(DON'T) Flush & let plant yellow before harvest?

amanda88 said:

..as for your link to the horticulturally renowned Trollitup? (sarc) no thanks, but you have raised some interesting observations tho dependent on the growing medium used

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While I can agree with your view about the site, that's one thread worth checking out. What harm would it do for you to just read it over? You might gain some knowledge, or worst case you wasted a few mins of reading time

I flushed both during grow (hydro) and during last week when I grew years back. The weed burned so smooth, the ash was very light & whispy. I have smoked both chloro/nute rich bud and well flushed, clean bud.

I like the flushed - forcing plant to use most of the stored nutes & chloro simulates end of growing season natural "death" IMHO.

But, hey - whatever works or whatever you THINK works. It's all good.

PseudoBotanist said:

While I can agree with your view about the site, that's one thread worth checking out. What harm would it do for you to just read it over? You might gain some knowledge, or worst case you wasted a few mins of reading time

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I read the thread. I could be wrong but it looks like the guy who started the drowning idea has switched methods, choosing to pour boiling water on the rootball several days before harvest.

i have done the water cure before on outdoor several years ago.....almost zero smell or and very subtle flavor after

not for me, but handy to know it can be done if ya had to

i find that letting the plants get to a state of leaf fade is important.

N in excess in the buds acts as a fire retardant and will keep re-lighting

Moisture does cause dark ash compared to dry

Bovedas are great tools for curing/storage until you are a master of the cure

I see buds that haven't been flushed all the time.

There are two different results from two different techniques.

The first result is the "I can't light this fucken joint, the ash is all black and it tastes like shit result.
Heavy nutes of any kind into harvest will give you this amateur result. Even the best genetics will taste like swag, even if they look good.

Or you could have these very flowers that have been royally fucked up taste just like they smell instead of like Mexican ditch weed from the fifties.
This can be accomplished by vaporizing them instead of smoking them.
You might be able to process them into oil or rosin that tastes ok, especially if you vaporize it at a low temp like 390 or so instead of the typical dab guesswork.

There is another way you can not flush and have good weed result, good smokable weed. That would be, by starting with rich organically fertilized soil and not giving any additional nutes for the life of the plant.

I tried this last year with all the Bodhi gear I planted: Prayer Tower, Love Dog, Gogi Ogi, Jabba's Stash, a Soul Train/Fire Alien cross etc. I really didn't notice a significant decrease in weight and the weed was all excellent in taste, high, and burn.

I am always all organic, but this year i used additional nuts through-out the grow, and I would say even though I use extreme forms of clearing (for an outdoor grower) Last year tasted a little better.

But I only do test joints, I always vaporize, either with my DYI vap or my firefly (when I can find it) so it all tastes great, just like it smells, and all those sequestered nitrogen compounds, and no doubt sugars, just lay in the bowl and never get vaporized.

Not flushing is an intresting one . I used to flush for the last 2 weeks at the end, now I don't.

Remmber long ago I saw a post by a great grower(HEATH ROBINSON) talking about this subject, the way he put it was "why starve the plant , at its most important time of growth?"(ie the last few weeks.

His logic was , just don't heavy feed and the drying/cureing should do the rest. Makes sense to me really.

There might be some positive effects to flushing, maybe more on the medicinal side of things, cleaner bud or something.
However overall getting the best out your plant, feeding till near the end seams to make more sense IMO.

Remmber hearing about for the most part , people just misunderstand whats going on.
What it was supposed to be is from time to time , you just water the plant with some plain water to try and wash off any large salt or whatever buildups.

Kinda like in hydro , sometimes Ill just feed them some water/change the water alltogether.
As sometimes threw the plants drinking more water then neuts etc , you can end up with a toxic liquid.
Ive poured out some buckets where the "water" , was very dark and obv more neuts than water.

Each to there own really.

Moderation seems to be the key to the flush question and allot of the nute level analysis seem pretty subjective. If you want to know whats going on with the levels in your plant then check your roots with in and out levels. Even if you use moderation feeding it is still possible to get build up in coco as the grow goes on. This will cause grief towards the end and build up sucks.

Monitor regularly and flush heavily in one day until the return comes back at a manageable level. Lots of clean water. Then go back to a feeding level of your choice.

It was learned long ago from folks like Heath Robinson and many other old heads that rather than flushing out and starving the plants when they needed feed the most during the last couple weeks of swellage , that feeding lower ppm`s/ec across the board and slowly dwindling down the feed with R/O top offs till in the 200 ppm range of hard tapwater , that a proper dry and cure took/takes care of the rest of the residual nutes left in the plant FTW......now...

Organic growers have no way of flushing since they feed water only from the get , and guaranteed unless grown with intermediate grower skills , no real natural plant senescense occurs as in the fade where the plant uses it`s residual N storage in the large fans for those "fall colors" before the chop....see it more and more these days with water only regimens.....that said....

What`s really not touched upon is the simple fact that chemical nutes are directly derived from all the organic mineral compounds that water only growers use , but mixed with dirt and other amendments compared to inert media with clean lower ppm concentrations that can be more closely monitored by end of cycle , compared to rolling the dice with dirt and amendments and truly not having a clue what ppm`s/ec your plants are at come choptime , but hey that`s just me and all those yrs of things that make you go hmmmm....

Never flushed a plant in my life , and I assure all here that my shit was well accepted in medville on my numerous visits to old head friends over the yrs.....anyways.....

Side by side is the way to learn for yourself instead of what`s written in text online....

