Is Flushing Always Necessary B4 Harvest?

[SolidSnake88]

hey guys i was using flora nova with molasses and a potassium suppliment in soil and then for the last 2 weeks i just only gave them molasses and the potassium, leaves are starting to yellow but are still light green, i was told the flush is unnecessary because i wasnt using a lot of nutrients,.. whats your oppinions on this? lol,... thanks for any input guys!

 

[Wildill]

hey guys i was using flora nova with molasses and a potassium suppliment in soil and then for the last 2 weeks i just only gave them molasses and the potassium, leaves are starting to yellow but are still light green, i was told the flush is unnecessary because i wasnt using a lot of nutrients,.. whats your oppinions on this? lol,... thanks for any input guys!

I would still flush you can't go wrong.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

That yellowing is what you want. The extra nitrogen will make it taste like shit. I would have cut out potassium too. Molasses only for 2 weeks FTW. Not flushing only works with true organics and if your smart enough to not have any extra ferts left over so you can get that nice lime green fade. If it doesn't stay lit while passing the bowl to your friend or doesn't make perfectly white ash you fucked up and are smoking fertilizer.

 

[Seamaiden]

I'm putting bells on WalterWhiteFire's post. Ring-a-ding-a-ling! We have a winner!

 

[Mr_GreenGenes]

I'd look at the label on your molasses and get an idea of how much Mag is in it. Ive seen some with very low amounts and others with a much higher amount. Damn sure don't want excess Mag left in your plant when you chop or it will burn hot and black as fuck. Just my .02. MGG

 

[Jack Dupp]

IMO Pre-harvest flushing is not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful to your plants. It places stress on the root zone by altering the amount of dissolved solids when the plant needs it most. I notice that my buds start packing on weight around the last few weeks. Why starve them when they are still growing?

Do you think that when you see the plant cannibalizing its fan leaves (Source of assimilates) that it doesn't affect the flowers (sink of assimilates)? If the plant doesn't have these (immobile) elements available, then certain metabolic processes are unable to take place. ie - It could affect the growth of your buds.

I've run Jack's Classic or Dyna-Gro (1/2 strength a week before harvest) all the way up until chop. I had healthy green leaves and beautiful buds. With a proper cure, everyone who sampled raved about how flavorful they were. No complaints of fertilizer taste or black and sparkly ash.
I believe that black ash and herb that won't stay lit is attributed to an improper cure rather than "too much N stored in your bud."

You flush your media, not your plants BTW.

 

[kolah]

I grow outdoors organically and never "flush." Usually the cold nights sets in quickly in my region which forces my plants to finish up early anyways....so no real time to even attempt flushing. I still give my plants good clean (non fert) water though right up until the harvest.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

IMO Pre-harvest flushing is not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful to your plants. It places stress on the root zone by altering the amount of dissolved solids when the plant needs it most. I notice that my buds start packing on weight around the last few weeks. Why starve them when they are still growing?

Do you think that when you see the plant cannibalizing its fan leaves (Source of assimilates) that it doesn't affect the flowers (sink of assimilates)? If the plant doesn't have these (immobile) elements available, then certain metabolic processes are unable to take place. ie - It could affect the growth of your buds.

I've run Jack's Classic or Dyna-Gro (1/2 strength a week before harvest) all the way up until chop. I had healthy green leaves and beautiful buds. With a proper cure, everyone who sampled raved about how flavorful they were. No complaints of fertilizer taste or black and sparkly ash.
I believe that black ash and herb that won't stay lit is attributed to an improper cure rather than "too much N stored in your bud."

You flush your media, not your plants BTW.

120% disagree with your opinion. But to each his own...You couldn't pay me to smoke buds grown that way.

 

[Natural]

Plants store food and soil holds on to salt based fertilizers. If you are like me, I'm not set up for run-off. That means I'm always careful to not over-feed and, try to give a plant only what it will use. No run-off also means more salt build up. In which case, I like to start a water with molasses type feed 3 weeks before harvest..then 2 weeks of straight water. Now if your plant is a heavy feeder..it might help if you gave it some very weak nutes along with molasses that 1st week, but typically I don't.
Knowing your plants feed needs is a big part of the equation and getting a clean flush is much easier if you didn't over-do it during flower. IMVHO it is possible to over-flush a heavy feeder when you have been under-feeding as well. We don't want the little green tips on the buds to become dead brown leaves.
I believe under-flushing to be worse though, I shoot for clean tasty buds all the way through to white ash...with no detectable chem taste.

