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🍰 Lava Cake – Week 8 (4th Week Flower) | The Bulking Phase The fourth week of flower has arrived, and both Lava Cakes are showing their full potential. Their structure is strong, pistils are snow-white and thick, and bud sites are stacking beautifully. This is the week where the promise of flowers begins to turn into visible production, every day, you can almost see them swelling. ⸻ 🔬 What’s Happening in Week 4 Flower By now, stretch is nearly finished. The plants are redirecting their energy: • From vertical growth ➝ into flower bulk. • From nitrogen demand ➝ into phosphorus & potassium demand. • From building structure ➝ into packing density. This transition is crucial: the roots, the soil microbiology, and the nutrient profile all work together to feed flowers instead of stems and leaves. What we see this week: • Thick, healthy pistils at every site. • Calyx swelling beginning, the first signs of true bud stacking. • Leaves still dark and strong — proof of balanced nutrition. • No stress, no burn, no deficiencies. ⸻ 🥤 Feeding Strategy – Why Boosters Matter Now This week, we removed the Aptus All-in-One Liquid, despite it being in the photo. The reason: the soil’s super soil base + slow-release pellets still carry enough NPK to support the girls. Overfeeding at this stage could risk tip burn or nutrient lockout — and we want the roots to stay clean and active. Instead, the focus is on precision boosters: Recipe (per L water): • Aptus Regulator – 0.15 ml → strengthens cell walls, stress protection, and nutrient uptake efficiency. • Aptus CalMag Boost – 0.25 ml → keeps calcium steady (critical for bud structure) and magnesium strong (photosynthesis & chlorophyll). • Plagron Power Buds – 1 ml → directs plant energy into flower production. • Plagron Sugar Royal – 1 ml → provides organic nitrogen + enzymes to stimulate terpene development. • Plagron Green Sensation – 1 ml → PK booster + biostimulant, promoting dense, resin-rich flowers. Why this mix? • Because the NPK in soil is still sufficient → boosters fill in the extra needs of flowering without overwhelming the root zone. • Because boosters provide specialized roles → each product targets a specific physiological process. • Because balance prevents problems → overdoing NPK at week 4 could backfire, while focused boosters guide the plants safely into mid-bloom. ⸻ 🌡️ Environmental Notes • Temps: Still ~31–34°C until AC arrives. High, but plants are adapting. • Humidity: 55–60%, VPD ~1.8–2.0 kPa — slightly high, but still manageable. • Watering Rhythm: Once substrate moisture falls near 19–20%, measured by TrolMaster WCS substrate sensor. This ensures roots get oxygen before each feed. Even under warm conditions, the plants are drinking heavily — proving they are metabolically active and thriving. ⸻ 🌸 What to Expect Next Week (Week 5 Flower) ✅ Expect: • Noticeable bulking → flowers will become rounder, denser, and begin to “stack.” • More pistils → a full carpet of white hairs covering colas. • Aroma development → the first hints of Lava Cake’s dessert-like terpene profile may start releasing. ❌ Not to Expect (yet): • Full frost coverage → heavy trichome production usually comes weeks 5–7. • Final density → buds will continue swelling for several weeks, so patience is key. ⸻ ✨ Closing Thoughts Week 4 flower is the foundation of yield. It’s when the plants finish their stretch, define their bud sites, and begin to convert light, water, and nutrients into the weight and density we harvest later. Our Lava Cakes are in perfect rhythm: • Strong genetics, showing symmetrical growth. • Balanced feeding, keeping roots clean and buds fueled. • Stable environment, with monitoring from TrolMaster guiding every adjustment. From here forward, every day brings visible progress. The journey of seeds to now feels like preparation — this is the beginning of the true show. 🔬 Science Spotlight – The Unsung Heroes: Calcium & Magnesium Many growers focus on NPK during flower, but two “quiet players” — calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) — are just as vital to ensure flowers bulk properly. 🌿 Calcium (Ca): • Strengthens cell walls, making flowers denser and less prone to collapse. • Improves nutrient transport, ensuring phosphorus and potassium (the bloom drivers) actually reach the buds. • Helps roots resist stress in warm environments (like our 31–34°C room). 🌿 Magnesium (Mg): • The central atom in chlorophyll → without magnesium, photosynthesis collapses. • Supports enzyme activity, converting sugars into energy for bud building. • Directly influences terpene production, giving flowers their aroma and flavor. Why CalMag Boost now? • In soil mixes, calcium can sometimes get “locked up” as the pH fluctuates. • With daily watering at slightly acidic pH (5.8–6.0), we guarantee Ca and Mg are immediately available. • This ensures strong, vibrant leaves → which means more energy for flower sites. In short: while NPK builds the skeleton of yield, calcium and magnesium are the glue and spark that hold it all together. Skipping them would weaken the entire flowering process. ✨ Grower’s Analogy: Think of your plant like a construction site: • NPK are the bricks and beams (the main structure). • Calcium is the cement holding every wall together. Without it, the structure would crumble. • Magnesium is the spark plug in the engine — it makes photosynthesis “run” and fuels the work crews building the flowers. No cement, no structure. No spark plug, no engine. That’s why CalMag support is never optional — especially in flower when the demand skyrockets. 