Is this plant ready to flush?

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
I don't know because there are a bunch of reasons why your friend could be saying that. That is why scientists do a lot of hard work carrying out experiments where they control variables, take careful measurements, and use sound statistical methods to find out the truth.

What if unflushed plants are healthier, live longer after being chopped, and take longer to dry? The explanation could be as simple as moister buds don't burn as easily, but without measuring and controlling moisture levels in the buds then there is no way to know. It is a confounding variable.

What if there wasn't really any difference in ash production but your friend just has that impression? There is no way to know without measuring the weight and color of the ash and logging the results. If you're a believer in flushing then you might not notice when a bowl of flushed buds burns incompletely but when it happens with an unflushed crop it stands out like a sore thumb. Scientists call that "confirmation bias."

On the other hand, some of the objections to flushing are based an actual science. It is a fact that some elements are immobile and can't be translocated once deposited in plant tissue. So if the parts of the plant that need them can't get them from the xylem because they have been flushed out of the root zone or it is simply depleted then the processes that depend on them won't be able to proceed. That is part of why flushing makes no sense. How the elements get "flushed" out of the plant is also a complete mystery because it doesn't make sense. Where do they go?

Ultimately, the proponents of flushing carry the burden of proving their claims. Plant nutrition is a well studied topic so a conventional approach of ensuring all elements are available in proportions that keep the plant healthy would be the null hypothesis.

I'm only aware of one attempt to do something like a controlled experiment on flushing. The results were not positive but the experiment also wasn't very high quality. Needs More Research™️
Great post, thank you very much.
 

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
Your largely not botanists farmers or ag tech so when you here of methods like flushing, darkness before harvesting, boveda, cal/mag you have a tendancy to pull up the bandwagon and make a big song and dance about it trying to convince everyone else that its the way or you get shitty tasting bud.

Were just trying to steer you clear of a whole world of un-needed broscience bullcrud and the monster you will become here trying to convince excellent growers that they are wrong and you are right.

Its not just a flush, its a gateway method to a lot of rubbish others produce better product without.
Thanks for your reply and advice. it is much appreciated.
 

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
you'll never stop learning , thats the great part! mother nature is a bitch to replicate so we'll always be learning.

"Flushing" The word itself needs changed in the grow world. The proof is here, there everywhere. Common flushing where you dump a shiton of water through the pot to leach out nutes is completely impossible an makes zero sense. 99.5% of the time , that would never be needed in ANY plant.

Real flushing is to just water only till your soil runs out of food. its not called flushing, its just called taking care of the girls.
NOW, letting them go yellow and start to die is up for debate. I say keep them green an others say yellow tastes better.
From my experience , the healthier the plant , the higher it tests, period.
Then you have the actual test numbers. Green plant tests at 18% thc and yellow plant tests at 17.2% thc. IF the yellow tastes better then its worth it to let them go yellow but i dont agree with this.
Thanks very much for your input.
 

mpaull

Well-Known Member
Hello,

I hope I have put this in the correct place, if not my apologies. I have never posted on one of these sites before but have read many threads. have just recently started to try growing and need some advise from some experienced folks. I am trying to figure out if I am ready to start flushing. This plant is my first plant and the first time I have ever grown anything from a seed. This was a free seed from Crop King seeds and is a Northern Lights Autoflower. I attached a couple pictures of the trichomes as of yesterday and wondering if I can start the final flush? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
So last fall I grew 2 Royal Gorillas with my others. I flushed one for almost 2 weeks. The other, I fed up until 4 days before harvest. The one I didn't flush had larger (slightly) and denser buds. Believe it or not, the girl I didn't flush tasted slightly better as well. I will try another taste test shortly....you know, just for shits and giggles...oh yeah... and for research ;-)
 

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
So last fall I grew 2 Royal Gorillas with my others. I flushed one for almost 2 weeks. The other, I fed up until 4 days before harvest. The one I didn't flush had larger (slightly) and denser buds. Believe it or not, the girl I didn't flush tasted slightly better as well. I will try another taste test shortly....you know, just for shits and giggles...oh yeah... and for research ;-)
LOL, thanks. I appreciate your dedication to research.
 

