6d • General discussion
Hormone shifts in cannabis bloom
Cannabis Fact of the Day:Hormone Shifts From Veg to Flower
Cannabis doesn’t “decide” to flower overnight.It undergoes a coordinated hormonal coup where growth priorities flip and the plant rewires itself from building structure to building reproduction.In veg the dominant voice is auxin.High auxin levels flow from the apical meristem downward enforcing apical dominance telling side branches to chill while the plant stretches upward toward light.This is why topping works—you interrupt auxin flow and cytokinin from the roots rushes in waking up lateral shoots.Cytokinins rule vegetative expansion.They drive cell division leaf production chloroplast development and root to shoot communication.A healthy veg plant is basically a cytokinin powered construction site.
Gibberellins also play a role in veg especially during stretch phases.They elongate internodes and push rapid vertical growth which is useful early but becomes a liability if unmanaged.Once the photoperiod shortens the hormonal balance starts to tilt.The real switch isn’t a single hormone but a cascade.The leaf perceives night length and produces florigen a mobile flowering signal encoded by FT proteins.This signal travels to the shoot tips and flips genetic switches that reprogram meristems from leaf factories into flower factories.
As flowering initiates auxin redistributes rather than disappears.Apical dominance weakens and energy gets redirected to inflorescence sites.Cytokinin levels drop in leaves but increase locally in floral tissues driving rapid bud cell division.Gibberellins spike briefly during stretch then taper off which is why internodal elongation slows mid flower.Abscisic acid rises steadily.ABA is the stress hormone but in flower it’s also a maturation manager.It regulates stomatal behavior resin gland development and late stage ripening.High ABA is associated with tighter buds and increased secondary metabolite production.
Ethylene quietly increases as well influencing sex expression flower maturation and senescence.This is why stress induced ethylene can push hermaphroditic traits if mismanaged.Jasmonates also climb especially under light stress or mechanical stimulation.They’re defense hormones but in cannabis they’re tightly linked to trichome density and terpene biosynthesis.This is the plant saying protect the flowers at all costs.
By late flower the hormonal conversation shifts again.Auxin and cytokinin decline sugars accumulate ABA peaks and senescence programs activate.The plant is no longer growing.It’s finishing.That’s why late flower isn’t about feeding growth but about managing signals.Stress timing light integrity and root health all influence these hormones.The grower isn’t just feeding a plant.They’re conducting an endocrine orchestra.And when the timing is right the plant rewards you with resin soaked biology at its absolute peak.
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Hormone shifts in cannabis bloom
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