The Grow Awards 2026 🏆
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@51sGarden
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Missed few weeks here so long story short Flowering day 25 (wouldn’t let me chose week 4, only week 5 and up smh) Had few stressed days for the plants But they are beautiful and healthy Tent smells like heaven Trichomes and buds building up
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@Drtomb
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We begin week 4.i have finished all the rearranging of the colas and adjusted the net after trimming all the branches. Focusing the plants to produce to the top buds.
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Wow these buds !! Theres that smell 😍 Everything looking great ! Buds are much bigger then i except for 3rd week. MAN I CANT WAIT Still following same feeding schedule.. Notice plants drinking a little more water now.. Man 8 more clones last week , which 6 have rooted already. I wanna keep this strain going .. Will mother 2 or 3 of the best clones for my next cycle ... im just hoping i got the timing right ... will make clones from mothers at harvest cause i use the same tent to dry , so buy the time herbs are dry clones should be rooted ... wish me luck!! Today i got my self a Agrinnova Electric sprayer, which is battery powered and Man im impressed, check out my video
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@Biscuits
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Better and bigger everyday! I have finally overcome my problems with nute burn. I create 1 gallon of the solution w/ no dilution, running full strength nutes, and this solution is lasting 1 week+ now. Then daily, fill 1 gallon with purified city water, with 1ml of Heavy 16 Roots for PH balance. Since I topped the 4 bagseed plants multiple times very early in veg growth, they are extremely short and bushy. But the flowering stretch seems to definitely be happening. Plus they have a ton of budsites being created. Still waiting to see what sex the 4 bagseed are. I have multiple close-up pictures of the 4 bagseed photos if anyone can see any signs of the sex? No PM or mites I can observe. Sprayed for them in week 5. Every day I am defoliating the lower branches of the plant as it becomes more obvious what isn't getting light. No smell. Bagseed were started from seed, germinated using paper towel method, and pretty neglected with light up until week 4. Also they spent too long in small containers before being transplanted. Unidentified genetics/sex. Clones were bought anywhere from 9 inches to 13 inches tall. But the clones have just really taken off in their larger pots. The Blackwater plant in the middle is the smallest clone of the three I received, and it was also filled with less dirt than the other 2, which are obviously taller an bushier. Anyone see anything else I should be doing?
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@dinni5yn
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Day 50: Feeding today with a huge shot of Ignite to finish this bloom.....Gonna start going into Overdrive more for about a week before getting ready for flush. My Hellfire OG is beautiful! The buds are so thick and the leaves are sharp. Love the way it looks and have not done much defoliation as the green cracks. With this final ignite feeding, hoping to get my bud locations on the GC. It's a tall plant and the three I have are all about the same with one a bit slow. More to come but hoping to wrap this grow up in the next months and get the Halloween Grow. A bit spooky!!! So it's about 3ish and I'm just staring @ my video feed of my babies! Getting some really huge nuggets sized buds and when I defoliate my hands are a bit sticky afterwards. Cutting some of the lower branches they ozze the carboload and I smile like Pedro'!! Day 51: was suppose to feed but kind of forgot so gonna maybe throw some voodo tab in some water and just let them drink and get some extra fat root development these last 3 weeks. On another note getting my ducks in a row for my next grow. Got a huge bag of Pro-mix HP on my doorstep this morning and my girl was like get your "shit" honey.....so holiday grow diary coming soon with all new strains!!! Day 52: Did a feed last night a few hours b4 lights out. Went with Ignite & O.D. Some of my plants are a ahead of others so figured both O.D. & Ignite. Developing crystals on the leave and making sure to cut the lower branches that are not going anywhere. Threw a picture of my cure set up along with some dealer weed. That is only a 10gram bag so trust me when I say, "this is a game changer!" Day 53: Early morning feeding and laying off the cal mag and senszym and just going with Iguana bloom, carbloader, ignite and OD along with Mikes OG, Bud Factor X. Noticing some of my plants are ahead of others so have been feeding a gallon per plant with adjusted nutrients to kind of match what my girls are doing. My Hellfires are so pretty and the leaf growth is pretty snarky. Just pointed leaves under the bud sight and the fans leave not really big so just trimming as we go. My Green Cracks are budding really nicely. The buds sights are kind of spread out but the buds are getting thicker and growing and filling the spaces. Maybe another 2 weeks before I start to flush and get ready for harvest.
