Flush rant

Watching some documentary on the Colorado High Times cup from a couple years ago, and someone had to rate different types of bud on looks, smell, high, etc... and flush.
I will say this one last time, you can not judge anything on 'flush' because that harsh/pleasant taste has nothing to do with flushing, it has to do with curing.
If your plants are healthy, all you're doing by flushing them for the last few weeks is depriving them of essential nutrients and minerals, which will lead to less yield and lower quality produce.
The only time where you should flush, is if you have a lockout/overload of nutrients, because you were a spaz and fucked your shit up. There are other instances where a flush can be useful, but these uses are solely limited to correcting any problem which may arise in your medium.
Flushing for no reason, especially for the last few weeks of your plants life, is like saying you're only gonna drink water if you reach the age of 70.
If your plants are healthy, feed them til the end, and cure them properly... this will give you better results by far!

Peace.

I wouldn't call that a rant. I agree with you 100%.

I have always operated on the concept of flushing with RO water saturated with complex sugars so the plant isn't starving. flushing removes the excess chemicals and allows the plant to pull remaining nutrients out of the fan leaves as well as the added sugars.

I have based my opinion on various published literature by jorge cervantes, Ed rosenthal and other prominent cannabis growers

not to get into a dick waving contest but what are you basing your " don't flush your plants" opinion on?

I'm not set in my ways and am always willing to adapt if the right evidence is presented but I do need to see some evidence beyond personal opinion / experience.
would you link some articles (scholarly or other ) / publications that support the need to not flush / higher yields if you don't flush.

I can't link any scholarly articles, because most gardeners I follow aren't scholars.
It's fine that you disagree, debate and knowledge is what it's all about.
The guy I follow the most is Harley Smith, check out his videos, he's one of the best gardeners in the world (literally) imo.
Jorge Cervantes is an idiot, he does so many things which are unnecessary and downright stupid, like his video of dunking your bud in peroxide and water.
Flushing removes nutrients from your medium, not from your plant, because if that were the case then use RO water from the beginning, because your plant has been sucking up nutrients throughout its life which it has already metabolized and put to good use. When plants pull nutrients from their leaves, it's because they're not getting enough from their medium... it's just not the optimum way to keep your plants healthy and happy, and it can affect your yield and quality.
Complex sugars can't count for nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, etc, etc.

The cannabis cup is just a marketing scheme. Anyone can be a judge.

It would be great if there was more science to it because there seems to be a lot of first hand information that isn't being backed up by evidence.

Do you think professional growers of anything flush? Rose growers, orchid growers , potato growers shit come to think of it NO professional growers do this flushing horseshit . Do plants that grow in nature flush. Your answer is No and neither do I and neither should you. Saying that I think that I've made a good point, so how much info now must you have to realize that this practice is idiotic?

I feed straight to the fucking end n never seen any I'll effects only positive.

Do commercial growers that grow vegetables hydroponically flush for 2 weeks to get the nutrients out of their tomatoes?

Love watching videos where people have flushed for a few weeks, and they're justifying it with a million different bullshit reasons, and their plants look like they've been in a trainwreck, but it's all good... "leaves turning yellow are a sign that all is going well, and my bud will taste better because it has no chemicals".

I CAN SEE HOW THIS MAKES SENSE.
I'VE HEARD IT COME FROM A COUPLE OF PEOPLE WHO'S WORDI RESPECT.
SO YOU GUYS ARE SAYING TO CONTINUE FEEDING NUTES TILL HARV. OR MAYBE JUST WATER REG. WITH NUTES ALREALDY IN SOIL & SKIP FLUSH. PERSONALLY I FLUSH MY MEDIUM 1 A MONTH JUST TO PREVENT BUILD UP'
I GUESS SOMEONE SHOULD RECORD SOME CONCRETE EVIDENCE N LAYOUT SOME FLICKS&PICS?

VSFLESHnBONE1 said:

I CAN SEE HOW THIS MAKES SENSE.
I'VE HEARD IT COME FROM A COUPLE OF PEOPLE WHO'S WORDI RESPECT.
SO YOU GUYS ARE SAYING TO CONTINUE FEEDING NUTES TILL HARV. OR MAYBE JUST WATER REG. WITH NUTES ALREALDY IN SOIL & SKIP FLUSH. PERSONALLY I FLUSH MY MEDIUM 1 A MONTH JUST TO PREVENT BUILD UP'
I GUESS SOMEONE SHOULD RECORD SOME CONCRETE EVIDENCE N LAYOUT SOME FLICKS&PICS?

Click to expand...

If you're growing in soil and your runoff is an acceptable PH, then don't flush.

SO THE EXTRA NUTES DONT SPARK UR BUD?
DOES THE BAC. THAT CONSUMES CHLORO DURING CURE CONSUME THE EXTRA NUTES AS WELL?

Dick problems said:

why then, do only the leaves turn yellow and not the buds. if as you say, its removing nutrients.

