To flush or not to flush, that is the question (Poll)

The nutes I use - no need to flush.

I do flush after dropping a deuce, though. :astonished:

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Oh no, not again ā€¦ :disappointed_relieved::grin:

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I tend to grow out more than I need so I can cure for as long as I feel it needs. On average probably around 4 - 5 weeks. The past few grows Iā€™ve been growing for more than my own personal use. A girl I ā€œknowā€ had an accident and both disks slip in her back and had to have them both fully fused so I help a little with pain meds for her and my sister in law has non operative cancer that started in her breast that we thought she had beat but it moved into her lung so now she has to have a 2nd run of chemotherapy just to prolong her life. She takes a little from me to help with the sickness she gets and it helps with her appetite and sleep.

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Most of the people ā€œflushingā€ are actually purging at best. A true flush is a serious volume in proportion to the pot size usually consisting of 3x the volume. So a 5 gallon pot needs 15 gallons per each flush, otherwise as mentioned - its just a purge of any possible buildupsā€¦

I have been growing a little more than 30 years now and I have never followed the paradigm of this book growing mentality and one size fits all approach. Never cared for even the earliest of books found in the head shops back in the late 80ā€™s and into the 90ā€™s before the advancement of the internet and web. And I will say that the few times I attempted to follow some protocol or new supposed techniques it was not really necessary, or even worthy of the time and effort.

Having grown in just about every setup possible I have to reflect on the times spent calibrating run off with input or uptake depending on the method - when it was DWC time after time I saw that the finishing plants sitting in 2.0 -1.0 of feed didnā€™t really uptake anything other than H2o thorough that last swelling stage of ripening. Day after day I would have to refil my rez with nothing but H2o, especially if they were not in the ideal vpd zone. No different than with the soiless media grownā€¦

So nope, I donā€™t flush, I donā€™t scope my trichomes, and I donā€™t trim wet either nor wait for snapping of the stem pushing for moisture loss. In the end I cure and dry my herb not much different than the tobacco I growā€¦Nice and slow, and it is what is the main factor in the supposed herb that burns clean - itā€™s evenly dried is all. A little minerals in the flowers might sparkle a little if you are smoking it relatively soon after the initial drying stages. Curing, its aging and it is pretty simple with cannabis in comparison of the many ways of curing tobacco.

Anyway, those are my own thoughts and observations - Ignore 99% of this text book crap and your gonna get 100% success if you simply learn from the plants - from the start to the pipeā€¦

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So what do you age it in?

I have a mini facility that is basically a walk in climate controlled humidor. Plants donā€™t necessarily get trimmed for weeks sometimes and then I still donā€™t always jar immediately. I have little patience for jars, nor the space that they take up in excess even though most of my personal is eventually sealed in jars with around a 62% humidity. Otherwise itā€™s bulk packed and sealed when it is ready. Keep in mind that I grow very little that requires a long cure, some of them are actually best fresh then aged due to the nature of volatility within certain terpenes like limoneneā€¦That requires a special plastic for the long term bulk storage, otherwise it will eat at it in timeā€¦

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I would love to have that. I was fighting to get weeks hang because of low humidity around here. I need to get climate controlled hang tent going but wonā€™t be that elaborate. Have cigar humidors but they have cigars in them.

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For any interested, here is the full ā€œtrialā€

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Thanks I was trying to find it.

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Perhaps after that ā€œblind testā€ they were so stoned that their conclusions may not be considered ā€œaccurateā€ enough . Just kidding , thanks for sharing ā€¦

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Very interesting thanks for postin it!!

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Thanks @Calyxander! Exactly as I thought. Flushing never made sense to me. Bookmarked. Thatā€™s a good one to pull out of my back pocket!

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Yes, I quit flushing my soilless mix a long time ago, I simply never noticed any difference.
I feed right up to harvest.

But keep in mind that Rx Green Technologies is in the business of selling nutrients, and they cannot be considered to be a disinterested party.
The more nutrient customers they can induce to stop flushing, the more of their product they will sell. And unlike many of their competitors, I do not think that they sell any type of flushing concoction.

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There was another study done posted in another threadā€¦cant find it but it said the same thing. The only reason I could see doing a flush, is if youā€™re running low on nutes.

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Found the linkā€¦same study

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But hope we all agree that the harshness and grassy flavour comes from the chlorophylle of the leaves. If you donā€™t flush, plant gets his nutrients from the roots and not from its reservoir in the leaves, so instead of becoming yellow they are still green.

At this point someone would say: ā€œYes, but we donā€™t smoke those leavesā€, well, I am also refering to the sugar leaves in the buds. Maybe that could be mended with a longer cure, right now I prefer a short flushing, just for my peace of mind ā€¦ :sweat_smile:

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In my experience with living soil, plants will go into senescence regardless of the amount of nutrients in the soil.

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I agree with that, they begin to need fewer nutrients income. I know nothing about living soil. When adding nutes to water, what we are debating here is if in that final stage they should take those nutes from the soil or from the leaves because of the lack of the ones in soil due to a flush ā€¦ :sunglasses:

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I understand, with ionized nutrients you are forcing the plant to eat whether is is dying or not. I find (in hydro) better results feeding low at the end vs flushing completely.

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I see what you mean, I give her fewer nutrients in the last weeks and after flushing no nutes at all, just pHed water, so I let her die without forcing anything, just palliative care ā€¦ :innocent:

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