Bushbaby11

Well-Known Member
Hello,

I hope I have put this in the correct place, if not my apologies. I have never posted on one of these sites before but have read many threads. have just recently started to try growing and need some advise from some experienced folks. I am trying to figure out if I am ready to start flushing. This plant is my first plant and the first time I have ever grown anything from a seed. This was a free seed from Crop King seeds and is a Northern Lights Autoflower. I attached a couple pictures of the trichomes as of yesterday and wondering if I can start the final flush? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Would leave it a few more days, you want more milky & amber trichs just keep checking it every day, usually about a week from this point it'll be ready, depends on strain
 

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
Would leave it a few more days, you want more milky & amber trichs just keep checking it every day, usually about a week from this point it'll be ready, depends on strain
Thanks for your reply. Got my first sight of amber today but only the very top of the main cola. Will be leaving it at least a few more days and checking daily. Might just harvest that main cola first and leave the rest for a few more days. Just going to keep my eyes on it. I am really enjoying watching the changes. Mon May 11 20-50-56.jpg
 

Bushbaby11

Well-Known Member
Thanks for your reply. Got my first sight of amber today but only the very top of the main cola. Will be leaving it at least a few more days and checking daily. Might just harvest that main cola first and leave the rest for a few more days. Just going to keep my eyes on it. I am really enjoying watching the changes. View attachment 4562842

Ideally you want 50%milky & 50%amber, wouldn't take the top of yet though, too soon and you'll ruin all your hard work, don't rush it lol patience is KEY at this part
 

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
Ideally you want 50%milky & 50%amber, wouldn't take the top of yet though, too soon and you'll ruin all your hard work, don't rush it lol patience is KEY at this part
I appreciate the advice, not to worry, as I said I will wait a few days. That was just the first sign of amber I have seen and only in the very top. I will be patient, there is no way I worked on this for months to ruin it over a couple days. Heck there is no need to rush it, drying and curing means it will be a while no matter what. Should all be worth it in the end.
 

getogrow

Well-Known Member
Ideally you want 50%milky & 50%amber, wouldn't take the top of yet though, too soon and you'll ruin all your hard work, don't rush it lol patience is KEY at this part
this is 100% preference at this point.
50% amber is way too much in my world. That would mean 50% of your resin heads are starting to degrade. Its all downhill from there. (10-15% is as close to mature as you can get) My personal preference is no more then 10% amber ......when i see amber , its chop time.
 

Doug Dawson

Well-Known Member
this is 100% preference at this point.
50% amber is way too much in my world. That would mean 50% of your resin heads are starting to degrade. Its all downhill from there. (10-15% is as close to mature as you can get) My personal preference is no more then 10% amber ......when i see amber , its chop time.
Thanks for your input. From what I have read 50% will likely be to much for me as well, I don't want to be stuck to my couch. Those Amber Trichomes are the first I have seen and only on the main cola, everywhere else it looks cloudy. I will check it again today and see how it looks. In the end I decided to skip the flush and see how it goes, fingers crossed
 
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Budget Buds

Well-Known Member
I dont know how many times I've said it before..... depriving a plant in the last couple of weeks when it needs the nutrients the most because of the myth that you can somehow flush nutrients out of a plant is retarded. All you are doing is a guaranteeing a way to reduce you're yields and quality.some nutrients are immobile and not able to be removed from the plant, others are mobile but are utilized more efficiently and thus not flushable either ( think yellowing leaves in flowering from lack of nitrogen)

The time you chop, the duration of the dry and cure is the way to make great cannabis....

When I was more inexperienced with growing cannabis I would flush too, I met and old timer who laughed when I asked him how he flushed..... he instructed me to make a note of my current grow at that times yield and the next run dont flush ..... I used the same strain from the same mother and the only change was the not flushing part.... I yielded over 2 more ounces from not flushing, after the dry and cure it was noticeably more potent than the last runs was.

Dont buy into the myth of flushing , it's some stoner myth conjured up by nutrient companies to sell you shit you dont need.
 
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