Is nute lockout good for flushing?

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Indoors' started by switchridex, Sep 24, 2010.

  1. I've been searching and cant find a for sure answer regarding this problem: Do you adjust your ph while flushing? If you want your plant to use up the remaining nutes wouldn't inducing a nute lockout better rid the plant of chemicals? I also see the argument of people not flushing and seeing a difference in final result. I currently am about 10 days away but have been thinking about this and decided to ask the people where I've learned from. So is nute lockout a bad thing during the final flushing stage of your plants?
     
  2. When you're flushing, you're adding either plain water or water with a flushing solution. There shouldn't be any nutrients in that water, so the plant won't really get nutrients regardless of the pH. You still want to keep the pH friendly for your plant so anywhere between 5.0 - 7.0 should be great.

    You're essentially causing a nute lockout by completely withholding nutes.

    Happy growing :)
     
  3. I get the part of inducing the nute lock out by not giving nutes...but if the PH gets messed up in the soil because I did not adjust the water wouldn't that help the flushing?I don't understand the reason of keeping the PH friendly for your plant if you don't want the plant to get any nutes....sorry lol this has just been bugging me lately...and yet I'm still PHing my flushing water lol
     
  4. Lol it's just I wouldn't ever want my plants exposed to like 2.0 or 10.0 water is all. I'm sure that your tap water is perfectly fine.
     
  5. That's a great question.
    1. If during flushing the idea is to deny your plants nutrients, wouldnt lockout be good?
    2. Does the plant care about ph for absorbtion of H2O?

    On the surface it appears lockout is preferred.
     
  6. You can't lock out all nutes at once. Each nutrient has a range of pH in which the plant can uptake it -- if the pH is out of that range that particular nutrient would be locked out but others would be getting great conditions for uptake, causing your plant to overdose on those.

    The way to keep your plant from uptaking nutrients just before harvest is to flush out the nutes in the soil so it can't get any, no matter the pH.
     
  7. I see what he is asking, and am interested in the answer as well. If you rid your medium of all nutes, because you are flushing, then at that point, does the PH of the water really matter from that point until harvest? If the purpose of keeping the PH in a range is so your plants can best utilize all of the nutes, then once you flush and need no more nutes, why at that point, would the PH of your water matter? Can't a plant drink water with say a 2 or 9 ph as much as it can with 5 or 7 ph? I know it couldn't process nutes at those extreme #'s, but if just water, why does PH matter?
     
  8. this is very interesting...and I dunno how most people's tap waters are but from around here I've seen tap water range from 5-8...which isnt to far off...I'd never give it to my plants during feeding stages though....any one else?
     
  9. Bump this please
     
  10. Water, as a chemical compound in nature, has an average ph of around 7 or neutral on the ph scale. If you have "water" that is 2, its not water anymore its an acid, and if you have water that is 9 its a base. I dont know about you, but I dont want to give my precious girls acid or a base.
     
  11. Lock-out, when we're thinking of an accidental lock out from over feeding, causes slower drinking all together. Not good for a flush.

    I'm not sure how locking out this way would help, or what you're trying to accomplish, since you'd have to apply a huge concentration then try to attempt a flush. And you'd have to flush even longer, because the plant won't be drinking as fast.

    Or are you trying to suggest that you alter the ph to such a degree, that it causes a lock out? If you prevent the plant from drinking readily, the salts will remain in her system longer, meaning you'll spend more time flushing, and your plant will have more time to deteriorate and negatively alter the flavor of your smoke in the end.

    So yes, ph is very important even during the flush stage.

    The ph is an integral part of the plants environment, I'm not sure how you guys came to the conclusion that the plant doesn't need to be kept healthy during a flush, but it's best that you do if only for the sake of your smoke :p :) Good luck!
     
  12. PH can kill regardless of lockout conditions or anything like that.

    Think of it this way, can the plant feed on acid?
    Would lye be good for it?

    If its too far off no matter the nute situation the roots will start to die.
     
  13. Agree with wesside and randomseed, you will kill your plant pouring a strong acid or alkaline solution on it...
     
  14. Not quite...
    The only compounds in water are H (Hydrogen) and O (Oxygen)
    Oxygen is found in the form OH- (Hydroxide)

    If your water has a pH of 2 it is acidic water - but still water.

    pH is based on the ratio of H+ and OH- (and you though water was H2O)
    When H+ = OH- then pH is 7.0 which is a rare occasion.
    The only thing you can say about "pure" water is that is has an EC of 0.
    You can make no presumption of the pH of "pure" water

    If there is a substance like Calcium Carbonate in your water your EC will not be 0 but you pH may be 7.0. Your pH may also be higher that 7.0 and you can add some acid and get your pH to 7.0 but your EC will increase (because you added more salts).

    Having said that ..the only pH areas in which ALL macro-nutes are locked out are below 2 and above 10 .. something I would not wish on any plat.
     
  15. Most tap water is between 5-8....so you're saying the plant wont absorb water if the PH is messed up? This I cant agree with because my outdoor plants get some very high PH(live in the city) rain and still don't show signs of underwatering.....keep this going...anyone else?
     
  16. I think the original question was......."Do you adjust your ph when flushing?" I don't think any one (least not me) was suggesting to purposely adjust the ph to induce lockout.
    My thinking was if it got out of whack it might even be better so why bother to adjust. I see now it is probably healthier for the plant to keep things as normal as possible.
     
  17. between 5-8 is acceptable(not optimal). anything out of that range is not.
     
  18. #18 BadKittySmiles, Sep 24, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 24, 2010

    I don't think anyone has said yet that they won't absorb water if the ph is messed up :)

    But will they absorb it as efficiently, as if they were healthy? Not at all. And in extreme cases they will die out right.

    With a proper ph, and if the rest of your environment is dialed in, you can water and feed much more rapidly in any medium, than if the plant is suffering in some way.

    They'll grow if the ph is a little high or low, and they can appear visibly healthy, but the rate of growth won't be nearly as fast, and your yield will absolutely suffer for it.

    Hope this helps :)
     
  19. Thanks everyone. Yes the original question was should I adjust PH while flushing....Ive heard of a few ways of flushing...from putting under a faucet to just watering with plain water.
     
  20. Hmmm, so the title of this thread is not "Is nute lockout good for flushing?" and you didn't ask this:
    As for adjusting the pH of the flush, yes you should. However, it can be pretty difficult to do -- take my situation for example, I grow 4 at a time in 5 gallon pots, that's 20 total gallons, that means I need at least 60 gallons of water not only to be pH adjusted but also to have sat out for at least 24 hours to allow chlorine to evaporate. I don't have any kind of tank or reservoir to hold all that, so what I find works is to have at least 25% of the total soil volume buffered and aired out (so in my case at least 4 gallons), then I flush the plants with water straight from the tap and finish each pot with the buffered water. The pot can hold only so much, so as you add the buffered water at the end it will push out the unbuffered water and leave your soil in reasonably good shape.
     

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