Growth Phases¶

Every plant in Kamerplanter passes through a sequence of growth phases. The system automatically adjusts recommendations for watering, fertilization, light, and climate to the current phase. This ensures each plant receives exactly what it needs at its current stage of development.

Prerequisites¶

• At least one plant set up (via planting runs or individually)
• Helpful: matching nutrient plans for the respective phases (optional but recommended)

The 10 Phase Types¶

Kamerplanter ships with ten pre-built phase types. Each plant species only uses the subset that makes sense for it — which subset that is depends on the assigned phase sequence (see the next section).

The listed duration is a guideline from the phase definition — individual phase sequences can override it (see below).

Phase Sequences: How a Species Moves Through Phases¶

A phase sequence is an ordered chain of phase types that makes sense for a plant species or a group of similar species. Kamerplanter ships with 11 pre-built sequences, for example:

For every phase, a sequence defines whether it is recurring (perennial plants go through the cycle again), whether it is a terminal phase (the sequence ends there), and whether harvest is allowed during it. Which sequence a plant species uses is part of the species' lifecycle configuration in the master data.

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Seedling
    Seedling --> Vegetative
    Vegetative --> Flowering : Photoperiod change or manual
    Flowering --> Flushing
    Flushing --> Ripening : Harvest allowed
    Ripening --> [*]

    Vegetative --> Dormancy : Perennial sequence
    Dormancy --> Sprouting
    Sprouting --> Vegetative

Managing Phase Definitions and Sequences¶

Advanced users can create their own phase types and sequences, or review the existing ones:

• Phase Definitions (/phasen/definitionen): a list of all phase types with name, typical duration, watering interval, and stress tolerance. The ten built-in phase types are marked as "system" entries and cannot be deleted while they are used in a sequence. Add your own via Create Definition.
• Phase Sequences (/phasen/ablaeufe): a list of all phase sequences with cycle type (annual, biennial, perennial), number of phases, and total duration. In a sequence's detail view you add phases, reorder them ("Move up"/"Move down"), and set per phase whether it is a terminal phase, recurring, or allows harvest. For repeating sequences you also choose which phase the cycle restarts at after the terminal phase.

Both pages are available in the navigation under Phases. Since they edit fundamental system data, they are — like other master data areas — intended primarily for advanced users.

Phase Definition Detail View¶

Opening a single phase definition from the list serves two purposes at once: it is a reference for the phase itself (typical duration, watering interval, stress tolerance, description) and an operational view of your plants that are currently going through it. Alongside the core properties and the phase sequences that use this definition, the detail page shows two further lists:

• Plants currently in this phase: your active plants that are currently in this phase — with plant, species, location/slot, the "in phase since" date, and the days elapsed in phase. A counter next to the heading shows the total. Click a row to jump straight to that plant's detail page. If none of your plants are currently in this phase, a friendly message appears instead.
• Species that traverse this phase: all species from the global catalog whose phase sequence includes this phase — with scientific name, common name, and the phase's typical duration for that species. Click a row to go to that species' detail page. If no species are associated with the phase, a friendly message appears here too.

Viewing the Current Phase of a Plant¶

1. Navigate to Plants and open a plant by clicking its name.
2. The detail page shows the current phase with a colored chip at the top.
3. The Growth Phases tab shows the complete phase history with the date of each transition.

Automatic Phase Transitions¶

In addition to the manual transition (see below), a phase transition within a sequence can also be triggered automatically. Kamerplanter supports three trigger types:

• Time-based: The transition fires automatically once a plant has spent a defined number of days in its current phase.
• Photoperiod-based: The transition to flowering fires once the effective day length (hours of light per day) drops below (short-day plants) or rises above (long-day plants) a species-specific threshold. Kamerplanter derives this day length in two ways: for indoor plants it is taken from the location's light schedule (the grow light's on/off times, e.g. 12/12 to induce flowering); for outdoor plants it is computed from the astronomical day length at the site, which requires GPS coordinates to be configured (see Locations and Substrates). When an artificially lit location has a valid light schedule, that schedule takes precedence — an artificially lit plant does not experience the natural day length.
• Vernalization-based: For biennial plants with a cold requirement (e.g. carrot grown for seed), Kamerplanter counts cold days; once the species-specific minimum is reached, the transition from dormancy to flowering is unlocked automatically.

For plant species with a so-called "indeterminate" growth habit — this includes many tomato, pepper and cucumber varieties as well as numerous houseplants — Kamerplanter suppresses automatic advances once the plant has reached its stable, permanently productive phase. Instead of linearly advancing towards fruit ripening and the end of the cycle, the plant stays in that one phase, where growth, flowering and fruit set continue concurrently and harvest is ongoing.

