Lucas Formula: No Flushing

[ultrasonic]

Hello Community!

I have been reading the original postings by Lucas, and he and many, many others have been stating that using GH nutes and the lucas formula, you don't have to flush.

Apparently it actually IMPROVES the quality. Thought? Feelings? Rantings? I'm considering a 3 day period of high stress w/ a clearex flush. I use the lucas formula.

 

[Roseman]

I do not use the Lucas GH formula, but I have read and seen the same thing reported, that NO flushing is needed.

Two years ago, I was dared or challenged to not flush and compare the differences, and I had two reservoirs, so I flushed one and did not flush the other. One one tank, I stopped nutes 4 days proir to harvest and ran them on pure pH balanced water for their final 4 days. on my other tank, I fed them the night before harvest.

I could not taste any difference. Then I started reading up on people who said they do not flush and could not tell any difference. ALL the books say flush, all the well know big growers say to flush. But I could not taste any difference. I was told or asked
HOW YOU GOING TO FLUSH A 12 FOOT TALL TREE GROWN OUTDOORS???. That made me think.
Then I found someone who asked me if I trimmed or manicured closely. And I do, I manicure every bit of leaf off that I possibly can. He told me taht was the answer, that the chemical-nutirent taste is not stored int he flowers but only in the leaves and if I do not smoke the leaves, then I will not get the bad taste. I am only sharing what I experienced.
Since then, I never flush, on my past 5 grows, I did not flush them, and I can not taste anything bad.

If you can and are willing, try it and see.

Again, I know what is reccommended and prescribed by the experts.
I am just saying TRY IT without flushing if you can try a small amount and see .

 

[ultrasonic]

Very informative response Roseman: I will almost certainly be giving this a go.

 

[ultrasonic]

Does anyone else have any input on this? I now have 3-4 weeks left, so I need to come up with a decision soon. As of right now I think I'll be doing 1 week of flushing.

 

[Roseman]

Look here for more opinions:

A critical look at preharvest flushing

 

[ultrasonic]

Interesting thread Roseman, you make some interesting points about the trim leaves.

As of right now, I'm not quite sure what i'm going to do. I expect to harvest approx 2.5 to 3.5 weeks from today, so i'll have to make some sort of decision soon.

I think as well that flushing is... more for soil grows. I've come to learn alot in the last few years, and even more information has come at a faster rate since my plants have started. Who knows, In 3 weeks I could be wrong

And yes, i'm with you on the curing train! Cure cure cure! I believe it's a big key to prime bud.

 

[musikgenman]

I've read conflicting information on this issue. Only true science can tell us the truth. I don't necessarily believe all the hype about flushing the nutes from the budz and all that. But I have read that flushing will decrease dry time. Whether that is true or not I have no idea.

Musik

 

[ultrasonic]

As of this point, my first grow was a failure because of a late switch to some organic products that led to a brown algae bloom which got WAY out of control too quickly. I was left with very little bud (about 4oz) because my grow was halted about a month early. However, I would like to note: I obviously didn't flush these plants. Now, the pot that came from the plant seems to me to be low in THC and higher is the psychoactive cannabinoids. The buds are somewhat dense, but still airy. The smell wasn't very strong, and smelled a bit strongly of plants.

The smoke was harsh but not a harshness that hurts your throat and stays: just while you're inhaling. This leads me to believe it's the cholorphyll. In the couple weeks that i've been smoking the bud, it has been tolerable, and gets me VERY HIGH. Just as high, if not higher than any of the commercial bud i've smoked around here. Brings me back to highschool days- buying that homegrown

Unfortunately, I will not have enough this run to do a proper cure. I'm providing for 3 people, including myself, who smoke 1oz min. a month: needless to say it's all gone now Through more research, i've become a fan of reducing the PPM's near the end of the grow to half, or no lower than 400ppm. This isn't to allow the plant to eat food (it's not eating at this stage of growth) But to allow a gentle leeching of nutrient salts from the plant to the nutrient solution.

ROUGH Example:

1-Plant contains 1200ppm nutrient salts = to the nutrient solution
2-reduce solution to 400-600ppm
3-osmosis forces the 1200ppm in the plant to equal out with the ppm's of the water
4-what should be expected in a nutrient solution of 800PPM, and a plant containing 800ppm of nutrient salts.
5-when nutrient salts started to rise, i'd cut in soltion in half again, reducing to 300-400 ppm for the final week

People who flush using straight RO water after feeding heavily put a large "osmotic pressure" on the roots. it's kindof like a jet engine trying to suck air through a pinhole. The plants can get stressed from this forceful reduction of salts... people argue that it "distracts" the plants from bud production.

