Flushing for Taste

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dorjewright

dorjewright

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Not sure if this is the best place for this question; however: I'm not satisfied with the taste of my buds. I get good smell but the smoke is harsh and flavorless. I use earth juice exclusively and last time fed the last few weeks with catalyst and hi brix. I'm wondering if the taste problem is my water. Its spring water, ph is about 8 and I know it has a lot of dissolved mineral probably from limestone. Could that be the problem? I think I will use distilled water for these last 2 weeks. But should I drop or add the catalyst and hi brix molasses? Seems like a straight water flush would starve and stress my girls.

Medium is roots organic soil. And once I mix up the nutrients the ph drops to 5.
 
Whippleschnitz

Whippleschnitz

160
28
The Earth Juice Bloom can crash your ph, try aerating it for several to 24 hours and the ph will moderate some. What strain are you growing? I have had great results using nothing but EJ nutes and Roots soil. I am not using the EJ nutes currently but I'd suspect the lack of flavor may be more strain dependent. While I am certainly no expert in water chemistry I would think if it is good enough to drink it should be good enough for your plants. Flushing is just to remove excess nutrients from the soil and I am having a hard time seeing how the water would change the flavor at that point.
 
S

slap14

403
143
How are you drying and curing your meds? I wouldn't think Catalyst or Brix would hurt your flavor but if your flushing for a week or two straight water would me fine also. I run supersoil so i really don't flush anymore. My guess at this point would be genetics or something in the drying or curing process.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

6,892
313
Not sure if this is the best place for this question; however: I'm not satisfied with the taste of my buds. I get good smell but the smoke is harsh and flavorless. I use earth juice exclusively and last time fed the last few weeks with catalyst and hi brix. I'm wondering if the taste problem is my water. Its spring water, ph is about 8 and I know it has a lot of dissolved mineral probably from limestone. Could that be the problem? I think I will use distilled water for these last 2 weeks. But should I drop or add the catalyst and hi brix molasses? Seems like a straight water flush would starve and stress my girls.

Medium is roots organic soil. And once I mix up the nutrients the ph drops to 5.

You have several issues here, any of which could contribute to your problem. First, there is nothing in your water a proper pH balancing won't fix- also, since you know how much limestone your water has in it, DON'T add more calcium unless you know they need it. Excess calcium is the best way to cause lockup that I know of.

On to the flush; this just gets the crackle out of the smoke. If your nutes weren't excessive to begin with, flushing for more than a day or two is counterproductive. This is just a way to deal with the results of excess.

Catalyst and hi brix aren't nutrients; they're supplements, and unless the plant needs what they have, they won't do much good. If you want to improve flavor, I'd recommend using earthworm castings. They're loaded with enzymes and these will help flavor. Feeding your soil carbohydrates will boost the activity of your microherd; if the nutes you're adding are too high in dissolved salts (EC is too high), you'll be killing off the very microbes you're trying to feed.

Another place to look is your bulbs; are they old, and in need of replacement? If so, then the spectrum profile they're putting out is going to hinder your plants' growth and development, including proper ripening.

Finally, just because you're running organic doesn't mean you don't have deficiency issues., I'll bet that if your smell and flavor are flat that you don't have enough available sulphur in the mix. Add some epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) at 1-2 mg/gallon (the stuff is weaker than you think, so even 2mg/gallon isn't aggressive). Dilute it well before adding to the res as sulphur and calcium love to lock up and drop out.

Hope this helps!
 
bigcheese510

bigcheese510

4,280
263
You have several issues here, any of which could contribute to your problem. First, there is nothing in your water a proper pH balancing won't fix- also, since you know how much limestone your water has in it, DON'T add more calcium unless you know they need it. Excess calcium is the best way to cause lockup that I know of.

On to the flush; this just gets the crackle out of the smoke. If your nutes weren't excessive to begin with, flushing for more than a day or two is counterproductive. This is just a way to deal with the results of excess.

Catalyst and hi brix aren't nutrients; they're supplements, and unless the plant needs what they have, they won't do much good. If you want to improve flavor, I'd recommend using earthworm castings. They're loaded with enzymes and these will help flavor. Feeding your soil carbohydrates will boost the activity of your microherd; if the nutes you're adding are too high in dissolved salts (EC is too high), you'll be killing off the very microbes you're trying to feed.

Another place to look is your bulbs; are they old, and in need of replacement? If so, then the spectrum profile they're putting out is going to hinder your plants' growth and development, including proper ripening.

Finally, just because you're running organic doesn't mean you don't have deficiency issues., I'll bet that if your smell and flavor are flat that you don't have enough available sulphur in the mix. Add some epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) at 1-2 mg/gallon (the stuff is weaker than you think, so even 2mg/gallon isn't aggressive). Dilute it well before adding to the res as sulphur and calcium love to lock up and drop out.

Hope this helps!


perfectly said.
 
S

swisscheese

Guest
Are you sure the problem isn't just the strains you happen to be running? Have your buds ever had what you are trying to achieve as far as taste, smell, and smoothness goes?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

6,892
313
Are you sure the problem isn't just the strains you happen to be running? Have your buds ever had what you are trying to achieve as far as taste, smell, and smoothness goes?

Funny you should mention this, as I'm currently dealing with a strain that is either chronically short on nutrients- or it's the first variegated leaf pot plant I've ever seen!
 
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