new to growing so few more questions

i had a few questions about how to flush and when? how to top and when? and lst how and when? i have a small space and dont really want tall plants so how do i do this without hurting my plant? also how will i tell if my plants are male or female? and when will signs show?

dont really need to flush unless there is a problem with the plant. top around 2 to 3 weeks. you can usually sex plants after 4 weeks. do some research. there is a lot of good info on the web.

Do some reading.. I spent approx 1 week just reading about nutrients and uptake after doing an entire grow with an expert... Start there, by making the plant happy and then worry about the other stuff.

I recommend you don't use advanced techniques on your first grow. Just let them grow out naturally and you will learn so much more. Apply those techniques as you become comfortable with the plants themselves and how they respond.

Good Luck.

I all ways flush 3 times but grow in auto pots so i can control it more.just turn tank off and add water to trays for 2 days at 3 week veg for a two days
and then re-peat at week 4 and then for a week at week 8/9 for final time for 7 days.I have never really been into topping during flowering i think it causes
the plants to stretch i do all my topping at week 3 of veg every single branch gets topped.look at www. browndirtwarrior.com there is a section on how to tell male from female
Great to hear that a new grower is going with regular seeds,rather than femanised,good on you you will learn far more.all the best tyke

putangluv said:

dont really need to flush unless there is a problem with the plant. top around 2 to 3 weeks. you can usually sex plants after 4 weeks. do some research. there is a lot of good info on the web.

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Clearly someone wants to smoke a hell lot of nutrients as they think flushing is only for plants with a *problem*.

ilyaas123 said:

Clearly someone wants to smoke a hell lot of nutrients as they think flushing is only for plants with a *problem*.

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Technically the plant is built of the nutrients you feed it, so either way you are smoking the nutrients. Flushing is pointless when you have the ability to properly dry and cure.

Not really Ily, flushing is not necessary in most situations. Depends on how you grown and how you feed. I am a soil grower and always believed less is more when it comes to feeding, and have since gone to organic. I have done side by side in soil and can tell you not me nor my friends noticed a difference between the two. One of those highly debated topics that most people argue but have never taken the time to try for themselves. Flushing can mean pouring a shit ton of water in your soil (not recommended) to using water only the last week or two. I subscribe to the theory of feeding to the end (light feed) and not shocking or depriving my plants of food when it needs it the most. Keep them green I say!! Do you flush your strawberries (fruits or veggies) before you pick them?

OP - don't worry about flush until the end your getting ahead of yourself. Topping, go to advanced section and read uncle ben topping methods (must read). It is easy process and I recommend it. I usually wait until my plant has 5-6 nodes then cut everything leaving the bottom couple nodes (for 4 main branches). LST is an easy process as well and I usually top then wait a week or so for some new growth and then tie her down. Once you flip your lights to 12/12 in 7-10 days it will show you (plus or minus). If you veg a plant long enough as mentioned above it can show you as well.

There is lots of good info here on this board. Be careful though there is a lot of bad info too. lol But the main thing to remember is to keep it simple, we are talking about growing a plant. Some like to make all this into more than it is and there is a bunch of practices that people follow blindly without questioning just because they read it online. Good luck!

I don't mean to step on anybodies toes and I'll be the first to admit that I am not super experienced and also that what you guys are saying does make sense to me. I'd just like to offer what I think flushings intended purpose is, to me:

The IDEAL goal of flushing is to time it perfectly with your harvest. For instance... you want them to JUST run out of nutrients right when you pluck 'em. This way they don't starve in anyway; they're more or less just ready for another feeding. You want to minimize the amount of stored nutrients within the plant material that photosynthesis hasn't yet used, if that makes sense. Remember that the plant will use its energy for the buds rather than fan leaf and other leaf, so deficiencies in leaves do not necessarily indicate that the buds themselves are starving. So in conclusion, the goal is to smoke buds that were never starved, but also don't contain excess and unprocessed nutrients. Just my two cents.

What you are asking for really comes down to the method you decide to grow with and when those techniques are needed.

Keep it simple at first pick a method dwc,ebb flow, soil then a nutrient follow the instructions some say flush and some don't they tell you what to feed at what ppm on what week with what light schedule. If you want plants the don't get to tall choose the right genetics for your space and grow style.

Once you have mastered the simple then try more advanced feeding schedules and LST methods that can easily be found online.

feasy said:

What you are asking for really comes down to the method you decide to grow with and when those techniques are needed.

Keep it simple at first pick a method dwc,ebb flow, soil then a nutrient follow the instructions some say flush and some don't they tell you what to feed at what ppm on what week with what light schedule. If you want plants the don't get to tall choose the right genetics for your space and grow style.

Once you have mastered the simple then try more advanced feeding schedules and LST methods that can easily be found online.

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This is also good advice. Ignore the flushing debate... If you want to flush there are a few ways to do it. Dig around and you'll see.

Dr Smith said:

This is also good advice. Ignore the flushing debate... If you want to flush there are a few ways to do it. Dig around and you'll see.

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The first words on this thread are asking about flushing. If one has questions about flushing, should one ignore a "flushing debate"? Rude. Let the inquisitive minds participate, WE'LL ignore YOU.

Thank you all for your input as every bit of info helps put things in perspective

UncleReemis said:

The first words on this thread are asking about flushing. If one has questions about flushing, should one ignore a "flushing debate"? Rude. Let the inquisitive minds participate, WE'LL ignore YOU.

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Hey guy, relax. I'm not trying to be rude at all. Maybe you misunderstand my meaning.. I thought he was asking how to flush, not whether or not he should. My point was he should research the methods and try it out himself if he wants to. It's the only way he'll know. Debates with no final conclusion tell us absolutely nothing in the end.

ilyaas123 said:

Clearly someone wants to smoke a hell lot of nutrients as they think flushing is only for plants with a *problem*.

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ilyas please dont make me snap on you again, the only one smoking chemicals is you!!

and let him worry about flushing when it comes time to maybe by then he can decide if he wants to flush or not. i grow organic and feel thet there is no need to flush but iunno i could be wrong. its just the way i do it

Sorry, I've been battling a tooth ache all day and have been on edge. Misunderstanding on my part

UncleReemis said:

Sorry, I've been battling a tooth ache all day and have been on edge. Misunderstanding on my part

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All good brother man. Punch that tooth right in the mouth!

Dr Smith said:

All good brother man. Punch that tooth right in the mouth!

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Yeah I'm seriously considering whiskey and a nice pair of pliers. Yeah, I'd probably bitch out last minute, but damn it's getting more worth it every minute.

More hydro growers flush than soil growers. It's used to remove excess salts but in soil grows it's just not necessary. But guys do it anyway and I'm not going to tell them they can't.
LST, super cropping and topping are done in veg at various stages and its better if you study these methods in detail as I can't do justice to them by abbreviating them down to a few words. Instead of using the search feature here just google the three different techniques. My personal fav is LST. I prune to allow air movement also and stake heavy stems as needed.
As far as sexing your plant just flip it when you're ready. You'll see male or female parts soon after. If you're not sure post a thread. Almost everyone here can tell the difference.
Hope that helps.