How long do you flush for, and why?

[YosemiteSam]

Is there such a thing as an actual study showing the effect of flushing on potency?

Intuitively I would think a healthy plant all of the way to the end would make for the best potency. Not sure I buy that stress the plant and make it make more trichomes theory. Personal observation says feed it to the end, although at slightly reduced EC and cure it in a jar with 60% humidity in the jar produces the best potency/taste combo.

But I really do not have enough experience to state that as a fact.

 

[Guest 18340]

Well, i did not mean flushing to be pouring in an endless amount of water. More like feeding plain water for X amount of days prior to harvest.
Btw, am I the only one who uses straight up un ph'd tap? Just curious.

 

[Kushed_]

I flush to get rid of nitrogen. It burns cleaner and tastes better.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Well, i did not mean flushing to be pouring in an endless amount of water. More like feeding plain water for X amount of days prior to harvest.
Btw, am I the only one who uses straight up un ph'd tap? Just curious.

If you are just adding water like regular feeding and your waters alkalinity is low then it probably does not matter. If you manage to change the pH of the media itself though you could run into trouble with locking out certain nutes that you are presumably counting on moving from the media to the plant.

You might give it a shot one time and see if it makes a diff. If not I wouldn't worry about it.

Truthfully, for me using the feeding plain water method...pHing the water is more of a piece of mind thing than something that makes a noticeable difference.

 

[Guest 18340]

Definitely gonna give it a try. Nothing ventured nothing gained

 

[thefatman]

IMHO I fail to see how using an isotonic water is of much use for flushing mobile nutrients from the plant itself. It would seem to greatly lessen moving mobile nutrients from a plants tissues. The idea of the water taking up more water in order to lower the EC of the fluids within the plant to that of the level of the reservoir water is not really an issue with mj as mj is not a water laden product such as tomatoes, fruits and melons etc. The isotonic issue would also not seem to be an issue with inert non absorbent mj growing media. Really I fail to see isotonics as an issue with mj flushing of nutrients from the plant itself but more of a hinderance to such flushing. I also can't see how the possible additional uptake of water by using a low EC water for flushing absorbent media is any true problem. Maybe if I was growing watermelon or tomatoes or some such product. But mj? I don't think so. Seems to me to be just another product that is beneficial for plants other than mj that mj nutrient manafacturers are selling for no good reason to mj growers.

Really I am very happy I do not use soil or other absorbent medias as flushing the plant of excess/mobile nutrients is in itself a lot easier and quicker then dealing with the high CEC medias and then the plant.

 

[thefatman]

Ooops double post.

 

[mg75]

i asked this question before...

when using a flushing agent such as (final flush, clearex, etc)...
does the flushing agent flush the media or do the ingredients in the flushing agent enter the plant and purge it of excess nutrients?
is it proven somewhere that a product such as clearex can positively rid of all nutrients in a specific media?
on another note, a product such as DripClean from H&G... is it a constant flush where it attracts nutrients (by a chemical reaction) and then expels them from the media? meanwhile containing salt nutrient in itself...

i have a friend that grows in promix and the whole pureblendpro regiment. he never flushes and re-uses the promix 4 times with great consistent success.
i don't know where i stand on this

 

[desertsquirrel]

Hey Buddy,

That claim is inaccurate, sorry to say. It's often thought to be correct, however, roots can and do 'take up' dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) for N, and dissolved organic phosphorous (DOP) for P, in organic form, not inorganic (ion) form. Most (all?) species of plants can grow, thrive and die a natural 'life', if given only DON for nitrogen source.

DON is in the form of amino acid, it's already in 'reduced' form, so roots can absorb DON and the plant can use DON with high efficacy.

Also, roots can absorb (some) organic forms of cations that are chelated/complexed with amino acid or fulvic acid, and possibly even some 'synthetic' chelating agents such as DPTA or EDDHA, IIRC.

I remember the thread. DON, DOP, etc are utilized on such a small scale (in nature as well as in most grow rooms) its almost not helpful to discuss it.

Though its interesting theoretically.

 

[spurr]

I remember the thread. DON, DOP, etc are utilized on such a small scale (in nature as well as in most grow rooms) its almost not helpful to discuss it.

Though its interesting theoretically.

DON, and even DOP, are used relative to the scale provided. While I agree in some grow rooms little DON and DOP are provided, in other grows (ex., biological organic) much amino acid DON is provided from the biota. A plant can live and thrive, if given only DON and no NH4 or NO3 in a sterile substrate (thus no conversion or creation of NH4 or NO3).

In nature, there are large 'pools' of DON in soils, as well as NH4 and NO3, plants use all forms for N. But they use DON most efficiently because it's already in 'usable' form.

I do agree that this topic is more in the realm of theory (re scientific theory and fact, not conjecture), in that, intentional use of DON is rare outside of studies and tissue culture nutritive agar mixes.

 

[thefatman]

i asked this question before...

when using a flushing agent such as (final flush, clearex, etc)...
does the flushing agent flush the media or do the ingredients in the flushing agent enter the plant and purge it of excess nutrients?
is it proven somewhere that a product such as clearex can positively rid of all nutrients in a specific media?
on another note, a product such as DripClean from H&G... is it a constant flush where it attracts nutrients (by a chemical reaction) and then expels them from the media? meanwhile containing salt nutrient in itself...

i have a friend that grows in promix and the whole pureblendpro regiment. he never flushes and re-uses the promix 4 times with great consistent success.
i don't know where i stand on this

Using organic nutrients does not prevent prevent nutrient salt build up in soils neither does using promix. It also does not prevent the plant from containing excess mobile/soluble nutrients.

Drip clean is advertised as a continuously used cleaning agent that alleges to keep your sprayers, emitters and piping free of deposits of dirt. It alleges to be molecularly altered combination of phosphorus and potassium. It is not a flushing agent. It is closer to be a kitchen drain cleaner type preparation. Clearex is a flusher for media that has CEC or is absorbent. I would expect that it actually decreases the flushing of mobile soluble substances from the plants. It would mean that you are basically depending on the plants using up all excess nutrients while preventing useful nutrient salt uptakes while flushing the media with clearex.

Just using RO water at a ph of 7 followed by pH adjusted RO water that is adjusted to lower the pH with sulfuric acid to down in the 5 to5.9 range would likely be the best method of flushing the plant itself if flushing of the media is done too quickly to allow the plant to use up stored excess nutrients. This would follow flushing the media first if not using inert non absorbent media.

 

[IwannatokeNbone]

iim gonna skip my flush this run, just do a little 3 day'er at the end, i want yeild and im running organics with a bloom nute very low in N, time will tell.

 

[IwannatokeNbone]

When people use products like Floranectar, Sugardaddy, Molasses, ect, it seems to effect the flavor of the smoke and not in a positive way.

i agree, i think molasses is pure shit for taste.

 

[EastCoastMeds]

I grow in ProMix in 4 gallon nursery containers.

I run 5 gallons of well water through each one. When they are dry, they get a gallon of well water, then once more for a total flush time of 10 days usually.

When I do the 5 gallon flush, I check the last of the run off and make sure I am less than 300 PPM coming out.

My herb tastes awesome and burns to white ash.

I also use Humboldts HONEY ES which is molasses based. I use it in every flower feed and I know I get a lil better yield using it....and you definitely can't taste anything but high grade herb. I use it at 1 tsp/gal tho....I know some people are using it at like 1/2oz per gal. Thats nasty and I imagine that would build up and contribute to bad taste.