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All good flipped to flower but giving the week grace period until seeing pistils. Be good
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@Smokwiri
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welcome to my seedstockers blackberry gum diary only growcaps feeding you should read first couple of weeks to get an overview of how this bud has been fighting for it's life since day 1. This one managed to survive and give us some small but beautifull trichome packed dark purple coloured bud. She seems to be finishing already, so when she's ready I'll cut the stem
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@NanoLeaf
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Week 3 - Transplant to fabric pots Transplanted the ladies in to 17L fabric pots. Used GHF BioGrow and BioBloom in a 2:1 ratio 1g per L to unamended coco-perlite (70/30) mix with extra worm castings. Turned the wattage up on my ballasts to 400W each. The ladies have finally settled in their final pots and the are happy in their new environment. I also performed LST by tucking fan leaves and softly pinching and bending some of the bud sites.
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She's looking gorgeous on her 3rd week it's just a wonderful strain to grow,let's see how she performs,I prepare a super soil mix using guanokalong organic dry amendments so I can't tell you about mililiters exactly because that's just not the way I like growing,I also add lactobacillus which are an awesome bacteria,every time I add lactobacillus to their water they just love it,the next day they get suuper green,obviously all the bacteria and humic acids from batguano worm castings and all of that helps,so I recomend if you're growing organic investigate a little about lactobacillus and how to prepare the lactobacillus liquid. Wish you all the best in your projects guys! 💚♥️💛🌱
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The Ladies getting very Frosty and they like GLUE! A nice smell goes around every time i open the tent. It starts smelling like a little Candy Store with a Banana Touch its insane!
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@Radagast_
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17.08. Wedding Cake 1# Day 114# The plant was at the end of its 16th week 2 days ago, it has not yet started flowering Wedding Cake 2# Day 108# She was at the end of her 15th week 3 days ago and is very close to blooming The pictures and video are from yesterday. Stay High and Keep Growing!!!
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All the 25days auto flowering put into the tent.They all are healthy and no more stress in veg state.
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@MistaOC
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29.11. F28 General Overview • Flower Day 28 marks the end of Week 4, and the grow is still performing exceptionally well. • The canopy is now thick, powerful, and fully developed — the SuperBuffCherry #26 is deep in mid-flower and showing strong bud formation. • The main colas currently range between 80 and 90 cm in height, standing tall and sturdy. ⸻ Canopy Management & Defoliation • Due to the increasing amount of leaf mass and a rise in humidity, airflow became a concern. • To counter this, a second oscillating fan was added inside the tent to improve internal air circulation. • Additionally, a heavy defoliation session was performed to: • Reduce moisture buildup • Increase airflow around bud sites • Lower the risk of mold or mildew • Improve light penetration to lower and mid-level branches • The canopy now breathes much more freely, and the plants responded well to the clean-up. ⸻ Environment • The main issue at the moment is high humidity due to dense foliage, which has now been addressed. • Even with strong ventilation, the environment began showing conditions that could lead to powdery mildew (PM) if left unchecked. • It’s not a confirmed outbreak yet, but the early signs and risk indicators are there. ⸻ Plant Condition • Aside from the mildew risk, the plants themselves are in excellent health: • Strong structure • Zero nutrient issues • Deep green leaves • Great hydration and vigor • Visible flower stacking beginning across all tops • BioTabs continues to deliver consistent, stable feeding without needing adjustments.
