Soil Flush Help from all you pot gurus

ballemason

Member
So is it safe to flush my 70/30 peat/soil mix. I have used pretty much only compost, bone meal and fish emultion mixed in for nutrients. However my GrapeKrush looks alot like it's either burned or locked up. Not sure here are some pics. 22 days into flower when the pics were taken, has gotton worst moving up the plant. Brown tips-loss of color-wrinkled look- dry fingers, dead yellow leaf
 

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Turtle Koi

Active Member
So is it safe to flush my 70/30 peat/soil mix. I have used pretty much only compost, bone meal and fish emultion mixed in for nutrients. However my GrapeKrush looks alot like it's either burned or locked up. Not sure here are some pics. 26 days into flower
Flushin to plants is like raining. If you have a RO filter, I dont see why you wouldnt flush. Damping is also good for organics to discompose. Up 2 you, I would say.
 

ArcadiaAbsent

Active Member
Flushing is safe to do whenever, its never too early to "cleanse" the plant with water sans nutes if you are worried about an excess of nutes accumulating in the soil. The yellowing of the leaves can happen pretty early on some strains, its due to the lockout/lack of nitrogen absorption. The same thing happens from inadequate light penetration to lower leaves, and I've seen pH issues cause similar looking color changes. It doesn't look to sever to me, and it looks mainly like a nitrogen deficiency if anything, Phosphorous deficiency looks kinda similar but much more severe and much more brown in my experience. If either are the case though, flushing isn't gonna help, its the lack of nutes in that case causing the problem.

What kind of micro nutrients are you adding, and how are you addressing calcium magnessium inputs if RO water is used? Also, here is a little quote from a strain library pertaining to your strain that might shed a bit of light on the problem, : "Her variegated leaves sometimes curl or "krinkle"; this is an expression of anomalous recessd traits from her diverse ancestors, not a mutation that indicates an unhealthy plant." Looks pretty large and healthy overall, and likely related to nitrogen lockout, its a rather quick eight week strain afterall, and you are nearly half way through the flower.
 

ballemason

Member
Here's the 28 day update, I have thought that it looked like N draw but thought it was to early. Guess I should see what GrapeKrush average flower time is, Sure wish I knew who her father was. I had also considered low K, so I got some FoxFarms-Big Bloom, do you all think I should have gotten the TigerBloom due to higher P and K values? I have Epson Salt for cal/mag and fish emultion for N. Next soil prep I will be adding BloodMeal, wormcastings and suplimenting some peat for coco fiber raising the natural K. The main reason I have been lagging is plain old newbee fear and lack of knowledge. But yes a flush is like a heavy rain I suppose and with extra organic nutes I can replace/feed if it's not to late. What do you all think
 

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IXOYE

Active Member
I'm about deduction and try the flush first (for fear of making problems worse with a miss diagnosis).
I had to flush a week or so back and was flat broke for my distilled water so I took a roll of the dice and flushed with my town's chlorine ridden, fluoridated isht tap-water. They sprung back right away...and now they're back to a fox farm schedule (a delicated combination of big bloom, grow big and tiger bloom mixed into distilled water).

PS: Mason great avatar
 

ballemason

Member
Was about to go ahead and flush but then read some posts and such about over-watering and root rot. My GK is in a 6 gallon pot and stand 39" tall, I can't very well just flip her over and check the lower soil. I should have enough sand and perlite so it won't bog down, however still a little nervous.
 

taint

Well-Known Member
First don't panic,just relax and stop doing anything.
What type of soil,how often are you watering?
 

ballemason

Member
bottom of 6 gallon pot 4"-5" of: 2prt peat-2prt mushroom compost(permagreen Brand)-1part play sand-1 part perlite. Filler mix: 2prt peat- 1prt BaseFlowerMix( 2prt Eko Brand Potting mix-1part play sand)-1prt perlite- 2tblsp Bone meal per approx.12gallon of soil. When the pot feels light I water about 1/2 gal per 6 gallon pot. GK has been given slightly more , recently because I fed them all some bloom#3 by green air products at 1/2 strength of the mild dose rate. 1qrt per plant
 

Eviljay

Member
I wait till it's dry too, but I saturate it till I have 90 percent runoff, then I don't water for a week. That's usually 1 - 1.5 gallons on 4 gallons of soil for me. I'd be suprised if your lower roots are getting water and evenly with only a half gallon in a 6 gallon pot
 

taint

Well-Known Member
Dude.............yer making it way harder than ya got too.
There's so much going on regards yer mix it's more than likely a combination of factors.
I've run the gauntlet in soil from totally homemade mixes to bagged soils organically and chemically.
Assuming temps and humidity are within acceptable parameters I highly suspect yer just doing too much for them.
Currently for me I'm using the cheapest soil in the store scotts topsoil(all they had)zero nutes in the bag.
They get 1/2 teaspoon of peters 10-10-10- in 1/3 gal. of water basically every other day once rooted into the pots.
No flushing just stop the nutes about 2 weeks before harvest,this allows the plants to use up what's lingering in the dirt and the fan leaves.
Just an observation from on old dirt guy,the funnest thang bout this thing we do is you can make it as simple or complex as you like it.........good luck and stay safe.
 

Turtle Koi

Active Member
i really dont think you'll get root rot, specially such an advanced thirsty flowering root system, considering you have good flow 'n runoff, flush the fuck off of it with RO water, will also give a last burst to the organic bacteria, molasses for the babies, sucanat does the trick, take some magnifying glass pics, up 'em, dry the bitch if so, gut lok
 

hampster

Member
Hmmm just a general tip or two here...

Flushing in pure soil/peat, especially with unhealthy plants, are almost certain to waterlog them with a high risk of inducing root rot. The 70/30 mix with perlite is ideal however, and will substancially decrease the risk of this to occur.

And, what many people seem to fail to realize, is that the plants exude metabolic waste-products from the roots - in effect they take a constant crap in the pot... This needs to be flushed out for keeping them healthy, and a VERY good way to achieve this is to water with a 10-20% run-off each time - it is in my opinion a necessity. But this of course makes it VITAL to use the perlite-enhanced and well draining media.

Good luck.
 
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