flushing debate.

[Seamaiden]

theres a thread on here or icmag somewhere where some people were saying they flush with calmag and it makes it smooth, and burns white ash.

That's cool for them, but in my world it's A) Expensive, B) Not going to end up that way, the opposite in fact. I drop Cal-Mag (for the coco girls, dropping coco growing for a while, but that's another story) about a month prior to planned chop, which is usually close to two weeks prior to dropping all feeding and just giving plain water.

In fact, I don't actually "flush" per se, as in several times the pot volume with water all at once. I just drop feeding and give water, and, as I said in the last time this debate came up, don't bother pHing. But, I grow some real shit, so pay me no mind. :)

E.C 2 yesterday, started final flush today. 10 day flush, 5 mollasses, 5 ph water

Try using just molasses and water all the way through flush on one or two of the girls, see if you notice a difference. 1-3tsp/5gals water.

 

[budboy299]

CalMags 2 biggest ingredients as listed on the bottle (botanicare) are Calcium Nitrate and Magnesium Nitrate.

The exact same 2 ingredients that are in the largest amounts in Canna coco nutes.

So why would we drop the nutes yet put back in the main ingredients in those same nutrients we just took out??
Very odd to me.

 

[DixinCider]

im not asking how to flush or why lol. i'm simply asking what other ppl do...
i know what flushing is and have been flushing for years.
just wanna get other ppls opinions on the matter because there are alot of knowledgeable ppl here that might have something useful to share.

 

[dank_]

My practice has been to not adjust RO water. I go for 10-14days.

I am a little concerned, I see my meter reading the RO I stored @ 7pH.
After flushing in the system, it reads 4.5pH.

The flowers put on a sizable percentage of their weight in the last few weeks. I must get to the bottom of this... flushing in about 2 weeks... I'll be taking a lot of notes.

 

[CelticEBE]

That's cool for them, but in my world it's A) Expensive, B) Not going to end up that way, the opposite in fact. I drop Cal-Mag (for the coco girls, dropping coco growing for a while, but that's another story) about a month prior to planned chop, which is usually close to two weeks prior to dropping all feeding and just giving plain water.

In fact, I don't actually "flush" per se, as in several times the pot volume with water all at once. I just drop feeding and give water, and, as I said in the last time this debate came up, don't bother pHing. But, I grow some real shit, so pay me no mind. :)

Try using just molasses and water all the way through flush on one or two of the girls, see if you notice a difference. 1-3tsp/5gals water.

Funny thing about Molasses though is that it has a pretty good dose of Cal and Mag. At least my Organic Molasses from Whole Foods does.

I run Molasses for 3 days at 2ml per gallon. Then I use AN's final phase. I drench my medium to runoff with it. Then an hour later FLUSH with RO water. The next four days they get non phed RO water. So far everything has been nice and smooth.....

 

[Mmmmasonite]

does anybody know if H&G's drip clean is an enzymatic product?

i know quite a few farmers using it successfully.

~gud

Drip clean is not an enzyme....That's for sure.....The numbers are pretty high in the phosphorus but you use only a tiny bit and it doesn't raise the ppms by too much....Not sure how it works scientifically but I think it has to do with the old school method of using a very low nute flush at the beginning of your flush week or between rez changes (and we are talking like 50 ppms of nutes). This is actually better than straight water at removing salts because the salts have something to bind to...........I found this info......

Administered at every feeding, Drip Clean acts as a magnet, removing salt particles and dirt from the root structure, piping, and medium of any garden. Drip Clean is compatible with all mediums and solutions. Used in conjunction with tap or filtered water, Drip Clean is 100% safe for any plant. Application at every feeding throughout the entire life of the plant virtually guarantees protection form excessive salt buildups and nutrient lockout. As an added benefit, House & Garden’s proprietary blend allows for a more effective and quicker flush times at the end of every harvest.
Derived From: Phosphoric Acid and Potassium oxide
Ingredients Explained: Drip Clean’s incomparable formulation works to give your plants a clean slate, assuring plant growth will never be effected or slowed by salt buildup and nutrient lockout.
Application: 100% safe to your plants, specially designed to be used with tap or filtered water. Apply only .4 ml per gallon of feed solution as an additive at every feeding. One liter of Drip Clean will last for 2,500 gallons!

I think for those of you who are on the fence about flushing or who don't want to flush might wanna try this stuff

Hope this helps.......Peace

 

[desertsquirrel]

Simple sugar and snow storm (phed) for week 7, and unphed r/o for week 8. i do change outs 2-3 times during each week. People swear its soil.

And i cant find my actual available ppm analysis for molasses right now but im pretty sure i got it from one of shroomdrs threads on icmag if your interested.