 

[Sativied]

I wasn't going to join these classic discussions at the farm as you've all been so kind so far and these discussions never seem to go well. This one's too hard to resist. :writing:

As with many grow myths ('flushing improves taste') there's some truth in it but it has been stretched into something too general. Those who oppose flushing with a passion always answer "should I flush?" with a big fat no, while in reality there are plenty of situation where a flush can prevent a bad taste. The OP however specifically said "always", in which case the answer is no.

I agree entirely with Jack Dupp. The whole flushing for better taste thing has been taken too far over the decades. If you haven't overfertlized the medium there's no need to leach elements from it either (which is what flushing does, like Jack said, you can't flush plants and 'underfeeding' isn't going to improve anything, on the contrary). Keep your plants healthy green (not too dark, not yellow) till the end and it will taste optimal. I smoked literally hundreds of strains/crosses over the past decades from hundreds of coffeeshops and dozens of growers, nothing tastes as good as homegrown herb from a plant that got what it needs (which is easier to measure and 'see' on hydroponics) and remained healthy throughout the entire cycle. Indoors is not about mimicking outdoors, it's about control, which includes preventing premature yellowing outdoors induced by suboptimal autumn weather.

The point of flushing was originally to leach 'excessive' nutrients from the soil outdoors, to prevent overfeeding during the last two weeks, amongst others once liquid P boosts became popular over slow-releasing P. The goal was never to deprive plants of their essential elements. If your green harvest doesn't taste good, you need to improve your drying and curing methods as yes, yellow harvest will taste and smell better (no hay smell from chlorophyll) than a green one if not dried and cured properly. I know growers who don't want to take the risk of drying for weeks and curing for months and want to get rid of the harvest asap, in which case depriving the plant of N for the past two weeks makes that a little easier.

 

[straincreation]

Thats whats up gentlemen.

 

[straincreation]

And ladies....sorry

 

[Lowlo]

That yellowing is what you want. The extra nitrogen will make it taste like shit. I would have cut out potassium too. Molasses only for 2 weeks FTW. Not flushing only works with true organics and if your smart enough to not have any extra ferts left over so you can get that nice lime green fade. If it doesn't stay lit while passing the bowl to your friend or doesn't make perfectly white ash you fucked up and are smoking fertilizer.

 

[Lowlo]

I do not over use nutes rarely go over 1100ppm in flower, at 8 weeks from photo I start to closely look at trikes, bud development. Leaf coloration and smell, stickiness. If I feel that at 8weeks that bud growth is at or beyond peak. I start to flush with plain well water the last 2 weeks. Flushing will help trikes to turn milky, leaf color fade. I grow in soil 5gal pots cmh light.

 

[OldManRiver]

I have a question for the proponents of flushing. How does the plant excrete the nitrogen and other nutes that are being removed?

 

[MIMedGrower]

It doesn’t. It only washes out the medium of nutes.

 

[Enforcer]

I have a question for the proponents of flushing. How does the plant excrete the nitrogen and other nutes that are being removed?

The plant doesn’t excrete the nutes. The flushing removes the nutrients from the medium. This causes the plant to consume its reserves to continue photosynthesis. That’s why I flush. The plant will deplete itself and just as it’s in its last bit of life, turned all yellow and buds all fat, we chop it.

Result is smoother smoke, better taste, white ash.

 

[RippedTorn]

Flushing by definition is blocking the uptake of nutrients from the soil. Its not changing the soil. Its changing the pressure between the inside and outside of the root. The type of shit that happens in a 24 hour period if you have any interest in nature at all. Since ya know pot used to be a natural product and was always harvested at night when nutes were growing roots not shoots.

The whole flushing debate will always rage on, until half the population evolves the taste buds which the other half possesses. And evolves past financial interests and into spiritual ones. Meaning subhumans will always be growing commercial weed in chemical baths. And connoisseurs will always wonder why those people even grow weed or who the fuck is buying all the garbage they grow.

 

[hawkman]

It's away to remove all "salts" considering the pro's and con's - let face it ; best to flush. NO debate - Peace !!!!

 

[WORDZ]

Flushing by definition is blocking the uptake of nutrients from the soil. Its not changing the soil. Its changing the pressure between the inside and outside of the root. The type of shit that happens in a 24 hour period if you have any interest in nature at all. Since ya know pot used to be a natural product and was always harvested at night when nutes were growing roots not shoots.

The whole flushing debate will always rage on, until half the population evolves the taste buds which the other half possesses. And evolves past financial interests and into spiritual ones. Meaning subhumans will always be growing commercial weed in chemical baths. And connoisseurs will always wonder why those people even grow weed or who the fuck is buying all the garbage they grow.

If you don't flush you don't become a judgmental asshole. LMFAO How do your farts smell?