well even a colorimetric starter kit can be a good purchase option.
