Flushing during flower

[Spidermight]

i'm 2 weeks into flower, pretty sure i'm developing nutrient lockout.

is a flush safe or can it slow down growth? i'm in soil. i was thinking about running the hose though it for a while and then water with PH'd water

 

[SmokingWings]

The first thing to do is take a couple of photographs of the entire plant and post them in the next msg but skip posting any photo that is out of focus. Take a closer in photo or two of what you see as a sign of the problem but again if it is out of focus take a new photo.

Also tell us what you are seeing that makes you think that the plant is developing a "nutrient lockout'. Sometimes the grower sees something happening but it is not what the members here see when they look at the photos.

Use natural light or a white room light. Some LED and other high power lights change the colors on the leaves and we will not see the same color of a developing problem that you might be seeing. You get used to seeing your plant everyday and get used to the purples, reds and yellows from grow lights but we do not see the same colors.

 

[Spidermight]

The first thing to do is take a couple of photographs of the entire plant and post them in the next msg but skip posting any photo that is out of focus. Take a closer in photo or two of what you see as a sign of the problem but again if it is out of focus take a new photo.

Also tell us what you are seeing that makes you think that the plant is developing a "nutrient lockout'. Sometimes the grower sees something happening but it is not what the members here see when they look at the photos.

Use natural light or a white room light. Some LED and other high power lights change the colors on the leaves and we will not see the same color of a developing problem that you might be seeing. You get used to seeing your plant everyday and get used to the purples, reds and yellows from grow lights but we do not see the same colors.

already posted and tried to find out what it is but nobody really had an answer. a flush should do no harm right?

i don't understand how flushing during flower could slow growth down, what about when it rains for a day???? isnt that the same thing

 

[bobrown14]

No rain is not flushing.

There's some science to whats going on when you run water thru soil.

Look up CEC or cation exchange capacity of soil. Start there.

Now lets talk about why and what you think is going on when you "flush" your soil.

What is your goal with flushing?

Post a pic of your plant here so we can see it.

 

[Mayne]

nute dependent. If salts, yeah, might be ok to flush, but, your in soil, what kind of soil? Most times your going to mess up the biologics by DROWNING it. 50/50 chance of root rot then.

 

[bobrown14]

Wont flush "salts" out of soil solution due to CEC of the soil. Much stronger bond to soil organic matter water cannot break the bond between fertilizer and soil particles.

 

[Mayne]

Wont flush "salts" out of soil solution due to CEC of the soil. Much stronger bond to soil organic matter water cannot break the bond between fertilizer and soil particles.

yeah, i agree, what about hot water, LOL, JK

 

[Emilya Green]

i'm 2 weeks into flower, pretty sure i'm developing nutrient lockout.

is a flush safe or can it slow down growth? i'm in soil. i was thinking about running the hose though it for a while and then water with PH'd water

Feel confident in doing a flush, and do it anytime you see a nutrient lockout when using synthetic nutes, as your first diagnostic step.

Despite what the naysayers are telling you here, a 3x flush of the soil WILL remove built up EDTA salt, the leftovers from using synthetic nutrients. A look at the Fox Farm's soil feeding chart confirms this, as they recommend doing a 3x flush or a sledgehammer flush, several times during the grow. It will also remove any built up nutrients that could be locking out other needed nutrients. Mulder's chart shows us what happens when you have interactions of nutrients in your soil. To much of anything can lock out other nutrients, but salt debris from the nutrients as they are used is the largest cause of these types of problems.

Several years ago, the most popular advice that you would get on these forums when you experienced a slow down like you are having, was to do a flush and clear the salt lockout from your soil.

Some folks on here are dead set on stopping everyone from flushing. Flushing will not hurt your plants, it is the same as watering. Soil can only hold a set amount of water, and after a flush you will not have any more water in your soil than during a water only watering. Also, to save you some time, there is no need to pH adjust your flush water. The only reason we pH adjust is so that our nutes are within the specific range that they need to be in to break free of that salt bond that holds them together in the bottle, but you are flushing away your nutes... there is no need to pH adjust this water. I don't have a clue what Bo is on about regarding a bond to organic matter... salt is easily dissolved in the flowing water and it will flow out of the soil as easy as you please. The CEC has nothing to do with the ability to flush out those salts, Cation Exchange Capacity simply describes the capacity of the soil to hold nutrient salts, but unfortunately leftover salt debris from the nutes is also captured and needs to be cleaned out periodically. People like to throw out a lot of terminology to make their arguments sound stronger, but when using a term like this out of context, it really hurts the argument they are trying to make.

 

[Mayne]

knew Emilya would be here to clean things up, lol

 

[Spidermight]

No rain is not flushing.

There's some science to whats going on when you run water thru soil.

Look up CEC or cation exchange capacity of soil. Start there.

Now lets talk about why and what you think is going on when you "flush" your soil.

What is your goal with flushing?

Post a pic of your plant here so we can see it.

will post pics tomorrow


how is flushing any different from when it rains an entire day?

what i do when i flush is run tap water for 20 mins and then finish off with water with adjusted ph


i fertilize pretty heavily and i wanna be sure i don't get a nutrient lockout.

also i can't rly be sure because i always get some yellow leaves with MC even at very high doses

it hasn't gave me problems harvests were good so i never bothered, but if i were to run into a nutrient lockout i'd be a hard to see if it's a lockout or just the usual yellow leaves because they look pretty identical....



i did a flush since i had some time today to work on em girls, ran tap water for 20 mins in each pot, then watered with ph and fertilized water

there was quite a bit if stuff in the soil, the water coming out the pot left a pretty heavy mineral build up everywhere

 

[Spidermight]

nute dependent. If salts, yeah, might be ok to flush, but, your in soil, what kind of soil? Most times your going to mess up the biologics by DROWNING it. 50/50 chance of root rot then.

canna terra professional?

root rot? how? my plant will dry up in 3-4 days even after a flush and 2 days after a normal watering till runoff... guessing you're indoors...