 

[DixinCider]

tg cleared up what i thought to be true. ph'ed flush ppl! the whole flush!
common sense said the plant is still processing while it's just getting water, and for it to process all of the nutes in the medium and the stored nutes in their tissue they need to be at proper ph levels, why would you at the end of you're grow when you need things to be most perfect shock you're roots with 7.0 water.

 

[desertsquirrel]

the whole idea of a flush is to remove excess elements inside the plant, not the media. CHanging ph outside the range of "uptake" stops uptake from media regardless of what is inside it...

it makes no sense to want to flush, but also want the plant up-taking nutrients.

 

[420Gator]

It's also pointless trying to ph pure ro water because its so unstable. Mission impossible

 

[Seamaiden]

Funny thing about Molasses though is that it has a pretty good dose of Cal and Mag. At least my Organic Molasses from Whole Foods does.

I run Molasses for 3 days at 2ml per gallon. Then I use AN's final phase. I drench my medium to runoff with it. Then an hour later FLUSH with RO water. The next four days they get non phed RO water. So far everything has been nice and smooth.....

Ayup, and leadsled pointed out to me that it's also got some appreciable sulfur in it as well.

I need to find a good nutrient profile for malted barley extract and other sugars.

 

[IVIars]

so would useing GO CalMag (calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, and molasses) affect anything because regular molasses already has good amounts of calcium and magnesium?

 

[desertsquirrel]

From the looks of some initial tissue analysis it might be counter productive to run cal mag past stretch, and instead use a pure Mg & S supplement such as Epsom salt, etc. If your interested i discuss it in detail in "the myth of low N."

That being said im going to finish this run with cal-mag till flush before i try that method; so i am not reccomending it yet, only discussing it. In any case both Ca and Mg ions carry a double positive charge. They are exactly what your trying to leach out in your flush. Why add them to it?

 

[Kobe24]

There is no need to ever PH RO water if you use it plain...for example when I feed my plants....the next time I feed I just give plain RO water not PH'd or anything....works perfect...

 

[Giddeon]

Been lurking this thread for a bit now, guess Ill post up what I use to flush. This can be applied to any RDWC hydro system, I have tested it personally on MPB's, UC, and a Hybrid Aero/UC bucket (that I still need to do a DIY on sorry). I hope to make this easy to follow...

For between weeks:

1. Drain the system
2. Add fresh tap water to the system (don't let this sit out unless comes out of the tap at below 55* then allow time to warm the water)
3. Add the same amount of ph down as you would at the beginning of each week. (For my res to get to 5.58 with nutes I add 1.25 oz of ph down, so I also put in 1.25 oz of down in the flush water)
4. Run the system with plain water for 4 hours, while waiting mix nutes for the week in a separate res and allow to stir for the 4 hours.
5. Drain system of flushing water and add the pre-mixed nutrient solution.
6. Once system is up and running again check ph after 1 hour.

End of life cycle:

1. Start with the schedule for between week flush. stop at step 3.
2. Run the system with plain water for 4 hours, while waiting mix up a res with only the main food at 200 ppm above the ppm of your water (my water is at 200ppm out of the tap so my ppm for this solution is 400ppms)
3. Drain system of flushing water and add the low ppm solution.
4. Once system is up and running again check ph after 1 hour.
5. Run system for 3 days with the low ppm's
6. After 3 days add fresh tap water to the system and run through harvest


I hope this will help someone.
G

 

[Mmmmasonite]

the whole idea of a flush is to remove excess elements inside the plant, not the media.

You are right about this....but......It doesn't mean you can stop all uptake just by changing the ph and then still use nutes......You gotta flush with fresh water at least....The plants still grow and swell during that last week..You can actually see the fresh water affecting the plants during that week...They uptake the fresh water and brighten up in color quite a bit. They look cleaner....Bright green

 

[desertsquirrel]

i assumed me questioning the use of cal-mag implyed the use of pure R/O. No?

 

[BCrocker]

420gator i use room temp water so it jives with room temp. i know people who use chilled water in hopes that they'll get color in the summer heat like purps and blues. hygrozyme helps break down and absorb old nutes before flush. i always say do what works best for u which varies from room to room and plant to plant. so i encourage to try different things until happy. no flushing is not an option imo. in my situation longer flush danker nugs. i dont ph my medium stays phd and coco does as well. hydro i kno people like to ph tho.

Hey Illmind, can you PM me the low down on using coco? I want to switch from soil to coco and need some advice. I can't PM you as I am a new user.

 

[treehugger]

If you need to flush, you're doing it wrong...

 

[desertsquirrel]

If you need to flush, you're doing it wrong...

??????