Peace....DHF..........

iuno ive done side by sides.. flushed vs not.. and I always blindly choose the flushed stuff .. always burned better.. tasted better.. I think less green = smoother but who knows might just be some good old bro science.. but I just started my 3 week flush in coco.. well 1 week of half nutes.. 2 weeks of just phed tap.

EastCoast710 said:

iuno ive done side by sides.. flushed vs not.. and I always blindly choose the flushed stuff .. always burned better.. tasted better.. I think less green = smoother but who knows might just be some good old bro science.. but I just started my 3 week flush in coco.. well 1 week of half nutes.. 2 weeks of just phed tap.

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It`s all good bro....You`re actually doing the exact same thing I always did with automated feed , but you`re just doin it with 1/2 strength nutes and then tapwater that `s mostly made up of calcium that helps the plants keep getting fed ....somethin during the final push.....regardless....

2 weeks of tapwater seems excessive to me unless your feed was higher than 1.2-1.5 EC/600-750 ppms during the life cycle........

Chlorophyll degradation causes those " fall colors" in non purple genetics , thus where natural plant senescence occurs by the plant cannibalizing itself of excess N and all residual nutes during late bloomage till end of cycle....

Once the plant stops eating , it`s time to chop....but...Takes runs under your belt and learning your plants far beyond trich development and color IME....and hey.....no matter what....there`s....

Many ways ta skin a mule....and...to each their own....

Peace...DHF........

Don't ph the water unless you have some crazy ph tap water

You're only watering the plants not feeding them .....they can absorb H2O perfectly well without ph adjustment

If it really mattered, would we have threads this long?

I was going to ask how bassackwards is it to chop and flush in vases, but something tells me it is or Ill have to try it out......herewego!

DunHav`nFun said:

It`s all good bro....You`re actually doing the exact same thing I always did with automated feed , but you`re just doin it with 1/2 strength nutes and then tapwater that `s mostly made up of calcium that helps the plants keep getting fed ....somethin during the final push.....regardless....

2 weeks of tapwater seems excessive to me unless your feed was higher than 1.2-1.5 EC/600-750 ppms during the life cycle........

Chlorophyll degradation causes those " fall colors" in non purple genetics , thus where natural plant senescence occurs by the plant cannibalizing itself of excess N and all residual nutes during late bloomage till end of cycle....

Once the plant stops eating , it`s time to chop....but...Takes runs under your belt and learning your plants far beyond trich development and color IME....and hey.....no matter what....there`s....

Many ways ta skin a mule....and...to each their own....

Peace...DHF........

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my tap water comes out at 44-50ppms.. its so low I think it will be fine for flushing..

and I do 2 sometimes 3 weeks in coco.. for some reason.. these plants love to stay green .. I was doing 2 week flush but wasn't getting the fade I like.. so I switched to 1 week of half .. then 2 weeks flush.. and have been seeing a way better fade..

id like to see.. a nug that burns nice and white ash.. vs dark black ash.. and id like to take the bud.. and test it for not thc. or cbd. or anything. but moisture content.. and what other nutes and shit are in or not in them.. or if its something else like chlorophyll or something. but really someone who works at a lab should be looking at this ?

Water only (as needed) last 2 weeks for me. Not really flushing. Day 69 from flip. 2nd to last week temps are 75 on, 70 off. Last week temps are 70 on 65 off.

The main problem is Cannabis quality is very subjective. Many of those who swear by their methods only have limited experience in what is out there so high quality means something different to most. I have smoked with hundreds of people, if not thousands , growers and regular people alike, and I can say with confidence that the vast majority of people have never experienced real quality cannabis. People talk about terpenes, and since there bud doesn't smell like hay, they think it's good. What I define as quality, terpene rich bud, flushed or not(I have had quality bud grown both ways) is bud you can smell a .7 bud from a city block away. Bud that the taste lingers for hours not a few minutes. Bud where the effect is so strong, it is comparable psychedelics. Bud that actually gives a full clear psychoactive effect and not a light buzz, if that. I personally grew and recieved bud from the black market in Virginia that surpassed these definitions by miles.

I think the whole flush, don't flush argument as with many other debated growing practices, comes from the fact that one grower does well the whole grow with good genetics , and others blindly following without understand the subtleties and having subpar genes or genes that did well in a completely different environment. When you grow a wide variety of genetics, no one method will provide the best final product for every cultivar. People will blame a whole grow being shitty to the fact that someone didn't flush.

Pretty trichome filled macros do not mean the Bud is good by a longshot.

I have also met many that believe the amazing range of distinct terpene profiles cannabis provides(the distinct smell/taste i.e Kush, Cookies, Sour D.) is what unflushed bud taste like, thus turning down higher quality cannabis for beaster shwag. I point this out to show how restricted prohibition has made cannabis. Even in legal states, it's about who you know. Well most people have never met a good grower or anyone with quality bud so when they do get quality bud they think something is wrong with it. Unscrupulous dealers selling shwag potentiate the misinformation as well.

Such a great point. Quality is subjective. One mans garbage is anothers gold.

Thanks Sourpuss, as a sidenote, most growers do not smoke anything but their own bud so the reference point is the best they can do, not the best the plant can give. When you sample a large sample of growers from around the world, i.e being a black market consumer for almost 20 years buying competely different bud every 2-3 days, you see the vast range of quality this plant can express.

With such a slow growing plant, only sampling your own work or the work of a small hidden group due to prohibition, you will miss alot of what this plant has to offer.