How Long Do YOU Flush??

[Twister]

Let's hear some opinions on end of flowering flush times and flushing parameters (ie when to start, etc.)

[prism]

I give it a week or 2 after I think the trichs are 100% cloudy then I flush for 2 weeks. By the time I am ready to chop, the trichs are usually about 20% Amber. This last harvest was perfect IMO so thats what Im doing from now on.

Get a loupe... Harvest by the trichs. Once trichromes are all cloudy then flush I usually for 2 weeks then chop..

Thats my advise. Always better to take em later than earlier if you are growing for yourself. I can see people growing commercially taking plants early but for the Personal grower... PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE!! That goes for drying too. Let em hang for a week or so. Maybe 2 if the buds are Phatty.

Do your homework and Read Read Read... Experience will teach you the rest.

Good luck!

[Twister]

Originally Posted by prism1234

I give it a week or 2 after I think the trichs are 100% cloudy then I flush for 2 weeks. By the time I am ready to chop, the trichs are usually about 20% Amber. This last harvest was perfect IMO so thats what Im doing from now on.

Sweet!

Originally Posted by prism1234

Get a loupe...

Check, but hella hard to use

Originally Posted by prism1234

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE!!

Ah, one of my favorite and dear close mottoes. Just thought the mouse and cheese one gave it a twist.

[greenie]

i grow coco and i usually flush for at least 5 days. any less and the fertilizer taste is noticable. i find goin more than 8-9 days leaves my plants too unhappy looking for me. i also flush untill the last two waterings with molasses to add taste and weight.

[Indonesia]

my foaf does as needed flushing. more flushing the less mature. foafs buddy that grow super potent and tasty indoor buds in promix flushes when 20-30 percent red hairs and calyxes quite swolllen. that buddy uses an final phase and waters with it 2 times then lets soil get dry before flushing with plain water twice. by the last plain watering the plant isn't drinking water and would take forever for the pot to dry out(pot not dry at harvest, but buddy does shoot for it). the final phase spends 7-10 days in the root zone. then plain water for rest of time.

this is what that buddys last 14 days look like
day 1 flush with final phase
day 4 flush with final phase In between days, letting soil dry up
day 7 flush plain water
day 10 flush plain water
day 14 chop

foaf just began AN final phase on the HP and will run that for 4-7 days then plain water for a few more days, only harvesting when the plant tells me its ready.

[prism]

I bet if you get 20 guys with a few grows under there belt you would get 20 answers... God I love this hobby!!

I think the only true answer is to get to know your strain by growing it a few times and tweak your process each time till you reach your "perfect system"

Obviously you are always tweaking and never perfect meaning you are never bored...

Thanks for the great Thread Twisted.

[Twister]

Close enough Prisn! Ha! Yeah, 20 different answers was what I was looking for. 3 so far from the BEST will do!!!!

Friend's on day 5 of plain water, been replacing res w/ fresh everyday and has noticed a big change in color of water and root debris, also trichomes really clouding up!!

Although I'm sure it's all nutes that need to be flushed, is nitrogen the main one or toughest?

Also, Indo, you mentioned something about when your buddie's was done she stopped drinking? Slowed way down?

Is the nutrient build-up that strong compared to any other plant you'd feed solely by water, ie in a vase. I know flowers really get shit compared, but, I didn't 100% understand how they wouldn't start to die or eat themselves after too long (they will ), like 2-3 weeks?

[ShroomGuerilla]

anywhere from i usually do 15 days
for my 8-10 week flowering strains
and 20 for my 11-14 week sativas.

I have found that sativas sometimes have a lil
more nute buildup then your average indica-dom plant.

If you are NOT using organics,
it is best to you a flushing agent,
helps flush some of the serious buildup
chemical ferts sometimes leave.

There is nothing grosser than unflushed herb.
Yuk.

[thebaldeagle]

ShroomG,

Page 305 of the marijuana horticulture the indoor/outdoor medical growers bible states that organic fertilizers require HEAVIER flushings.


TBE

[DrDee]

Hi Twister and compadres...
The deal with plants using less water once fully mature relates to senescence. The plant has done everything that it's biologically programmed to do and to quote Roy at the end of Blade Runner, it's "Time to die"...

I do hydro and also use Final Phase. My plants get 5 to 7 days of water at the end. I've learned that slow drying with a proper cure is much more important for taste then a massive and extended flush which is hard on the plants.
Peace,
Dee

[ShroomGuerilla]

Originally Posted by thebaldeagle

ShroomG,

Page 305 of the marijuana horticulture the indoor/outdoor medical growers bible states that organic fertilizers require HEAVIER flushings.


TBE

Yes. If you are using poop, castings, etc...
and using an organic growing method,
heavy flushes are a MUST.
At least 15 days ideally.

It kind of makes sense. Poop and other soil additives etc
would be harder to flush away then a liquid solution.

However, what I was referring to is liquid
organic nutrient solutions (jugs of liquid ferts)
such as Pure Blend Grow and Bloom
are indeed easier to flush then commercial solutions.

Also many commercial ferts require flushing agents
to remove buildups, these agents speed up the flushing process.


But yes, you are correct,
a TRUE organic garden will require
very very heavy flushes.