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The flush doesn't actively remove nutrients from the plant, it removes them from the soil. the plant then goes into survival mode and prioritizes the buds and starts "removing" or reabsorbing nutrients from the less biologically important structures such as the lower leaves and fan leaves. in a sense it shocks the plant into putting all its extra effort into bud production which is the explanation i go with in terms of why i have seen larger yields when i haved flushed vs not. Along those lines the absorption of nutrients from the plant itself seems to translate for me as a less chemical flavor / less sparks flying off my bud when it light it up.

That being said it seems to be a 50 50 split between growers on if they flush or not. However saying one method is more efficient / better then the other with out hard evidence to back it up is an educated guess at best on both of our ends.

So instead of arguing back and forth I will try to experiment and record my findings in a grow journal. After i get my new moms established i will try a few runs of half flushed and half not to see if i can get at least some anecdotal evidence for either side of the argument.

keep genetics the same ( clones )
keep feed schedule the same ( PPM meter )
keep CO2 levels humidity ect. the same
and attempt to only alter the flush vs no flush and get a few smoke reports from people as well as wet and dry weights

No other industry flushes their crops. Why would you do it with weed. Its just retarted unless you have completely cooked your plants with high nute levels

VSFLESHnBONE1 said:

I CAN SEE HOW THIS MAKES SENSE.
I'VE HEARD IT COME FROM A COUPLE OF PEOPLE WHO'S WORDI RESPECT.
SO YOU GUYS ARE SAYING TO CONTINUE FEEDING NUTES TILL HARV. OR MAYBE JUST WATER REG. WITH NUTES ALREALDY IN SOIL & SKIP FLUSH. PERSONALLY I FLUSH MY MEDIUM 1 A MONTH JUST TO PREVENT BUILD UP'
I GUESS SOMEONE SHOULD RECORD SOME CONCRETE EVIDENCE N LAYOUT SOME FLICKS&PICS?

Click to expand...

Stop yelling. Turn your caps off

Yep it's true if you don't flood your plants root systems with dissolved salts in the form of synthetic nutrients in the first place, "flushing" is never needed...then it's just called watering your plants as normal. If you give your plants everything they need in the mix before the root ball touches it then all you'll need to give them is water & maybe an occasional dose of soluble cal/mag if you avoid using city tap water & use RO or distilled water sources. This is really the main difference between organic growing and every other method: if you use nutes then you'll need to rinse the root system off every so often and especially in the final weeks before harvest but if you rely on soil microbes & fungi to feed your plant then all you need to do is keep the soil hydrated with a clean water source....no flushing required. The idea is not to starve the plant at the finish line but if you don't get those dissolved salts & chemicals out of the root zone your weed will taste funny no matter how well it is cured.

MickFoster said:

Do commercial growers that grow vegetables hydroponically flush for 2 weeks to get the nutrients out of their tomatoes?

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No they certainly don't. Not any other industry does. Its just something a few growers started doing and now people think its gospel.

Richard Drysift said:

Yep it's true if you don't flood your plants root systems with dissolved salts in the form of synthetic nutrients in the first place, "flushing" is never needed...then it's just called watering your plants as normal. If you give your plants everything they need in the mix before the root ball touches it then all you'll need to give them is water & maybe an occasional dose of soluble cal/mag if you avoid using city tap water & use RO or distilled water sources. This is really the main difference between organic growing and every other method: if you use nutes then you'll need to rinse the root system off every so often and especially in the final weeks before harvest but if you rely on soil microbes & fungi to feed your plant then all you need to do is keep the soil hydrated with a clean water source....no flushing required. The idea is not to starve the plant at the finish line but if you don't get those dissolved salts & chemicals out of the root zone your weed will taste funny no matter how well it is cured.

Click to expand...

No, no it won't.

Richard Drysift said:

Yep it's true if you don't flood your plants root systems with dissolved salts in the form of synthetic nutrients in the first place, "flushing" is never needed...then it's just called watering your plants as normal. If you give your plants everything they need in the mix before the root ball touches it then all you'll need to give them is water & maybe an occasional dose of soluble cal/mag if you avoid using city tap water & use RO or distilled water sources. This is really the main difference between organic growing and every other method: if you use nutes then you'll need to rinse the root system off every so often and especially in the final weeks before harvest but if you rely on soil microbes & fungi to feed your plant then all you need to do is keep the soil hydrated with a clean water source....no flushing required. The idea is not to starve the plant at the finish line but if you don't get those dissolved salts & chemicals out of the root zone your weed will taste funny no matter how well it is cured.

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Next grow I'm ditching plastic bottles, but @ the moment I am using bottled organic nutrients/myco.
Am I able to water throughout my grow without flush?

VSFLESHnBONE1 said:

SO THE EXTRA NUTES DONT SPARK UR BUD?
DOES THE BAC. THAT CONSUMES CHLORO DURING CURE CONSUME THE EXTRA NUTES AS WELL?

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The problem is, they were never "extra" nutes. The plant still needs them. if you feed too much towards the end that is a grower error. If you have not went borderline toxic or fed the wrong shit during the ripening stage, they will cure just fine, they will smoke just fine. When you flush in flower, not only do you remove a good amount of nutrients, you also deprive the root zone of oxygen, it will stress the plant out. The only time ive had nasty buds were harvested from plants with crazy toxicities,imbalanced feeding ratio's or a rushed/lazy dry & cure.