Flushing

I'm a fairly new grower but I've done lots of reading and watching videos and I just finished my second grow starting on my third. I've Heard lots of different things about the final flush please give me your thoughts on the flush and why

directions followed on any quality nutrient system instruct a slow reduction in ppm's as the plant cycle comes to finish.
If followed.....that is the extent of any sane flush. just accidentally dump a bottle of nitrogen in your container? well then, like your eye or toilet, run some water through it till the shit runs clear I suppose.

I don't have any thoughts on flushing other than it's a waste of time. You can't "Flush" anything out of the plant by soaking it's roots and depriving it of nutrients.

Yeah I have noticed that there is a lot of controversy on the topic. Some people swear by it others say it's a waste of time and that there's no reason to flush.

I guess it makes sense to flush your plant if you put too much nutrients in the soil or medium but I'm not sure if it makes a difference in the end product to flush before Harvest.

When a plant is put into crisis mode (which is what happens when you leech all of the nutrients out of your medium and drown the roots) it makes a last ditch effort to complete it's life cycle by routing all available stores of energy to the most important part of itself.... the flowers. All plants work towards is reproduction . So everyone out there who flushes the living shit (literally) out of their plants is actually encouraging all those 'nasty chemicals' to be absorbed nice and deep into those buds.

Why wouldn’t you want to ‘rinse’ out a nutrient cycle by using a week worth (2-3) waterings using about 2x the amount of water that had been used to feed the plant?

I started a week long ‘flush’ this morning. Fed my plants about 1250mL/per feeding. Gave them 2000 mL of fresh, Ph balanced water today.

Daveindiego said:

Why wouldn’t you want to ‘rinse’ out a nutrient cycle by using a week worth (2-3) waterings using about 2x the amount of water that had been used to feed the plant?

I started a week long ‘flush’ this morning. Fed my plants about 1250mL/per feeding. Gave them 2000 mL of fresh, Ph balanced water today.

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Are you going to re-use your grow medium?

Flushing is for toilets!

NanoGadget said:

Are you going to re-use your grow medium?

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No, I used Coco, and will dump it.

But I did pump these plants full of a House and Garden nutrient program for 12 weeks. Why wouldn’t I want to make sure that my last 3 feedings of my plants don’t contain residual nutrients? What does House and Garden have to gain by recommending a 3-5 day flush? They aren’t selling any nutrient or any other additives for flushing.

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.

Flushing is useless. Don't waste the time or water. It won't do anything for your plant except to stress it.

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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I don’t want to remove nutrients from the plant after they’re absorbed. I want to make sure that my growth medium and root structure has any residual nutrient, or salt, removed or broken down that would negatively impact the taste of the flower when combusted.

Kerovan said:

Flushing is useless. Don't waste the time or water. It won't do anything for your plant except to stress it.

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So a plant that has been fed between 1000 and 1250 mL with nutrients for 12 weeks would then be stressed by 2000 mL of nutrient free water?

Daveindiego said:

So a plant that has been fed between 1000 and 1250 mL with nutrients for 12 weeks would then be stressed by 2000 mL of nutrient free water?

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Yes, drowning the plants doesn't help anything. And there is nothing to "flush" from the plant. It doesn't store the chemicals, it uses them. And if it did store them, the water wouldn't wash them out anyway. Flushing is useless.

To remove a lot of salts you will need a flush product....

Like a bit of water is going to make your grow medium squeaky clean after months of hard salts, if only chemistry worked like that.

So again, why would a nutrient manufacturer suggest a 3-5 day flushing of the plant? They aren’t selling a product to assist in flushing.

Daveindiego said:

No, I used Coco, and will dump it.

But I did pump these plants full of a House and Garden nutrient program for 12 weeks. Why wouldn’t I want to make sure that my last 3 feedings of my plants don’t contain residual nutrients? What does House and Garden have to gain by recommending a 3-5 day flush? They aren’t selling any nutrient or any other additives for flushing.

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Don't "Pump" your plants. Feed them what they need.

Daveindiego said:

I don’t want to remove nutrients from the plant after they’re absorbed. I want to make sure that my growth medium and root structure has any residual nutrient, or salt, removed or broken down that would negatively impact the taste of the flower when combusted.

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I don't understand this statement. If you're not removing anything from the plant what good does removing it from the growth medium do? And just exactly are you removing from the plant?

I'm easily confused so maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.

xtsho said:

Don't "Pump" your plants. Feed them what they need.




I don't understand this statement. If you're not removing anything from the plant what good does removing it from the growth medium do? And just exactly are you removing from the plant?

I'm easily confused so maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.

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That is my most recent lesson learned. I was feeding at 1500 ppm, and I think I burnt the fuck out of them. I now plan on 700 to 1100 ppm’s.

As I have read on cultivation sites, the Coco and roots have built up salts and nutrients that can be broken up, and absorbed by the plant. I have read that by just cutting the plant, curing and drying, that the flower can maintain some of the nutrient or taste. I have read anecdotal info of flower doing a flashing during combustion from built up phosphorus that hadn’t been broken down during a week long flush.

Why not flush the plant for a week?

Daveindiego said:

So again, why would a nutrient manufacturer suggest a 3-5 day flushing of the plant? They aren’t selling a product to assist in flushing.

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They all sell flushing additives. They suggest flushing so that people will buy their products.

General Hydroponics FloraKlean
Advanced Nutrients Flawless Finish Flushing Solution
Botanicare Clearex
Humnbolt Nutrients Royal Flush

Just a few examples but they all have worthless products designed to transfer your money from you to them.