franklygrown
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- Jul 10, 2025
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I need the fabric pots to drain through the riser.
I’m going to double the amount of overflow bowls and cut the top 2 inches off half so the cut ones fit inside the others and drill holes. I’m not sure about the wick effect, I used tap water in the beginning so if I decide not to flush I’ll be sucking salts back into the pot. Plus it’s going to throw of my worm experiment. When the first worm starts brea dancing on the surface, it’s time to water. Not that I can’t read the plants drooping before lights out. With the worms I’ve never had to feed over 800 ppm. Now I’m worried about the extra nitrogen production during bloom. Now im thinking I’ll definitely flush with 6.0 distilled water. I’ll be using distilled for all of bloom.There you are MacGyver!! I knew you were lurking in this site. I’ll keep the cling wrap in mind. The climate here is a literal VPD jackpot. I’m hitting between 1.1 and 1.2 all day everyday.
I use ph adjusted tap water, I add Epsom salt for mag, no need for cal, our water here is hard. The ability to absorb overflow wastes less nutrients, I barely feed. When I flush first week of flower and second last week I use a fluid transfer pump to sump off the excess nutrient salted water.I’m going to double the amount of overflow bowls and cut the top 2 inches off half so the cut ones fit inside the others and drill holes. I’m not sure about the wick effect, I used tap water in the beginning so if I decide not to flush I’ll be sucking salts back into the pot. Plus it’s going to throw of my worm experiment. When the first worm starts brea dancing on the surface, it’s time to water. Not that I can’t read the plants drooping before lights out. With the worms I’ve never had to feed over 800 ppm. Now I’m worried about the extra nitrogen production during bloom. Now im thinking I’ll definitely flush with 6.0 distilled water. I’ll be using distilled for all of bloom.
Interesting. Why do an early flush. I usually flush 3 weeks before projective finish. I’m considering two flushes because of my worms and hard water. My tap water is 350 ppm.I use ph adjusted tap water, I add Epsom salt for mag, no need for cal, our water here is hard. The ability to absorb overflow wastes less nutrients, I barely feed. When I flush first week of flower and second last week I use a fluid transfer pump to sump off the excess nutrient salted water.
*projectedInteresting. Why do an early flush. I usually flush 3 weeks before projective finish. I’m considering two flushes because of my worms and hard water. My tap water is 350 ppm.
*a broken clockA clock is right twice a day.
I flush to limit nitrogen, I find it adds harshness later. The early flush is to put some sugars available for the change of needs and terpene production. I'm presuming as im a novice, but I did do some research so it's educated guessing.Interesting. Why do an early flush. I usually flush 3 weeks before projective finish. I’m considering two flushes because of my worms and hard water. My tap water is 350 ppm.
No, you’re right. I’ve got 25 years experience but haven’t grown for 10. A lot has changed since my last grow and trying to catch up on the advancements in 10 years is overwhelming.I flush to limit nitrogen, I find it adds harshness later. The early flush is to put some sugars available for the change of needs and terpene production. I'm presuming as im a novice, but I did do some research so it's educated guessing.
The flush shouldn't effect the myco-ecology much at all. It will make nutrients bioavailable to both the plant and the living soil. It allows the plant to trigger the production of the sugars made by biome, for terpene production. So I've read...No, you’re right. I’ve got 25 years experience but haven’t grown for 10. A lot has changed since my last grow and trying to catch up on the advancements in 10 years is overwhelming.
I literally just got some new information that’s making me reconsider flushing at all. I’m growing as organic as possible. I’m using living soil and flushing interferes with the mycorrhiza that produces the sugars and skips some metabolic processes and feeds just the glucose or fructose directly into the roots. Should I flush then bore holes and fill them with mycorrhiza? Flush then finish off with a mycorrhizal tea? Just for the early flush. The last flush none of that matters. You just want to get rid of as much of the available nitrogen as possible. I’m going to go that route unless someone experienced in this decade can change my mind.
The flush shouldn't effect the myco-ecology much at all. It will make nutrients bioavailable to both the plant and the living soil. It allows the plant to trigger the production of the sugars made by biome, for terpene production. So I've read...
I’ve seen the same in 4 other sources that I’m too lazy and busy to look up. Maybe someone can jump in this thread to give their input.
About 2 minutes to the end. “When not to flush “
Flushing away the biome is not really a thing. You're not going to sterilize the soil with fresh water, just remove the salts to make the plants use stored nutrients. The plants produce the sugars to the roots the biome needs to provide what the plants ask for. Flushing allows this interaction, is my understanding.I’ve seen the same in 4 other sources that I’m too lazy and busy to look up. Maybe someone can jump in this thread to give their input.
