Dirtbag said:

He didn't really.. he actually said that he doesn't see any science to support it, but then immediately afterwards admitted that nutrients are stored in vacuoles within the plant and that feeding only water at the end could help to deplete those stored nutrients.

I like to follow actual science as much as anyone but I will never feed a plant right to the end ever again. Done it several times because I kept hearing it makes no difference and science has proven it. Bullshit. I ruined 3 crops at least trying to disprove myself by feeding low dose nutes right to the end. Ended up with pounds of weed that wouldn't burn properly in a joint. Fine if you're a bong or pipe smoker. Useless garbage for folks like me that burn joints in slow burning papers and don't want it to burn out every other toke.

I want to deplete the stored nutrients from the plant at the end, and the only way in my mind to do that is with a week or so of plain water feedings to first deplete what's in the media, and ultimately deplete what is stored within the plant. In fact I'm even going back to the idea that utilizing an isotonic solution at the end to properly remove stored nutrients from plant vacuoles is the ultimate path to a clean and smooth burning end product.

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Thank you watch out bro science police might come after you now

AlfaDog said:

Thank you watch out bro science police might come after you now

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Let's just say I'm starting to get pretty comfortable going against the grain.

Dirtbag said:

Let's just say I'm starting to get pretty comfortable going against the grain.

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I agree. I never feed before harvest. But I don't do a 2-3 week flush either. I start reducing feed 3 weeks before harvest with final feed being about 10 days before expected harvest. Last two waterings are plain water.

growsince79 said:

I agree. I never feed before harvest. But I don't do a 2-3 week flush either. I start reducing feed 3 weeks before harvest with final feed being about 10 days before expected harvest. Last two waterings are plain water.

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Yep that was pretty much my process in promix exactly. In rockwool or even coco it's more like 5 days of plain water once per day to runoff with a lot of dryback in between.

Dirtbag said:

He didn't really.. he actually said that he doesn't see any science to support it, but then immediately afterwards admitted that nutrients are stored in vacuoles within the plant and that feeding only water at the end could help to deplete those stored nutrients.

I like to follow actual science as much as anyone but I will never feed a plant right to the end ever again. Done it several times because I kept hearing it makes no difference and science has proven it. Bullshit. I ruined 3 crops at least trying to disprove myself by feeding low dose nutes right to the end. Ended up with pounds of weed that wouldn't burn properly in a joint. Fine if you're a bong or pipe smoker. Useless garbage for folks like me that burn joints in slow burning papers and don't want it to burn out every other toke.

I want to deplete the stored nutrients from the plant at the end, and the only way in my mind to do that is with a week or so of plain water feedings to first deplete what's in the media, and ultimately deplete what is stored within the plant. In fact I'm even going back to the idea that utilizing an isotonic solution at the end to properly remove stored nutrients from plant vacuoles is the ultimate path to a clean and smooth burning end product.

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Thanks for the clarification.

growsince79 said:

I agree. I never feed before harvest. But I don't do a 2-3 week flush either. I start reducing feed 3 weeks before harvest with final feed being about 10 days before expected harvest. Last two waterings a plain water.

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No one mentioned anything about 3 week flush... but why do you reduce week 5 buds need all that food for overall development and production

Dirtbag said:

Yep that was pretty much my process in promix exactly. In rockwool or even coco it's more like 5 days of plain water once per day to runoff with a lot of dryback in between.

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I never water anything before harvest either. My peppers are hotter and better flavor when thirsty.

AlfaDog said:

No one mentioned anything about 3 week flush... but why do you reduce week 5 buds need all that food for overall development and production

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I start reducing about 3 weeks before harvest. For me that's usually around week 7. At this point the plants needs are changing; they don't need hardly any N and P needs are reduced and K is increased.

grnmtn said:

Patience!!!!!!...your buds aren't even close to being finished...why smoke inferior buds, just wait till it's done then harvest!

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Thank you, thcoso and growsince for your advice.

Now that I know I have at least a couple of weeks left to go, I will give them an Epson salts drink today.

As to the flushing question which has been discussed extensively on this thread, since I am growing in soil in a greenhouse I give the plants a weekly feeding of compost tea and every other week a little Epson salts drink.

Other than a few plain water waterings the last week or so to flush any excess feedings, I am not sure all the flushing in the world can rid soil of the natural nutrients that are feeding the plant.
so I am assuming it will continue to suck up what it needs from the soil right to the end.

So for me, I am assuming a one week flush would be sufficient.
Do you guys agree?

What is the ppm of everyone’s last feeds?

I use my well water @~180ppm (decent analysis with PH 7.2) for the last week-ish. I also water less volume per feeding than I normally would by about 20%. And harvest occurs on a day that would have otherwise been a water day.

I don’t consider this anything close to a flush. Nor do I consider it a feeding. This is just end of cycle norm. Once again, flushing is a terrible way to end your plants life and that is not based upon my opinion.

A flush is a medium reset. Running water through until a desired ph or ppm is reached through slurry analysis. Flushing your plant at the end of its life cycle will suffocate the roots and negatively effect (ie confuse) all plant functions at a critical point in the grow. Which is also fact and not my opinion.

This is specific to growing in rockwool, but what I plan to do for a flush this cycle is as follows:

5-7 days from harvest, when all my trichs are cloudy and I see the odd amber pop out I should be around 300-400ppm or so.
At that point I will rinse it with plain 0.1ec/50ppm water until it's down to around 200, then feed with an isotonic solution for 2 days. After that until chop day a few days later, it will get nothing but plain, double filtered and UV treated water from my outdoor cistern that is about 10% city tap water and 90% rainwater. It has an ec of 0.1, ph balanced to 5.8. I expect the final ppm in the media to be around 50ppm.

GreenMtnGuru said:

What is the ppm of everyone’s last feeds?

I use my well water @~180ppm (decent analysis with PH 7.2) for the last week-ish. I also water less volume per feeding than I normally would by about 20%. And harvest occurs on a day that would have otherwise been a water day.

I don’t consider this anything close to a flush. Nor do I consider it a feeding. This is just end of cycle norm. Once again, flushing is a terrible way to end your plants life and that is not based upon my opinion.

A flush is a medium reset. Running water through until a desired ph or ppm is reached through slurry analysis. Flushing your plant at the end of its life cycle will suffocate the roots and negatively effect (ie confuse) all plant functions at a critical point in the grow. Which is also fact and not my opinion.

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All you guys that have been doing this for a long time obviously know what you are doing have the ability to micromanage your pH levels and nutrient feedings, etc. etc.

But growing in soil in a greenhouse is a whole different animal. I have no illusions of attaining maximum yields, as I am struggling just to keep these babies alive.

My plants have to regularly endure daily temperature fluctuations that can go from 60° at night to over 85° when the sun is out during the day. One 25° night my heater tripped a breaker and the temp in the greenhouse fell to 32° before I came aware of it at 3 AM. Cranked up the propane heater and had it back up to mid 70s within the hour, but… These are hearty plants and survived the trauma, although I do not know the stress effect.

Even though I have had an organic vegetable garden for years, this is definitely a challenge, but I am giving it my best shot, And I am learning a lot as this is my first attempt at growing MJ in the greenhouse in the winter. Overnight temperatures in the mid teens tonight with wind chills of 0°, hitting a high of 18° tomorrow.

Good thing there’s a Pandemic on cause I can’t leave my house as these babies need almost constant monitoring.

I appreciate all the feedback and knowledge you guys are willing to share. Wish I could share some of this beautiful smoke if/when I can successfully bring it to harvest.