i know I should know this....

I'm wondering how to go about a pre-harvest flush for my girlz.

I've had a number of sucessful harvests already using a hydro set up. In hydro I do a four day "flush" ,changing the solution daily, or if possible twice daily.

Strains in this harvest are : Big Buddah Cheeze and Power plant. They both list their grow period as 8-9 weeks. Over the course of growing hydro (cool temps) I've found my harvest window to be consistently 60-63 days.

Now, this is the first run of using a soil set up. Using sunshine mix "soil". This round is due to be ripe around August 5th. They are in 2.5 gallon containers.

A) Should I use Clear-X? or just lots of water? Or some pattern of both?
B) How many days ahead do y'all normally switch from nutes to just water?
C) I've been feeding/watering every other day...should I start doing water everyday to help with flush?

D) With my heat levels higher than "normal" and with different medium, should I be more vigalant and checking Trichrome ripeness vs dependant on previous ripeness times? (should I start, have started flushing earlier anticipating faster ripeness with higher heat in grow area) ...temps now are routinely 90-100 degrees.

E) My next harvest cycle, peaking around 3 weeks later, has the girlz in smaller 7x7 square pots (about one gallon). With less "soil", do these take less flush time period...should I continue to feed later into the cycle.

Thanks for replies +/- links

...sometimes there's too much info on here and it's hard to find a simple answer when you don't have 4 hours to research.

mucho grassy ass :rastasmoke:

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Originally Posted by genuine

I'm wondering how to go about a pre-harvest flush for my girlz.

I've had a number of sucessful harvests already using a hydro set up. In hydro I do a four day "flush" ,changing the solution daily, or if possible twice daily.

Strains in this harvest are : Big Buddah Cheeze and Power plant. They both list their grow period as 8-9 weeks. Over the course of growing hydro (cool temps) I've found my harvest window to be consistently 60-63 days.

Now, this is the first run of using a soil set up. Using sunshine mix "soil". This round is due to be ripe around August 5th. They are in 2.5 gallon containers.

A) Should I use Clear-X? or just lots of water? Or some pattern of both?
B) How many days ahead do y'all normally switch from nutes to just water?
C) I've been feeding/watering every other day...should I start doing water everyday to help with flush?

D) With my heat levels higher than "normal" and with different medium, should I be more vigalant and checking Trichrome ripeness vs dependant on previous ripeness times? (should I start, have started flushing earlier anticipating faster ripeness with higher heat in grow area) ...temps now are routinely 90-100 degrees.

E) My next harvest cycle, peaking around 3 weeks later, has the girlz in smaller 7x7 square pots (about one gallon). With less "soil", do these take less flush time period...should I continue to feed later into the cycle.

Thanks for replies +/- links

...sometimes there's too much info on here and it's hard to find a simple answer when you don't have 4 hours to research.

mucho grassy ass :rastasmoke:

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Rusty Trichome has a great thread on growing in heat. He says heat causes them to take longer to ripen due to stress. At least a week, if I recall correctly. :stoned:

There is a great sticky on flushing and pH under basic growing I think. It tells you volumes, but generally it is 3 times the pot volume. So, for a 2.5 gal. container, 2.5 x 3 = 7.5 gals water to flush. I believe I've read that you should use pHed water for flushing... but I don't :eek:. My plain tap is usually in the 6.0 to 6.8 range anyway. I may change that next grow, for testing purposes.

I've too have had heat issues this summer. In my situation, I also experienced lower yield from known producers, even when I waited longer to harvest. No more HIDs in summertime for me, as I'm just not "efficient" at those temps.

I've had more trouble with flushing, drying and curing than I reasonably should.:( Sometimes I have residual harshness in my buds that I want to remove, so I have been researching this. One item I found that I missed in previous research passes: excess N in flowering causes harshness. Stinky advised to stop or significantly reduce N two weeks before flushing! So that would be, 4 weeks before harvest, cut the N. Then 2 weeks before harvest, flush soil well with water. No food for last two weeks before cutting.

I haven't used Clearex myself yet, although I have some on hand to try for next grow. As with all preparations, I would use it as directed on the label, until I know what it actually does. ;)

Good luck with your harvest. :jointsmile:

Thanks for the reply.

The largest summer weather problem I've had is in cloning. April and May I was running about 85% sucess on two of my flavors and 33% on the third. The rounds of cloning that I've done in June and July...have sucked!

Last round, about 10 days ago...I was hyper vigelent about cleaning stuff/ throwing trays away and starting over with fresh...and still I have barely any girlz showing roots. Just re-read the "damming" post in FAQ and guessing that I too have had too much humidity and leading to wilt. So we'll try another round this weekend and try to remedy another issue and hope....or wait until October :( .

I do own a dehumidifier but I don't know if I have the space/ electric to spare to run it right now.

I germinate seeds in September....I don't grow indoors in the summer.

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Originally Posted by Dutch Pimp

I germinate seeds in September....I don't grow indoors in the summer.

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I just have to abuse myself sometimes to prove a point. :rolleyes: LEDs only in summertime from here on out.

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Originally Posted by crabbyback

I just have to abuse myself sometimes to prove a point. :rolleyes: LEDs only in summertime from here on out.

