flushing leaching solutions

Did some slight research after determining my buds taste wasn't up to par. I've grown for a while but I've always used a mix of organic and synthetic, and allowed plants to run their course with a thriving microscopic ecosystem.. but I have since changed methods.

Now I'm in promix, dynagrow, harvest at 8-9 weeks. I was flushing at 2x water one time last week. Now I see that's not enough.so now I'm gonna flush 2x starting at week 6. This seems more like an adversity given my short flowering time.

So I got to thinking, and doing s little research on making my own leaching solution.( once again more water could be a solution, but it is not ideal imo)

Some chemicals I found that have potential,

Nonionic surfactant
Sugars(not exactly gonna help with salt buildup but can improve taste)
Iron and or zinc sulfate
Methanol
Gypsum
H2o2
(Some are actually able to aid in removal of nitrogen from the plant)

Any ideas, opinions I'm all ears.

water or water / 8ml a gallon h2o2

Flush toilets, plants get leeched.

Adding sugar does nothing for the plant, it will however add something for any microbes in the soil to much on.

Flushing and leaching are synonymous in cannabis growing. Trust me I'm not the one who started the lingo.

With that said. Sugars do several things. Microbes get rid of salts. Sugar does a lot both directly and indirectly.

Water the universal solvent, is good. With enough qty. Or time, it will do the job. but I would like to both use less water, and remove more faster by aiding its function

bad taste comes from sugars being left in the plant, NOT SALTS, go burn some sugar and burn some salt, you will see what I mean. Flushing does not remove anything from the plant, it does cause the sugars to start to ferment which is why the taste is better.But, flushing also cuts out nutrients when the plant needs them the most. there are ways to get the sugars to ferment at the end and you can still feed till the end.

a great read on where the flushing MYTH came from
http://www.ehow.com/about_6404776_leaching-soils.html

chuck estevez said:

bad taste comes from sugars being left in the plant, NOT SALTS, go burn some sugar and burn some salt, you will see what I mean. Flushing does not remove anything from the plant, it does cause the sugars to start to ferment which is why the taste is better.But, flushing also cuts out nutrients when the plant needs them the most. there are ways to get the sugars to ferment at the end and you can still feed till the end.

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Your spot on by saying that flushing is not going to remove anything from the plant, however I do think it is important to ensure the medium is as salt free as possible by the time you harvest. Most salts should already be broken down and available to the plants if you have been feeding correctly and your root zone is healthy. If not id say sacrifice the little food needed during the last week of flower and make sure your run off ppm is under 100.

941mick said:

Your spot on by saying that flushing is not going to remove anything from the plant, however I do think it is important to ensure the medium is as salt free as possible by the time you harvest. Most salts should already be broken down and available to the plants if you have been feeding correctly and your root zone is healthy. If not id say sacrifice the little food needed during the last week of flower and make sure your run off ppm is under 100.

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correct,if you ONLY feed the plant what it needs, you shouldn't have a build up to flush out. The problem is, people have been taught to pump as much nutrients and additives into the plant that a build up does occur. Feeding with plain water to reduce that works, But flushing with large amounts of water causes other problems,like throwing off osmotic pressure.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmotic_pressure

chuck estevez said:

correct,if you ONLY feed the plant what it needs, you shouldn't have a build up to flush out. The problem is, people have been taught to pump as much nutrients and additives into the plant that a build up does occur. Feeding with plain water to reduce that works, But flushing with large amounts of water causes other problems,like throwing off osmotic pressure.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmotic_pressure

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Exactly. If your doing all the right things a few plain water feedings at the end is all you need.

chuck estevez said:

bad taste comes from sugars being left in the plant, NOT SALTS, go burn some sugar and burn some salt, you will see what I mean. Flushing does not remove anything from the plant, it does cause the sugars to start to ferment which is why the taste is better.But, flushing also cuts out nutrients when the plant needs them the most. there are ways to get the sugars to ferment at the end and you can still feed till the end.

Click to expand...

Okay what you say is logical. I imagine an excess of either suger in the plant or salts, would have a negative impact.(Not to mention nitrate levels are supposed to effect taste.)

I agree the end it most important, and that I should use what the plants need.

See my problems are this is a completely different style of nutrition I was using. I used to be part organic and synthetic as well as allowing proper flower times. I never flushed, Fed synthetic daily(low dose mind you) and I was big into living soil. Which basically self regulates.

As far as anything removed from the plants. Im not sure about. I mean a plant if kinda a one way pipe, bit like with any water system, there is the potential for back flow, given the right conditions. And then there is the potential for chemical reactions that draw away from the plants. But I say that for the most part anything removed from the plant itself will be inconsequential matter compared to a full day of self digesting with no nutes in the soil.

Well I think my biggest problem is too much nutes. the plants are doing well and I knew less should have been used but I wasn't getting the desired results so a friend suggested I raise the dose. So I did, and it worked one way at least

So what I'm gonna do is every third watering use plain water. Last 2 weeks flush 2x then water next day a small amount of nutes. And also replace a 1/3 of my flower nute with something different. Not salt based potentially. Been looking at dyna gro foilage pro.

941mick said:

Exactly. If your doing all the right things a few plain water feedings at the end is all you need.

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I doubt I am doing the right things lol. Im trying tho.

I think the biggest mistake overall in my setup is not running a singular strain, with the right height, flowering time. I love variataons too much

highdrawlux said:

I doubt I am doing the right things lol. Im trying tho.

I think the biggest mistake overall in my setup is not running a singular strain, with the right height, flowering time. I love variataons too much

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yeah run 1 strain for a few runs, master that bitch and after that it's easy.

I kinda feed on the heavy side. technaflora recipe for success nutes on a feed/feed/water cycle (every 8/9 days I get 3 feeds/waterings). all overflow gets vacuumed out, so theres basically nothing in the drip tray. every feeding is 1436ppm (says on the bottle), tap is 100ppm. with this regimen my plants are very healthy, and NO burnt leaf tips to indicate over feeding or anything else to indicate anything is bad. I only feed in flower, I run ffof soil. the last week before I harvest, I only use water every other day for the last week. also vacuuming out everything in the drip tray.

I recently harvested and cured my last run and its smokes wonderfully. absolutely clean and no "spicy throat burn" like other friends stuff.