Automated oasis: Sticky Broccoli

PPFDaddy Hey everyone, fellow growers! 🌱 This week, the Sticky Broccoli seedlings finally seem to be finding their rhythm. Since we’re now in week 2, my goal is to keep the VPD between 0.6 and 0.8 kPa, with average temperatures around 24–25°C. For the past three days, I’ve been watering once a day with about 250 ml of nutrient solution at roughly 0.8 EC (800 µS/cm). I’m also using a lux meter to keep the light levels under control. During the first week, the seedlings were getting around 10,000 lux, but I noticed the stems were still stretching a bit too much. So I gradually increased the light up to around 20,000 lux, and now things seem much more stable. So far, everything is going smoothly. Happy growing, and good luck to everyone joining the Eternity Grow Cup! 🏆

PPFDaddy Week two of veg is in the books, and I come with a confession to make. 🙃 I've been running coco + aquatic perlite, assuming it was pre-buffered straight out of the bag. Spoiler: it wasn't. Even with a 0.3 EC Cal-Mag base alongside Advanced Nutrients, the coco's CEC was quietly swapping out calcium and magnesium for potassium and sodium. Runoff EC was fine, but runoff pH was sitting at 6.8–7.0, and that's where all the trouble was hiding. Thanks to the advice from this community, I was finally able to connect the dots and understand how coco's cation exchange capacity actually works. Two days ago I ran a flush at 0.9 EC total (0.6 EC Cal-Mag base + light base nutrients) at pH 5.6 to start resetting the substrate. Now we wait and watch. The bright side? These Sticky Broccolis are absolute troopers. Only one is showing slightly twisted new growth, while the others just threw a subtle reddish tint on the stems and kept pushing. Zamnesia nailed it when they described this as a tough, beginner-friendly strain. 💪 As always, feedback and advice are very welcome. Happy growing! 🌱

PPFDaddy Hey Growers! The girls have officially packed their bags and moved into a much fancier place. The new setup comes loaded with perks: an automated controller that keeps the environment dialed in 24/7, managing every device so the VPD stays exactly where it should be (because apparently plants are picky like that). Drainage? Automated. Irrigation? Also automated. Basically, the grow room is now smarter than most of us on a Monday morning. Thanks to multi-frequency fertirrigation, the girls are getting up to 6 daily watering cycles, keeping the substrate pH stable and nutrient-ready at all times. Less babysitting for me, more thriving for them: a deal I'm very happy to sign. As for the Sticky Broccolis: they've been stacking nodes like it's a competition (well… it is), staying noticeably tougher and more resilient than their roommates. They just went through a transplant, so I'm giving them a couple of days to settle in before going in with the topping. No rush: good things come to those who wait. Can't wait to see how they handle this new tailored setup from here on out. Happy growing everyone — and as always, tips, tricks, and roasts are all welcome! 🌱

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Since moving the girls into the new box — the Suite Box — the Stickies haven't wasted a single day. They've been stacking dense vegetation consistently, day after day. The small issues they had early on are now well behind them, as if they never happened. And as you can see from the photos, they're absolutely thriving. This week I slightly raised the VPD, keeping it in the 1.0–1.20 kPa range by adjusting temperature alone. The new environmental controller has done a flawless job maintaining all the parameters I set, with zero issues; and the result is some seriously happy plants. On the feeding side, I bumped the input EC up to 1.3, while keeping the same schedule of 6 daily irrigations. The Stickies' roots are clearly loving it. Next week's plan is to carry out a solid defoliation session, removing the weaker lower internodes that most likely won't receive enough direct light anyway. Better to redirect that energy upward. So far, everything is going great. I'll keep you all updated next week. Happy growing, everyone! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Week 5 of veg is wrapping up, and the Stickies have been absolutely relentless. Cruising in a dialed-in environment, they've stacked volume and vegetation like they own the place, because honestly, they do. One of them in particular has gone full tree mode, towering over everything else in the box. No debate about who's in charge here. As you can see from the photos, they're all in outstanding shape, which is exactly what we need, because tomorrow we flip. That's right, veg is officially over and flowering begins. I genuinely can't wait to see what these girls are capable of. Last run the box turned into a full-on jungle and things got a little spicy to manage. This time, I'm going in with confidence and a better game plan. One last update worth noting: I reshuffled the layout inside the box, swapping two Stickies with two Mental Rainbows to optimize space and keep the canopy as even as possible. From now on, I'll be shooting each Sticky individually so there's no mixing up the genetics. The real show starts now. Stay tuned! 🔥 As always, critiques and advice are more than welcome. Happy growing everyone! 🙌

