how long should you flush dwc system?

mr. green thumb 01

mr. green thumb 01

New Member
2 questions
1. how long should you flush dwc for?
2. whats the shortest period you can flush a dwc to have decent results?

I know most people will say 2 week flush but some of the plants are looking very ripe and I dont know if I should wait that long.
 
Flo Grow

Flo Grow

Well-Known Member
The FASTEST way to flush, soil or hydro, is with a 1/4 strength nute solution for 2 - 3 days at least.
This leeches that residual salt and mineral build up quicker and more efficiently.
The mild formula acts like your own little scrubbers.
WAY more than plain water could ever do !
 
mr. green thumb 01

mr. green thumb 01

New Member
thanks guys for your input + rep for your alls opinion i will probably start a staggered harvest

FLOGRO 1/4 strength? I am curious as to where you obtained this information. I am not doubting you. I just would like to learn more

OLIAS do you use organic nutes?
 
Flo Grow

Flo Grow

Well-Known Member
mr. green thumb 01 said:
thanks guys for your input + rep for your alls opinion i will probably start a staggered harvest

FLOGRO 1/4 strength? I am curious as to where you obtained this information. I am not doubting you. I just would like to learn more

OLIAS do you use organic nutes?
Click to expand...
Read it in more than I grow book, icluding 2 by J. Cervantes
Also, RezDog pointed out that he flushes in 50 ppm water/solution for the same purpose of flushing the build up instead of still feeding with 100+ ppm's.
 
E

ecofrog

Member
Flo Grow said:
The FASTEST way to flush, soil or hydro, is with a 1/4 strength nute solution for 2 - 3 days at least.
This leeches that residual salt and mineral build up quicker and more efficiently.
The mild formula acts like your own little scrubbers.
WAY more than plain water could ever do !
Click to expand...
My first post :)

Im sorry but my understanding of chemistry doesnt agree with these statements. Diffusion and kinetics tell me that if you are looking to 'flush' salts, then starting with 0ppm is better than 1ppm than is better than 10ppm than is better than 100ppm...

Ofcourse if you are interested in more of a gradual drop, than it would make sense to reduce to 1/2 or 1/4 strength. But dont mistake that with the term 'flush'. My understand of the term means that you are trying to reduce the salts to as low as possible. Thus, you will start with as low as possible TDS water. In the lab i work for, we have 500ppb ion exchanged water that i use when im trying to flush. My growroom R/O is ~ 5ppm that i use for everyday usage.
 
Flo Grow

Flo Grow

Well-Known Member
I agree with you Ecofrog. Cool name by the way.
I didn't add the fact that after I leech or gradually drop the ppm's with a 1/4 nute solution for a week
I then flush with r/o too, but mine is 18 ppm.
I recomm to ppl to flush with less than 100 ppm, but preferrable 50 or less.
Most ppl don't flush that low, but instead feed with mild solutions really (100+ppm's).
 
E

ecofrog

Member
I grow in a modified perlite bucket, I think people here call it 'hempy bucket'. I also use a modified Lucus formula with H2O2 and CalMax with RO water.

I find that Im able to feed 1200ppm up to about 15days before harvest. When the plants get closer to harvest, they drop water usage and that is my signal to drop the nitrogen and micro's. I feed with Lucus formula minus the Micro part for about 5 days and heavy flooding of pure RO/H2O2 water for the last 10days. I find that by the about the 11th day of this regime, the effluent is pretty low ppm. I dont water and let them dry the last couple days before harvest.

The perlite has a relatively low CEC and the heavy flooding empties the bottom rez. This seems to do a pretty good job of rapid flushing. Soil or other media would need a different regime depending on its CEC capacity and organic load if using soil (or have dirty conditions).
 
BeaverHuntr

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
ecofrog said:
I grow in a modified perlite bucket, I think people here call it 'hempy bucket'. I also use a modified Lucus formula with H2O2 and CalMax with RO water.

I find that Im able to feed 1200ppm up to about 15days before harvest. When the plants get closer to harvest, they drop water usage and that is my signal to drop the nitrogen and micro's. I feed with Lucus formula minus the Micro part for about 5 days and heavy flooding of pure RO/H2O2 water for the last 10days. I find that by the about the 11th day of this regime, the effluent is pretty low ppm. I dont water and let them dry the last couple days before harvest.

The perlite has a relatively low CEC and the heavy flooding empties the bottom rez. This seems to do a pretty good job of rapid flushing. Soil or other media would need a different regime depending on its CEC capacity and organic load if using soil (or have dirty conditions).
Click to expand...
Are you wearing a lab coat ? lol that was in depth takes me back to college.
 
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