[Twister]

Originally Posted by DrDee

I do hydro and also use Final Phase. My plants get 5 to 7 days of water at the end. I've learned that slow drying with a proper cure is much more important for taste then a massive and extended flush which is hard on the plants.
Peace,
Dee

Interesting you say, how does a slow dry differ from a fast dry(ie w/ a fan)?

Also, since he's still feeling it out, there's still a little flushing (Whoa) but no amber? Will it never turn? Yeah, I say Whoa because it's been, well, shit, 27 days!!!! It's still sticky (almost stickier) still seeing new white hairs(?). He wanted to see amber and amber won't come along!?

Also ShroomG and BaldE, isn't it odd that organics need more flushing? Makes you say hmm? Then again....

[DrDee]

Hi Twister,
The plant cells stay alive for awhile after cutting. During that time, those cells continue to metabolize nutrients stored in the cells. If you dry really fast...the cells die and that doesn't happen. So a quick dry gives you harsher smoke. You need some moving air to prevent rot but you don't want fans drying the buds in a few days.

That's how it was explained to me years ago. But, like an and old buddy once said: "One test is worth a thousand expert opinions" So give it a try. Next harvest slow dry a few and compare them to the fast dried buds.

Also most conneseur growers will tell you. a really long cure is necessary to bring out all the flavors. I'm talking several months. That info is from DJ Shorts book "Cultivating Exceptional Cannabis"
Peace,
Dee

[Psoulocybe]

Organics are much easier to flush. I dont' flush. I stop feeding about 2 weeks before harvest with my soil, and let it use whats left. I water twice with molasses in that time, and twice with lemon juice.

Chemical fertilizers leave far higher levels of salts in the growing media compared to organics, that's what makes it harder to flush.

I've fed up to a week before harvest with organic teas when the girls show a little starvation, and never had a buildup problem.

[weeeeeee]

when i decide to switch from nutes to just water for flushing i let the soil dry completely from the nute rich feedings then add water and wait again till the soil is pretty dry and flush with water one more time then wait till it dries up again and harvest so it takes about 8 days total i am a soil grower

[chimp]

Originally Posted by Psoulocybe

I water twice with molasses in that time, and twice with lemon juice.
.

What effect does the lemon juice have?

[weeeeeee]

Originally Posted by oibchip

What effect does the lemon juice have?

yes yes weeeeeeeeee want to know
??????

[Twister]

Originally Posted by DrDee

Hi Twister,
The plant cells stay alive for awhile after cutting. During that time, those cells continue to metabolize nutrients stored in the cells. If you dry really fast...the cells die and that doesn't happen. So a quick dry gives you harsher smoke....
Peace,
Dee

Makes sense. So during the shut-off metabolic stage do the cells or trichomes/glands/?? ripen more, develop richer or rounder (so not harsh), or is it just a more natural way, for the plant, period?

Lemon juice, huh Psoul? Interesting. That's a great flusher (at least for the old liver). Would expect similar intentions and results. Sweet.
How's your veg garden coming along?

[Psoulocybe]

You guys heard of Sweet? One of it's benefits is containing citric acid and ascorbic acid for the Kreb's cycle.

Also, a lemon has to contain some natural sugars.

I don't know the exact science behind it.... but using the lemon juice in flush does lead to some tasty nuggage

Veggies are doing well thanks! I'll put some pics up the next couple days as I take a few green beans and cucumbers down they're quick Beats shouldn't be too long now either
I've been eating my blackberries straight from the bush like they're going out of style (which they are... only a few left)

[DrDee]

Originally Posted by Twister

Makes sense. So during the shut-off metabolic stage do the cells or trichomes/glands/?? ripen more, develop richer or rounder (so not harsh), or is it just a more natural way, for the plant, period?

Lemon juice, huh Psoul? Interesting. That's a great flusher (at least for the old liver). Would expect similar intentions and results. Sweet.
How's your veg garden coming along?

I really don't know if there's any significant trichome activity during a slow dry. I suspect it's more in the green more leafy material inside the bud.

I recalled another thing I heard about flushing since that's the subject at hand. More significant with hydro then soil, but certainly can relate to soil or soiless. Going from full nutrient watering to straight water is a significant osmotic shock to the roots. The roots contain many chemicals and so they suck the plain water in so much that bursting of root cells can occur. (Same thing happens if you put human red blood cells in to plain water) They swell and burst.

The end result is a traumatized root system and plant drooping. The cure is to use something in the flush like epsom salts and mollasses or sweet or some commercial flush product to ease that osmotic shock. Just something I read...

Peace,
Dee

[Twister]

Fuckin rabbit got all of my beans------------ Fucker.
I have 7 or 8 different kinds of peppers going! Like 24 plants. (I like peppers) corn, cucumbers, even my cantaloupes may make it! Of course more, yeah let's see an 'ol update. An old update, wow that makes no sense at all. Ok.

But yeah the lemon juice (and water, don't down a bottle of concentrate) when flushing your liver thing is a wise idea for anybody. Your liver is one hard working son of a bitch, too. Think of it as a true HEPA filter for your body, the lemon juice would act as an all natural acid-based pipe cleaner. Which is why that's a great idea to flush plants with, let alone a sweetener.
Does that work, I was wondering that, if you introduced, probably a sugar based(maybe because it metabolizes better, Idk?) solution/juice, possibly during flush, would it pick up that flavor at all? Lemon juice, molasses, grape juice, strawberry or mango concentrate? Far fetched or no? Not that we all want tropical bud, just one of those head scratchers....