First successful outdoor grow, when to flush? Pics included

Hey, so I'm having a hard time knowing when I should be starting to flush/harvest my outdoor plants. They started flowering really early (first week of july) and to me look really close. I have noticed a few amber trichomes, but mostly on the sugar leaves, the rest are clear and some don't have heads yet. Judging by my pics how much longer do you guys estimate? I've done all my research on how to know when to harvest (trichome color, pistil color, buds swelling ) but where it's my first time I'm a bit confused. The buds started to really grow about 2 weeks ago and seem to be slowing down and focusing on trichome development.

The 2nd pic is a branch I accidentally broke, so I trimmed it up and am drying it as some sample buds. Leaves show some obvious signs of deficiencies, it's been an extremely hot and very humid summer so I blame that mostly, almost everything in the yard is dying from the heat. I also was trying a different line of nutrients, so it may be that as well.

Forgot to mention, I am growing outdoors in 15 gallon containers, hence the when to flush question. The leaf damage may also be cause by the thousands of leaf hoppers I have living in my plants.

Flushing really only has to take place if you use synthetics to flush the salts out. So if you use organics it's not even something to worry about.
It is also a sativa so the amber trychomes thing is different for them vs indicas.
Sometimes sativas never get fully amber or 50% ... you have to make sure they are all mature and cloudy for sure.
You also should be checking color from Calyxs not leaves. Leaves mature much faster then from the calyx where your suppose to check from.
Looks close to being done but I would rather not give a time frame myself personally.
Good luck

Burgerman72 said:

Hey, so I'm having a hard time knowing when I should be starting to flush/harvest my outdoor plants. They started flowering really early (first week of july) and to me look really close. I have noticed a few amber trichomes, but mostly on the sugar leaves, the rest are clear and some don't have heads yet. Judging by my pics how much longer do you guys estimate? I've done all my research on how to know when to harvest (trichome color, pistil color, buds swelling ) but where it's my first time I'm a bit confused. The buds started to really grow about 2 weeks ago and seem to be slowing down and focusing on trichome development.

The 2nd pic is a branch I accidentally broke, so I trimmed it up and am drying it as some sample buds. Leaves show some obvious signs of deficiencies, it's been an extremely hot and very humid summer so I blame that mostly, almost everything in the yard is dying from the heat. I also was trying a different line of nutrients, so it may be that as well.

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You've got at least a month to go

ganga gurl420 said:

Flushing really only has to take place if you use synthetics to flush the salts out. So if you use organics it's not even something to worry about.
It is also a sativa so the amber trychomes thing is different for them vs indicas.
Sometimes sativas never get fully amber or 50% ... you have to make sure they are all mature and cloudy for sure.
You also should be checking color from Calyxs not leaves. Leaves mature much faster then from the calyx where your suppose to check from.
Looks close to being done but I would rather not give a time frame myself personally.
Good luck

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Thanks for the info. I know that the leaves aren't good for judging trichomes. I am using synthetic salt based nutrients. So maybe I should wait about 2 more weeks (unless whatever is wrong with her forces me to harvest early) and flush then?

Flush...Haha

Burgerman72 said:

Thanks for the info. I know that the leaves aren't good for judging trichomes. I am using synthetic salt based nutrients. So maybe I should wait about 2 more weeks (unless whatever is wrong with her forces me to harvest early) and flush then?

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Idk man.... I don't believe in flushing myself but it's your grow and a lot of ppl do it but yeah I'd wait if I was a flusher for sure.

Mr.Marijuana420 said:

Flush...Haha

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Thank you for your pointless mocking. If you dont think I should flush, could you explain why?

ganga gurl420 said:

Idk man.... I don't believe in flushing myself but it's your grow and a lot of ppl do it but yeah I'd wait if I was a flusher for sure.

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Most of the reading I have done talks about flushing when using synthetic salt based nustirents in container growing. Care to explain why you don't flush? I have no experience with flushing or not flushing and if I don't need to it would save me a lot of hassle.

Usually after u wipe

Burgerman72 said:

Thank you for your pointless mocking. If you dont think I should flush, could you explain why?

Most of the reading I have done talks about flushing when using synthetic salt based nustirents in container growing. Care to explain why you don't flush? I have no experience with flushing or not flushing and if I don't need to it would save me a lot of hassle.

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Now I'm not telling you not to flush so don't just go off of what I say please. I was raised on a farm growing plants all my life so when I first started growing pot and I read about flushing to get the salts out and read why people did it.... well it just seemed wrong to me to take away all of the nutes of the plant when I read that the plant puts on 25% of the final weight in the last two weeks. So then I read that most people say that flushing makes a smoother better tasting smoke.
So in short I grew my first grow using synthetics. ... and did not flush. After cure was hands down was one of the best tasting smoothest smokes I think I've ever had. And yes I grew indoors.
A lot of people I have read think that it is just a myth and other people swear you have to do it.
I just approached growing cannabis the way we grew when I was on the farm and flushing seemed to go against what I was taught.
Personally the only time I think it's useful is when you have over fertilized to save your plant from toxicity.
If you Google "flushing cannabis is a myth" you will find a lot of great info.
Honestly I think a great smoke comes from a perfect cure vs what nutes you use.

