How important is it to flush?

kurnz650 · Nov 13, 2009

Someone please tell me!

This is my plants turned out beautiful from the right combo of nutrients however

I want to harvest my plants now for the more uppity high but I have heard flushing is a MUST and if I flush the plants will have more time to let the THC degrade..

on any level my basic question is

How important is it to flush your plants before harvest?

debtheburk · Nov 13, 2009

Everyone will have a different opinion. Earlier this week i harvested my 1st plant. I went a head and flushed for 8 days. i'm glad i did. I have been curing since Monday and sampling like everyday and each day they keep getting better and better and smooth. I got pretty blazed last night.

I have 2 other plants to harvest. I watered the next one i'm going to harvest last night with plain wate. This time i'm going to try and wait 10 days before i cut her down.

The smell of the plant i just harvested change from the last time i feed her nutes to the day i chopped her down. So i think it helped. Dont know if that helps but good luck.

I guess you could feed yours water today and keep checking on her and do short flush.

racerboy71 · Nov 13, 2009

flushing definitely helps with the final taste of your product, especially if you used some heavy duty nutes on her.. as you use the nutes, the build up within the plant tissue, and if not flushed out, you will be able to taste them in the smoke.. it can range from a crackling sound to a downright chemically taste.. it will also help the bud burn smoother, and you will notice this in the ash, and also when you smoke a j of it, a properly flushed plant will taste good all the way down to your fingers..
if you don't have time to do a proper flush, you can always cut the buds as normal and hang them so that the stems are sitting in water.. although this is not as good as a proper flush... the water will help draw out any nutes that maybe stored in the plant and will definitely improve the quality..

chronicdice88 · Nov 13, 2009

flushing is pretty important. esp if ur using non-organic nutes... i use organic nutes and i still flush for 1-2 weeks to keep the bad chem taste out..

good luck..
peace

Roseman · Nov 13, 2009

I guess I am going to be the devil's advocate here.

Consider a grower here named Fdd2blk, a MOD here.
He grows gigantic trees as tall as the house, in giant holes he dug and filled in with all kinds of Nitrogen. Does he flush them? Heck NO, how could he? Ask him if they have a chemical taste and I bet he will tell you NO, I properly cure them.

Have you ever bought any Columbian or Jamiacan or Maui Wowie grown commercially? I bet it tasted good and did not have a chemical or fertilizer taste and I bet it was not flushed.

Do tobacco growers flush their tobacco? No, they do properly cure it first tho.

I flushed my first grow, and I was glad then, it tasted great.
My 2nd Grow, I wanted to harvest on a Saturday and did not have time to FLUSH it and I did not see any difference. My 3rd, 4th, 5th 6th and 7th grow tasted GREAT adn I did nto flush it, I fed it up until the day before I whacked it.

Even a murderer gets a final meal before he is executed.

Ask Uncle Ben does he Flush and why not???.

nuggets73 · Nov 13, 2009

Roseman said:
I guess I am going to be the devil's advocate here.

Consider a grower here named Fdd2blk, a MOD here.
He grows gigantic trees as tall as the house, in giant holes he dug and filled in with all kinds of Nitrogen. Does he flush them? Heck NO, how could he? Ask him if they have a chemical taste and I bet he will tell you NO, I properly cure them.

Have you ever bought any Columbian or Jamiacan or Maui Wowie grown commercially? I bet it tasted good and did not have a chemical or fertilizer taste and I bet it was not flushed.

Do tobacco growers flush their tobacco? No, they do properly cure it first tho.

I flushed my first grow, and I was glad then, it tasted great.
My 2nd Grow, I wanted to harvest on a Saturday and did not have time to FLUSH it and I did not see any difference. My 3rd, 4th, 5th 6th and 7th grow tasted GREAT adn I did nto flush it, I fed it up until the day before I whacked it.

Even a murderer gets a final meal before he is executed.

Ask Uncle Ben does he Flush and why not???.

