Here in socal, with the fires and living so close to the border, I don't trust the water. I always add a half teaspoon of epson salts to their water tho. I don't have any CalMag plus. I use a potting soil that I get from my local nursery. I've used it for years with success. Not much peat, however they were grown from seed in half peat half perlite in quart size pots until a few days ago when I transplanted then into the 1gallon bags of potting soil. But like I said they look fine. I'll go ahead and flush next week with neutral ph water. They have not shown their sex yet so I hope your right that the flushing won't interfere with that. Thanks Stinky