Flushing In Hydro

[Owderb]

FLUSHING IN HYDRO OWDS WAY

The question on flushing keeps arising on the boards and although each individual has their own way i thought i'd give you my thoughts on it

I used to be under the impression that a two week flush was needed at the end in hydro but have since changed my mind completely.My way of thinking is that starving a plant for any amount of time is detrimental to its progress so for me two weeks is a definate no no

What i now do whether in a hydro system or hand watering in coco is 2 weeks from cropping i start to reduce the phosphorus.I cease using any boost/pk13/14 seeing as these have a large amount in and i start to reduce the ec too seeing as plants dont need as many nutes late on.

I used to run at an ec of 1.8 max no matter how i grew in hydro but now Ive had plants Ive had to push a lot higher so i'll drop my ec to 1.4 with the food being made up of 50/50 grow/bloom for 3-4 days,then i'll drop that to 1.0ec till theres only a week left.

The final week i just feed 1ml/grow up until the last 2 days which i'll use just tap water.

What ive found with me not feeding excessively is that if i feed just water i get yellow leaves after just two days,and if this is a fortnight from the end your plant is stressing for 2 weeks and not reaching its potential.The early yellowing leaves also tells me that if my plants are yellowing after just 2 days they have no excess of nutrient in them and my feeding throughout has been pretty much ideal

Ive tried all different methods over the years and thought i'd try and take a leaf out of the organic pot growers book and reduce phosporous towards the end and just use grow in the make up

Less phosporus means a better burn and smoother smoke,and my bud using this method is as smooth as ive ever had it

Plus I believe that it helps with yield seeing as the plant has a little food to keep going throughout its life

I also believe that folk that insist on using high ec's can address the flushing issue earlier and start to drop their ec's 3 weeks before chop.This will help reduce nutrient levels in the plant without affecting its growth because as i said earlier the plant doesnt need as much food towards the end

And as a final word,if you do use plain water for however long dont ph down it cos all you are doing is putting in exactly what we are trying to get out

Also if I find a better way that suits me i'll have to update this

Owd

Edited September 30, 2011 by Owderb

[madgiz]

Very informative post... I am sure it will help out a lot of peeps :wink:

[Jim_jim]

Very good post and should hopeully put some peoples minds at rest about flushing

[Stealth67]

What ive found with me not feeding excessively is that if i feed just water i get yellow leaves after just two days,and if this is a fortnight from the end your plant is stressing for 2 weeks and not reaching its potential.The early yellowing leaves also tells me that if my plants are yellowing after just 2 days they have no excess of nutrient in them and my feeding throughout has been pretty much ideal

It must be strain or nutrient related, i flush for 2 weeks (Plain tapwater) and hardly get any yellow leaves.

In fact i find it harder to under feed, than over feed at the end of 12/12

I'm growing Cheese in vita link and coco, with the EC from 0.8ec-2.8ec.

I really would like to know why this is happening to you and not me Owd ?

e2a: I only use the veg n bloom, no other nutrients from the range, so i dont use any boosters. Maybe this is the difference ?

Edited March 12, 2008 by Stealth67

[Owderb]

Me too mate

I think it may be something to do with how much a young plant is given when its small,I feed very sparingly when they are young,I dunno tbh Stealth

I cant remember the last time i took my ec to 2.0 for any period of time and my plants never look hungry as youve seen in all my threads

My yield is fine too so i can only put it down to the young plant thing,like i said i dunno but i know you get to ec's up to 2.8.I dont think as i can remember ive ever been that high

Owd

[Stealth67]

Ive mentioned this before, but i believe the more medium you have to flush through (in my case 30-50 litres per plant depending on what pots i use) the more flushing it may require, my thinking is that a big plant in a big pot has a hell of a lot of nutrients to flush out, especially if they have been feeding at 2.8ec.

Or maybe it is just the nutrients were using ?

[slartibartfast]

Ive mentioned this before, but i believe the more medium you have to flush through (in my case 30-50 litres per plant depending on what pots i use) the more flushing it may require, my thinking is that a big plant in a big pot has a hell of a lot of nutrients to flush out, especially if they have been feeding at 2.8ec.

Or maybe it is just the nutrients were using ?

if you like stealth i'll try owd's way at the end of my grow, then we can observe the difference.

the only trouble is i'm using different nutes to the pair of you

cheers owd cracking thread mate.

atb cropman

p.s. your messenger is off stealth

Edited March 12, 2008 by cropman

[Owderb]

Ive mentioned this before, but i believe the more medium you have to flush through (in my case 30-50 litres per plant depending on what pots i use) the more flushing it may require, my thinking is that a big plant in a big pot has a hell of a lot of nutrients to flush out, especially if they have been feeding at 2.8ec.

Size of pot should be irrelevant mate,its all about ec strength.Like ive said before a bigger pot doesnt mean a higher ec,not in my experience anyway,just means more of the mix.

I used to grow in 25ltr pots on top of nft tables but drip fed and still we never got our ec's up to 2.0,with hydrotops nutrients aswell

Even then it was only the last 7 days flush with just water and our plants were always yellow come the end

Owd

Edited March 12, 2008 by Owderb

[agito]

ive found 7 days with plain water in a dwc work fine. mr cervantes recons if you flush with a 25% mix it will actually flush quicker.

prob like diets if your body realise your starving yourself it hoards the fat

[XxOne33xX]

nice thread ill try this on my crop wen its ready for it

[AustrianToker]

Hello owderb.

Nice thread, I will probably bring down my ec gradually towards the end of my grow as well. You said that one can also add veg nuts, correct? I will be using pk13 as well. How long do you reckon i can use pk for. Just a single week or a couple? I have about a 10 week flower period but entering my 3rd.

thanks,

the austrian

[trichomehi]

hi owderb,

very interesting thread, i notice that you say grow/bloom 50/50 does this mean that you are using grow all the way through flowering? i've never done this, does this explain why i get yellow leaves about a month into flowering? does this affect yields? cheers

[Owderb]

No mate i dont use grow all the way through

I just use grow in the make up with 2 weeks to go

Owd

[Guest podgy]

I'm gonna feel alot better about not flushing with ph'd water this time around after this read thx mang...

[stealth303]

Ive mentioned this before, but i believe the more medium you have to flush through (in my case 30-50 litres per plant depending on what pots i use) the more flushing it may require, my thinking is that a big plant in a big pot has a hell of a lot of nutrients to flush out, especially if they have been feeding at 2.8ec.

Size of pot should be irrelevant mate,its all about ec strength.Like ive said before a bigger pot doesnt mean a higher ec,not in my experience anyway,just means more of the mix.

I used to grow in 25ltr pots on top of nft tables but drip fed and still we never got our ec's up to 2.0,with hydrotops nutrients aswell

Even then it was only the last 7 days flush with just water and our plants were always yellow come the end

Owd

I hear ya But I have to dissagree, Your system sounds impressive, but in a big bucket of clay pebbles lots and lots of salts are stored...

I can prove this... If you soak them for two weeks after use, or stash them and be a lazy stoner, then you will see white salt has risen and now sits on the surface of the water and has collected all over the top of the pebbles. And thats leaving them to soak after washing them.

When I flush I have to really rinse my pebbles through, and my plants don't yellow either... I guess there is no answer only experience here...

My EC is 1.6 throughout, rizzatonic to get the clones going ??????

definetly got to flush for two weeks here though,... I gotta stand by that