This is what i'll be trying next, after already doing a semi flush free harvest. At the end of the day, I have confidence that "flushing" is more soil exclusive. Hydroponic solution won't build up the toxic levels of salts that soil or other mediums will. That is not to say that hydroponics couldn't benefit from a reduction of PPMs near the end.

 

[splifford321]

This is an excellent thread, and I hope more people are aware of it. What Roseman said makes a lot of sense as far as whether or not to flush; the bad taste is in the leaves, not the flowers.

I also liked the 12 foot tall tree analogy, and here's something else to think about along those lines. Consider those commercial growers in Northern California who crank out the killer buds every season. Some of them have patches of 500 - 1,000 plants or more. Does it seem reasonable that those growers are out there flushing 500 - 1,000 plants? Somehow I don't think so, lol

Before I found this thread I had a dilemma, and I was not sure what to do about it. I have a Deep Water Culture Hydro Grow with 4 plants in it. Two of my plants will be ready for harvest in about 4 - 5 days, while the other two plants will be ready in a little over 2 weeks. So the dilemma is how to flush the 1st two plants, while trying to avoid starving or seriously injuring the 2nd two plants? Yeah, not possible as far as I can tell.

This is when Roseman provided the answer, just trim the leaves as close to the buds as possible to minimize any bad taste, that makes sense to me. I think I will try it; in fact I don't have much choice, lol

Thank You Roseman and others for your valuable input!

 

[bucktoothal]

I have talked to a few outdoor growers about this, what I have been told is they don't add or give any nutes. the last month to month n 1/2 b4 harvest. Just give water.

I my self flush at the last week b4 harvest.

 

[Reefa Cheefa]

All I have to say about the matter is that I had some plants going and I flushed for about a week and thats it. I really don't even want to smoke the bud because it really kind of tastes like shit. I honestly don't see why you wouldn't flush your plants. I know that I don't want to be smoking up any nutrients left behind. Part of the whole reason I started growing was because I wanted to be able to say that I smoke 100% organic product. I have heard too many stories of places growing with pesticides that can cause cancer.

 

[ultrasonic]

you sound like you're talking about soil?

I think the general agreement is soil requires longer flush, and hydro growers can get away with 5-7 days, or even less.

Soil mediums hold more salts that aren't flushed as easily.

Soil requires, IMHO, a 2 week flush.

 

[Reefa Cheefa]

No I'm talking bubbles

 

[Racefan]

The lucas formula isn't just about skipping preharvest flushing. With hydro one should be flushing for maintenance as well. That means every 2 weeks or so you should be dumping your reservoir and starting over with fresh nutrients. The lucas formula suggests this isn't neccessary and says to use only 2 parts of general hydros 3 part formula (no grow) and to add it back to reservoir to reach a certain EC (PPM) The bad thing about this is that if a reservoir uses high amounts of potassium but little phosphorous and you add back equal amounts of both one could end up with extremely high levels of phosphorous and low potassium levels or vice versus. If you start wirh a new clean reservoir every time you will know exactly how much of each element your plant is getting and how much to replace over the two week period.

 

[WolfBud71]

If you keep your water/feed schedule in tact...........water/feed/water/feed and don't over feed i say you will be fine. I never done a two week flush or longer in soil, or even a one week flush and my bud tasted great and burned nice with white ash.

 

[mdelio]

If you keep your water/feed schedule in tact...........water/feed/water/feed and don't over feed i say you will be fine. I never done a two week flush or longer in soil, or even a one week flush and my bud tasted great and burned nice with white ash.

I have had 6-8 grows in DWC and change every 2 weeks, I now don't flush or change the tank at all, and get better bigger buds. I read this somewhere on this forums, I believe it was from a member, Private Stalk he runs his system for 9 months without a tank change, and had great results. No flush at all, change only when changing over to flowering. [RDWC only] and feeding schedule you have proven works, I also use General Hydroponics Max Grow and Bloom, with Calmag plus and Hydro-guard, nothing else needed. * IT WORKS, CK MY PHTOS IN THE MEMBERS GALERY.* water only last 2 weeks as a flush if you want to call it a flush.