Happy frog soil.
Thanks so much.Let's see if I can argue against some of the misconceptions that have been stated in this thread.
Once soil has been composted, the nutrients that are built in are pretty well locked in there. Free nutrients and leftover nutrients will be flushed out, for sure... but unless you are growing organically (and wouldn't even think of flushing) you will be filling back the nutrient profile you have chosen, soon enough. Logically then, this should not even be a consideration as to flushing or not.
There are some sorts of grows that will never need a flush... salts simply do not build up or get to the point that they lock out nutrients from the cation exchange capacity of the soil. A salt lockout is not good, and to stop nutrient lockout you must flush the water soluble (easy to grab onto) salts out of your soil, rather easily resetting the soil to its original capacity to store nutrients. Basically, if you are using EDTA (salt) chelated nutrients, ie synthetic nutrients, salt is the leftover byproduct of using those nutes and it has no choice but to build up. These grows, depending on the brand of nutes, definitely need periodic flushes throughout the grow, some more than others. Even hydro operations flush, and many published nutrient programs specifically call for flushes in their feed charts.
Ph is terribly misunderstood. Organic grows can operate all over the pH range, from just below 9 to well in the 4's for orchids and other acid loving plants. The only reason we cannabis farmers worry about pH is to be able to use these synthetic chelated nutes that have been designed for us. These folks stuff everything our plants need into a couple of bottles and through the science of chelation, they manage to lock these nutrients up into little encapsulated shells, to keep the nutrients from reacting with each other once put in the bottle, sent through shipping and then sitting on your shelf... staying inert until you need them. You unlock these nutrients when you mix them up in your bucket and adjust the pH to the range they are meant to be used at. Poof! the salt bonds are released and the nutrients become available, or mobile in the soil.
When you flush, you are flushing out all of the salt and any of these unused nutrients just by the sheer force of the water. The point is, there is no need to adjust pH in this situation. Run tap water through it, it will not matter in the least because the plant doesn't care what the pH is and it actually needs some bit of the chlorine that comes with it. When you feed next, by all means make sure it is at the proper pH.
Well it was the final flush so I was not going to add any more nutes and just let it suck up the pH water. Thanks for the reply bro.
Thanks so much, great response to my questions .Let's see if I can argue against some of the misconceptions that have been stated in this thread.
Once soil has been composted, the nutrients that are built in are pretty well locked in there. Free nutrients and leftover nutrients will be flushed out, for sure... but unless you are growing organically (and wouldn't even think of flushing) you will be filling back the nutrient profile you have chosen, soon enough. Logically then, this should not even be a consideration as to flushing or not.
There are some sorts of grows that will never need a flush... salts simply do not build up or get to the point that they lock out nutrients from the cation exchange capacity of the soil. A salt lockout is not good, and to stop nutrient lockout you must flush the water soluble (easy to grab onto) salts out of your soil, rather easily resetting the soil to its original capacity to store nutrients. Basically, if you are using EDTA (salt) chelated nutrients, ie synthetic nutrients, salt is the leftover byproduct of using those nutes and it has no choice but to build up. These grows, depending on the brand of nutes, definitely need periodic flushes throughout the grow, some more than others. Even hydro operations flush, and many published nutrient programs specifically call for flushes in their feed charts.
Ph is terribly misunderstood. Organic grows can operate all over the pH range, from just below 9 to well in the 4's for orchids and other acid loving plants. The only reason we cannabis farmers worry about pH is to be able to use these synthetic chelated nutes that have been designed for us. These folks stuff everything our plants need into a couple of bottles and through the science of chelation, they manage to lock these nutrients up into little encapsulated shells, to keep the nutrients from reacting with each other once put in the bottle, sent through shipping and then sitting on your shelf... staying inert until you need them. You unlock these nutrients when you mix them up in your bucket and adjust the pH to the range they are meant to be used at. Poof! the salt bonds are released and the nutrients become available, or mobile in the soil.
When you flush, you are flushing out all of the salt and any of these unused nutrients just by the sheer force of the water. The point is, there is no need to adjust pH in this situation. Run tap water through it, it will not matter in the least because the plant doesn't care what the pH is and it actually needs some bit of the chlorine that comes with it. When you feed next, by all means make sure it is at the proper pH.