Triggering a Phase Transition Manually¶

You can trigger a phase transition manually at any time, regardless of whether automatic transitions are also configured for the phase — for example, if you want to move a plant earlier or later than the system suggests, based on your own observation.

Step 1: Open the Plant¶

Navigate to your plant and open the Growth Phases tab.

Step 2: Trigger the Phase Transition¶

Click Change Phase (or the specific phase name, e.g. "Switch to Flowering"). A confirmation dialog appears.

Step 3: Enter Details¶

In the dialog you can optionally enter:

• Transition date: Today by default, but can be set in the past
• Notes: Observations accompanying the transition (e.g. "First flower sites visible")

Step 4: Confirm¶

Click Save. The phase changes immediately. Recommendations in the app adjust automatically.

Batch Phase Transition for Entire Groups¶

If a plant belongs to an active planting run, it shares its phase with all other plants in that run — the phase is tracked at the run level, not per individual plant. A phase change therefore always affects all plants in the run at once; there is no option to select individual plants for a batch transition.

1. Open the relevant Planting Run under Runs.
2. Click Batch Phase Change.
3. Select the target phase (e.g. "Vegetative" → "Flowering").
4. Confirm — all plants in the run transition together.

More information: Planting Runs

Why plants in a run can't be transitioned individually¶

As long as a plant belongs to an active or planned planting run, a direct phase change on that individual plant is blocked — the app reports a conflict in this case (error code phase.run_owned). The reasoning: the run and the individual plant should not drift apart. If you want to develop a plant independently of the group, detach it from the run first (see Detaching Individual Plants from a Run) and then change its phase individually.

Phase Profiles and Recommendations¶

Each phase has its own resource profile. When you open the detail view of a phase (tab Growth Phases → click a phase), you see the target values:

VPD Target (Vapor Pressure Deficit)¶

The Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) describes how strongly the air draws moisture from the leaves. Too high causes drought stress; too low promotes mould.

Photoperiod¶

The day length (hours of light per day) controls the transition to flowering in many plants.

Watering Volume per Phase¶

The recommended watering volume on the plant detail page automatically adapts to the current phase:

• Germination and seedling: frequent but low volume per watering — the young root system cannot yet handle large amounts.
• Flowering and flushing: elevated volume.
• Dormancy (winter rest): minimal water, just enough to keep the substrate from drying out completely.
• Dry storage (e.g. resting bulbs/tubers): no watering at all.

Flushing and dormancy are additionally flagged with the chip "Water only — no feed": the plant is still watered in these phases, but not fertilized — during a flush to wash residual salts out of the substrate before harvest, during dormancy because growth has paused.

Two further factors affect the suggested volume:

• The plant species' waterlogging tolerance caps the volume — a waterlogging-sensitive species is suggested less, a tolerant one somewhat more.
• A live soil-moisture sensor configured at the plant's location (see Sensors) automatically reduces the suggested volume when the root zone is already wet; a hint on the detail page indicates this.

NPK Profile (Nutrient Ratio)¶

The nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ratio changes across phases:

• Vegetative: High nitrogen (N) for leaf growth
• Flowering: Less nitrogen, more phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)
• Late flowering: Minimal nitrogen, high PK share
• Flushing and dormancy: no feed at all (NPK 0:0:0) — the phase's nutrient view shows the chip "No feed (flush / rest phase)" for this.

Each phase also has a target pH stored for the nutrient solution. The pH value affects how well individual micronutrients (iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron) can be taken up by the plant: outside an optimal window of pH 6.0–6.5, these micronutrients increasingly lock out (chlorosis risk — pale, yellowish leaf veins), while molybdenum behaves the other way round and becomes more available as pH rises. If a phase's target pH falls outside this window, Kamerplanter shows this in the phase's nutrient view (tab Growth Phases → click a phase) as the warning "Micronutrients locked out (pH lockout)" with a plain-language explanation.

Distinguishing Planned from Premature Bolting¶

For some biennial crops (e.g. leafy vegetables such as spinach or lettuce), heat or long-day stress can cause a plant to bolt towards flowering much earlier than planned, losing its harvest window prematurely. Kamerplanter distinguishes such a stress-induced, premature transition from planned bolting — for example the regular flower induction in the second growing season for biennial crops with a cold requirement.

Perennial Plants: Dormancy and Seasonal Cycles¶

Perennial plants (houseplants, berry bushes, fruit trees) use a recurring phase sequence instead of a single lifecycle ending in harvest — they go through dormancy, sprouting, growth, and flowering in a yearly loop.

