Black ash no matter how long I flush...

[MrDank]

My product won't burn clean or stay lit. It is very flavorful and smooth, it just won't stay lit or burn to fluffy white ash

I use Canna coco, and Age Old Organics and Earth Juice products for ferts. I veg in 1-gallon containers, and flower in 3 gallon containers. I feed at low doses every time I water. I usually water every 2-3 days. I let my pots get 50% dry before I water again, and I always have plenty of runoff.

I have tried flushig for up to 24 days, but I usually keep it at 21 days. My plants are always very lush and happy and fade out very nicely as I flush. I run 10-15 gallons of water through each container until the ppm's are almost equal to the water. My water is 90 ppm's, and the runoff starts out at around 500 ppm's and by the time I am done leaching the coco, the ppm's are down to 110.

I am beyond frustrated and would really REALLY like to figure out how to get a cleaner burning product.

I would have a very hard time switching my nutrients because they smell and taste as good as I would like.

anybody have any ideas or tips?
thank you!

I would like to get this figured out before I switch back to a peat based medium

 

[MrDank]

I have tried various flushing agents as well. my organic nutes only read 450 ppm too. I also know that coco holds nutrients really well too

 

[BlueberryLovr]

General guideline:

Mg gives you solid white ash. Lack of Mg will give a darker grey.

Ca gives firmness of the ash. Lower Ca levels give you a flaky ash.

Different Mg:Ca gives different shades and textures. Other minerals and elements play a part too, of course. Having too much of them gives ash a darker color, but even then the smoke can taste good...at least in my experience. On the flip side, I've had super clean burning bowls that flaked to nothing and still tasted absolutely terrible.

 

[love?]

Umm, maybe the bud is still a bit wet?

Seeing as how your name is MrDank and everything.

 

[dubwise]

How are you drying and curing? I've found that if I rush this step, the meds dont smoke as well as if I take my time.

 

[ganjaments]

Agree with above...When you say it doesn't stay lit, it kinda sounds wet to me.

Are you PH'ing the water you flush with?

My guess is that you are not watering frequently enough. Generally you can't let coco dry out or you will get an EC spike and quickly get lockouts. I don't know how this translate to organic nutrients, but with mineral nutrients (GH, Canna, etc..) you want to be watering every day or as close to it as possible.

Also, periodic flushing of coco is often necessary.. If you're feeding with every single watering all the way though flower, then you might be getting some funky salt buildups.

As much as you want to, you really can't treat coco like soil (or peat for that matter). It's a whole other animal, and most agree that you should treat it as a hydro medium.

 

[BlueberryLovr]

Oh yeah the cure definitely helps with a good burn. It doesn't seem like Mr.Dank is having trouble with salt buildup, however. 21 day flush with runoff from 500ppm ending at 110 is pretty good...

I think the key words (that I somehow missed) was Mr. Dank saying: "My product won't burn clean or stay lit. It is very flavorful and smooth, it just won't stay lit or burn to fluffy white ash"


Flavorful and smooth? Good flush. Doesn't stay lit and ends up as black chunks? Needs a better dry/cure procedure.

 

[mg75]

try coco specific hydro nutrients or just good general hydro nutrients. you might be surprised with the results.

your "organic" food in coco might cause the symptoms and trying 1 or 2 plants with different nutrients is a good way to experiment.

 

[MrDank]

thanks for all of the advice everybody. Very much appreciated

I know how to dry/cure very well. That is definitely not the culprit. That's why I am here. It is something much deeper than flush/dry/cure, because I have those areas covered

I feed lightly each watering. I have also used this similar recipe (but at higher levels) when growing in a peat based soilless mix, and I have never had this issue. That is why I am here in the coco forum because I really think it is coco related

 

[MrDank]

General guideline:

Mg gives you solid white ash. Lack of Mg will give a darker grey.

Ca gives firmness of the ash. Lower Ca levels give you a flaky ash.

Different Mg:Ca gives different shades and textures. Other minerals and elements play a part too, of course. Having too much of them gives ash a darker color, but even then the smoke can taste good...at least in my experience. On the flip side, I've had super clean burning bowls that flaked to nothing and still tasted absolutely terrible.

