When to flush/how to determine harvest

This question is asked alot but is always misunderstood....

People keep saying flush (flush definition? Process?) about 2 weeks before harvest. Well how do you determine that?
When is the plant saying, "i'll be good to go in a couple weeks, so start flushing me. This is how much water i will need."

will it be stuffed to the rafters?
White hairs to red hair ratio? (widow)
will white tricones be obvious and overwhelming to the naked eye?
Or
will there still be young, healthy growing flowers below and along the shafts of the branches?
Will they continue to grow to their fullest during flushing?

I hope that helps everyone who keeps getting the "baked to the bjesus" answer.

And....
Is it possible to let the plant continue to grow/fill out after the tops are ready to harvest? Must you leave that? Or can you harvest along the way as the plant matures from top to bottom?
From that point will straight purified water be enough?

Choosing to flush is a personal choice. Some do. and some don't. I tried it a few times and saw no difference. I grow in soil or perlite and not a strict hydro grow. That was the easy question. As far as when to flush or predicting the finish time for your plants is easy with the right tools. I look with a 30-100x hand held microscope. When I see amber trichomes make an appearance, it will be about 2 weeks for the strain I grow. One of the benefits of growing the same strain for years is learning its genetic traits. You can guess and try to eyeball the plant looking for such things as receding hairs and and hair color, but I trust the science. My scope has never been wrong. Also, you can absolutely harvest some or all of the plant when you choose.

thanks man. my "cola" or crown is definitely ready. (widow) so i can just clip that off without killing the plant? and... why does she not smell potent and heavenly? she still has a weed smell over a bud smell. i hear that is from the fert. will she begin to smell yummy during flushing?

Yes you can harvest part of the plant and wait for the rest to mature and harvest that.

See the flushing thread on this page, lots of opinions like he said some do some dont.
https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/457785-flush-not-flush.html

ya actually I am just about to harvest my first grow of white widow.I have about a fifty fifty ratio of amber to milky tric's and alot of white hairs still.I was under the impression they should be red and receded a lot more before I harvest.I just gradually started taking down my ferts instead of a two week flush,should be fine I think just unsure when the optimum time is.....

dreadful1 said:

ya actually I am just about to harvest my first grow of white widow.I have about a fifty fifty ratio of amber to milky tric's and alot of white hairs still.I was under the impression they should be red and receded a lot more before I harvest.I just gradually started taking down my ferts instead of a two week flush,should be fine I think just unsure when the optimum time is.....

Click to expand...

Your plant is ready to harvest now, the color of the hairs is irrelevant.

ok great,thanx a lot!!!