Is This A Nutrient Lockout?

[JWM2]

I have yet to meet an adherent of flushing that:

1) knows the most basic facts about solution chemistry and how that interacts with plant nutrient uptake mechanisms
2) can point to the cell structure that supposedly 'stores' nutrients to that need to be flushed
3) can explain what happens to the supposedly flushed nutrients. Show me how they are excreted.

They just 'know' that it will make your weed taste bad if you don't flush. With de-ionized coconut water. In the dark phase of the moon. Funny how they never seem to mind the taste of my unflushed weed. I remember, back in the 80's when I was still commercial, a customer commenting about how he hated the 'chemical taste' of hydro weed in comparison to mine. He didn't know, and I didn't bother to inform him, that I was a hydro grower. He paid $2400/lb in 1982, multiple times, and loved it, as his customers loved it.

If you can't taste it in a blind test, it ain't real, as my customer demonstrated. I have literally dozens of data points indicating that people can't detect an unflushed plant from inspection and smoking. So why bother? I feed up to the end.

Excuse me, I have to go feed the plants I'm going to harvest next week. :)

100%. Nail meet head :-)

 

[JWM2]

I find a lot of times people mistake overferting to lockout, which may be happening as well due to the abundance of certain minerals not due to a lack of them. pH is something to keep an eye on as well. Many times the pH drifts and thats why theres a lack of nutrient aborbsion, but not always. The last thing that should be done is to add more of something the soil probably already has enough of. Calmag is one of those bandaids that eventually leads to poor technique and an over reliance on its short term value.

 

[OldManRiver]

... The last thing that should be done is to add more of something the soil probably already has enough of...

This. More plants die of gluttony than starvation.

 

[MIMedGrower]

Every flushing thread seems to confuse the issue further.

Flushing the potting soil for 2 weeks is an old commercial thing. Overfeed for highest yield then flush out all the nutrients from the pot so the plant has to canabalize itself and fade.

This reduces chlorophyll and allows for smoother smoke sooner. But not better smoke. In my experience it reduces the quality of the flowers.

So from my testing I choose tapering off feeding at the end as the plants need much less nutes during ripening. I taper up from a light feed too at the beginning as the nutes deplete from the final pot during stretch. (I use ocean forest)

Leaching pots to clear out unused excess nutes is sometimes necessary though. I use well water so I get calcium buildup and an extra gallon of fresh water every so often clears out and helps maintain plant uptake.

Same goes for over fertilizing.

Or just fresh water instead of nutes sometimes even though I lightly feed every watering once I start fertilizing.

All these procedures are merely tools to use when needed. Not a schedule to rigidly follow.

I feed plants to the end that taste great right out of the drying closet all the time.

 

[JWM2]

You know what they say “when you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail”.

 

[DTG]

I agree OMR, I never flush unless I stand up from the toilet . . .

I grow in soil in containers outdoors, I use the rain water to flush, we have had some heavy down pours here lately . . .

I never understood why you would dump a ton of water on your plants . . .

My stuff never tastes bad or burns bad either . . . & I already fed my plants today as we harvest next week also. . .


Don.

 

[jumpincactus]

flushing is a man made myth.

My take is indeed mother nature does flush to some degree as part of the natural cycle of things. Meaning that in nature outdoors plants do experience mid to late fall rains that does help to flush the soil. But if a plant is grown well and not force fed way too many nutes to try to force big buds and no poisons or bud hardeners were used in the grow, or the grow wasn't over fertilized then a flush n my mind is a waste of time.

 

[pipedream808]

Just a small update:

Plant is getting worse and worse, day by day. watered it with tap water ph at 6.6. waiting for it to get more dry. Should i use nutes on the next feeding?

 

[Jimster]

I grow in either 100% promix or the same with a little composted cow manure in it. In my 35+ years of growing, only once did I have to flush out a plant. It was my 1st or 2nd attempt and I over did it with the peters 20-20-20. Promix is nice because it's like dirt but doesn't turn to mud, and it doesn't hold too much water. I typically fertilize once a week with 1 tablespoon/gallon...I might add some wood ashes towards the end...but not too much due to the rise in ph. I prefer the promix/manure combo because it provides micros and buffers everything so the ph doesn't go crazy without trying hard to mess things up. I don't have much/any experience with hydroponics or the new fangled setups, but I have the 5 gallon bucket process nailed down pretty well.

 

[JWM2]

Just a small update:

Plant is getting worse and worse, day by day. watered it with tap water ph at 6.6. waiting for it to get more dry. Should i use nutes on the next feeding?

The yellowing is normal later in flowering due to the lack of nitrogen in your growing medium.

This is why I keep up with the grow fert (nitrogen rich) into the first few weeks of flowering. It just pushes the yellowing back a week or two and allows for the plant to mobilize it as it needs it.

But yellowing is ok and to be expected at this point.

You do however have some other deficiencies going right now and the first place i'd check is the pH of your soil. Do a slurry test and find out where it is. Once you know the soil's pH you can then figure out a game plan to slow down or stop the plant from eating itself. But just throwing nutes at it won't fix the problem, so don't do that without knowing if it's a lack of nutrients or pH locking out those nutrients.