🌸 📲 Don’t forget to Subscribe and follow me on Instagram and YouTube @DogDoctorOfficial for exclusive content, real-time updates, and behind-the-scenes magic. We’ve got so much more coming, including transplanting and all the amazing techniques that go along with it. You won’t want to miss it. • GrowDiaries Journal: https://growdiaries.com/grower/dogdoctorofficial • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dogdoctorofficial/ • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dogdoctorofficial ⸻ Explore the Gear that Powers My Grow If you’re curious about the tech I’m using, check out these links: • Genetics, gear, nutrients, and more – Zamnesia: https://www.zamnesia.com/ • Environmental control & automation – TrolMaster: https://www.trolmaster.eu/ • Advanced LED lighting – Future of Grow: https://www.futureofgrow.com/ • Root and growth nutrition – Aptus Holland: https://aptus-holland.com/ • Nutrient systems & boosters – Plagron: https://plagron.com/en/ • Soil & substrate excellence – PRO-MIX BX: https://www.pthorticulture.com/en-us/products/pro-mix-bx-mycorrhizae • Curing and storage – Grove Bags: https://grovebags.com/ ⸻ We’ve got much more coming as we move through the grow cycles. Trust me, you won’t want to miss the next steps, let’s push the boundaries of indoor horticulture together! As always, this is shared for educational purposes, aiming to spread understanding and appreciation for this plant. Let’s celebrate it responsibly and continue to learn and grow together. With true love comes happiness. Always believe in yourself, and always do things expecting nothing and with an open heart. Be a giver, and the universe will give back in ways you could never imagine. 💚 Growers love to all 💚
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@Ninjabuds
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Gary Payton from Taste Budz Genetics is a real standout in my garden. The buds are huge and dense, with a beautiful neon green color that practically glows. The structure is amazing, and the skunky smell is so strong and pungent – it fills the whole room! This strain is definitely a heavy hitter, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. If you're looking for something potent and flavorful, Gary Payton is definitely one to try. I recently upgraded to the GrowPro Solutions Under Canopy lights, and wow, what a difference! The colors on my plants are seriously popping – they look so vibrant. Plus, I think it really helped them finish strong. If you're looking to boost your grow, I'd definitely recommend checking these out.
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@GODAXE
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27.08.2024 D48 since cutting, lady starting to bush like their mother, as i did nt have place for 8 massive bush in the tent i proceed to some pruning and set some bud clip. overall look GBC #1 16 inch, flowering GBC #2 16 inch, flowering GBC #3 16 inch , still in veg, 😰 GBC #4 18 inch, full bud mod 😍 GBC #5 18 inch , full bud mod 😍 GBC #6 19 inch, flowering GBC #7 20 inch, start flowering👍 GBC #8 18 inch, flowering i will not weekly uptade, but keep you tuned
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@Highdro
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I continued like normal with the feed expect for one day which I just put pH correct water in the tank as I saw I little nutrition burn on the leaf tips. The temperature was difficult to maintain so I added a fan adjuster so I could regulate it easier.
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The plant is developing well after pruning. its branches grew well. I removed the first node as they were small.
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14/12/20 inicio de semana, se le aplico dos cucharadas de leonardita y dos mas de harina de cangrejo riegos solo con agua, se metio al invernadero una led bestva 600w elite tanbien se rego con un poco de algantic potasium se le relleno con 4cm de sustrato. 15/12/20 55cm 18/12/20 alcanzo 58cm de altura unos brazos satelitales muy buen tamaño 20/12/20 cierre de semana
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Start of week 7 of flowering. Plant looks good, she recovered well and has shown some nice bud development. Temps have dropped to about 32°c.
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@Aeonium
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Día 37: Riego con Sensizym 2ml/l Día 39: Riego con Base Sensi Bloom A+B 2,5 ml/l, Big Bud 2 ml/l, Bud Candy 2ml/l, B-52 2ml/l y Super Silver de Agrobeta 0,1ml/l. Día 41:Riego con Base Sensi Bloom A+B 2,5 ml/l, Big Bud 2 ml/l, Bud Candy 2ml/l, B-52 2ml/l y Super Silver de Agrobeta 0,1ml/l.