PPFDaddy One week into flower and the Stickies are already making a statement. Volume nearly doubled since flip day, stretch in full swing, and the box is already running out of room. I thought they might take it easy this time. They had other plans. Jungle mode is incoming and I'm here for it. Most of the girls are showing exactly what you'd expect from a heavily indica-dominant strain: compact, structured and already stacking nicely. One of them is displaying a slightly more unusual phenotype, stretching noticeably more than the rest. An interesting outlier worth keeping an eye on as flowering progresses. On the feeding side, I bumped the EC by 0.2 and kept Bud Ignitor in the stack. Flowering site density has visibly increased since I introduced it, and the results speak for themselves. Environmental management is on point and the focus remains where it should be: maximizing quality and yield. That's the real game. Stay tuned. The best is yet to come. 🙌 As always, critiques and advice are more than welcome. happy growing everyone!

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Another week has flown by for the Stickies, and as usual they haven't slowed down one bit. Flowering sites are multiplying nicely across all plants. Two of them haven't developed the thickest stems yet, but it's still early days and plenty of time to see how things evolve. On the feeding side, I raised the EC by another 0.1, as runoff EC was consistently coming in below input. Plants are handling it perfectly. The box has a clear boss this week. Despite topping, LST and even super cropping on some of the main stems to keep her in check, she's hit the 1 meter mark and shows no intention of stopping, making the canopy uneven. She's being watched very closely. VPD keeps dropping as the dense canopy pushes humidity beyond what the current dehumidifier can handle. If it stays consistently above 65%, I'll be adding a second unit for the final weeks of flower to ensure tight, dense and resinous buds at harvest. First pistils appeared over the last couple of days. Bud formation is officially underway and I'll be supporting it with Big Bud. I love this hobby. At this point it's a full-blown passion, bordering on obsession. Happy growing everyone! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Another week has gone by, though not without a few challenges worth sharing. First up, the dominant Sticky is still growing like there's no tomorrow. I've had no choice but to super crop the tops closest to the light, as raising the lamp any further simply isn't an option. It's frustrating because she was shaping up to be the most powerful plant of the four, likely capable of producing the biggest colas. Now I just hope the proximity to the light doesn't compromise terpene concentration or, worse, push her into hermaphroditism from the stress. Second issue: fungus gnats in the box. Not a major concern at this point as I've already treated the substrate with the appropriate product to take care of the larvae. Third issue: even after a significant defoliation session, humidity is still running slightly above the optimal range for this stage of flowering. This run I was confident I could manage everything smoothly, but once again the girls had other plans. After the stretch they exploded in vegetation so aggressively that keeping humidity in check has become a real challenge. Lesson learned: next run I'll flip to flower at least a week earlier. On the bright side, the rest of the Stickies are looking great. Feeding remains unchanged as runoff EC is sitting in an optimal range relative to input. So the plan for now is to let another week roll by with the same parameters, keep a close eye on things, and defoliate again if needed. As always, critiques and advice are more than welcome. Happy growing everyone! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! How are you all doing? Hope all is well! Week 4 of flower is officially behind us, and as much as I hate to admit it, the girls have proven far more vigorous and explosive than I anticipated. The dominant Sticky has now officially cleared the lamp. She's grown past it entirely, forcing me to super crop in multiple spots in an attempt to contain the apices. Unfortunately, three of them have already taken some light burn. Not ideal, especially with temperatures starting to climb. Fingers crossed they pull through. This week I swapped Big Bud out for Green Sensation by Plagron, kindly provided for this grow, and the timing couldn't have been better. The colas are