Can you add nutes after flush?

[lookntoimpruv]

I was diagnosed with salt buildup resulting in low soil ph due to hardwater. I have flushed a 4 gal bucket with 6 to 8 gal. distilled. Upon completion I wondered if it was ok to run one more gal. thru with nutes because of how stripped the soil is. Is this ok? or should I wait till next week for drying. I will let dry a week either way but just hate to miss a week.

 

[YardDog35]

Wait until next watering to feed. If your in soil you should be feeding every other watering anyway. Let the plant recover some by using up what little nutes it has left, then start fresh. I would start using RO water rather than hard water. It's cheap to buy at the stores and well (no pun intended) worth it. Check the labels though, some are just 'purified', we want Reverse Osmosis treated water. That's the only way to get all the junk out.

 

[ggrant]

If you've flushed all the old salts and nutrients out, you can water with 1/2 strength nutrient solution (or even full strength). The plant needs some nutrients after a complete flush.

YardDog35 has a point about allowing the plant to recover, but the plant needs some basic nutrients in order to start growing again.

When I flush my plants, whether to treat an imbalance or between the vegetative and flowering phases, I always re-fertilize, so as not to leave the plants nutrient-starved.

 

[YardDog35]

It comes down to what growing medium you are using. If you're in soil there will be some nutes left in the soil. If you test PPM's of your flush runoff when you're almost done, you'll find it still has salt, but should end up coming out a lot lower than your feeding PPM. The plant stores food as well, the reason we flush up to two weeks before harvest to let it use most of the leftovers up.

It's counter productive IMO to flush a plant, then add nutrient rich water right away. All my opinion of course

 

[YardDog35]

btw...gg your sativas look amazing! I skimmed through your journal, will finish it when I have some more time. Very healthy looking! AND now I know what the term 'flower power' really meant

 

[lookntoimpruv]

I ended up just putting a fresh 2-3 inches of FF OF on the top and ran my last 2 gal. of flush through it just for a little snack. In four days I will hit them with nutes. Do you guys think 4 days is enough dry time after a flush? It is hard to tell with the fresh soil on top. I can also try the lift test I guess.
I also have a cal/mag question, I know to use it on water days when I used distilled, but do you use it on nute days even though I use hardwater micro?
Or should I use distilled water even on nute days? And what if I use hardwater micro in distilled water?

 

[StLucifer]

What I do, and I'm glad I started doing it, I bought a multi outlet air pump, and I aerate my tap water, helps get the chlorine out fast and oxygenates your water supply...a digital pH meter (cheap) and some pH UP & pH DOWN and you're sailing...no more weird plant sickies that you don't know what's missing or what's too much. Keep your pH in between 6.2 to 6.7, try to maintain the same number if you can, say 6.5.First I mixup my batch of nutrients for whatever stage the plant is in, veg or bloom, then pH test it...add up or down whatever I need, usually pH UP cuz the nutrients tend to lower the pH of your waer supply, it does mine, so I use more pH UP. But seriously, ever since I kept tabs on my pH level, I never get any excesses or deficiencies or worst of all, dreaded nutrient lockout. When you get that, do a vigorous flush with Final Flush or Flawless Finish. I've used both and they're both effective. Some say flushing is not good to do, some say it does nothing/makes no diff, some swear to it for making smoke smooth and less harsh, no chlorophyl like in the homie days. Tastes like green...way to green. If green had a flavour, homie leaf would be it. Good Luck, just keep practicing, you can't get worse, you only get better. Learn from your mistakes, a gardener said nobody becomes a great gardener until they've killed a thousand plants. WTF?

 

[StLucifer]

You know those 3 in 1 meters you can get at any hardware store for less than $20. Two long probes about a foot long, you can check moisture of the soil/coco or amount of light or pH test. Not the best for pH or accurate light meter, but great for checking soil 8 inches deep. I've found letting them dry out, even a little droopy before I feed her. As far as water goes, check your town's water supply, see if they use chlorine or chloramine...chlorine will evaporate out completely where chloramine will not, it stays in the water and it raises the acidity of the water causing nutrient lockout. You can contact your town/city's water supply or just Google it and see. If it's chlorine, you can easily remove the contaminants like chlorine and adjust the pH accordingly with the pH UP & DOWN stuff...ten bucks each bottle, not expensive, lasts awhile.

 

[Bill284]

You know those 3 in 1 meters you can get at any hardware store for less than $20. Two long probes about a foot long, you can check moisture of the soil/coco or amount of light or pH test. Not the best for pH or accurate light meter, but great for checking soil 8 inches deep. I've found letting them dry out, even a little droopy before I feed her. As far as water goes, check your town's water supply, see if they use chlorine or chloramine...chlorine will evaporate out completely where chloramine will not, it stays in the water and it raises the acidity of the water causing nutrient lockout. You can contact your town/city's water supply or just Google it and see. If it's chlorine, you can easily remove the contaminants like chlorine and adjust the pH accordingly with the pH UP & DOWN stuff...ten bucks each bottle, not expensive, lasts awhile.

Good morning @StLucifer another oldie my friend 2012.
Hope your having a good day my friend.

Stay safe
Bill