Flush or not to flush, that is the question

strictlyflavours said:

I think If your growing completely organic no need to flush but if your using any kind of synthetic fertiliser then yeah flush 100%
doesn't really matter anyways like you said before every grow is different and comes down to the person individually and the techniques used but thats just my take on it anyways.

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Sorry how I didn’t read your post said unless organic. I even quoted it.

teddy bonkers said:

oh yeah,another flushing and bro science thread

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I think people do this on purpose.

strictlyflavours said:

I think If your growing completely organic no need to flush but if your using any kind of synthetic fertiliser then yeah flush 100%
doesn't really matter anyways like you said before every grow is different and comes down to the person individually and the techniques used but thats just my take on it anyways.

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Think of it this way.

plants uptake nutrients as IONS.

chemical nutrients means the IONS are in an already available form for uptake.

organic nutrients means that the bioherd need to convert organic matter into nutrient IONS for uptake.

does the plant know which ions are which?

Nope it doesn’t.

IONS are IONS.

If you’re flushing to remove built up nutrients in the plants cell walls then I’m sorry you’re not going to remove anything from the plants.

if you’re flushing because of over feeding you’re trying to remove excess nutrients from the growing medium. This is achievable.

any relation to “black ash” “smoother smoke” or to “remove excess nutrients from the buds” is just Bro science.

the art of using plain water near the end of a grow is to leach and not flush.

leaching slowly lowers the nutrient reserves in the medium.

allowing the plant to use the reducing amounts of nutrients in the MEDIUM

My 2 cents of bro science.

I dont feed heavily at all. I run in 100% sterile hydro with hydroton. I tend to do a couple of days flush with some Yucca extract added to my res.

( My bro science bit ) " I " only do this to clean out any nutes from the root zone so the plant starts to eat any reserves it has stored in the plant. I beleive that the end product is determined by how you dry and cure your crop. I cut the plant whole, and hang it whole. How long it continues to stay alive and active before it stops using any water or nutrients stored in the stems and leaves I dont know. But i also do a 10 day hang before i even touch them to go into tubs to burp if they need it, and then to cure.

I end up with a really nice smooth smoke with no pops and crackles.

If youve been nurturing them for months, dont rush the end product and youll end up with a nice harvest.

Oh look someone doesn’t know how to use the search bar.

Huktonponics said:

the plant starts to eat any reserves it has stored in the plant.

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This bit doesn’t happen.

the article I posted actually shows elevated levels or Fe being Found in tissue samples due to flushing.

For example.
Tomatoes.
If you flush copious amounts of water through tomatoes you get tomatoe fruit split especially if you have a wet dry cycle that’s too extreme.

Rhizosphere balance is a fine art.

too much of a change in either direction can cause reverse osmosis to occur in the rootzone.

this is where the plants roots actually begin to exude water!!!

Regardless of if your hydro soil or soiless.

@jondamon

Oh cool.Thanks for the true science. I'll look into the article.

So i have been doing more harm than good doing it this way ?

I always thought it was a bit counter productive to starve your plants at the end of the cycle, but it seems to be a very common discussion / debate / argument / fight

Huktonponics said:

@jondamon

Oh cool.Thanks for the true science. I'll look into the article.

So i have been doing more harm than good doing it this way ?

I always thought it was a bit counter productive to starve your plants at the end of the cycle, but it seems to be a very common discussion / debate / argument / fight

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I reduce the amount I feed (I’m a coco grower) I reduce my EC down over the last 7-14 days reducing from 1.3 down to around 0.8.
This allows a slight fading of the plant as if It would in nature due to senescence.

@jondamon

While I have your attention, does a high sulphur content in the last few weeks hold much weight to what I see people saying about it initiating a death signal to the plant ?

Sorry to go off topic, but I figure as its in relation to end of cycle it could be useful, and seems you may know.

Huktonponics said:

@jondamon

While I have your attention, does a high sulphur content in the last few weeks hold much weight to what I see people saying about it initiating a death signal to the plant ?

Sorry to go off topic, but I figure as its in relation to end of cycle it could be useful, and seems you may know.