I have the same feeling but Royal Queen is very reputable. There are a lot of different components in my particular biome. If one component is damaged, it can totally collapse. I’m really struggling with this. It’s feeding and watering time NOW! I think the solution is if an early flush interrupts my biome, mycorrhizal tea would hopefully have time to regrow in my 9 week bloom. But also I won’t get the benefits until a few weeks. That’s also thinking blindly because I don’t know what parts of my biome would be damaged. If it’s just the mycorrhiza, it’s an easy quick fix. I’ll wait a day to see if there is anymore data. Then I’ll flush with tap water. I have a tea brewing. I’ll top it off with that steeped in distilled water with bloom nutrients at 6.0 PHFlushing away the biome is not really a thing. You're not going to sterilize the soil with fresh water, just remove the salts to make the plants use stored nutrients. The plants produce the sugars to the roots the biome needs to provide what the plants ask for. Flushing allows this interaction, is my understanding.
Yes there must be something you are doing that makes it better because people here have not had good experiences with those mixes. In any case Im glad it works for you, wouldnt like to start seeing deficiencies and whatnot. Are you using black peat by any chance? That would explain a lot as black peat is used in hydroponics because is a more composted version of peat. Blonde peat is more chemically active. I bet its the worms too because thats the only thing different that Ive seen from other people that have tried this or myself and I doubt youre using black peat, youre most likely using blonde peat.I was using a mix from 20 years ago. I’m not sure if I just got lucky or if the worms or the right amount of dolomite. There are so many factors that could have made my mix grow without problems. It’s not as easy to get the ingredients for the Cootz here so I went with what worked for me in the 2000s. 10 years out of the loop of growing progress, I just used what I had for free and made it work. From now on I’ll be able to mix up Cootz medium. A lot has passed me by in 10 years. The advancements are so much I didnt have the time to research. I think it might be the worms eating coir that is the key to success. I had 1 week to put this grow together.
I dont know what other people experienced specifically but in my case it was deficiencies, ph fluctuations in the soil that probably caused nute lockout hence the deficiencies (I was feeding them well) and smaller plants and buds. Like you said, the worms are probably keeping your ph stable by munching on coco and nutrients to make them more available and pooping. In any case people nowadays use super soil + living soil for best results in organics. What is Cootz? An organically ammended soil? I use regular peat soil mixes, in particular canna professional because thats the one with tree bark and I like it quite a bit and then prepare the super soil, introduce microorganisms, let it cook for 3 weeks or so and then its ready. And yes microorganisms will stay alive without roots inside even if theyre not dormant, even mycorrizae, inside arlite, tree bark and in a lesser degree in perlite and vermiculite but if you wanna use worms to cook your soil that works aswell. Or if you buy a super soil instead of doing it yourself it should be cooked already, I say should be because some brands give you half composted soil.What problems prevail using coir and peat anyway. I’ve never had a problem with this mix. I’ve just did enough research to know that next time I’ll be using the tied and true Cootz.
I add Sledgehammer to my initial flush (really just an overwater) at end of veg. I use it again at the start of final flush, then just clear ph adjusted water to finish.There are products like sledgehammer that allow you to flush while also feeding the microorganisms to compensate for the ones youre flushing away. In any case I only flush towards the end, for 1 week or max 2 but my flushing is not overflowing the pots its just using plain water and epsom salts 1 or 2 times as they help the plants clean the substrate from salts. There are 2 studies also where people blindly picked the non flushed weed as the best weed, 1 study was done with organic and the other with synthetic, but thats inconclusive. Many times people think that stronger weed means youre gonna cough because is "so strong" when in reality many times its just not flushing and smoking suggars and other nutrients. For me, it certainly makes a difference as Im asthmatic. Organic + flush is the smoothest smoke Ive ever had despite one of the studies showing that the ammount of NPK in a non flushed plant vs a 2 week flushed plant are very similar, they didnt test for suggars or micronutrients. (Knowing that the NPK is very similar or the same, the argument that youre losing productivity by flushing the last 2 weeks is debunked, they have more than enough in the soil and stored in their leaves to get to the end)
That harsh cough is actually from chlorophyll. The final flush is to get rid of all the nitrogen which in turn stops chlorophyll production.There are products like sledgehammer that allow you to flush while also feeding the microorganisms to compensate for the ones youre flushing away. In any case I only flush towards the end, for 1 week or max 2 but my flushing is not overflowing the pots its just using plain water and epsom salts 1 or 2 times as they help the plants clean the substrate from salts. There are 2 studies also where people blindly picked the non flushed weed as the best weed, 1 study was done with organic and the other with synthetic, but thats inconclusive. Many times people think that stronger weed means youre gonna cough because is "so strong" when in reality many times its just not flushing and smoking suggars and other nutrients. For me, it certainly makes a difference as Im asthmatic. Organic + flush is the smoothest smoke Ive ever had despite one of the studies showing that the ammount of NPK in a non flushed plant vs a 2 week flushed plant are very similar, they didnt test for suggars or micronutrients. (Knowing that the NPK is very similar or the same, the argument that youre losing productivity by flushing the last 2 weeks is debunked, they have more than enough in the soil and stored in their leaves to get to the end)
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