To flush or not to flush?

[HappyHazmat88]

I did not expect this subject, which I must of seen well over a hundred times in the last decade being a member of to reach a 2nd Page !

Perhaps 3rd at this rate

How ever like many things in the cannabis world of growing you will experience two sides of the coin or what side of the fence do you stand on ?

I understand about the feelings the mixed views over many years of misconceptions but each & every bird in my garden can sit on a branch chirping their favourite song... some time you may need to change your tune !

But that is a life experience skill to learn



Scroll down....
















Low way down, perhaps not far enough ?

My experience of flushing... more leaf's drop off aka starving when old bro science would suggest the last couple of weeks the bud sites pack on more weight.... WTF

Makes no sense starving the plant to loose leaf's when photosynthesis is required for plant growth !




Right Ok

I think the reason for the extra responses is it's been a couple years since it was really brought up...2019 is last post about "f'wording"(lol love this by the way) that I saw in similar threads... And some new studies and info have come about on it.... Still an elusive sticky wicked but I think we're getting close.

I'm just taking it all in.... All of it.

 

[Mayne]

I'm just taking it all in.... All of it.

Im Trying realllllllly hard not to say it

 

[HappyHazmat88]

Im Trying realllllllly hard not to say it

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Im Trying realllllllly hard not to say it

I may suggest a strain which has a good euphoric, calming sense of well being & creativeness for some medical needs which might require more than one !

 

[Sparkey224]

I think the reason for the extra responses is it's been a couple years since it was really brought up...2019 is last post about "f'wording"(lol love this by the way) that I saw in similar threads... And some new studies and info have come about on it.... Still an elusive sticky wicked but I think we're getting close.

I'm just taking it all in.... All of it.

No need to explain Haz, really cool tread which reminds me of politics to a certain degree.lol
Ive grown some good weed and bad weed and all think it had to do with the final 2 weeks of grow and dry/cure.
Ive seen positive outcomes depending the situation.
Em- said it the best. On-hand experience and observations is going to be the best outcome.
Im just talking about salts, if im organic, no panic..lol

 

[latewood]

And; The debate goes on. My $.03; As mentioned above, it depends on how you grow, what you added to the plant (nutrients, etc.). All in all, these are questions that come down to personal choice after growing and experiencing both ideals. Hope this helps you have a successful grow.

 

[Roy Growin]

So @HappyHazmat88 are you gonna wrap this up with a conclusion?
You opened up a can of worms - how were they?
lol

 

[Mudballs]

Never gets old..love reading these

 

[HappyHazmat88]

So @HappyHazmat88 are you gonna wrap this up with a conclusion?
You opened up a can of worms - how were they?
lol

Friggin great ....

Conclusion is there is no right answer.... Both sides claim the same thing.... And both methods show the same benefits from what Ive been reading here.... So in my opinion what ever works...works..... And it's up to each individual grower and style.

I'll continue to not f-word unless needed.... I researched myself and read it during the discussion about organic grow not needing it, and I use geoflora and soil....so mostly organic therefore to me there's no need. For others who use different lines of nutrients it'll be necessary.

And also it's needed for medium reset....which I did 5 days ago to my current grow.

I appreciate everyone who chimed in and gave insight... Much appreciated.

 

[Roy Growin]

So in my opinion what ever works...works..... And it's up to each individual grower and style

That, my friend, is the answer to your own question

 

[Roy Growin]

 

[Mayne]

So @HappyHazmat88 are you gonna wrap this up with a conclusion?
You opened up a can of worms - how were they?
lol

LOL, i JUST literally opened a can of worms, For my axolotl, like 30 seconds ago, then read this post first, LOL.

 

[HappyHazmat88]

LOL, i JUST literally opened a can of worms, For my axolotl, like 30 seconds ago, then read this post first, LOL.

Awesome.... My beardie passed but I would feed him worms, super worms, and crickets... Love the scale babies

 

[Diatomacious]

If anyone has seen me do it, I have and can now prove that a synthetic grow needs to be pH adjusted, with facts and logic, but still the belief that this is not necessary stubbornly and regularly raises its head around here.

