Flushing

Kingrow1 said:

You can not clean up any plant matter in the way you are thinking, this is no where near the science of how ionic elements work within the plant, the central atom to chlorophyll is magnesium (i think, possibly in some polyatomic state idk chem that well). Adding more magnesium dosent cause the plant to just suck it up or you to CLEAN it out simply. Fuck no, the magnesium content will be based on the chlorophyll content just as potassium in cells depends on the osmotic and chemical charge etc etc.

Forget this bullshit cleaning organic matter up by flushing with water, save that for your store bough veggies before you cook them. This is a living entity, starve it, overfeed it or find the balance, stop with that mumbo jumbo flushing cleans up organic matter, does it go up to the cell and give it a good hose out or somthing.

I was at this point once, a lot of what i say will need correcting to some level but thats as basic as i understand over the years, seems to work when tested, unflushed bud that was never overfertilized taste best no competition.

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Sorry man. I was typing the same basic stuff while you posted. Not sure why we keep answering these same questions though. Doesn't anyone read anymore?

Some don't flush when leaching Bm, others don't flush when leaching Pe, most flush all the time, you won't find everyone agreeing on when you should flush.
If you never flush , a carbon filter in your bathroom might help with odor.

Daveindiego said:

Who are you talking to?

Because if you’re talking to me, I’m thinking that I’m late on that plant.

After FLUSHING it two more times, I’m cutting it down Monday.

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Sorry for the confusion,but yes, I should have quoted your post re you were about to flush.

Budley Doright said:

Sorry for the confusion,but yes, I should have quoted your post re you were about to flush.

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Cuz of your post, I fed them today. Thanks.

Daveindiego said:

Cuz of your post, I fed them today. Thanks.

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I do think they can go longer and I'm the first to admit it's hard to let them go but I've learned, like stated, to get the most out of it it needs to develop and finish properly. I still pull early though sometimes as it's better than running out for me lol.

Daveindiego said:

Cuz of your post, I fed them today. Thanks.

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so pics of finished buds?any new impressions from how you finished it this time?

Buba Blend said:

you won't find everyone agreeing on when you should flush.

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And those who know , You wont find flushing anything at all..... But toilets lol

Budget Buds said:

And those who know , You wont find flushing anything at all..... But toilets lol

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I don’t flush, but run straight water for the last 7ish days.
Last crop I did a test, and 1 plant wasn’t given straight water but normal feed
I can 100% taste a difference
It’s a lot harsher smoke, n is going to be made into oil or bubble. Me or my family will not be smoking it as is.

zep_lover said:

so pics of finished buds?any new impressions from how you finished it this time?

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I dunno. I swear to god, I’m smoking bowls and seeing some fizzle pops. Maybe I’m paranoid.

I’m stoked on how this flower dried and cured though.

NanoGadget said:

Residual nutrients? Where? In your medium? I'll state this as plainly as possible.. Once a nutrient has been taken up via the root system no amount of bathing those roots in water is getting those nutrients back out. Anything already in the plant will stay there. This is basic plant biology. The only purpose for a flush would be to attempt to minimize the damage done by an accidental over feed or incorrect feed.

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You're not flushing the nutrients locked into the roots, you're flushing everything in the medium out and it depends on what you're using the grow, in organics flushing is the stupidest thing you can do but with synthetic nutrients you do want to flush it so those nutrients locked in the roots are used up and you don't get any kind of harsh taste from having strong synthetic nutrients still in the bud. You want to make sure there is nothing left in the ground so the plant doesn't store anything that'll be there after you harvest, you don't get high smoking nitrogen or potassium so why have it in the finished buds.

bud looks nice.no snap crackle fiz here and i run the same 650ppm or ec of 1.2 from cloning to chop.

Kkesu said:

You're not flushing the nutrients locked into the roots, you're flushing everything in the medium out and it depends on what you're using the grow, in organics flushing is the stupidest thing you can do but with synthetic nutrients you do want to flush it so those nutrients locked in the roots are used up and you don't get any kind of harsh taste from having strong synthetic nutrients still in the bud. You want to make sure there is nothing left in the ground so the plant doesn't store anything that'll be there after you harvest, you don't get high smoking nitrogen or potassium so why have it in the finished buds.

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This is just a lack of knoweldge in regards to plant biology. You smoke buds. Not leaves, not stems, not roots. The plant uses the nutrients it has available, in conjunction with energy gathered through photosynthesis, to produce flowers. Flowers are not nutrient sinks.

I feel like my previous post came off as super douchey.... sorry about that. I stand by the contents of the post, but I could have been a lot more polite about it.

Kkesu said:

You're not flushing the nutrients locked into the roots, you're flushing everything in the medium out and it depends on what you're using the grow, in organics flushing is the stupidest thing you can do but with synthetic nutrients you do want to flush it so those nutrients locked in the roots are used up and you don't get any kind of harsh taste from having strong synthetic nutrients still in the bud. You want to make sure there is nothing left in the ground so the plant doesn't store anything that'll be there after you harvest, you don't get high smoking nitrogen or potassium so why have it in the finished buds.