Activating the Dormancy Phase¶

1. Open the plant and navigate to Growth Phases.
2. Click Enter Dormancy (visible for perennial plants).
3. Confirm the start date of the rest phase.

During dormancy: - Fertilization recommendations are suspended - Watering intervals are extended - Seasonal tasks appear (e.g. "Apply winter protection")

Returning from Dormancy¶

Click Resume Growth. Kamerplanter resets the cycle to the vegetative phase (or sprouting, depending on the assigned sequence) and reactivates all recommendations.

Botanical Life Cycle vs. Cultivation Cycle Type¶

Some plant species are botanically perennial but are treated like annuals in practical cultivation — the best-known example is the tomato: botanically a long-lived perennial, it is almost always discarded after one season instead of overwintered in temperate climates, because of its frost sensitivity.

For this, Kamerplanter distinguishes two fields in a species' lifecycle configuration (species detail page → Lifecycle Configuration tab):

• Cycle Type (cycle_type) — the species' botanical life cycle: Annual, Biennial, or Perennial.
• Cultivation Cycle Type (cultivation_cycle_type) — how the species is actually cultivated in Kamerplanter. If left empty, cultivation automatically follows the botanical cycle type; set differently, it captures cases like the tomato.

The "Grown as an annual" Hint¶

When the cultivation cycle type differs from the botanical cycle type — specifically: the species is cultivated as "Annual" even though its cycle type is not "Annual" — Kamerplanter automatically displays the info chip "Grown as an annual" in the Lifecycle Configuration tab, directly below the two cycle-type fields.

Monocarpic Plants: Flowering Once and Automatic Pup Continuation¶

Some plant species are monocarpic: they flower exactly once in their lifetime and then die — well-known examples include many agaves, bromeliads, and guzmanias. In a species' lifecycle configuration this is recorded as the reproductive strategy "Monocarpic (flowers once)", as opposed to "Polycarpic (flowers repeatedly)" for plants that flower repeatedly over several years.

For monocarpic species, Kamerplanter does not represent continuation of the crop as a new cycle of the same plant, but through a separate successor plant: as soon as a monocarpic mother plant automatically transitions into its final flowering phase (flowering, fruiting, or ripening — depending on how its phase sequence ends), Kamerplanter automatically creates exactly one new plant instance, the pup (the clonal offset), and links it to the mother plant.

When automatically created, the pup inherits:

• the tenant, plant species, and cultivar of the mother plant
• the mother plant's location — but no fixed slot, because the mother plant keeps occupying its slot while it senesces
• the date of the automatic transition as its planting date

It starts in the pup establishment phase, if the species' phase sequence defines one — otherwise in the first phase of the sequence.

For this reason, the pup's detail view shows an ancestry link "Descended from …" that leads to the mother plant.

More on propagation history and the other (manual) propagation methods: Propagation Management — Automatic Pup Continuation for Monocarpic Plants.

Removing a Plant: Recording the Ending Type and Loss Cause¶

When a plant reaches the end of its lifecycle — whether through harvest, natural senescence, or an unexpected loss — you remove it via the Remove Plant button on its detail page. You can optionally record how the lifecycle ended.

Step 1: Open the Detail Page¶

Navigate to Plants → Plant Instances and open the relevant plant.

Step 2: Open the Removal Dialog¶

Click Remove Plant. A dialog asks how the plant's lifecycle ended.

Step 3: Choose the Ending Type (Optional)¶

Step 4: Provide a Cause for "Died"¶

If you select Died (loss), you must also select a loss cause before you can confirm:

Step 5: Confirm¶

Click Remove Plant. Open tasks and care reminders for this plant are automatically removed from the queue; already completed or skipped tasks remain as history.

Survival Rate and Loss-Cause Analysis¶

On the Plants → Plant Instances overview page, Kamerplanter shows a summary analysis of all recorded plants as soon as at least one plant exists: the survival rate — the share of all plants that did not end as an unplanned loss — plus a breakdown by ending type, growth phase, and loss cause.

The analysis shows the same data twice, so it is usable even without the chart:

• Table: total count, active plants, survived plants and losses, plus a breakdown by ending type, growth phase, and loss cause.
• Bar chart: losses visualised, toggleable between By Phase (which growth phase has the most losses?) and By Cause (which cause drives the most losses?).

Plants without an ending type set (simply removed, without classification) still count towards Total and Active/Survived, but do not appear in the breakdowns by ending type or cause.

Frequently Asked Questions¶

See Also¶

• Master Data: Plant Species
• Fertilization
• Harvest
• Planting Runs
• Watering Log — suggested watering volume
• Guides: Nutrient Mixing — flush/rest phases with no feed
• Propagation Management