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LED's????...you must live in the High rent district?...:D

i like to grow six months worth...then quit growing

Quote:

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Originally Posted by genuine

Thanks for the reply.

The largest summer weather problem I've had is in cloning. April and May I was running about 85% sucess on two of my flavors and 33% on the third. The rounds of cloning that I've done in June and July...have sucked!

Last round, about 10 days ago...I was hyper vigelent about cleaning stuff/ throwing trays away and starting over with fresh...and still I have barely any girlz showing roots. Just re-read the "damming" post in FAQ and guessing that I too have had too much humidity and leading to wilt. So we'll try another round this weekend and try to remedy another issue and hope....or wait until October :( .

I do own a dehumidifier but I don't know if I have the space/ electric to spare to run it right now.

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Yeah, my dehumidifier is a power hog. I hate running it.

Not trying to second guess you but, have you tried adding more fans for your humidity problem? And, if you usually put a humidity dome over the clones, have you tried without the dome?

One thing to consider, I know that some plants only like to root at certain times of the year. If you try at other times, your success rate plummets. I haven't seen this mentioned about MJ, though. This may not even apply to plants kept indoors in an artificial environment. Maybe DP or someone more experienced than I will comment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dutch Pimp

LED's????...you must live in the High rent district?...:D

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Hardly "high-rent". More like sky high electric bill in summer.

I just go with the flow...I can use the extra heat in fall/winter/spring

its nice to be able to grow outside

oops nevermind

I was maxed out as far as electric. Just recently got the problem solved, but now that it is....things are growing/ going so well I'm not changing anything.

This most recent cloning adventure produced 50% which while not stellar, was good enough. I have enough momma's and the ability to take many many more clones than I would ever need.

We will see how I do with new electric as far as getting things warm enough, controlled for the winter season, but after this harvest and the next phase in 3 weeks...I'm feeling it the oppostie of Duch Pimp and feeling like my August harvests are going to produce enough to get me through the year and maybe I won't fight with it through the colder months.

I find it easier to grow in winter due to heat and bugs.

Let us know how your harvest turns out. Good luck.

I've never used a chemical to flush the chemicals out of the soil, but I do a final flush with two to three times the pot volume, with properly ph'd water. My wellwater ph is 8.0, so I avoid using it for anything unless it's adjusted. It doesn't take long to form nanners at this stage, and risking them because I was too lazy or too cheap to adjust my wellwater is potentially counter-productive in my book. The risk is not worth the 5 cents it costs for me to use my phDown.

Cannabis is an annual, and I believe that if you are doing it right the roots never stop growing.

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Originally Posted by Rusty Trichome

I've never used a chemical to flush the chemicals out of the soil, but I do a final flush with two to three times the pot volume, with properly ph'd water. My wellwater ph is 8.0, so I avoid using it for anything unless it's adjusted. It doesn't take long to form nanners at this stage, and risking them because I was too lazy or too cheap to adjust my wellwater is potentially counter-productive in my book. The risk is not worth the 5 cents it costs for me to use my phDown.

Cannabis is an annual, and I believe that if you are doing it right the roots never stop growing.

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I've been gardening organically outside most of my life. If you have the ability to do full organic for your plants in a stealth environment, then I envy and commend you.

I have never been lazy nor cheap, but I do draw the line at "make work". My tap is consistently in the correct range, so I don't pH it to flush. In my situation, adjusting is make work. I also believe that foliar feeding is make work, but I don't bust people for doing it. To each his own.

I haven't used the Clearex yet but when I do, I'll be using caution. I understand that it is nothing but a chelating agent that locks up any remaining nutes in your soil. Do you know something about it that we need to know?

BTW, aren't the commercial preparations of pHUp and pHDown "chemicals"?

Most of my statements go beyond the poster, as other newbie's read this stuff, too. You stating that you do not ph adjust your 'out of range' water for flushing raised a red-flag, as some of us have water way out of the 'normal' ph range and ammending is strongly recommended, if not absolutely necessary.
If your water's ph is out of range and you use it anyway...you are the one that risks having to pay the price. If this isn't lazy and cheap...how does "risky" sound? Would it make you feel good to have someone see that you didn't ammend water for flushing, and ruined their crop as a result?

My point was that the Clearex is unnecessary, if you do a good flush with properly ph'd water. Likely you have your own reasons for being flippant with your mature ladies, and don't mind the potential for one or two going hermie...but it is not recommended.

phDown is phosphoric acid, and no...I do not grow organic. Some of the components in my grow are organic, but I'm not all anal about it. I am conscious of unnecessary ammendments and additives, though. They might look great as marketed, but some are unnecessary and often there is a cheaper replacement available. (properly ph'd water instead of Clearex, for instance)

Same with SuperThrive, bulking agents, carbo loads and CalMag Plus. Most of the bulking agents and carbo-load products are derived from unsulphured molasses. CalMag Plus is a chemical concoction calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate. (molasses contains enough calcium, iorn and magnesium to replace the CalMag) No telling what's really in SuperThrive, but my grow has done great without it for the past year or so. The micro's in molasses seem to work just fine, and I'm happy not to be providing my ladies with steroids, hormones and the unknown. :thumbsup: