Flushing and dark period for the FIRST time...HELP PLEASE!!

Hi again fellow growers,

coming to the end of my auto grow now, 7 weeks and 2 days and my ladies are looking and smelling SWEET!!.....i have been reading some of the threads on here about flushing, and im still undecided, some say its a good thing with just ph right tap water, some say with 1/4 nutes, some say DONT doit at all. so witch isit?? could someone help me out here please?? also the dark period whats the ideal length of time for darkness? im swaying towards the 72 hour stint?. your help would be much appreciated. cheers
sealegs.

Yeah, i think 48-72 hours woule be ok for dark period, lets the thc flush out of the plant so ya got some better bud. I dont know about flushing though you will have to wait for some vetrans to look at your post.

OK 2 to 3 days dark is the basic rule if there is such a thing. I start flushing 7 to 10 days before harvest and you should do both! No nutes when flushing!

I'll run molasses and bud candy because it's just sugar water and molasses basically. I normally flush for up to 14 days. As far as a dark period, it's not necessary. I did my own little test. Harvested 1 plant per day of dark period all the way up to 7 days. Then compared it to bud I pulled withOut the dark period. The resin product tricomes hairs pretty much everything stayed the same

InsaneMJ said:

I'll run molasses and bud candy because it's just sugar water and molasses basically. I normally flush for up to 14 days. As far as a dark period, it's not necessary. I did my own little test. Harvested 1 plant per day of dark period all the way up to 7 days. Then compared it to bud I pulled withOut the dark period. The resin product tricomes hairs pretty much everything stayed the same

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I use molasses as well but I stop everything at 7 days before harvest!

But if you think about it, molasses isn't full of chemicals, it's just straight sugars, which helps with taste and carboloading until harvest. So if anything it'll make your buds sweeter. Not harsh or anything like that.

InsaneMJ said:

But if you think about it, molasses isn't full of chemicals, it's just straight sugars, which helps with taste and carboloading until harvest. So if anything it'll make your buds sweeter. Not harsh or anything like that.

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I don't worry about mollases.

Well I'm just throwin that info for jimbob since he's the one with questions. Lol.
But everyone is gonna flush differently. There's no wrong way to do it.

InsaneMJ said:

Well I'm just throwin that info for jimbob since he's the one with questions. Lol.
But everyone is gonna flush differently. There's no wrong way to do it.

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Again agreed! When I say molasses doesn't matter I mean it REALLY does but I am not concerned about flushing this additive.

Yeah I know what you mean, I only run 2 additives during flush, never runnin a base nutes during flush

InsaneMJ said:

Yeah I know what you mean, I only run 2 additives during flush, never runnin a base nutes during flush

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Whats the other?

Bud candy, which is also pretty much the same thing, just different type of sugar. It also has some mag in it, but I haven't noticed a taste difference when using it and not using it in flush.

I run molasses and flush for one week until harvest. I also cut the nutrients by half and increase my runoff two weeks before harvest. There is no proven reason to flush before harvest for flavour, however, fertilizers often build up in the soil to toxic levels so i flush every four weeks anyways. The plants will slow down nutrient uptake for the last few weeks of flowering, causing more nutrients to build up in the soil and increasing the potential for a chemical burn which will effect the flavour. This is why often in side by side comparisons, the flushed plant tastes so much better, and so people assume flushing is the only way to go.

I turn the lights off for two days. The reason for doing this is simply to increase stress mildly which stimulates THC production, and to keep the THC degrading light and heat away from your buds. THC does not circulate within the plant, it is produced in glands which react to various changes in the plants environment.

I plan on writing up the results of my own flushing experiment which covers many aspects of the flushing debate as well as the dark period from an objective point of view. I just wanted big tasty potent buds, and now they're weighed up and cured! I'll write it up tonight after it's been judged by a group of my peers!

Oh, and bud candy actually performs very impressively, but Molasses is cheaper

I use them together

Thanks for all the info once again chaps, am going to go with the flush will get some water sorted tomorrow go with a 7 day flush then a 72 hr dark stint will let you all no how it goes nearer the time.
sealegs.