Thanks for the info

my plants don't have Mg deficiency until the end when I am flushing. That's why I never add extra calmag to my feeding schedule. I have never thought that higher levels of mg would cause cleaner product.

When I smoke a bowl, it stays lit well enough to take a hit, but if you wait more than 4 seconds you have to re-light it. Joints go out after 10 seconds of not smoking it

I am about ready to say screw it and go back to peat based mix if I can't figure this out

 

[grow nerd]

Sounds like you over-fertilized your crop throughout the flowering process.

Next time, go easier on the nutes, taper down on certain elements (N particularly) in late stages. Higher levels of Mg will not result in a cleaner product.

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

your using AOO and EJ which are both 100% organic... from what ive always been told you cannot truly flush organics more the plant should decide when its done and stop taking up nutes...

i know when i use a organic supplement for a N booster in the end i cannot flush out the N correctly....

 

[TickleMyBalls]

hey buddy, all I know is the goat you left me with in august burned nice and white when I got home from tour and smoked it. I did notice some of the bowls we were puffing on lot didn't burn white though.

I seem to have this problem occassionally, but most of the time I can get it to burn white. I agree with Poopy on the subject though, I find I have the gray/black ash when I boost N after like the 2nd week of flowering. usually if I let off of the N before that it's fine, but the KKSC in particular just devours N and needs it's until almost week 4 sometimes. So sometimes the nugs end up not burning so good if I over do it too late.

one thing I can think of trying is maybe when flushing water everyday and keep the medium moist. I've been running botanicare cocogro in pots on tables, just ebb and flow. they love getting fed twice a day. of course I'm not using organic nutes in there, but using CNS17, liquid karma, blast off and Pure Flowers I've had great results. flooding twice a day while flushing really gets the nutes out of the coco. after 1 or two days of flooding the rez is dirty and ready to change to more fresh water.

hope you get everything down. I know how much of a bummer it is when the herb you produce is awesome to everyone else, but just isn't up to your standards. I have confidence in your skills though. you're a legend. Can't wait to get out there and hang.

 

[DevilWeed]

Is this a known strain you have grown before?

My .02 - I do not flush and my herb burns white as can be. I just pulled 6 cheese plants last week. Humudity is low so within 5 days small nugs were dry enough to test. Clean burn, awesome skunky taste and white ash.

I run straight coco with Jack Pro Hydro/Calcinit nutes and drip clean. Nothing else. EC 1.6 until they get chopped. Recent run with H&G was the same. Even with shooting powder it was clean.

Could it be your strain? And how dry is it? I burp bags until humidity holds at 59%.

 

[Securityfirst]

i use drip clean and all buds smoke to a clear grey ash even with heavy fertilization

 

[walt cunningham]

i think it could be over feeding(even though you say you feed them low doses, i never feed every watering, i try and do every other feeding unless they are showing signs of a deficiency) or salt build up. drip clean is great for removing the salts. i used it with every feeding.
also, if you are using organics, the micro organisms could be producing nitrogen long after you stopped feeding and started flushing

 

[ganjaments]

OP do you have high temp issues?

 

[MrDank]

ganjaments - no my temps are perfect

walt cunningham - i think overfert might be my problem. Only the tips of fan leaves are burned, no other signs of over-fert except maybe everything is very dark green all throughout flower. But I flush very well and they yellow up nicely. Even if they are flushed well and showing no signs of burn, could they still be over fed and not burning well?

DevilWeed - many different strains. aslo my ec shows only 1.2 at the highest. flushing its 0.2

PoopyTeaBags - you might be on to something

 

[VAtransplant]

i chopped some unflushed nugs the day before last and picked off leafs, let dry on my computer desk. i also quick dried a bowl pack for curiosities sake.

both cached white and smooth powder. two different strains, ~55 days flowering, as green as can be, not yellowing a bit..though flushing now.

 

[Dr.Dank]

I think its because most organic based nutes are harder to flush or take longer.. I used General hydro and my smoke is smooth my ash is white and it burns like it should...
hope this helps..