Depends on the soil less medium. I use ProMix and adjusting the pH of the nutrient solution has absolutely no effect on the pH that the plant roots see. I have flushed out mix with water, checked the pH it was 5.8 in the runoff and that's after many gallons through, then watered with un-pH'd nutrient with a pH around 5-5.5, checked the runoff and it was 6.4 for the last few cups through the bottom. Peat moss is extremely buffered to nutrient pH and adjustment is not necessary. If you are using rockwool or DWC then you will want to pH.

Enjoy your grow everyone.

 

[Diatomacious]

That was for old mix, not fresh out of the bag, couple of grows on it. The lime they add pushes the pH higher and higher the longer it stays wet. So maybe not pH'ing is maybe a good thing?

 

[Diatomacious]

Not sure why the pH goes up when you add an acidic solution, maybe the minerals in the fertilizer solubilize the carbonates in the lime, maybe the acid itself reacts with the lime and releases the alkalinity. Maybe some scientists on here can determine that one. Maybe it's time to smoke another joint?

 

[farside05]

Not sure why the pH goes up when you add an acidic solution, maybe the minerals in the fertilizer solubilize the carbonates in the lime, maybe the acid itself reacts with the lime and releases the alkalinity. Maybe some scientists on here can determine that one. Maybe it's time to smoke another joint?

Your answer is HERE. It's the type of Nitrogen in the fertilizer, Ammoniacal or Nitrate, that causes it, aka nitrification. Nitrate Nitrogen, when consumed by the plant drives up pH of the growing media. Ammoniacal Nitrogen has the opposite effect and drives it down. Many of the cannabis fertilizer companies use primarily Nitrate Nitrogen.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Not sure why the pH goes up when you add an acidic solution, maybe the minerals in the fertilizer solubilize the carbonates in the lime, maybe the acid itself reacts with the lime and releases the alkalinity. Maybe some scientists on here can determine that one. Maybe it's time to smoke another joint?

Chasing runoff in soil is a lesson in futility, to test for salt/fert build-up measuring EC/PPM, in and out, is more diagnostic. Soil buffers (cation exchange). Quick uptake of Nitrogen also raises PH. Hope these help:

"Nitrate nitrogen works differently by causing the release a negatively charged OH- or HCO3– anion when it is taken up by the plant root. These negatively charged anions are bases, and when they react with the growing medium, they cause the growing medium pH to increase."

"Soil naturally holds minerals that are alkaline in nature, traces of limestone and other types of rock that possess similar qualities. When the acid particles of the water encounter these minerals, a chemical reaction occurs that neutralizes the acidity of the water but also neutralizes the minerals. This increases the acidity of the soil, but levels the water largely neutral in acidic content as it makes its way down to the water table."

 

[cbdhemp808]

Organic growers think the idea of flushing is ridiculous... all of our nutrients are usually built into the soil. There is NEVER a time when our plants are being starved until we separate the roots from the plant at harvest. We also have no need to ever flush our soil, because salts from man made nutes are never building up in our soil.

Hey everyone... just catching up here. Sooo... I am in the organic soil growers camp, and I can't think of a reason to flush, meaning pouring a whole bunch of pure water through my 15 gal smart pots. My custom soil mix is carefully crafted with organic nutes, but I am still refining it. I also water with a high-N liquid fert with N-P-K value of about 11-2-4, and some other minerals. But I often water without this, and I don't call that "flushing".

I didn't see a lot of specificity in this thread about what kind of medium – soil, soil-less, coir – which is super important to this overall question, yes? Also, no discussion of the pot size, for soil, because if the roots have maxed out the pot, then there's a curve of diminishing availability of nutes, thus requiring additional feeding. I tend to max out my pots, and this is probably the case for most growers.

Someone mentioned molasses... I don't use it because it contains heavy metals – even organic molasses does. This is why all molasses will have the Calif. Prop. 65 warning on it. Molasses does contain calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus – but there are better sources for those that don't contain significant amounts of heavy metals. I use greensand in my soil mix for minerals including iron (see also, black cinder). If you are going for sugar, try organic apple juice.

happy growing!

 

[Diatomacious]

Nitrate Nitrogen, when consumed by the plant drives up pH of the growing media.

Interesting, but I'm talking about flushing the media with water then with nutrient solution back to back and seeing the increase in pH. I'm pretty sure it's not plant uptake causing it in that short amount of time but good thinking.