 

[Spidermight]

Feel confident in doing a flush, and do it anytime you see a nutrient lockout when using synthetic nutes, as your first diagnostic step.

Despite what the naysayers are telling you here, a 3x flush of the soil WILL remove built up EDTA salt, the leftovers from using synthetic nutrients. A look at the Fox Farm's soil feeding chart confirms this, as they recommend doing a 3x flush or a sledgehammer flush, several times during the grow. It will also remove any built up nutrients that could be locking out other needed nutrients. Mulder's chart shows us what happens when you have interactions of nutrients in your soil. To much of anything can lock out other nutrients, but salt debris from the nutrients as they are used is the largest cause of these types of problems.

Several years ago, the most popular advice that you would get on these forums when you experienced a slow down like you are having, was to do a flush and clear the salt lockout from your soil.

Some folks on here are dead set on stopping everyone from flushing. Flushing will not hurt your plants, it is the same as watering. Soil can only hold a set amount of water, and after a flush you will not have any more water in your soil than during a water only watering. Also, to save you some time, there is no need to pH adjust your flush water. The only reason we pH adjust is so that our nutes are within the specific range that they need to be in to break free of that salt bond that holds them together in the bottle, but you are flushing away your nutes... there is no need to pH adjust this water. I don't have a clue what Bo is on about regarding a bond to organic matter... salt is easily dissolved in the flowing water and it will flow out of the soil as easy as you please. The CEC has nothing to do with the ability to flush out those salts, Cation Exchange Capacity simply describes the capacity of the soil to hold nutrient salts, but unfortunately leftover salt debris from the nutes is also captured and needs to be cleaned out periodically. People like to throw out a lot of terminology to make their arguments sound stronger, but when using a term like this out of context, it really hurts the argument they are trying to make.

this was kind of the idea i had - glad you confirm it. i always use your watering method's so yeah i don't see how flushing is any different than a rainy day or just watering till run off...

i also use slightly warm water when flushing to aid the dissolving of the salt, is that ok?


i ran the hose for 20 mins in 5 gal pots, do you think it's long enough? (i had it set so the flow is just enough to not overflow the pot and give it time to drain, i just leave the hose running and go do stuff)


i'd like to hear what's your opinion about flushing before harvest - ya think it will affect taste like people say?

i'm still in the middle with it - i wasn't able to get consistent results from my testing - made a few plants without flushing before harvest and a few with flushing however results were pretty inconsistent harshness wise so idk.




going back to flushing during the grow, is it ok to flush anytime i feel it necessary? does it impact growth speed anyhow? (i was thinking about flushing once a month) considering my aggressive feeding schedule

 

[Mayne]

will post pics tomorrow


how is flushing any different from when it rains an entire day?

what i do when i flush is run tap water for 20 mins and then finish off with water with adjusted ph


i fertilize pretty heavily and i wanna be sure i don't get a nutrient lockout.

also i can't rly be sure because i always get some yellow leaves with MC even at very high doses

it hasn't gave me problems harvests were good so i never bothered, but if i were to run into a nutrient lockout i'd be a hard to see if it's a lockout or just the usual yellow leaves because they look pretty identical....



i did a flush since i had some time today to work on em girls, ran tap water for 20 mins in each pot, then watered with ph and fertilized water

there was quite a bit if stuff in the soil, the water coming out the pot left a pretty heavy mineral build up everywhere

megacrop? I use that.

 

[Emilya Green]

this was kind of the idea i had - glad you confirm it. i always use your watering method's so yeah i don't see how flushing is any different than a rainy day or just watering till run off...

i also use slightly warm water when flushing to aid the dissolving of the salt, is that ok?


i ran the hose for 20 mins in 5 gal pots, do you think it's long enough? (i had it set so the flow is just enough to not overflow the pot and give it time to drain, i just leave the hose running and go do stuff)


i'd like to hear what's your opinion about flushing before harvest - ya think it will affect taste like people say?

i'm still in the middle with it - i wasn't able to get consistent results from my testing - made a few plants without flushing before harvest and a few with flushing however results were pretty inconsistent harshness wise so idk.




going back to flushing during the grow, is it ok to flush anytime i feel it necessary? does it impact growth speed anyhow? (i was thinking about flushing once a month) considering my aggressive feeding schedule

You can flush anytime you like... it would be just like watering day. Warm water works well too. It sounds like you got it pretty good with the hose. I don't see how flushing the soil could affect taste in the plant. You can flush the soil, but you cant flush the plant.

 

[Spidermight]

You can flush anytime you like... it would be just like watering day. Warm water works well too. It sounds like you got it pretty good with the hose. I don't see how flushing the soil could affect taste in the plant. You can flush the soil, but you cant flush the plant.

so i'm guessing you personally don't stop feeding before harvest?

 

[Emilya Green]

so i'm guessing you personally don't stop feeding before harvest?

I grow organically... so I couldn't if I wanted to. At least with geoflora organic feed I can stop giving it near the end of the grow, but the microbes and the raw nutrients given before are still there and still feeding the plants even if I don't add to the organic nutrient for the last two weeks. So if mother nature never stops feeding and lets it up to the plants as to how much they want at the end, why shouldn't I? But then again, I have no need to flush either... nothing builds up in the soil like in a synthetic grow.