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12/25/2023-Germination Day 1 Merry X-mas 2023 I decided to start a run of SolFIre Gardens Hoodz Candyz S1. I am going to do a cup filled with RO water a touch of Hydrogen peroxide and let it sit for 24-48 hours until I see tap root then I am going to put it into a rapid rooter.. Tap root Down and put it about 1/4 of the say down the Rapid rooter. I made some modifications to my basket on this run.. I have taken a few Pods that I use for my cloning machine and decided that I am going to try and use them as sure plants, so that I can take my water right up to the bottom of the basket this time and see if these can make my planting more consistent.   12/26/2023-Germination Day 2 Tap root achieved Planting Commencing 12/27/2023-Germination Day 3 Misted the dome lightly misted the rapid rooter and added a little water to the bottom of the pan to encourage root growth to the pan. 12/28/2023-Germination Day 4 Ground Hogs day 12/29/2023- Germination Day 5 She is up, she has broken surface, I misted the root riot, and around the bottom of the tray to try and entice root growth down rapidly. 12/31/2023- Germination Day 6 Ground Hogs Day 1/1/2024-Germination Day 7 HAPPY NEW YEARS!!.. I did it I planned it out so my planting day would fall on New Years and it worked.. Yay!!! 1/2/2024- Germination Day 8 Since the roots are not to the water yet, I am pouring one cup of water lightly on the hydroton around the lady to try and encourage root growth down to the water.. 1/3/2024- Germination Day 9 Ground Hogs day, will continue until roots hit the water. 1/4/2024- Germination Day 10 Ground Hogs day, will continue until roots hit the water. I will just continue to top feed until roots are in the water.. Shouldn't be more than a few more days. 1/5/2024- Germination Day 11 Ground Hogs day, will continue until roots hit the water. I am going to change the water Sunday and kick off Week 1, I will just continue to top feed until roots are in the water.. Shouldn't be more than a few more days. 1/6/2024- Germination Day 12 Ground Hogs day, will continue until roots hit the water. I will just continue to top feed until roots are in the water.. Shouldn't be more than a few more days. 1/6/2024- Germination Day 13 Ground Hogs day, will continue until roots hit the water. 1/7/2024- Germination Day 14 Ground Hogs day, will continue until roots hit the water.
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@NONSENSE
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,, the Flooring going well as you can see buds growing just perfect, I am using nutrients from Hesi. No overdose, no PH correction. Recommend
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@kevgrow
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Hey Friends, end of week 13 from seed. This week i noticed colas are slightly getting thicker, but still a slower growth compared to my other plant (#2) I had to install some yoyos because some colas are falling to the side due to its weight Had trouble maintaining a steady humidity level Leaves are beginning to fade, not sure if its normal or because I increased light intensity this week Increased light intensity to 350 - 400 lux x100 Colas for some reason do not look thick enough and so far no amber on the trichomes, might need to wait Another week or two so I could begin flushing. Smell is stronger like green lemon mango, that weird smell it use to have is slowly going away. QUESTIONS So I planned a trip with my family on oct 9th, when booking the trip around 3 weeks ago I estimated that the plant would need another month before harvesting. Will this plant be ready for harvest before oct 9th? When should I begin Flushing ?
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Skipped a week in my journal last week, as I was traveling. Had my neighbor water my plants. Came back and everything was looking great with the Lion Claw. I WAS having some minor early deficiencies with my photoperiod plants though... so I decided to go ahead and give everything a solid feeding of Foop Bloom 1, 2 and Sweetener. Also top dressed the Lion Claw and mulched with rice straw to help with the soil drying out a bit too quickly. She's a big plant for being in a 5-gallon pot. I have a sneaking suspicion that my neighbor didn't water them quite enough while I was gone. Will probably continue with the Foop feedings... probably once per week. Don't want to overdo it. 8/4 LIGHTLY sprayed with gravenstein apple FFJ and OHN. 8/6 LIGHTLY sprayed base soil area with neem oil / castile soap mixture.
