At what point in flower development should I replace the nutrient solution in my buckets with pure RO water and nothing else? My plants are beginning week 6 of 12/12 tomorrow. They all had female preflowers showing in 24/0 before I changed the lights so I take it that means I can count their flowering time from the start of the 12/12 switch? I am not sure on the strain of these plants but I am guessing Indica-dominant?...Fat, broad leaves and all of the plants are relatively short and bushy with lots of branches. Since I am unsure of the strain (I know...stupid for using bagseed) I don't know if they are done in 8 weeks, 9, weeks, 10 weeks or even beyond. Therefore I don't wanna just assume they're 8 weekers are starve them and chop em early on. I don't have anything better than a cheap magnifying glass which is like 2x so I can't see trichromes worth shit but assuming I get one, at what point in trich development should I flush? Also, if I flush how long should I do it for? 3 days...? A week? 2 weeks? I also have GH FloraKleen, is this any good and can I just dump the recommended amount in the night before harvest and keep giving them nutes til then? Also, I see a lot of debate on flushing vs. not flushing. Can anyone kinda neutral on the matter explain what flushing does and if it actually accomplishes anything besides just starving plants? Sorry for the long rambling post, it's late and I'm high.
At no point in time. You can reduce the nutes if you want, but there is mixed opnions on to flush or not to flush. If you go to GH's website and there they have a feeding schedule, they reduce the PPM's at the week before harvest I think.
I'd start the flush at the beginning of week 8. First three days run the flora kleen at 8ml per gallon, then which to plain water after that until rippened. Even if it isn't rippened at day 56 you should be good to run the plain water for another week to 10 days. Or being you are unsure of strain, you could wait until you see the beginning of amber trichs to start the week of flush. Hope this is of some help to you.
I saw a few amber trichs on the leaves of my big girl today so I started the flush. I figure if I change my mind on it, it's never too late to add back a little bit of nutes right? Today is the start of week 7 and I am hoping for harvest at the end of week 8, at least one of the plants will be ready by then. I kinda did a combination of everyone's input on here and am gonna do a 2 week flush. I emptied the buckets, rinsed them, and put in 3.5 gal of RO water, I pHed it to about 5.6, is that even necessary though if they are not up-taking new nutrients? Also put in 2 tsp per gallon of the FloraKleen. In 2 more days I am gonna pour that all out and from then on should I put in a small amount of nutes or just use plain water? I think a flush is good at this point regardless of how far away they are from harvest because I have a lot of leaf tip burn and curling.
i do 12-14 days of pure water and the last 3 days with the lights completely off. they come out crispy clean and tasty. drenched in trichs.
What exactly are FloraKleen and other flush agents? I was a little skeptical so I bought FloraKleen which was $12.99 instead of Final Phase which was $30 or $40. Can I use it throughout the whole flush cycle or do I have to use pure water at one point?
I personally thinkj those products are a waste of money. I used clearex and phinal phase and never tasted the difference between just flushing with water.
You need some type of magnifier, about 30x. Start the flush when about 50% are clear and other half milky. This puts harvest about the time most tri's are milky (mind buzz) with a few still clear and some amber. Clear is not potent, and amber is a body buzz, but tri's will still mature as they dry. By the time drying/curing finishes (7-14 days), most should be milky with the rest amber. If you wait till about 25% amber and then harvest, the milky tris will keep maturing, and you will overshoot with about 60-75% amber as your end result. I personally like a mind buzz or a mind/body mix, so shoot for a 25-50% amber count after harvest/cure. Strain genetics will make a difference, with longer flowering strains needing to milk up longer. This schedule seems to be a good guideline in my experience with White Widow, Kaya 47, Snow White, and bag seed. Got some Lemon Haze lined up for my next grow - first time with that strain.
BTW...Kaya 47 flowers in 6-7 weeks, and there are also some auto-flowering strains out there. Be sure to know your genetics before deciding to start flushing at flower week 8...or any number for that matter. If you don't know the genetics or the flower period, get a 30x-ish loupe and watch you plant. The latest I would go is 33% amber, since you're now loosing THC for CBN. ************************************************* Cannabinoid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cannabinol (CBN) is the primary product of THC degradation, and there is usually little of it in a fresh plant. CBN content increases as THC degrades in storage, and with exposure to light and air. It is only mildly psychoactive. Its affinity to the CB2 receptor is higher than for the CB1 receptor.[24] [24]^ Mahadevan A, Siegel C, Martin BR, Abood ME, Beletskaya I, Razdan RK (October 2000). "Novel cannabinol probes for CB1 and CB2 cannabinoid receptors". Journal of medicinal chemistry 43 (20): 3778–85. doi:10.1021/jm0001572. PMID 11020293.