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Okay so I'm trying something new, since I've gone away from a switch to water for the last week flush I harvested the tops and best smalls and packed the cannatrol full. I'm giving the under growth a bit more time to rippen before I harvest that for the the freezer. If this turns out to be a bad idea I'll not do it again in the future. The last long video is what's left in the tent right now. Let me know if any of you have experience doing this. Updated with a bunch of pictured of dried and cured. Ended up with 186g of beautiful flower. 72g of untrimmed smalls I'll make into RSO, I have a lot of back and nerve pain and RSO hands down the only thing that brings me actual relive, I'm late to the party on this one but I set a side part of the grow for it now. I let the under canopy and shorter tops go another 10 days feed at half strength and I'm glad I did, it ripened up nicely and definitely got a lot of color. I forgot to get pictures of that harvest but I will when I pull it from the freezer to wash. My test jar of this washed at 4+% (the last picture). Last update will be results of that wash. Last update on this one, I added a couple hash/rosin pics at the end. She washed from plant to rosin at 4.03% the terps are musky skunk, sweet pastries, and fresh Linen. I'd definitely grow this one again.
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Dear Friends, 👨‍🌾 👩‍🌾 we are here to show you our journey with the BLUE SUNSET SHERBERT™️ by Barney’s Farm. Germination started on the 10/11/2022, the root sprout on the 12/11/2022. 27/11/2022 Transplanted into 15L Smartpot ✅ VEGETATIVE week #5 📅this week goes from 12/12 to 18/12.📅 💡💡💡Viparspectra XS2000 is working at 50% power. 💉🔍Fertilization schedule:🔍💉 14/12 eposom salts 2g/l foliar and 1g/l irrigation This new strain is hybrid produced from a cross between Sunset Sherbet x Purple Punch. It is a mostly indica strain, so, short flowering and big and dense buds! At the end of its flowering stage it will take a lots of colors, it is also beautiful to see!! I can’t wait to grow this strain! I’m excited like a child!! 🤓 🤓 We are glad to have the opportunity to try this strain from this experienced seed bank, we will do our best to grow this baby as well as possible. THANK YOU Barney’s Farm ❤️❤️❤️ ***WE ARE BACK!!! We are back after a little pause. We take a break because we were too busy to post high quality diaries. In the last diaries we tried to post as good as possible and we have to publish about 6 or 8 diaries (in addition to these that we will publish shortly). We opened also an educational Instagram page, we growed a lot in a short amount of time BUT, Instagram suspended our account and we lost all our posts, I was so sad and disappointed... a lot of work lost in a night....*** 🤓+DATA SHEET+🤓 BLUE SUNSET SHERBERT™️ Cannabis Seeds Strain Specifications Type: Feminised Photoperiodic Genetics: Sunset Sherbet x Purple Punch Effect: creative euphoric sativa high + full body Indica tranquilising calming experience Indoor Yield (g):up to 650-700 gr/m² Flowering Time (days): 59 - 63 Taste: Sweet Candy, Citrus Aroma: Sweet Candy, Citrus Zest, And Sweet Berry 💸💸💸💸💸 Buy BLUE SUNSET SHERBERT™️: https://www.barneysfarm.com/blue-sunset-sherbert-551 _______________________________________________________________________ 🔧💡OUR SET UP💡🔧 ✔️ 💲💲💲VIPARSPECTRA 🚀🚀🚀🌕🌕 ViparSpectra®️ XS2000 240W Infrared Full Spectrum LED Grow Light: Excellent ratio between wattage and ppfd, excellent light penetraton, perfect light spectrum (it also has IR 🤩) and it has the best build quality on the market. Until now, built quality is really awesome. You can touch that quality. Materials are really strong, excellent driver and the best leds on the market. Heat dissipation is perfect, the lamp is never too hot and it has a passive dissipator so you will have zero noise. It also has IP65 certification. I like that this lamp is bigger than others, so the 240w of power are well distribuited on the space. Viparspectra has an awesome