Thin Layer Chromatography - Review

Grow Cycle Harvesting
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@Teacherttom1 @Nicky

So, I got everything to test potency using thin layer chromatography.

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Here’s what I found so far. Buying a kit is nice because everything is there and ready.
Now that I understand the process I would buy most of the stuff separate so I could buy
some better quality pieces. Also, I ended up buying a pipette to dispense 1-5ml of liquid
instead of using the syringe that came with the kit. The kit came with a .5-10ul pipette
but there is also a need for the larger one.

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I ran 8 tests. When I ran the test I took the all samples from different buds.
The test were 4 on my Northern Lights and 4 on Purple Kush. This flower was grown this
summer and harvested early due to WPM and other issues so I knew the potency would be low.
(It still makes awesome edibles!)

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The 4 Northern Lights all tested between 8 - 10 percent. 1 tested at 8 and the other all
tested just under 10.

The 4 Purple Kush all tested between 9 - 10 percent.

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I will be doing a blind test on 2 dispensary strains next week. Neighbor will get them and
put samples in bags for me. I will then compare my results to the dispensary.

I will be learning how to test tincture and edibles after that.

Stay tuned!!

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Thank you for this post! I’ve been looking for a reasonable way to get this year’s outdoor harvest tested for its THC level, and this might be just what I need!

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Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to do the blind test so we know how accurate it is.

I’m also a bit pissed off at myself because I ordered the kit to quick. If I waited to cyber Monday I could have saved another 30 percent!

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@emgoldslo. LOL I did a lot of TLC as a beginning chemist. Extracted certain parts and ran MS. Wow!

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Really cool, thanks for sharing! I’ve been looking into testing kits recently to test some strains I bred recently. Keep us posted :v::bear:

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@JaneQP you prolly shouldn’t have told me that. You just became my go to person for questions LMAO

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I live in an (almost) legal state and I wouldn’t even know where to start with getting my buds tested, not to mention not a clue as to cost, so even at full price, 150 to be able to home test is a winner for me :grin:

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I live in a legal state and can get lab tested. But $50 a test for potency is a bit much. I ran 8 tests today so that would be a $400 bill!!

Only thing I don’t like about this is you need to run 4-5 test per plate. So the 150 kit has 5 plates. You can run 20-25 tests but it is really only 5 tests with 4-5 samples on each plate. Of course each of those tests on the plate can be different flower/tincture/edible.

The refill kits are $99 so each test plate to run is only $20. and with each plate allowing 4-5 tests you are at about $5 per test.

Worth it if I find it accurate!

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@emgoldslo I was actually thinking about setting up an electrophoresis instrument…

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@JaneQP That sounds serious! :slight_smile:

I’m a computer geek, software engineer, so that’s out of my wheelhouse :upside_down_face:

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@emgoldslo send me your test kit info. You cannot post it as a link unless on available on Amazon. You have my chemistry spider senses activated!

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@JaneQP - Not available on Amazon.

@Nicky helped with the research and we found cannalyticssupply to be reasonably priced.

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@emgoldslo @Nicky I am actually looking for terpene content in more that just our friendly herb.

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This chemist sh!t may be just as addicting as growing herb :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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@emgoldslo. Agreed! Lab testing is so expensive since most top of the line instruments are 100K to 1M. I call what I do kitchen chemistry. I’ve researched many articles on extractions of various plants.

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@JaneQP - kitchen chemistry and basement botany!

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Thanks for sharing @emgoldslo definitely will be following along

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Very cool! Seen videos of the process, hope it works, interesting stuff!

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Watching for sure :+1:

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Solid post thnx for being the Gini pig lol.

Can you take a picture of every piece of kit needed and a description so we can look at building our own kit?

I thought the kit we selected was the one step up so it had the right adjustable pipette…
Aside from that we need the chems a jar and the plates yeah?

Very cool keep us updated on the blind test.
Can you not cut the plates?
For me 5 should work because I harvest about 5 plants per grow.

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