What Is the LA Cake Strain?
The LA Cake strain — sometimes listed as LA Kush Cake — is an indica-dominant hybrid bred from Wedding Cake and Kush Mints. The cross delivers exactly what those parent names suggest: dense, frost-coated buds with a layered terpene profile that sits somewhere between vanilla buttercream, fresh mint, and earthy fuel. It's not a beginner strain, but it's not out of reach either. The challenge is managing its susceptibility to mold during a flowering window that runs 8–9 weeks — get the environment dialed and LA Cake rewards you with some of the most resinous flowers you'll pull off a mid-cycle plant.
On the Grow Guide platform, the majority of tracked grows — 734 out of 1,000 — run indoors, which suits LA Cake's needs perfectly. Precise humidity control is easier inside, and this strain demands it, especially through weeks 5–9 of flower.
---LA Cake Strain Genetics and Structure
Understanding the plant's architecture helps you train it correctly. LA Cake inherits a classic indica frame: short internodal spacing, broad fan leaves, and a vigorous lateral branching pattern. In veg it can bush out quickly — plants left untrained will canopy over their own bud sites by mid-flower. Expect a medium height of roughly 60–90 cm indoors with containment training, or up to 120 cm if you let it run.
The buds themselves are dense and almost spherical — a direct inheritance from the Kush Mints side. This compactness is both the strain's selling point and its main grow-room liability. Airflow has to reach every inch of every cola, or you're looking at botrytis by week 7.
Environment: Temperature, Humidity, and VPD for LA Cake
This is where most LA Cake grows succeed or fail. The strain's dense bud structure means moisture trapped inside a cola stays there — and botrytis doesn't give you much warning before it's already cost you most of a cola.
Vegetative Stage
- Temperature: 75–80°F (24–27°C)
- Relative Humidity: 60–65%
- VPD target: 0.8–1.0 kPa
- Lights on/off: 18/6
Flowering Stage
- Temperature: 68–75°F (20–24°C) — run slightly cooler lights-off to encourage trichome development
- Relative Humidity: 45–50% — drop to 40–45% in the final two weeks
- VPD target: 1.2–1.5 kPa
- Lights on/off: 12/12
Use oscillating fans positioned below and above the canopy, not aimed directly at buds. Stack your extraction fan on a speed controller so you can ramp it up if humidity spikes overnight. LA Cake is not a strain where you can "check in later" on humidity — get a decent hygrometer with logging and set an alert at 55% RH during flower.
Lighting
Full-spectrum LED panels are the right call here. Target 600–800 µmol/m²/s PPFD through mid-veg, stepping up to 900–1,000 µmol/m²/s in peak flower. LA Cake's resin production responds well to high light intensity, but watch your canopy temperature — dense foliage can create microclimates. Use our Grow Light Calculator to size your panel correctly for your space before you flip.
---Training the LA Cake Strain: Top Early, LST Through Veg
LA Cake is one of those strains where the work you put in during veg pays double dividends at harvest. An untopped plant will develop a dominant central cola that shades everything below it — you'll end up with airy, underdeveloped lowers that are barely worth trimming. A properly trained plant will fill your canopy evenly and give you 8–12 main colas all receiving direct light.
Topping Schedule
- First top: At node 4–5, remove the apical meristem cleanly above a node
- Second top (optional): 7–10 days later, top the two new mains once they've developed 2–3 nodes each
- LST: Begin bending and tying from week 3 of veg, working toward a flat, even canopy
- Defoliation: Light defoliation at flip and again at day 21 of flower — prioritize leaves blocking bud sites and anything restricting airflow inside the canopy
For a detailed comparison of topping approaches, see our Fimming vs Topping Cannabis guide. LA Cake responds better to clean topping than FIMing — its branching is already vigorous enough without the multiple-tip response FIMing creates.