Flushing is a myth

Drop your feeding down in the last 2 weeks to 1/2 or 1/4 of where you are now

You're plants don't look done to me. I'd give it 2 weeks and post again.

Burgerman72 said:

Thank you for your pointless mocking. If you dont think I should flush, could you explain why?

Most of the reading I have done talks about flushing when using synthetic salt based nustirents in container growing. Care to explain why you don't flush? I have no experience with flushing or not flushing and if I don't need to it would save me a lot of hassle.

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Experiment for yourself.. Flush one plant and not the other (if you have two) if you have more than two, try flushing different amounts at different frequencies. I am out in CO & have smoked a lot of weed out here & have experimented a lot with flushing. The stuff that is flushed thoroughly is by far always the best tasting, cleanest product regardless if grown with soluble Organics or synthetics. (Haven't tried with straight organic - if you only water and just let the soil do the work, I see no need to flush, since that's what you've been doing all along anyways.)

I just don't like the harsh - chemically tasting smoke the comes from not flushing. FYI - feeding the proper amount of nutes throughout its life will significantly reduce that regardless if you flush or not. (Like vsknmr said, lowering to 1/4 strength last 1-2 weeks. )

Just experiment for yourself - it's the best way to learn. Best of luck!


Edit - you def have at least 3-4 weeks left like mwooten said. You'd be disappointed if you harvest now. There's to much premature outdoor out there :/

And see... here I am thinking that with growing up in cali and smoking their bud, then moving by co. And smoking theirs, and then now living here and smoking homegrown and commercial from mi..
..I think there was only once or twice that I have ever noticed a Chem taste to it. I always attributed it to they must have sprayed something on the plant like antifungal or pesticides. Now I've smoked a lot of harsh or bad tasting weed but you could tell it was a cure thing.
I wonder if because of flushing the plant could be up taking more water at the end causing the drying part to take longer and producing a slower cure????? But who really knows

Ultimately, in the end, I'm sure it won't matter. I recently got my medical card and registered through an LP (I'm in Canada) so most of my homegrown will be turned into qwiso for smoking on top of my medical anyway... Maybe I won't flush, or minimal flush as it shouldn't matter for hash making anyway.

In my opinion, the only benefit of flushing (watering a couple weeks with pure water) is to create a 'fade', ie the removal of chlorophyll, resulting in better taste. It's always advantageous to go into drying with such a head start, allowing the drying and curing process to mop up whatever gets left behind.

As for when to harvest, I always aim for when trichomes are closest to 100% cloudy, but this is a matter of preference, and so the onus is on you, my friend.

ganga gurl420 said:

And see... here I am thinking that with growing up in cali and smoking their bud, then moving by co. And smoking theirs, and then now living here and smoking homegrown and commercial from mi..
..I think there was only once or twice that I have ever noticed a Chem taste to it. I always attributed it to they must have sprayed something on the plant like antifungal or pesticides. Now I've smoked a lot of harsh or bad tasting weed but you could tell it was a cure thing.
I wonder if because of flushing the plant could be up taking more water at the end causing the drying part to take longer and producing a slower cure????? But who really knows

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Some people have a harder time tasting/noticing harsh synthetics/non-flushed buds. I know lots of people who would never notice a difference. To each their own.. Alls I know is I notice a huge difference, & @ least 70-80% of the commercial stuff grown here in Co was not flushed and overfed. All of the top notch growers here in CO, CA & Oregon that I have met swear by flushing.. And that is people in the industry selling their product for 2-3x what everyone else is & that have won multiple cannabis cups.

I guess some people just don't have as sensitive taste buds/lungs I feel bad for people not flushing, unflushed weed is bad for the throat ESPECIALLY if using synthetic ferts. Mineswell be smoking tobacco then.
Oh well, I guess if your coming from a commercial stand point where you're selling most your product in bulk, then I could see where someone would want to argue against flushing. Much cheaper and more cost/time effective than flushing.

To each their own though.

P.S. You can taste pesticides if sprayed in flower, there is a HUGE night & day difference between that & unflushed weed. I use to smoke over an OZ a day, I have literally smoked 100's of LB's throughout my life.. And there IS a very big difference between unflushed vs flushed weed, cured vs uncured weed & pesticide sprayed vs non pesticide sprayed weed and synthetic vs organically grown weed.

Everyone's gotta figure out what works out best for them though.

Last October it rained for the seven days right before I chopped. So I guess I did flush. But since I had to pick early, I was still feeding, so maybe I didn't after all.

I ended up harvesting that plant about a week and a half after I made this post, and my other I ended up harvesting about 2 weeks early as well. Trichomes were still clear/cloudy with more cloudy and some amber starting. The high isn't bad, but a bit racy (I like racy, heady sativa highs anyway).

Bud rot started to set in. For about 2 months straight this summer we have had temperatures consistently around 30c with humidex values upwards of 40c (so basically really fucking hot and really fucking humid). The bud rot and powdery mildew got a bit further ahead of me than i would have liked. At least the end results don't seem bad at all. Everything in the woods surrounding my girls was also covered in various types of powdery mildew.. God damn weather..


Anyway, thanks for the advice guys, I'd say I have learned a lot for next season. Biggest lesson learned? Don't use seeds with unknown genetics for a hot and humid area where powdery mildew runs rampant.