With vendors and retailers masterfully playing the THCA loophole, hemp growers are still wondering where are the magic beans that make "hemp" with 30%+ THCA and less than 0.3% Delta 9 THC?
The magic beans are everywhere - they are just regular THC seeds. The catch is growing THCA isn't as simple as it seems.
This blog is a bit of a repeat of a previous work, but the questions still come in regularly. If you are completely unfamiliar with THCA, the main compound found in all THC flowers, check back on my previous blog first.
THCA Seeds Cannot Be Grown As Hemp Under USDA Rules
USDA rules stipulate all hemp growers must have their crops sampled 30 days before harvest, and the flowers must have below 0.3% total THC. While one might assume there are some magic THCA seeds out there that will have less than 0.3% total THC 30 days before harvest, its just not the case.
Total THC is a calculation of approximately how much Delta 9 THC flowers will produce once they are decarboxylated....aka smoked. The exact formula is (THCA x 0.877) + D9. This is also known as total theoretical or potential Delta 9 THC.
So while retailers and vendors are selling flowers based solely on the tested Delta 9 content being below 0.3% and not the total potential D9 (the loophole), pre-harvest testing includes the THCA content. Once THCA is added into the equation the total THC numbers go way up. Total THC pre-harvest testing is mandated by the USDA and virtually every state's hemp program.
Flower tested with Delta 9 THC below 0.3% is relatively easy to get considering the plant doesn't naturally make the cannabinoid - its just a degradation product of THCA - or what you get after its heated. Fresh, cold cured flower, has low Delta 9 and high THCA.
This COA from the internet is a great example of someone who tested fresh, gently handled flower. Note the Delta 9 Tetrahydrocannabinolic Acid (THCA-A) content. Flower dried under warmer conditions, beat up in transit, or exposed to UV light might have double the D9 content but still not much to write home about....Also note how the total potential THC number (total THC). This is what the USDA checks for in pre-harvest compliance tests.
THCA genetics, or type I, or THC seeds, or marijuana seeds, or weed seeds, or whatever you want to call them, produce THCA in their flowers and leaves at a very young age. If you grow them as hemp you will fail pre-harvest compliance tests every time. THC seeds are the same as THCA seeds and there is nothing different about them.
At 30 days before harvest, a high THCA producing plant can have upwards of 7% total THC - a very far cry from 0.3% allowed under the USDA. In some states this much THC is criminal. I've heard several reports of growers sending in samples of leaves from THCA plants that hadn't even started flowering yet that already contained over 0.3% total THC.
At virtually no point during a high THCA producing plants flowering time will it have less than 0.3% total THC. There are no magic beans that somehow spike from 0.2% THC 30 days before harvest, to over 30% at maturity. It is just not physiologically possible for the plant. Even autoflowers can't hack it.
For experienced hemp farmers, this is old news. At 30 days before harvest all high CBD varieties are generally have right around or below 0.3% total THC - and dried and trimmed flowers harvested a month later only hit up to about 1% total THC. We've got piles of COA's taken from CBD plants 30 days before harvest to prove it.
So long story short, you can't grow THCA seeds at a licensed hemp farm if you are going to have your plants tested pre-harvest for total THC.
You want the highest possible THCA you can in legal hemp crop? You are stuck with CBD seeds.
Where is high THCA "Hemp" Being Grown?
Most growers producing THCA flower are either doing so without any sort of license or diverting from legal state adult use markets that are supposedly controlled. A very small fraction of hemp growers have figured out a way to get the "A" into their farms without fear of destruction or persecution - but in most states its just not logistically feasible. I do not recommend trying it. After all, it's just regular weed. That said if you've got the process figured out, good on yah.
Grow Your Own
Got a spot in the back yard for a few plants? Go for it, grow your own. We've got a stocked lineup of THCA seeds. Just make sure you are in a place that can legally grow cannabis. The list of states that have moved beyond prohibition is shrinking so you may as well grow your own.
And if you've read this far - use code THCA for 20% off your order.
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