a good way to know if your plant is being flushed is when your leaves turn yellow. whatever your plants are in say, for instance a 5 gallon pot give it 10 gallons of water a day untill your leaves are yellow then dont give them anymore water for a few days then keep it in the total dark for about 48 hours. this is would do. i do hydro so the method is a little different. and as for the drying. yes keep it in the dark and make sure its coool in there. when the buds snap like a dry twig put them in some glass jars to finish out the cure process. thats a whole different process than dryin but its just as easy. just time consuming. hey man if you already have amber and cloudy trichs dont give it any more food just water.