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@Papa_T
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Welcome back!!! It’s the beginning of week four. I now consider this plant to have finished the seedling phase, now move onto the veg stage. THURSDAY - Day 22 10 October 24 - Switched the blue spec light out for the red spec light. - 380 PAR/ PPFD at 26 inches distance. - Topped the two bottom branches. - Started doing a little LST by adding a few staples and a little bit of branch manipulation. - She’s slowly shaping to my vision for this plant. - Gotta start thinking of up potting her soon into her final home. FRIDAY - Day 23 11 October 24 - Added two more LST staples. - Just a day under the lights. SATURDAY - Day 24 12 October 24 Watering day, 1 litre of dechlorinated tap water. - Base water 1 litre - 61.1 PPM Final - 1 litre at 6.45 PH at 62.8 PPM Runoff - N/A - Thinking of removing those giant fam leaves soon, they’re becoming cumbersome. - Did my final planned topping of the two top branches. - I tweaked a top branch and there was a pop at the knuckle, not a complete break but there’s a bit of damage. - I’m fairly confident that she’ll send resources to fix it and make it even stronger. - No stress, we push forwards and roll with the punches cause that’s what we do around here. SUNDAY - Day 25 13 October 24 - Just a day under the lights. - She doesn’t seem too bothered by yesterday’s branch tweaking. - There’s a but of a split but it seems to be scabbing over. - I’ll keep monitoring it over the next few days. MONDAY - Day 26 14 October 24 - Just a day under the lights. - Also a good recovery day. TUESDAY - Day 27 15 October 24 Transplant day into a 5 gallon pot and her final home. 60% Gaia Green Soil 20% Worm castings 20% Perlite 8 Tbsp Gaia Green All Purpose 4 Tbsp Gaia Green Power Bloom 5 Tbsp Diatomaceous Earth 1/2 Tbsp Dynomyco Amended this mix and transplanted. Watering day, 5 litres of dechlorinated tap water. - Base water 5 litres - 61.2 PPM - Add 2.5 ml Cal-Max - 172 PPM - Add 5 ml Supermax - 206 PPM - Add 15 ml Miicrobial Mass - 337 PPM Final - 5 litres at 6.61 PH at 337 PPM Runoff - N/A - Removed the LST staples to let her acclimate to her new home. - Will resume LST in a few days. - Removed the lowest fan leaves. - Some leaves are funky but they also are in the way of the important growth so they may get removed in the near future. WEDNESDAY - Day 28 16 October 24 - Just a day under the lights recovering from yesterday’s transplant and extended light hours. - She’s perked back up and looking happy though. - Probably resume with LST staples tomorrow. - The tweaked branch looks like it’s going to recover just fine, just a little weary about working it too soon. This is effectively the end of week four, it’s been quite eventful but we’re done with topping and transplanting so we’ll see how she gets on these next few weeks of pure unadulterated vegetation. Vamos!!
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@valiotoro
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Hello everyone 😎 After 24hours in a glass of water with a few drops of hydrogen peroxyde all the seeds have germinate🌱🦍😈 They will grow under the new Mars Hydro FC1200 evo💥
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Siamo agli sgoccioli, un altro paio d giorno.. forse settimane e raccogliamo!
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Week 6 of flowering 10/23/24 Changed nutrients to fit week 6 Buds are getting even bigger and thicker. Defoliated a little. Noticed a PH of 4.8 in runoff, same as the late stage of flower in my previous grow. After lowering feed EC, CalMag on max strength, flushing with 0.8ec nutes for 3 days in a row, nothing changed and PH stayed the same. Read in a forum thread about constant low PH in the rootzone when growing in coco. Got great info about CEC, water, nutrients and little chemistry from a detailed explanation. (https://www.icmag.com/threads/recurring-problem-with-low-ph-in-coco.338385/page-2#post-10843765) Flushed plants with tap water + calmag, PH 6.5. Used 120L total for 4 plants in 2 days. 1st day: flushed after lights on, did not water until 2 hours before lights off and flushed again. Runoff PH went up a little, but not to the correct range. 2nd day: flushed after lights on and checked runoff EC + PH, of each plant. Fortunately, PH got corrected to 5.8, and I returned to automatic watering 4 times a day (with 10%-20% runoff). Thoughts: In the last grow, I thought I had a problem because of salts buildup in the media with constantly low PH in late flower. I didn't fully correct the problem till chop day. Same problem here in the same stage of flower without the salt buildup. After reading every forum I could find about the problem, I understood that my bloom nutes were the main problem because of their chemical composition. The coco ability to exchange ions lead to the low PH in the rootzone. It got worse quickly because I did not use any tap water with the feedings, so the PH could swing easily and drastically without resistance. After I looked online for the T.A. feeding chart, I saw they used TriPart Grow till week 7 of flower, the Nitrogen type they are using will up the PH. CocoForCannabis chart that I'm using, has not enough nitrogen to combat the bloom nutes PH down effect in flower. It gets even worse with RO water because there are no minerals that can resist PH down. Now I'm using 30% tap water with rest RO water, T.A. TriPart feeding chart with calmag and silica. Hopefully I have corrected the problem for the rest of the grow. It wasn't easy, because there were lots of variables that worsened the problem quickly. Now I'm checking runoff PH and EC daily. Update on next week :)