Are they ready to flush yet?

[CanGrows]

Hi All

I'm in week 7 of flower and I'm thinking about flushing my Zen Hash plants - some of the leaves are yellowing.
One of my colas has all these weird little colas coming off the top though and it looks like it's still growing.
My other 2 are an unknown sativa clone in soil instead of coco/peat moss - they are definitely still filling out.

 

[Backlipslide]

I see too many clear trichs, another week and then some maybe

 

[CanGrows]

Actually the title should say stop feeding not Flushing

 

[Backlipslide]

It asks if it’s ready for flush. Yeah man, I would agree on that.

 

[CanGrows]

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Careful looking at sugar leaves trics, they degrade way faster than buds

And all those white hairs, I'd say ya got awhile yet

And I never flush, pack those buds up till harvest

 

[CanGrows]

Careful looking at sugar leaves trics, they degrade way faster than buds

And all those white hairs, I'd say ya got awhile yet

And I never flush, pack those buds up till harvest

So keep feeding them until harvest?

 

[Chris Scorpio]

So keep feeding them until harvest?

I do, many others do as well

But

You'll find many that do flush, so ultimately yer call

Either way she has a ways to go

 

[Backlipslide]

It’s completely your preference, I studied George Cervantes methods of growing. So I always understood the whole “flushing” method. But, @InTheShed has some great links to the science behind why it doesn’t need to be done. So again, it’s completely up to you. You can check out his links if he drops in, and use your own judgment on the whole flushing argument.

To be honest my last plant that I just harvested, I did zero flushing on it, Fed it with late flower dose of nutrients the day before I cut er’ down. so I guess I’ll see first hand to if it “really” makes a difference lol the plant was cut down three weeks earlier then expected though I might add

 

[InTheShed]

Thanks for the shout BLS! If anyone is trying to flush to get nutes out of the buds before harvest, it's scientifically impossible.

For those who still believe you can flush nutrients from the buds before harvest, yet another article, summarizing a research paper linked below this one:

The link to the original research on the bottom of the page is broken. Here is the original research paper. The information on flushing starts on page 51, and the bar graph of the nutrient breakdown in the dried flower starts on page 71.

There was NO statistical difference in the nutrient levels in the buds after two weeks of flushing IN HYDRO! You read that correctly: in a 100% nutrient-free environment for two weeks before harvest, the dried buds had the same levels of N, S, P, K, Mg, and Ca as the buds that were fed.

So, let's review...you cannot flush nutes from your buds by feeding only water before harvest.

The upshot? Flush if you want to, but you will not be ridding the buds of the "nute taste" or whatever they say about getting the nutes from the flowers before harvest.

 

[Emilya Green]

So keep feeding them until harvest?

If you feed using synthetic nutes, salts and debris build up in your medium, soil or otherwise. Even hydro growers flush out their systems and start over with clean water periodically. The same need exists in soil grows... if you do not flush out the salts eventually it will affect the amount of water that the roots are able to uptake. Flushing in most synthetic grows is necessary at several points in the grow, with the exception being those who follow minimal feeding recommendations, feeding 1/4 to 1/2 the recommended nutes all through the grow. In these minimalist grows the salts simply don't build up as fast, and therefore problems due to their buildup do not occur as often.

I wish to state the following as clearly and loudly as I can: All synthetic grows should preform a true flush of their system as the plants go into the final bud stretch in the last 2-3 weeks of the grow. This flush is not to wash the nutes out of the final product, this is simply to clear the medium of salts so that during that final bud stretch, the maximum amount of water and finishing nutes can be uptaken into the plant. Any salt based restriction in the roots at this point in the grow has to greatly affect the final yield of this plant, therefore it makes sense to make sure that there are no restrictions due to the easily solved problem of having a salt buildup around the roots. Once this flush has been done, there is absolutely no reason not to keep throwing strong nutes, especially finishing nutes, at the plant right up to the end. As stated ad nauseam by the no flush crowd, the nutes do not end up in the bud.

Now, let me define the word "flush." Flush means 3x the container size in water, passed through the medium to clean it out. Flushing does not mean giving plain water at the end as opposed to giving nutes periodically. Giving plain water, especially for a week or more, is simply starving your plant, and you will never know how big it might have become without suffering from this abuse.

 

[InTheShed]

And that's why I always include the words "to remove nutes from the buds" in my #noflushclub posts. There are many reasons one might want to flush the growing medium, but final taste and smoothness is not one of them.

As stated ad nauseam by the no flush crowd,

Feel free to go around disabusing growers of this notion so I don't have to. In the meantime, take Dramamine! Or don't read those posts .

 

[Barney86]

If you feed using synthetic nutes, salts and debris build up in your medium, soil or otherwise. Even hydro growers flush out their systems and start over with clean water periodically. The same need exists in soil grows... if you do not flush out the salts eventually it will affect the amount of water that the roots are able to uptake. Flushing in most synthetic grows is necessary at several points in the grow, with the exception being those who follow minimal feeding recommendations, feeding 1/4 to 1/2 the recommended nutes all through the grow. In these minimalist grows the salts simply don't build up as fast, and therefore problems due to their buildup do not occur as often.

