[elusiveshame]

So I’ve been reading up on the auto watering bases since I concocted my own version of them, and I’ve been reading that the plants should be flushed once a month due to salt buildup.

I’m using the fox farm trio (grow big, big bloom, and tiger bloom) plus orca - I’m assuming these nutrients (either some or all) leaves behind salt. This is in happy frog soil.

I have 2 questions:

Question 1:
When I flush - how much water should be used? What do I need to look out for when flushing / how do I determine it’s done?

Question 2:
With a scrog setup, flushing by removing the plants becomes difficult / impossible without compromising the plants. Can I flush in place, and if so, can that runoff be used to feed the plants, or should it be drained and refilled?

Bonus question: how often should I flush? I’ve read various opinions ranging from once a month to once before flip and that’s it.

 

[Trixie]

If you start with what you have in the soil and slowly add low-dose nutrients with every watering you should not have to flush at all. Using FoxFarms you will start with a high ppm or a large number of unavailable and useable salts. Don't flush or you will lose these valuable amendments. What I do is as the plant grows and uses up the soil nutrients, I slowly start supplementing small doses of fertilizers keeping the EC steady. Running 2999 to 4000 ppm is normal with super soils and you want to hold on to what you got when it gets low then start supplementing.

 

[Trixie]

If salt content gets to a toxic point and has to be flushed then its best to use water with a small amount of fertilizer in it to act as a solvent to flush out the high EC. Use large mouth drain trays so the water won't back up into the soil. If you put your containers on 3 mason jar lids the water will drop into the tray below. You don't want your plants to set in the discharge water. It takes much less water to flush when you use "flush water" that has a low ppm of fertilizer in it. I use a turkey baster to pick up my discharge waste.

 

[Trixie]

Lastly in the End, if you time your flowering where you can give your plants only pure water for the last 5 to 10 days you won't need to flush your plants at all and still have a super fade.