customer service, and shipping was creazy fast! This awesome brand also offers 3 years warranty. This lamp has no rivals. A special thanks to Emily of Viparspectra ❤️❤️❤️❤️ HERE YOU CAN BUY THIS PROFESSIONAL LIGHT: https://www.viparspectra.com/products/xs-series-xs2000 or https://amzn.to/3dyUoJl and here you can buy other awesome stuff: https://www.viparspectra.com ✔️ 💲💲💲MARSHYDRO 🚀🚀🚀🌕🌕 📦120X120 GROW TENT: an awesome box, easy and fast to assembly. Made by strong materials, solid zips and it is totally lightproof. The position of holes is optimal and the two lateral windows will make easier the work inside the box. There is also a double end, so you are 100% sure that dirt or liquids will not spill out. You can find it here: https://www.mars-hydro.com/grow-tent/buy-mars-hydro-grow-tent-48x48x80-1680d-4-x-4-size-keeps-all-light-in-top-quality-1680d-canvas-is-tear-proof-and-double-stitched-light-blocking-fast-installation-for-sale 💡TS 600 FULL SPECTRUM 100W LED GROW LIGHT : with this light you will achieve excellent buds, you will not need anything more. This lamp replace a 150w HPS lamp, but, with this Led Light you will smoke bigger, harder and tastier buds because Led have a complete spectrum and a powerful light penetration, so your plants will work as much as possible to make you happy. Psssssss it it extremely cheap and it is only 100w, your bills will never be too high, YOU HAVE NO EXCUSES!! Here if you want this little beast: https://www.mars-hydro.com/led-grow-light/mars-ts-series-led-grow-light/mars-tsw-600-led-full-spectrum-hydroponic-led-grow-light Thank you Eleen of Marshydro❤️❤️❤️❤️ 💣Quantum board - 480w - 4x120w Boards by Zhoangshan Koray Opto-Electronic Ltd. Samsung LM301B 288 led/board 3000K 0dB noise +24led/board led Osram 660nm Efficiency 2.6 umol/J 220 lm/w Driver: Meanwell HLG-480H-36B 💣Quantum board - 240w - 2x120w Boards by Shenzen Yuanhui Led Ltd. Samsung LM301H 504 led 3500K 0dB noise +24led/board led Osram 660nm Efficiency 2.7 umol/J 220 lm/w Driver: Meanwell HLG-240H-48B -ESTRACTION FAN: Blauberg 125 Turbo Pro Series Maximum air flow: 430-560 m³ / h 50W 32-44 dBA 💊💉💊FEEDINGS: We are growing in BioBizz Light Mix, it is perfect also for the first weeks. TOP CROP: -DEEPER UNDERGROUND: to stimulate roots system -TOP VEG: for a excellent growth in the vegetative phase -GREEN EXPLOSION: to promote creation of bud sites and to allow a faster growth -MICRO VITA: bacterias for equilibrate the soil and to make the plant healty -BIG ONE: to stimulate bud sites and to stimulate resin production -TOP BLOOM: to achieve excellent big and hard buds -TOP CANDY: to feed the buds with molasses for a tastier smoke and to gain weight -TOP BUD: to enlarge buds and to gain weight PLAGRON: PK 13-14 to have big and hard buds and to feed plants with lower effort ADVANCED NUTRIENTS: Sensi Cal-Mag Extra-> for cal mag deficiency GROTEK: CAL MAG for cal mag deficiency HESI: PowerZyme to clean and balance the soil. It feeds the plant cleaning the soil. GHE: - Final Part (ex Ripen) accelerate the final flowering phase, dissolves minerals in excess - Flash Clean to flush the plant and to be sure that all excesses are out from plant and pot These two products improve A LOT the smoke of our babies -PURPINATOR to stimulate flavonoids and to have a better taste and smell. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 🙏❤️ THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE ❤️🙏 Please leave a comment with your opinions, it is very important to us to have a comparison. If you like our job, tap the weed button and follow us. It will be really appreciated.🙏 We want to thank again everyone that help us in our project. You support us to support our dream. ❤️ SPREAD THE LOVE OF THIS PLANT ALL AROUND THE WORLD 🌿Thank you again🌿 ❤️Sweet hugs❤️ 👨‍🌾CHILLING_RACOONS👩‍🌾
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One of the most colorful buds I’ve ever grown
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7 days drying, now for the airtight pot with boveda 58% thanks guys for the support !!