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As Nano said things are a little different, any questions just post them here and i'll give you a rough answer

To start off I'd like to say I think that flushing to "increase thc" or benefit the plant at all besides preventing nute burn or improving taste Isnt needed. Flushing to improve taste may not even be needed with some strains or some grows depending on nutrient reserves in the plant itself.

I'd like to see some peer reviewed articles on this subject myself to clear things up for me and anyone interested, but it seems there aren't many if any at all.

I've smoked bud from the exact same crop/strain, most plants were flushed and a few were not, there was an EXTREME difference in the way the weed burned and finished. But it's all speculative and could have been just a fluke accident or other factors may have been involved.

Some of you are saying it's just plain wrong and is bad science, or people just don't understand. You say things like "flowers are not nutrient sinks" and "the plant uses the nutrients it has available"(nanogadget). If it were that easy we would never have problems growing, there would be no problems with "hot spots", or "nutrient burn" because after all a plant only takes what it needs correct? No it's not......high nutrient levels are not typical in nature, so when nutrients are encountered, all are welcome. In fact, at certain pHs, plants can uptake lethal nutrient concentrations. But this is also speculative, if you feed only what's needed (may be hard to dial in), flushing is probably not needed to improve smoke or taste.

I've read flushing causes nutrients, especially nitrogen, to be moved into the buds to support growth. So although growers aim to remove nitrogen from the buds by flushing, the plant concentrates nutrients in the buds from other places in the plant. These nutrient concentrations are less than if the plant were nourished during the flush week, but concentrating less in the plant biomass is entirely different than removing nutrients from the biomass.

You can't know exactly how much of each nutrient is optimal for every strain without testing, it's just not possible. Also claiming that saying salts build up on roots is bad science.... is just plain nonsense, or even non-science (land of the lost..lol) don't take offense please....It's plain and simple, when using synthetic nutrients in ALL VARIETIES of mediums, there can be some salt build up. Not always but sometimes. This is a known fact. IF! this becomes a problem It can be helped by flushing your medium with a decent amount of water (and even a flushing agent to help break down salts). Some people say up to 3x more than pot size I just go about the same as pot size, 5 gal water to 5 gal pot.

I also read in this thread that people are saying flushing is bad and suffocates the roots, that just sounds like plan bs to me as well, I've seen roots do just fine submerged in water for awhile and I've never even heard of a plant reacting badly to flushing (of course unless you don't understand overwatering and you do that as well). In fact I just flushed two plants with 5 gallons of water each 2 weeks into bud, they didn't even skip a beat, plenty of growth over the next few days. (They will be fed again when they dry completely)

I can provide picture proof if needed of the plants before and after, but who cares really? I don't lol. Another thing is when you burn a bowl and it leaves behind a black ash plug and doesn't burn all the way/leave white ash, I'd say either there's something left in your product that could essentially be "flushed" out before cropping, or it's just by chance that it taste like crap, pops and cracks and doesn't burn correctly, who knows really there are tons of variables.

I say if you grow some smoke that don't burn right maybe try flushing the last week to help lower nutrient concentrations, it seems like that's where people get confused is in the term itself, "flushing" isn't flushing at all, more like an intentional starving of nitrogen to lower concentrations in the biomass and then later in the buds (which have stem and leaves in them by the way) in a last attempt to improve flavor in case of high n levels.

To each his own though correct? I've smoked good bud that wasn't flushed but I've never smoked flushed bud that didn't burn correctly. I think some strains are better at keeping n levels low close to harvest than others and that causes arguments that aren't needed. The only bad thing I've ever seen from a flush is that it takes an extra week! I'm all for it though as long as I feel it makes my crop taste better.

But who knows maybe I'm wrong cause I'm just a nOOB!

Sorry for the long reply. I was bored. I'm not a scientist, I'm not trying to prove anyone wrong just speculating. Have a good day guys.

What a subject though. Both sides have good points.

organics taste like shit

KryptoBud said:

organics taste like shit

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Care to elaborate on why you think so?

I don't know if anyone thinks high times has any rep nowadays but this article seems to say different.

Obviously it's an opinion but the opinion of others there is leaning towards organics tasting better.

https://hightimes.com/grow/the-best-tasting-buds-on-earth/

If you grow in poop it must taste like poop.

Thanks for elaborating on that one. You shouldn't put any nutrients in your weed then either cause they are bitter and sour and nasty (trust me man I tasted them), and will make your weed taste just like them, all gross and nasty. Lol. Just use skittles dissolved into some plain water with chicken and cheeseburgers in it as well as some mt.dew. This is sure to make it taste better before harvest.

KryptoBud said:

If you grow in poop it must taste like poop.

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You might want to stay away from fresh vegetables then.