Flushing Vs Not Flushing

R Burns

Well-Known Member
Scientifically talking it is not possible to remove or flush nutrients from a plant by dumping gallons of water. Please don't spread myths. Only thing u can do its water only for the last 2 weeks to let the plant use the nutrients already stored. But there is no way to flush nutrients from a plant once absorbed.
There is alot of poor info about flushing. You seemed to have absorbed it all and you are missing the point. When flushing, you are flushing the nutes from the soil, not the plant itself. After the excess in the soil is removed, only the plant stores are left for the plant to use up til harvest. This is how flushing works. Please don't spread poor info!
 

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
Im gonna go out on a limb and say you are not very experienced or knowledgeable. But we will see! Which part of this is poor? Please b specific!
Maybe its just your explanation that is poor.
Are you saying the flushing removes chlorophyll or the resulting fade? And how would one flush an organic soil?
 

Bud1284

Active Member
There is alot of poor info about flushing. You seemed to have absorbed it all and you are missing the point. When flushing, you are flushing the nutes from the soil, not the plant itself. After the excess in the soil is removed, only the plant stores are left for the plant to use up til harvest. This is how flushing works. Please don't spread poor info!
I agree with this...get rid of excess in soil so plant uses whats left
 

Bud1284

Active Member
Maybe its just your explanation that is poor.
Are you saying the flushing removes chlorophyll or the resulting fade? And how would one flush an organic soil?
I do not think he is saying this though - Drying / Curing will remove chlorophyll once bacteria starts to munch on it, not flushing.

And you cannot flush organic soil in my opinion, as by definition its slow release.

I use organic soil with organic nutes and i never flush, i just water with plain phed water for the last 10 days.
 

R Burns

Well-Known Member
Maybe its just your explanation that is poor.
Are you saying the flushing removes chlorophyll or the resulting fade? And how would one flush an organic soil?
Not ment to be a tutorial on how to flush. I was simply giving the only not debatable reason for doing it. Which is to remove chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what makes buds harsh and taste like the lawn. Running 2x the water to ur container volume through the soil will remove most of the excess nutes in your soil. Then the plant will only have what it has stored to use for the rest of flower. The resulting fade is the removal of excess chlorophyll. Which is the whole point! True you can achieve this by just using plain water for a few weeks at the end, but this is less efficient, takes longer and gives you less control and the chance of depriving key nutes during important wks of flower.
 

R Burns

Well-Known Member
I do not think he is saying this though - Drying / Curing will remove chlorophyll once bacteria starts to munch on it, not flushing.

And you cannot flush organic soil in my opinion, as by definition its slow release.

I use organic soil with organic nutes and i never flush, i just water with plain phed water for the last 10 days.
As the plant fades, you are removing excess chlorophyll. If you are fading before harvest, however it is achieved, you are getting the benefit of flushing. With a properly built organic soil, the plain water over the last few weeks is basically the flush.
 

redivider

Well-Known Member
The word flushing can mean 4 different things.
Lets exclude the main one which is leaching the soil and then read the science - https://medteknutrients.com.au/flushing-the-science/

TLDR? - Makes no noticeable difference.
oh no.... this did not say that it did not make a difference.

it said that it did not hurt the plant because the nutrient levels in bud did not change and the THC was unaffected.

however the paper did not address taste, smoke quality, or terpene %. The only thing it addressed was:

1) are the buds healthy - yes. Same nutrient level in all circumstances and same THC level

2) did the buds suffer - No.

so the paper doesn't go into whether or not the buds tasted different and how the high was - and that's what flushing is about really....
 

CannaBruh

Well-Known Member
It's very subjective, nobody has hard data so it's preference.

With a lack of hard evidence to me this suggests there's not much to be argued for in either case, those who feed to end have success those who flush have success.

I flush, because why not? When plants are done living what value to continue intake of things that are not being used?

If you recycle medium, flush has tertiary benefit.

If you are waste reduction minded, flush has economical implication.

we can do this all day
 

crimsonecho

Well-Known Member
Maybe in coco, flushing can be done to get rid of the excess amount of fertilizers in the medium but it wouldn’t work so well with peat based mixed in accounts of its high cec. Also i do think the plants that starve at the end of their life cycle gives a much better flavor and a smoother smoke.

I see someone said don’t shortchange yourself bla bla. No! Thats not the truth. Good flavor is not shortchanging yourself in the first place but other than that i don’t see the point of feeding an already well fed plants until the end. You will not shortchange yourself but rather force the plant to put all its effort into flowering. Which will in return increase the flower mass which will in return reduce the amount of stored nutrients in any specific amount of plant tissue as these will be relocated into new cells. This is achieved by not feeding and letting the plant finish off, meaning incorporate into new cells and functions, whats left in the medium and then itself, for peat at least. Others you may run X times of water if you like, it’ll only strip whats left in the medium.

And i know first hand that this practice doesn’t hurt yields as suggested. I pulled 12.3 oz from 2 dinachems last grow in 5 gallons, 4 plants under 400w of no name, wallwasher led boards. Monstercropped, vegged for 15 days, 70 day flower, straight water till the end. Last month of it, the leaves were all yellow, but the buds kept swelling. Oh the smoke was immaculate as soon as it dried. This was organic living soil so they got tiny amounts of nutrients till the end i’m sure but no where near as much as they wanted.

Disclaimer; Not saying this is the proper way to grow but that fade was great and didn’t affect the bud growth, frost, high and taste negatively, and actually it was much much better then their first run. I was intentionally not correcting the problems to see what would happen.
 
Last edited:

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member
oh no.... this did not say that it did not make a difference.

it said that it did not hurt the plant because the nutrient levels in bud did not change and the THC was unaffected.

however the paper did not address taste, smoke quality, or terpene %. The only thing it addressed was:

1) are the buds healthy - yes. Same nutrient level in all circumstances and same THC level

2) did the buds suffer - No.

so the paper doesn't go into whether or not the buds tasted different and how the high was - and that's what flushing is about really....
People who flush say it removes chemicals in the flower and therefore creates a better, smoother taste.
If the chemicals are the same then it tastes the same.

Proper dry and cure is what makes the difference.

You are obviously a flusher (you didn't say which of the 4 things it could mean you call a flush I don't think?) As humans its hard to change.
 

redivider

Well-Known Member
People who flush say it removes chemicals in the flower and therefore creates a better, smoother taste.
If the chemicals are the same then it tastes the same.

Proper dry and cure is what makes the difference.

You are obviously a flusher (you didn't say which of the 4 things it could mean you call a flush I don't think?) As humans its hard to change.
people who flush?? I only hear a handful of randoms online say they don't.

every other real grower I have ever met does.....
 
  • Like
Reactions: NGA

Tupapa

Well-Known Member
There is alot of poor info about flushing. You seemed to have absorbed it all and you are missing the point. When flushing, you are flushing the nutes from the soil, not the plant itself. After the excess in the soil is removed, only the plant stores are left for the plant to use up til harvest. This is how flushing works. Please don't spread poor info!
:clap::roll::spew:
 
Top