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@StarLorr
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Welcome to my Ðivine ØĠ Ķush diary. In this diary: Seeds: sponsored by Ðivine Șeeds Media: Promix HP Nutrients: Advanced Nutrients, Diablo Nutrients. Light and Weather: Şun☀️and Mother Earth.🌎 ___________________________ Feeding: Wed 17Jul: 8L nutrients pH'd 6.5 Thu 18Jul: 8L water not pH'd Fri 19Jul: 11L water not pH'd Sat 20Jul: 4L nutrients pH'd 6.5 and 6L water not pH'd Sun 21Jul: 9L water not pH'd Mon 22Jul: 10L water not pH'd *please note that most water only feedings are 2L at the time throughout the day in bottom saucer* ___________________________ What a beautiful summer that we're having, my Ðivine Ladies are just about to start flowering and i am having a hard time to keep up with their feedings and i might need to sprinkle some Gaia Green Bloom on them to keep up with the water only feedings🤔 ______________________________ Ķush Kush kept falling on her sister Øpium, Tuesday evening got missed by thunderstorm and only got the wind tail of it and Wednesday was windy and them both are like Sails in the wind and had to optimize my anti-tilting device on both😳😂 ______________________________ Thanks for stopping by, likes and comments are appreciated!👊🏻😎 Keep on growin! Keep on tokin!!! 😙💨💨💨💨💨
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@nanaboham
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Humidity and temperature back under control for a while. Buds look a little lite so could be another month off. Will probably start flushing in 3/4weeks. Gonna add some overdrive too.
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Lacewings seemed to have mostly killed themselves by flying into hot light fixtures. I may have left the UV on which was smart of me :) Done very little to combat if anything but make a sea of carcasses, on the bright side its good nutrition for the soil. Made a concoction of ethanol 70%, equal parts water, and cayenne pepper with a couple of squirts of dish soap. Took around an hour of good scrubbing the entire canopy. Worked a lot more effectively and way cheaper. Scorched earth right now, but it seems to have wiped them out almost entirely very pleased. Attempted a "Fudge I Missed" for the topping. So just time to wait and see how it goes. Question? If I attached a plant to two separate pots but it was connected by rootzone, one has a pH of 7.5 ish the other has 4.5. Would the Intelligence of the plant able to dictate each pot separately to uptake the nutrients best suited to pH or would it still try to draw nitrogen from a pot with a pH where nitrogen struggles to uptake? Food for stoner thought experiments! Another was on my mind. What happens when a plant gets too much light? Well, it burns and curls up leaves. That's the heat radiation, let's remove excess heat, now what? I've always read it's just bad, or not good, but when I look for an explanation on a deeper level it's just bad and you shouldn't do it. So I did. How much can a cannabis plant absorb, 40 moles in a day, ok I'll give it 60 moles. 80 nothing bad ever happened. The answer, finally. Oh great........more questions........ Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are molecules capable of independent existence, containing at least one oxygen atom and one or more unpaired electrons. "Sunlight is the essential source of energy for most photosynthetic organisms, yet sunlight in excess of the organism’s photosynthetic capacity can generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) that lead to cellular damage. To avoid damage, plants respond to high light (HL) by activating photophysical pathways that safely convert excess energy to heat, which is known as nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) (Rochaix, 2014). While NPQ allows for healthy growth, it also limits the overall photosynthetic efficiency under many conditions. If NPQ were optimized for biomass, yields would improve dramatically, potentially by up to 30% (Kromdijk et al., 2016; Zhu et al., 2010). However, critical information to guide optimization is still lacking, including the molecular origin of NPQ and the mechanism of regulation." What I found most interesting was research pointing out that pH is linked to this defense mechanism. The organism can better facilitate "quenching" when oversaturated with light in a low pH. Now I Know during photosynthesis plants naturally produce exudates (chemicals that are secreted through their roots). Do they have the ability to alter pH themselves using these excretions? Or is that done by the beneficial bacteria? If I can prevent reactive oxygen species from causing damage by "too much light". The extra water needed to keep this level of burn cooled though, I must learn to crawl before I can run. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are key signaling molecules that enable cells to rapidly respond to different stimuli. In plants, ROS plays a crucial role in abiotic and biotic stress sensing, integration of different environmental signals, and activation of stress-response networks, thus contributing to the establishment of defense mechanisms and plant resilience. Recent advances in the study of ROS signaling in plants include the identification of ROS receptors and key regulatory hubs that connect ROS signaling with other important stress-response signal transduction pathways and hormones, as well as new roles for ROS in organelle-to-organelle and cell-to-cell signaling. Our understanding of how ROS are regulated in cells by balancing production, scavenging, and transport has also increased. In this Review, we discuss these promising developments and how they might be used to increase plant resilience to environmental stress. Temperature stress is one of the major abiotic stresses that adversely affect agricultural productivity worldwide. Temperatures beyond a plant's physiological optimum can trigger significant physiological and biochemical perturbations, reducing plant growth and tolerance to stress. Improving a plant's tolerance to these temperature fluctuations requires a deep understanding of its responses to environmental change. To adapt to temperature fluctuations, plants tailor their acclimatory signal transduction events, specifically, cellular redox state, that are governed by plant hormones, reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulatory systems, and other molecular components. The role of ROS in plants as important signaling molecules during stress acclimation has recently been established. Here, hormone-triggered ROS produced by NADPH oxidases, feedback regulation, and integrated signaling events during temperature stress activate stress-response pathways and induce acclimation or defense mechanisms. At the other extreme, excess ROS accumulation, following temperature-induced oxidative stress, can have negative consequences on plant growth and stress acclimation. The excessive ROS is regulated by the ROS scavenging system, which subsequently promotes plant tolerance. All these signaling events, including crosstalk between hormones and ROS, modify the plant's transcriptomic, metabolomic, and biochemical states and promote plant acclimation, tolerance, and survival. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the ROS, hormones, and their joint role in shaping a plant's responses to high and low temperatures, and we conclude by outlining hormone/ROS-regulated plant-responsive strategies for developing stress-tolerant crops to combat temperature changes. Onward upward for now. Next! Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an energy-carrying molecule known as "the energy currency of life" or "the fuel of life," because it's the universal energy source for all living cells.1 Every living organism consists of cells that rely on ATP for their energy needs. ATP is made by converting the food we eat into energy. It's an essential building block for all life forms. Without ATP, cells wouldn't have the fuel or power to perform functions necessary to stay alive, and they would eventually die. All forms of life rely on ATP to do the things they must do to survive.2 ATP is made of a nitrogen base (adenine) and a sugar molecule (ribose), which create adenosine, plus three phosphate molecules. If adenosine only has one phosphate molecule, it’s called adenosine monophosphate (AMP). If it has two phosphates, it’s called adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Although adenosine is a fundamental part of ATP, when it comes to providing energy to a cell and fueling cellular processes, the phosphate molecules are what really matter. The most energy-loaded composition for adenosine is ATP, which has three phosphates.3 ATP was first discovered in the 1920s. In 1929, Karl Lohmann—a German chemist studying muscle contractions—isolated what we now call adenosine triphosphate in a laboratory. At the time, Lohmann called ATP by a different name. It wasn't until a decade later, in 1939, that Nobel Prize–-winner Fritz Lipmann established that ATP is the universal carrier of energy in all living cells and coined the term "energy-rich phosphate bonds."45 Lipmann focused on phosphate bonds as the key to ATP being the universal energy source for all living cells, because adenosine triphosphate releases energy when one of its three phosphate bonds breaks off to form ADP. ATP is a high-energy molecule with three phosphate bonds; ADP is low-energy with only two phosphate bonds. The Twos and Threes of ATP and ADP Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) becomes adenosine diphosphate (ADP) when one of its three phosphate