Less Nutes or more flushing?

[LordHill]

I will be ready to flip in the next couple of weeks, and I decided to start that bit of research.. I have read multiple, very long, threads pertaining to flushing or not flushing.

I dont mean to start an argument over flushing, but my reading made me wonder...

If people are flushing to remove excess nutes from their soil before introducing new nutes... how big of a problem is excess buildup? If the way we are doing things is causing nutes to build up and just sit around in the soil, are we using too much on a regular basis? Instead of straight flushing, wouldn't it make more sense to cut back on the nutes before flip instead of what seems to be essentially rinsing the soil of any beneficial properties?

 

[Lethidox]

i am currently flipping ( i started yesterday ) what i am doing is im just feeding straight through. fuck a flush. i feed every single watering at least something. before i flipped i fed a full dosage of all my nutrients to prep them for the flip. today they got more clawing ( nitrogen toxicity ) it's not too bad. today i did like a half ass flush i guess you can say in the sense that i didn't feed a higher dosage or any Nitrogen that i know of in my nutrients.

i water every 2-3 days so far i running a 2 day schedule just because i strictly tend to water only 1 gal split amongst 3 plants in 7gal fabric pots. i get NO run off. so the build up im sure is fairly crazy. i feed on the lower end though. started off 1/4th then down to 1/8th now i run 1/10th the strength but like i said i feed pretty much every single watering.

i am also trying a new method by simply feeding veg nutes until the end of stretch then focusing more on bloom nutes just because the stretch i feel uses a lot of nitrogen for the amount of growth in little time. i also see no reason to flush. why? because your plant basically uses everything you feed it in the veg nutes but less nitrogen. so if you tapper it at the very least i would highly assume you get no issues.

if i recall correctly salt builds up due to medium drying out if you see the crusty shit on your nute bottles that SHOULD be salt ( same happens with salt water ) that is cause by drying/lack of moisture. however if you keep dumping more nutrients ontop of nutrients your basically just piling it up thus why if you taper it then the salt content should get lowered. literally like adding water to a pile of salt. more water you add more diluted the salt gets. i really see no reason to flush otherwise. either tapper your nutrients or simply flush. so far with this grow i haven't really had any issues with feeding every watering. yea my leaves are dark, yea they clawing but trust me compared to the past when i used to feed 1/2 strength or more eveyr other watering it's nothing compared to that.

since i flipped just yesterday im going to give it about 2 weeks before i start my bloom nutes i get about 3 feedings in per week though on the last feed it will likely be just carbs and very tiny amounts of nitrogen via my supplements and skip out on the base nutes for veg just to tapper it down a bit.

 

[Logan Burke]

At the risk of over-simplifying this, generally, yes it is better to use less nutrients which will inadvertently create less of a build up. Now just because you're not feeding heavily doesn't mean you can't get salt build up. Flush is pretty controversial, but personally, I think that as long as you aren't feeding really heavy, you should be just fine to cut nutrients totally out the last week or two and just give straight water. This isn't flushing, I'm not saying run 10 gallons of water a day through your soil, just water regular without nutes. I haven't grown in soil in almost 8 years though, maybe a soil veteran can speak more to this.
*EDIT* Monitoring your soil's PH can be a pretty good way of monitoring salt build up, along with testing the PPM of your runoff water.

 

[LordHill]

Thanks for the replys... Good useful information. Very appreciated

 

[Chip Green]

Monitoring your soil's PH

I'm inclined to add the disclaimer of, correctly monitor the soil PH. This really is quite challenging without using specific equipment, or methods...ie, quality soil probe, properly executed slurry test, actual lab test...
Ppm of runoff is useful..... PH of runoff will have you spinning your wheels, while chasing your tail....

 

[Logan Burke]

I'm inclined to add the disclaimer of, correctly monitor the soil PH. This really is quite challenging without using specific equipment, or methods...ie, quality soil probe, properly executed slurry test, actual lab test...
Ppm of runoff is useful..... PH of runoff will have you spinning your wheels, while chasing your tail....

Thank you for adding in! Being in hydroponics for so long now, I sometimes miss good points when it comes to soil.