already starting to take shape and I'm genuinely curious to see how this product performs in a coco fiber setup. Staying optimistic and fully expecting some massive results. As always, good luck to everyone and critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Another week down, and the heat has officially entered the chat. A brief stormy spell kept things cool last week, but the moment it cleared, the box jumped to 31°C during the day and 28-29°C at night. The Stickies are holding their ground though, no visible heat stress so far, and terpenes are starting to come through beautifully alongside a solid trichome build-up. On the feeding side, runoff EC came in 0.8-0.9 points above input. Message received loud and clear: I'll be dialing the nutrient solution back accordingly. Now for the elephant in the room. The dominant Sticky simply will not stop. Every stem reaching the light has been super cropped in an attempt to contain her, but the side effect is that half the box is now sitting in her shadow. The real frustration? Those same overcrowded tops are shaping up to be the most promising colas in the entire grow. Timing and space haven't done them justice this run, but the potential is undeniable. Nothing left to do but trust the process and see what next week brings. Good luck to everyone and as always critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! This week the heat has been the real boss of the grow room, and not in a good way. Temperatures peaked at over 32°C, sending VPD through the roof and causing the plants to shut their stomata. The knock-on effect was brutal: substrate EC climbed to 3.6 against an input of 1.6, stalling both bud development and resin production. Foxtailing started to show. Not the update I was hoping to write. I'll be honest, I'm a bit demoralized. Everything was going great until two weeks ago, and of course it had to go sideways right in the middle of flowering. Desperate times call for desperate measures: I put my inner electricity bill saver aside and fired up the air conditioner 24/7. Saving euros on the bill can wait. Saving this grow cannot. I also increased irrigation session duration to flush the excess salts out, and within a few days EC was back in range. Now I just have to hope the buds get back on track. Fingers crossed. See you next week. Good luck to everyone and critiques and advice are always more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Good news first: ever since locking the AC in 24/7, the girls have bounced back nicely, continuing to pack on mass and pistils across the buds. There is one plant though that's raising an eyebrow. Last week's foxtailing I had put down to the heat stress, but even now that the box is back at a stable temperature, she's kept on stretching and throwing out new foxtails, setting up for what looks like airy, loosely formed calyxes. Not ideal. My first thought was light pollution during dark hours, but after checking the camera footage inside the box I was able to rule that out completely. So at this point I genuinely don't have an explanation. If anyone has seen something similar or has a theory, please don't hesitate to drop it in the comments. I'm all ears. Should I be worried? I hope not. As long as I don't spot any male parts showing up in the area, I'm keeping calm and carrying on. See you next week. Good luck to everyone and as always critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Another week down, and the situation is holding steady, despite the heat continuing to push its limits. Outside temperatures in my area hit 38°C this week, and even with the AC running 24/7 it simply couldn't keep up. Day temps inside the box peaked at around 28°C, dropping to 24°C at night with lights off. Not perfect, but for a robust genetics like Sticky Broccoli, I'd say it's within acceptable range. As I mentioned in a previous update, high temperatures and rising substrate EC tend to go hand in hand with these plants. This week was no exception: with the heat ramping up compared to last week, runoff EC climbed above input a couple of times. Same solution as before: I opened the irrigation valve wider to flush the excess salts out, keeping input EC steady at 1.3. On a more exciting note, the dominant plant in the box is on track to form colas the size of baseball bats. If things keep running smoothly from here, she's going to be something special. Fingers crossed the heat eases up. See you next week. Good luck to everyone and critiques and advice are always more than welcome! 🙌