---Nutrients and Feeding Schedule for LA Cake
LA Cake has moderate-to-heavy feeding needs — it's not the hungriest strain in your garden, but it will show deficiencies faster than you'd expect if you under-feed early in veg. On Grow Guide, soil is the most common medium (633 of 1,000 tracked grows), and it suits LA Cake well — the buffering capacity of a quality soil mix gives you more margin for error than coco.
Vegetative Phase — NPK Target: 3-1-2
- EC: 1.4–1.8 mS/cm (soil), 1.2–1.6 mS/cm (coco)
- pH: 6.0–6.5 (soil), 5.8–6.2 (coco)
- Supplement with cal-mag at 2–3 mL/L, especially under LED — high-intensity lighting increases calcium demand
- Watch fan leaves for early nitrogen deficiency — light green or yellowing starting at lower leaves
Flowering Phase — NPK Target: 1-3-2
- EC: 1.8–2.2 mS/cm through mid-flower, stepping back to 1.2–1.4 mS/cm for the final flush (weeks 8–9)
- pH: maintain 6.0–6.5 throughout — a drift above 6.8 will lock out phosphorus at exactly the wrong time
- Add a PK booster (10-50-30 concentrate) from week 3–6 of flower
- Continue cal-mag at 1–2 mL/L through week 6, then taper off as you begin flush
If you notice interveinal chlorosis on upper leaves mid-flower, that's likely iron or manganese — almost always a pH issue before it's an actual deficiency. Check runoff pH first. Use our Nutrient Deficiency Identifier to confirm what you're looking at before you reach for a corrective feed. More on seedling nutrition: Best Nutrients for Cannabis Seedlings.
---LA Cake Strain Grow Timeline: Seed to Harvest
Plan your full grow schedule — including flush start date, feed transitions, and harvest window — with the Grow Schedule Planner.
---Troubleshooting Common LA Cake Strain Issues
Botrytis (Bud Rot)
LA Cake's densely packed buds trap moisture. If you see grey-brown fuzzy growth inside a cola or a stem that looks mushy at the base, that's botrytis. Remove the affected section immediately — don't shake it — seal it in a bag and dispose of it outside the grow room. Prevention is the only real treatment: keep RH below 50% in flower, maintain airflow through the canopy, and drop humidity to 40–45% in the last two weeks when buds are at maximum density.
Powdery Mildew
White powdery patches on fan leaves, usually appearing first when humidity climbs above 60% in flower. Catch it early with a UV grow room inspection light — PM shows up clearly under UV before it's visible to the naked eye. A potassium bicarbonate spray (1 tsp/L water) can knock it back if caught in the first 48 hours. Beyond that, assess whether the affected plant is worth treating or isolating.
Nitrogen Toxicity Mid-Flower
LA Cake growers who run aggressive veg feeds sometimes forget to transition properly at flip. Clawed, dark-green leaves with a slight purple tinge around week 2–3 of flower is a sign you're still pushing too much nitrogen. Cut N to near-zero by week 4 and lean into phosphorus and potassium.
---Harvest, Drying, and Curing LA Cake
Reading Trichomes
At week 8, start checking trichomes daily with a 60x loupe or digital microscope. LA Cake at peak ripeness shows mostly cloudy trichomes (milky white, opaque) with 15–20% amber on the calyx heads — not the sugar leaves. Amber on sugar leaves lags behind calyx trichomes, so don't let that push you to harvest early. That 15–20% amber on calyxes is your window.
Drying
- Hang whole branches or use a drying rack in a dark room
- Target: 60°F (15–16°C) / 60% RH
- Duration: 7–10 days — LA Cake's dense buds dry slowly, don't rush it
- No fans aimed directly at buds — keep air moving in the room, not blasting the flowers
- Buds are ready when small stems snap cleanly rather than bend
Curing
- Trim and jar into wide-mouth glass mason jars at 60–65% fill
- Burp jars twice daily for the first 7 days, then once daily through week 4
- Target RH inside jars: 58–62% — use Boveda or Integra Boost 62% packs
- Minimum cure time: 3–4 weeks. LA Cake's terpene profile genuinely improves at 6–8 weeks — the vanilla and mint notes sharpen noticeably with time
Track your dry and cure timing precisely with the Dry & Cure Timer. Use the Yield Calculator to estimate your haul before you hit the scales — it's useful for planning jar counts and storage space.
