Im getting close to harvesting my first crop and Ive been re-reading lots of stuff. Almost everyone recommends flushing with plain water the last week before harvest and a couple even stop watering. I think I only read one or two reports from people who keep feeding as normal.
I am NOT going to smoke any of this - just make it all into RSO and put it in capsules. Im not even going to cook with any of it, so taste is not a consideration in any way.
Im thinking I should just keep on with the normal feeding as long as the plants seem to like it.
Thanks for the reply, but I dont understand what you mean by that. Can you explain that a little more? What plant matter and how would that let me fall back?
Feed to the end, Flushing is kinda an old wise tale of sorts.
Sure if your plant has been over fed flushing can help it be better at harvest. But if fed properly there is very little difference in my opinion.
Especially if your making oil, funny thing is how many actual legitimate crops of anything out there actually do you actually here of farmers âflushingâ at harvest.
Soils a natural buffer though isnât it @ReikoX meaning the nutes fed are converted to a safer more usable. (Difficult to over fert as they seem to only absorb what they want in soil) thatâs just a personal opinion on personal anecdotal evidence.
I like the saying âflushing is for toiletsâ. I find it hard to believe that copious amounts of water can make it into the vascular system, let alone flush out excess nutrients.
Yep, the reason I âfeedâ the soil up to and even after harvest is to keep it alive. I usually replant right away too.
with my very limited experience (one harvestâŚ) i didnât notice a difference. i grew 5 plants and each got a varied level from 3 weeks straight water to feeding til the end. its hard to gauge results because they were all different strains but none of them tasted excessively harsh and i think the ash color seemed to have more to do with the cure. they were all kinda dark near the beginning but after a month+ of curing the whitest ash were the 2 plants which were fed til the end. this was in coco/perlite handwatered with maxibloom powder.
There is no need to flush plants and no scientific viability to the practice. Unless saving money on fertilizer is the goal. You can not take out what you have put in. All flushing does is starve a plant then it feeds off itself and relocates the nutrients it can in order to keep itself alive. It has no benefit at all, proper drying and curing are what make or break the product in the end.
I started out being skeptical of the âstop feeding at the endâ thing, was persuaded by some of the arguments in favor of it, but now Im back to thinking that feeding to the end is what I will do.
Thanks to all of you for giving me feedback on this!!
unless you are using something labeled systemic (neem oil) or if your nutes contain heavy metals that cannot be broken down, ie lead, mercury.
Metals such as magnesium or sulphur are only taken up as needed and break down to facilitate the plants natural process. https://www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/nutrient-management/secondary-macronutrients/magnesium-for-crop-production-in-minnesota/
Now if your soil or nutes do contain lead or mercury flushing will NOT remove them from the plant, nor will it remove any other toxic elements taken up during development.
Plants however do not usually take up significant amounts of lead or heavy metals http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/sfn/su10toxicmetals
If you feel you have to flush, its already not something you should be ingesting.
Because of ionic bonds more excess nutrients will be removed with a mild fertiliser than plain water, if you do choose to flush, I recommend mild fertigation or mineral water over tap water or RO. (unless your tap water has high mineral content)
Thereâs a product for flushing by Botanicare called Clearex itâs used to flush out anything that shouldnât be in your Final Product. Personally no matter what Iâve decided to do with my nuggage I want the Best I can do and Flushing is Always Mandatory. I even flush with Clearex for the last week of Flower and just Distilled water for the last 3 days. Every Indoor Grower I know flushes their Crop at least 1 week Before Harvest it does make the difference of Quality as well as Taste!
i may have already posted in this thread (damn memory) but each of my 5 plants got varying level of flush from 3 weeks to feeding straight thru to harvest and the cleanest tasting/whitest ash were actually the 2 which were fed the longest. itâs hardly scientific because all different strains etc but i think the dry/cure is most important. further experimentation is needed, hopefully one day iâll do a full run from clone.
U R absolutely right about the Drying Curing as well & I assure you that the final flush has made the world of difference in Taste as if itâs in there youâll taste it. Did you flush the 2 you mentioned @ all?
one wasnât flushed at all and the other was maybe 3-5 days flushed. the blackest ash and harshest tasting had 3 weeks of plain water. but it was all different strains and different dry/cure methods. more experimentation needed.