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S helps with flavour which is why a lot of people use Epsom salts in flower (myself included)

Huktonponics said:

@jondamon

Oh cool.Thanks for the true science. I'll look into the article.

So i have been doing more harm than good doing it this way ?

I always thought it was a bit counter productive to starve your plants at the end of the cycle, but it seems to be a very common discussion / debate / argument / fight

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yep, I always ask people how do you flush immobile nutrients?
Immobile nutrients either stay at their destination or move very little once assimilated and transported. Immobile nutrients include calcium (Ca), boron (B), chlorine (Cl), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), silicon (Si), sulfur (S) and zinc (Zn)

But you can flush them from your medium. So your plant doesn’t end up absorbing additional nutrients.

Wattzzup said:

But you can flush them from your medium. So your plant doesn’t end up absorbing additional nutrients.

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yes you can, but if you don't over feed, you won't have that issue.

Wattzzup said:

But you can flush them from your medium. So your plant doesn’t end up absorbing additional nutrients.

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This is true and is useful when you’ve been heavy handed with your nutrients.

stopping a plant from absorbing any nutrients by “flushing” them out of the medium only starves the plant of vital nutrients at possible Needed times.

I’m a big advocate for reducing your nutrient strength towards the end to get a slight “fade” but I barely even cut my in half to finish.

1.3EC before reduction. 0.8EC after reduction.

I feed until the end reducing the EC during the final weeks. Synthetic nutrients, coco. Slow dry and jar. Weed smells and tastes great. Friends that come over that don't grow tell me my weed is better than what they're getting at the dispensaries. Many people overfeed their weed and end up with high leaf to calyx ratio and thick stems. That's one reason I don't use silica products. I'm not trying to grow sturdy stocks. I want flowers not fiber.

I don't flush, I just cure properly.

Anyone know of any other experiments with flushing similar to the RX green one? Would be good to see it replicated

hey jude said:

Anyone know of any other experiments with flushing similar to the RX green one? Would be good to see it replicated

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There aren’t many companies out there willing to commit to the trials like RX did.

A lot of folks are talking about the RX trial.

even mentioned in high times.


There’s also a lot of people linking to the RX study.

there are sceptics as there are with anything.

what I say is “good on you RX tech” because they’ve even tested the end results in labs looking for THC content terpene content nutrient analysis.

There’s a key sentence in the trial that most people miss.

once a nutrient enters the plant it cannot be removed by using water to the rootzone!

jondamon said:

There aren’t many companies out there willing to commit to the trials like RX did.

A lot of folks are talking about the RX trial.

even mentioned in high times.

New Research Shows Flushing Plants Before Harvest May Be Unnecessary

In a blind taste test, researchers have found that many prefer cannabis that has not been flushed before harvest.

hightimes.com

There’s also a lot of people linking to the RX study.

there are sceptics as there are with anything.

what I say is “good on you RX tech” because they’ve even tested the end results in labs looking for THC content terpene content nutrient analysis.

There’s a key sentence in the trial that most people miss.

once a nutrient enters the plant it cannot be removed by using water to the rootzone!

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A couple of great statements from the HT article you linked to. Many of us have been saying the same things for quite some time:

“Really, flushing is an extension of the fact that most people are over-feeding their plants,” says Danko, advising growers to feed their plants lightly, in many cases at lower levels than recommended by nutrient manufacturers.

“It’s always easier to bump up the nutrients when you see a deficiency than it is to remove nutrients when you’ve overfed,” he says.

spek9 said:

A couple of great statements from the HT article you linked to. Many of us have been saying the same things for quite some time:

“Really, flushing is an extension of the fact that most people are over-feeding their plants,” says Danko, advising growers to feed their plants lightly, in many cases at lower levels than recommended by nutrient manufacturers.

“It’s always easier to bump up the nutrients when you see a deficiency than it is to remove nutrients when you’ve overfed,” he says.

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I think I’ve seen both you, me, @bk78 @Thundercat @coreywebster all advocate that it’s easier to correct an underfed plant than an over fed plant.