---Yield Expectations and Final Notes
Indoor LA Cake under a 600W equivalent LED (roughly 600 µmol/m²/s average PPFD) with proper training typically yields 400–500 g/m² of dried, cured flower. Push PPFD to 900+ µmol/m²/s with supplemental CO₂ at 1,200–1,500 ppm and you can target 550–650 g/m². Without training — single-cola plants — expect closer to 50–100 g per plant. The spread is that wide, which is why the topping and LST section above isn't optional.
Log your LA Cake grow from day one — tracking environment, feed EC, and plant response weekly gives you data to improve next run. See our guide on How to Keep a Cannabis Grow Diary and the more detailed Cannabis Grow Diary: Complete 2026 Guide for journal structure tips. You can also browse LA Cake grow journals from other cultivators on the platform.
---Frequently Asked Questions
How long does the LA Cake strain take to flower?
LA Cake flowers in 8–9 weeks from the 12/12 light flip. Most indoor growers hit harvest around day 100–110 from seed when counting a standard 4–6 week vegetative period. Check trichomes from day 56 of flower onward rather than relying on the calendar alone.
Is the LA Cake strain difficult to grow?
It's intermediate difficulty. The genetics are stable and growth is vigorous, but the strain's dense bud structure makes it genuinely susceptible to botrytis if humidity isn't managed carefully through flower. Growers who can hold RH at 45–50% in flower and maintain steady airflow will find it straightforward.
What terpenes are dominant in LA Cake?
LA Cake typically leads with caryophyllene (pepper, spice), limonene (citrus, sweet), and myrcene (earthy, herbal), with minor contributions from linalool and terpinolene. The mint-vanilla character comes from the interplay between limonene and caryophyllene. Explore the full profile using the Terpene Explorer.
What yield can I expect from LA Cake grown indoors?
With proper topping, LST, and a quality LED running 900+ µmol/m²/s, expect 400–550 g/m² dried and cured. Single-cola untrained plants will yield significantly less — 50–100 g per plant. Use the Yield Calculator to model your specific setup.
What pH should I target for LA Cake in soil?
Maintain root zone pH between 6.0–6.5 in soil throughout the grow. Drifting above 6.8 will lock out phosphorus and iron during flowering — check your runoff pH every second watering to catch drift early.
References
- Stiiizy. (2024). LA Kush Cake Strain: Effects, Terpenes & Cultivation Overview. Describes lineage (Wedding Cake × Kush Mints), flowering time of 8–9 weeks, and training responsiveness. stiiizy.com/blogs/learn/la-kush-cake-strain
- STRNG Seeds. (2024). LA Kush Cake: Aroma, Flavor and Growing Tips. Details mold susceptibility, airflow requirements, and humidity management during flower (40–50% RH). strngseeds.com/learn/la-cush-cake-aroma-flavor-and-growing-tips/
- Hypno Seeds. (2024). How to Grow Lava Cake Seeds from Germination to Harvest. Covers NPK ratios (3-1-2 veg / 1-3-2 flower), cal-mag supplementation, and temperature targets (68–80°F across growth stages). hypnoseeds.com/how-to-grow-lava-cake-seeds-from-germination-to-harvest/
- Planacan. (2023). Food Preservation & the Cannabis Cure Process. Outlines optimal curing conditions: airtight glass jars, daily burping, 58–62% RH targets using humidity packs. planacan.io/food-preservation-cannabis-cure-process
- Grow Guide Platform Data. (2026). Internal grow journal dataset: 1,000 tracked grows. Shows 73.4% of users growing indoors (734/1,000) and 63.3% growing in soil (633/1,000), informing environment and medium recommendations in this guide. growguide.app