I wish to state the following as clearly and loudly as I can: All synthetic grows should preform a true flush of their system as the plants go into the final bud stretch in the last 2-3 weeks of the grow. This flush is not to wash the nutes out of the final product, this is simply to clear the medium of salts so that during that final bud stretch, the maximum amount of water and finishing nutes can be uptaken into the plant. Any salt based restriction in the roots at this point in the grow has to greatly affect the final yield of this plant, therefore it makes sense to make sure that there are no restrictions due to the easily solved problem of having a salt buildup around the roots. Once this flush has been done, there is absolutely no reason not to keep throwing strong nutes, especially finishing nutes, at the plant right up to the end. As stated ad nauseam by the no flush crowd, the nutes do not end up in the bud.

Now, let me define the word "flush." Flush means 3x the container size in water, passed through the medium to clean it out. Flushing does not mean giving plain water at the end as opposed to giving nutes periodically. Giving plain water, especially for a week or more, is simply starving your plant, and you will never know how big it might have become without suffering from this abuse.

Ooohhhh ya cheeky wee sort
I was all geared up for a barney there after speed reading the first few lines during a game of battlefield but you got me covered.
Well played amigo. Haha see, Those we arguments turned out to be good for both of us

 

[Emilya Green]

Feel free to go around disabusing growers of this notion so I don't have to. In the meantime, take Dramamine! Or don't read those post .

I am really not trying to dis you in any way Shed and maybe the ad nausium comment was a bit too strong, but I hate seeing that as a result of all of this modern talk about not flushing, many new growers are being left with the impression that flushing is an old school technique that should no longer be used. I am fighting only that misconception, one that has recently arose surrounding this method, and one that only a few years ago was touted by diagnosticians all over the planet as the number one advised method to solve practically all problems in the grow. Now we have gone the other way, and people seem to be afraid to do a proper flush, and when this trend keeps them from doing that final flush because they think that expert level people are advising against it, their results are less than what they could have been.

Ooohhhh ya cheeky wee sort
I was all geared up for a barney there after speed reading the first few lines during a game of battlefield but you got me covered.
Well played amigo. Haha see, Those we arguments turned out to be good for both of us

lol, I have always been known as a cheeky lassie... just ask anyone!

 

[InTheShed]

expert level people

Expert level people tend to be self-annointed!

 

[Emilya Green]

Expert level people tend to be self-annointed!

Let me fix that right now... I consider you one of those experts. There you go... anointed by your peers.

 

[InTheShed]

I think the most important part is reading comprehension. I'm always specific in my posts about not flushing for the last x days before harvest to clear nutes from the buds. I also suggest flushing to clear the soil of imbalances that are messing up the plant.

 

[Barney86]

To add my opinion though,
I'm a no flusher....

but I also measure my ppms very accurately in a reservoir and keep my feed almost exactly in line with what the plant is taking at all times.
when you do this for yourselves, you'll see that the plants technically "flush" themselves.

They still take nutes right upto the chop but in a reservoir you can actually see on a digital read exactly out how much they're taking.

Around 3 weeks before full maturity they half they're nutrient intake...
Then after a week it's halved again. And by the end of the next week they barely absorb anything from even the weakest nute solution.

thanks to @Emilya I now know that there is a definite need to do a decent flu,,, flyy...fhffjdk .... Bollocks. I can't even type it lol.
I'll admit it's neccesary when growing in soil with synthetic nutes though.
Because of the way they must be fed it's becomes a neccesity.

For hydro growers though, that includes all forms of Coco growing....
If you need to flush then you're feeding them wrong.

Im sorry to be a dick but,

End of.

Check my current hydro grow out and youll see that im feeding a 20L reservoir with 4 plants and 2x 10L coco pots with 1 plant each....... with less nutes than most folk give a seedling....
Should be an easy kilo by the look of things.

And as i said, ill half it, half it, then half it again. Then theyre done and they stop absorbing the nutes anyway.
I can keep that ppm level dropping by 10-20ppm per day at most the whole way through and i swear in 4 years I've never had a complaint.

If you leave the sugar leaves on then not starving your plants will make a difference in taste.
If you close trim and only smoke the buds then it's all in the cure.

Ahhhh why do I let myself get sucked into this every time !!! Aaaghghjjjj hahah.
Off to bed but I'll be back on in around 18 hours to continue my rant lol.
Ninite troops

 

[InTheShed]

I don't ever flush nutes from my ProMix HP with MegaCrop. But that's just me.

 

[Emilya Green]

As stated above, and as you guys do with your carefully managed grows... flushing is only necessary if salts and debris build up. This need to flush can be from the salts of nutes being processed and it can be from peat, lime and other buffers and organics breaking down in the soil or even promix, messing with the base pH. I carefully monitor water uptake in my grows and when i see a slow down in a synthetic grow, I know that there is a good chance it is because of salt buildup and a flush almost always fixes this problem for me.
Could I have been a minimalist and avoided this situation by not pushing my plants as I do, slightly burning the tips every step of the way? Of course. But that my friends, is not how I roll. In my garden, there is definitely a need to flush if I am working my synthetic grow the way I like. That is one of the reasons I went organic... to save me from myself.