MrBaker
Well-Known Member
How are we defining a "flush"?
Anyway, I think that the organic life in your food/growing medium may have been able to deal with any synthetic salt build-up.
What the hell are you growing in, anyway? Like a pro-mix or something? Do you re-use your "soil"?
The way I learned it:
Flush = just water (often times, lotsa) used to wash out the build-up of synthetic salts during a synthetic grow. Supposedly, if the salts and other stuff (synthetic nutrients included) in the growing medium are washed out then the plant is forced to uptake water and use its nutrient reserves; resulting in less chemical stuff in the final product. The use of this nutrient reserve is one possible reason for leaf yellowing. So, when coupled with what could be natural senescence (death) towards the end of a plant's life, it's fairly common for leaves to get dropped. IMO, the trick is to flush when the plant is ready (a whole WoT in itself), and not make the plant look ready by flushing too early and starving it, ya dig?
Flushing Organics?
If a system is organic (or even mostly organic), then there should not be a build up of synthetic salts. Now that those are gone, a flush would only be good for starving the plant if the growing medium hasn't been augmented with additives.
Here is where there is a fork in the road.
1.)Assuming the growing medium doesn't hold nutrient reserves, if the plant gets the starve-flush (organic or not) then the plant will drop leaves and eat itself. This might make manicuring easier, and make the dry/cure space stink less like chlorophyll. Will it make the buds taste any better? I think this is a moot point because drying/curing is what makes buds lose the "gamey" taste. The buds are reproductive structure for the plant, so that means the plant will pull food from other less important structures in order to protect the sex organs, and attempt to "live another day". It's not like bad tasting nutrients are stored in buds, and then are magically eaten when the plant is flushed.
2.)Timing the starve-flush has to be done when the grower realizes the plant will be done in 2 weeks. This is something that requires actual experience. Assuming the grower feeds until havest, or the growing medium has been augmented with extra nutrients, the plant will eventually finish even if it doesn't get starved to death. Most strains are meant to flower and die because from an evolutionary sense in the wild, they flower in late summer and die during fall.
To me, unless growing with strictly synthetics, why flush? Unless that "flush" happens to the be the couple weeks between feedings.
Anyway, I think that the organic life in your food/growing medium may have been able to deal with any synthetic salt build-up.
What the hell are you growing in, anyway? Like a pro-mix or something? Do you re-use your "soil"?
The way I learned it:
Flush = just water (often times, lotsa) used to wash out the build-up of synthetic salts during a synthetic grow. Supposedly, if the salts and other stuff (synthetic nutrients included) in the growing medium are washed out then the plant is forced to uptake water and use its nutrient reserves; resulting in less chemical stuff in the final product. The use of this nutrient reserve is one possible reason for leaf yellowing. So, when coupled with what could be natural senescence (death) towards the end of a plant's life, it's fairly common for leaves to get dropped. IMO, the trick is to flush when the plant is ready (a whole WoT in itself), and not make the plant look ready by flushing too early and starving it, ya dig?
Flushing Organics?
If a system is organic (or even mostly organic), then there should not be a build up of synthetic salts. Now that those are gone, a flush would only be good for starving the plant if the growing medium hasn't been augmented with additives.
Here is where there is a fork in the road.
1.)Assuming the growing medium doesn't hold nutrient reserves, if the plant gets the starve-flush (organic or not) then the plant will drop leaves and eat itself. This might make manicuring easier, and make the dry/cure space stink less like chlorophyll. Will it make the buds taste any better? I think this is a moot point because drying/curing is what makes buds lose the "gamey" taste. The buds are reproductive structure for the plant, so that means the plant will pull food from other less important structures in order to protect the sex organs, and attempt to "live another day". It's not like bad tasting nutrients are stored in buds, and then are magically eaten when the plant is flushed.
2.)Timing the starve-flush has to be done when the grower realizes the plant will be done in 2 weeks. This is something that requires actual experience. Assuming the grower feeds until havest, or the growing medium has been augmented with extra nutrients, the plant will eventually finish even if it doesn't get starved to death. Most strains are meant to flower and die because from an evolutionary sense in the wild, they flower in late summer and die during fall.
To me, unless growing with strictly synthetics, why flush? Unless that "flush" happens to the be the couple weeks between feedings.
