What are calyxes?
Calyxes are the small structures, shaped like a teardrop or a little rolled-up leaf, that form the base of each flower in the bud. Inside each one is the part of the flower that, if it receives pollen, turns into a seed. Stacked on top of each other, they are what give the bud its volume.
A bud is a cluster of many tiny flowers. Each flower has its calyx, from which the pistils grow, those white or orange hairs you can see with the naked eye.
A curious fact: in botany, what growers call a "calyx" is actually called a bract. But in the growing world everyone says calyxes, and that is how you'll see it on product pages and in forums.
Calyxes get covered in huge numbers of trichomes, the glands that produce resin. That's why the more calyxes a bud has, the more resin it usually builds up.
What is the calyx-to-leaf ratio?
It's a way of describing how much bud there's compared with the small leaves that grow mixed in with it. A strain with a good calyx-to-leaf ratio forms buds with lots of calyxes and few leaves.
This has two practical advantages:
- Easier trimming: there are fewer leaves to cut away after harvest.
- More usable bud: most of what you harvest is flower, not leaf.
If you read in a strain's description that it has a "good calyx-to-leaf ratio", now you know what it means.
Calyxes at the end of flowering
In the last few weeks, the calyxes swell and the bud becomes denser. It's one of the signs that come with ripening, along with the change in color of the pistils and the trichomes. If a female plant receives pollen, the calyxes swell too, because seeds are forming inside.
Related terms
Before you grow, check the laws in your country: growing cannabis is not allowed everywhere.