molecules breaks free and releases energy (“tri” means “three,” while “di” means “two”). Conversely, ADP becomes ATP when a phosphate molecule is added. As part of an ongoing energy cycle, ADP is constantly recycled back into ATP.3 Much like a rechargeable battery with a fluctuating state of charge, ATP represents a fully charged battery, and ADP represents a "low-power mode." Every time a fully charged ATP molecule loses a phosphate bond, it becomes ADP; energy is released via the process of ATP becoming ADP. On the flip side, when a phosphate bond is added, ADP becomes ATP. When ADP becomes ATP, what was previously a low-charged energy adenosine molecule (ADP) becomes fully charged ATP. This energy-creation and energy-depletion cycle happens time and time again, much like your smartphone battery can be recharged countless times during its lifespan. The human body uses molecules held in the fats, proteins, and carbohydrates we eat or drink as sources of energy to make ATP. This happens through a process called hydrolysis . After food is digested, it's synthesized into glucose, which is a form of sugar. Glucose is the main source of fuel that our cells' mitochondria use to convert caloric energy from food into ATP, which is an energy form that can be used by cells. ATP is made via a process called cellular respiration that occurs in the mitochondria of a cell. Mitochondria are tiny subunits within a cell that specialize in extracting energy from the foods we eat and converting it into ATP. Mitochondria can convert glucose into ATP via two different types of cellular respiration: Aerobic (with oxygen) Anaerobic (without oxygen) Aerobic cellular respiration transforms glucose into ATP in a three-step process, as follows: Step 1: Glycolysis Step 2: The Krebs cycle (also called the citric acid cycle) Step 3: Electron transport chain During glycolysis, glucose (i.e., sugar) from food sources is broken down into pyruvate molecules. This is followed by the Krebs cycle, which is an aerobic process that uses oxygen to finish breaking down sugar and harnesses energy into electron carriers that fuel the synthesis of ATP. Lastly, the electron transport chain (ETC) pumps positively charged protons that drive ATP production throughout the mitochondria’s inner membrane.2 ATP can also be produced without oxygen (i.e., anaerobic), which is something plants, algae, and some bacteria do by converting the energy held in sunlight into energy that can be used by a cell via photosynthesis. Anaerobic exercise means that your body is working out "without oxygen." Anaerobic glycolysis occurs in human cells when there isn't enough oxygen available during an anaerobic workout. If no oxygen is present during cellular respiration, pyruvate can't enter the Krebs cycle and is oxidized into lactic acid. In the absence of oxygen, lactic acid fermentation makes ATP anaerobically. The burning sensation you feel in your muscles when you're huffing and puffing during anaerobic high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that maxes out your aerobic capacity or during a strenuous weight-lifting workout is lactic acid, which is used to make ATP via anaerobic glycolysis. During aerobic exercise, mitochondria have enough oxygen to make ATP aerobically. However, when you're out of breath and your cells don’t have enough oxygen to perform cellular respiration aerobically, the process can still happen anaerobically, but it creates a temporary burning sensation in your skeletal muscles. Why ATP Is So Important? ATP is essential for life and makes it possible for us to do the things we do. Without ATP, cells wouldn't be able to use the energy held in food to fuel cellular processes, and an organism couldn't stay alive. As a real-world example, when a car runs out of gas and is parked on the side of the road, the only thing that will make the car drivable again is putting some gasoline back in the tank. For all living cells, ATP is like the gas in a car's fuel tank. Without ATP, cells wouldn't have a source of usable energy, and the organism would die. Eating a well-balanced diet and staying hydrated should give your body all the resources it needs to produce plenty of ATP. Although some athletes may slightly improve their performance by taking supplements or ergonomic aids designed to increase ATP production, it's debatable that oral adenosine triphosphate supplementation actually increases energy. An average cell in the human body uses about 10 million ATP molecules per second and can recycle all of its ATP in less than a minute. Over 24 hours, the human body turns over its weight in ATP. You can last weeks without food. You can last days without water. You can last minutes without oxygen. You can last 16 seconds at most without ATP. Food amounts to one-third of ATP production within the human body.