Need flush timing advice... noob...

[mr.lucky405]

i'm 6 weeks into my first grow, nirvana short riders. they're supposed to be seed to harvest in 8 weeks. so far everything has gone really well, but now i'm getting to a point where i could really use some expert eyes. using the 8 week maturation guideline suggested by nirvana, i know i should be really close to flushing. i understand that timing is pretty critical and i don't want to screw this up now. lol as you can see, the fan leaves are browning, and some of the hairs are starting to darken. how much longer do you think i should wait before i start the flush?? these have been growing under a 200 watt 2700K CLF, with four 43 watt CFL's around them, for 20/4. any guru advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[bobbyhopefeild]

i see no amber pistols which suggest they probably have alot more than 2 weeks left, more like 3 weeks, wait for another 1-2 weeks before thinking before flushing. they look like they have quite a bad nitrogen deficiency, perhaps feed them once with high nitrogen veg fertiliser or miracle bloom booster npk 15.30.15.
hope that helps

 

[Favre2Harvin]

Im no expert but I dont think you need to start flushing yet... keep feedin those bitches.

 

[darkdestruction420]

those suggested harvest times are kind of bs, not totally, but they say 8 weeks to make it seem better, usually its at least a few weeks more than their estimate before they are done.

 

[G.rower]

those suggested harvest times are kind of bs, not totally, but they say 8 weeks to make it seem better, usually its at least a few weeks more than their estimate before they are done.

there's a good answer, what a TOSSER

 

[mr.lucky405]

i thought nitrogen wasn't important once flowering started? i've been using pure blend bloom w/fox farms ocean forest. aren't the fan leaves supposed to lose color as flowering progresses because all the nutrients are being used to grow buds? all the leaves around the buds are a very saturated green...

 

[bobbyhopefeild]

well the plant uses less nitrogen in flowering as nitrogen helps leafy green growth and not bud growth which phosphorous helps; but that doesnt mean it isnt important, the plant just uses less and a deficiency is still a deficiency. No the leaves are not suppose to yellow, pale and die until you begin to flushin in the last 1-2 weeks, anytime before that and the N deficiency will cause the leaves to die and you instantly have less photosynthetic capability as theres simply less leaves and chlorophyll so the plants growth will be slowed and inhibited. flowering doesnt change how deficiencies work, the plant will suck mobile nutrients out of the bottom and middle fan leaves first and slowly progress up the plant, but it wouldnt do that unless you hav a lack of any nutrient in the root zone. and all the leaves around the bud are green becuase nitrogen is a mobile nutrient and the plant will suck the nutes out of the fan leaves first, if left unfixed the yellowing of the leaves will progress through the entire plant and eventually kill all of the leaves and therein all its ability to photosynthesis and grow.

 

[mr.lucky405]

ah. thanks bobby. barely any N in the pure blend bloom. i think i'll by some fox farms grow to use when my N gets low. for the time, i happend to have some MG 20-20-20, so i cut the dose in half and used some of that today. i have a purple widow plant that was kind of my "test" plant for germinating, planting, etc, and i used some of the MG on it when it' leaves started to yellow and they greened right back up. i really want to keep it organic though.

 

[FullDuplex]

What i see here is the typical bloom food crisis. Most of the time when flowering and using bloom nutes, you will see this as they bloom food does not have enough N. As bobby stated above at this point in the plants life it focous on the P element rather than the N. It still needs some to maintain the green of the plant nut not massive amounts. Also you run the risk of a re veg or new leaves growing if too much N is used during flower. So BE CAREFUL with that MG shit man, i have seen that product kill many plants.

As far as harvest goes, you have at least 3-4 weeks before i would even think about cutting. I will be at week six tomorrow with my jems (auto low ryder strian) and i may cut at the recomended eight. Just have to see what they do over these next two weeks.....cause im starting my flush.......

pics are 5weeks 1day

 

[mr.lucky405]

well, another week has gone by and i can definetly see the hairs turning darker. i've given two feedings of the MG 20-20-20 at half strength instead of the pure blend bloom with a feeding of plain water between (they're dry every roughly 48 hours) to get them more nitrogen. honestly hasn't seemed to help a whole lot with the dying off of the fan leaves. i have a little purple widow growing that started out as a test plant that's flowering too (she's less than a foot tall!) and she gets what's left over from the bigger ones, and it's responding really well to the MG. hm... so, short story long, i'd much appreciate any updated opinions about when i should start to flush...

 

[darkdestruction420]

I wouldnt worry about the fan leaves then, if you gave them nitrogen and its still progressing it just means the plant is taking them out, your far enough along for it to be starting, by the time your plant is done they should almost all be dead and gone.