The Importance of Flushing -- too often overlooked

Racer no one smoke's the dirt...when you pour all the water through the dirt it's to remove any residual fertilizer in the mix ...THEN the plant has to use what it has stored to keep growing for that week thus reducing the amount of salt's (nute's) in the finishing product!! burn's cleaner and smoother...why not take the time and do all you can to help out a bud! Bud

Using organics all the way and don't flush! Like Cowboy used to say flushing is for toilets. I just give them all water the last week and cure and dry properly. I have some of the best smoke around in my area. To each his own I guess! Only give regular watering schedule at the end. No extra.

dozer>>>that's cool I have only used a couple of fertilizer line's fox and flora-nova and I personally haven't seen a need to flush but do the same as you on most just water last two week's..jack...but I could let my bud dry under a porch and it would still be incredible! probably right and doesn't matter!! Never did outside!!and never a complaint! probably omly matter's with crap weed garbage in garbage out...with your quality doesn't matter...jack

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/greenhouse/nursery/guides/ghhdbk/salts.html

This is a good little read on the "salts" present in common fertilizers.

I will agree with the no real need to flush before harvest. That being said I guess I always interpreted flushing for harvest as just discontinuing your feed schedule for the last week or so. Is it not just the same word being used to describe 2 different scenarios and actions? One meaning to flush salt buildup out of the soil and the other to let the plant flush it self of remaining nutrients.

I'm pretty new at this, but it sounds like you guys are confusing flushing with leeching... Flushing is cutting off nutes before harvest, and leeching (maybe leaching) is where you pour at least twice as much water through the soil so remove excess nutes and salt buildup.

I had to edit this after reading more, when I speak of flushing below, I just mean watering with pure water (ph balanced just for her) until it seeps out into the drainage tray for the last 4 - 5 watering (or 10 - 14 days) I don't believe it is necessary to stink a plant into a tub and run water.

I don't pretend to know if flushing does wonders, I don't take the chance to find out I always flush.

I have not read this (I don't think I read a lot after I smoke my night time meds) but my theory behind flushing and the reason I do is because I believe (without scientific data) that by flushing you are essentially getting rid of any excess chemicals behind carried up the stem and into your flowering buds. Here me out this is how I rationalize it in my head, if you don't flush the plant delivers nutrients until the last harvest, these nutrients remain in the stem being fed to your flowers, now perhaps the drying and curing process decipates the remaining nutes, I don't know, but again I don't test it. By flushing the plant you are basically giving it up to 2 weeks to use up it's remaining nutes while also flushing out what remained in the soil, makes sense in my head.

So you send fresh water into your medium that runs out of your pot and thus carrying with it salts and nutrients, 4 or 5 watering the plant has grabbed for all remaining nutrients, but there are none to have, so it uses up any nutrients it had stored in it's stem, the end result it is starving for nutrients when you finally cut it down, free and clean of excess compounds.

I had to explain it a couple ways lol a little stoned...

Flushing your plants for 2 weeks is not good, and people that pour 15 gallons of water in a 4 gallon pot???Stop now!You're wasting your time, and hurting your plants.

When I did my first 2 grows I would flush my plants with a lot of water--Noob move 101, then my last grow I just used water on 3 plants my last week, and buds where just as good as the buds that where not flushed.So I just use water my last week, to save on nutes

racerboy71 said:

yah, that's not flushing, i do this as well to my cannabis plants, simply cut down on nutes the last week or so... this is completely different then dumping 3x's the amount of soil in water through a plant, which imo does nada for taste, flavor, or any of the other things people say flushing does..

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I have tried both
'flushed" and un flushed with my grows, and have found that the smoke does seem to burn better when you switch out h2o for nutes the last week or two, BUT....I think some folks take the flushing deal way too far. Throughout the life of the plant, when is it good to drown the roots with water? We all know this smothers the plants, and wouldn't dare to do it at any other time in it's life cycle. In fact, we all avoid it knowing the negative effects of over watering. Why would anyone smother the plant in it's crucial final stages? Like recerboy says, cut down the nutes is fine, or just give 'em water for the last couple of "feedings". Stop drowning the poor things.....it's completely counter productive......

research about how drowning is the way to go

https://www.rollitup.org/blogs/blog1231-harvesting-drying-curing-research-study.html

I always drown the last 7 - 10 days, just plain tap water; no nutes, no air stone.

regards,

the plants drink the water. so theres chems in the leaves. rip off a fan leaf and dab it on your toungue it will be bitter. try same test week 1 and 2 after flush. if u dont flush ur either dumb or lazy.

racerboy71 said:

okay, since you started it... tell me how pouring a bunch of water into the soil is going to improve the taste of my bud??
i'm not smoking the dirt, and i'm pretty sure nobody else is, so what is the purpose of dumping gallons of water through the soil again??

how does dumping gallons of water through a soil make buds burn cleaner??

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People still respond to this guy?

Anytime a thread user posts something like this and he only has 1 post and never comes back to respond my first thought it

You got trolled.

I didn't even read any of the theories (or arguments against) to flush or not....

All I know is when someone talks to me about pure tasting weed, organically grown with white ash and shit... I realize I'm the type of connoisseur that reaches in my fridge for a bottle of fine wine, skips the part where I'm supposed to whiff my hand over the whine glass (to catch the "bow-K") un-screws the twist off cap, puts the bottle to my lips and chugs the mo-fo down

In my opinion I would not consider myself a professional by any means. From my experience, if you are growing in soil then instead of flushing the last couple weeks with excessive h2o, just feed it water and let the plant use up what it needs. In nature all of the microbial activity is below the soil and contained within. If in nature it gets nutrients until the day it is picked, why is indoor any different.....