RRROOOOOLLLLLFFF ... Love your justification ... your a funny bugger ...... :clap:

panhead · Nov 13, 2009

Roseman said:
I guess I am going to be the devil's advocate here.

Consider a grower here named Fdd2blk, a MOD here.
He grows gigantic trees as tall as the house, in giant holes he dug and filled in with all kinds of Nitrogen. Does he flush them? Heck NO, how could he? Ask him if they have a chemical taste and I bet he will tell you NO, I properly cure them.

Have you ever bought any Columbian or Jamiacan or Maui Wowie grown commercially? I bet it tasted good and did not have a chemical or fertilizer taste and I bet it was not flushed.

Do tobacco growers flush their tobacco? No, they do properly cure it first tho.

I flushed my first grow, and I was glad then, it tasted great.
My 2nd Grow, I wanted to harvest on a Saturday and did not have time to FLUSH it and I did not see any difference. My 3rd, 4th, 5th 6th and 7th grow tasted GREAT adn I did nto flush it, I fed it up until the day before I whacked it.

Even a murderer gets a final meal before he is executed.

Ask Uncle Ben does he Flush and why not???.

hey roseman , long time no see . Listen to roseman as he speaks the facts on this topic,as with many other issues where an individual has a vested interest in the outcome placebo effect has a very real effect,not once has the act of flushing ever been proven to offer a single noticable difference & has never been proven,growing weed is as old as the earth but flushing is a very new pratice who's origin can be traced directly back to botique fertilizer companies who just so happen to sell snake oil additives that make flushing easier,faster & all around better. I run a garden for my wife's multiple sclerosis pain management & several other gardens for close friends who gave their grow rights to me & in no garden do i waste time flushing ,infact i power feed the plants in their last days right before harvest,i feed normally until the buds start their traditional 2nd growth spurt very late into budding then i ramp up the nutes to take advantage of the buds natural growth spurt. Listen to members like roseman,albfuct,fdd,ect as they will save you an assload of wasted time with snake oil techniques such as flushing & be wary of advice from small grow op growers .

nuggets73 · Nov 13, 2009

panhead said:
hey roseman , long time no see . Listen to roseman as he speaks the facts on this topic,as with many other issues where an individual has a vested interest in the outcome placebo effect has a very real effect,not once has the act of flushing ever been proven to offer a single noticable difference & has never been proven,growing weed is as old as the earth but flushing is a very new pratice who's origin can be traced directly back to botique fertilizer companies who just so happen to sell snake oil additives that make flushing easier,faster & all around better. I run a garden for my wife's multiple sclerosis pain management & several other gardens for close friends who gave their grow rights to me & in no garden do i waste time flushing ,infact i power feed the plants in their last days right before harvest,i feed normally until the buds start their traditional 2nd growth spurt very late into budding then i ramp up the nutes to take advantage of the buds natural growth spurt. Listen to members like roseman,albfuct,fdd,ect as they will save you an assload of wasted time with snake oil techniques such as flushing & be wary of advice from small grow op growers .

Seems logical

... would you starve cattle just before slaughter? ... No, you'd feed the f%$k out of them

... just like your buds ... you want them thick & plump

F%$K THE FLUSH .... :bigjoint:

Snak · Nov 14, 2009

Roseman said:
Consider a grower here named Fdd2blk, a MOD here.
He grows gigantic trees as tall as the house, in giant holes he dug and filled in with all kinds of Nitrogen. Does he flush them? Heck NO, how could he? Ask him if they have a chemical taste and I bet he will tell you NO, I properly cure them.

Ask Uncle Ben does he Flush and why not???.

I know for sure that Ben doesn't believe in flushing, but I could have sworn I've read a thread where fdd2blk stood by flushing, saying it was a necessary phase to produce good bud. EDIT- I found the thread https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/242960-thc-produced-during-flushing-2.html. Like I said, Ben is a firm believer in not flushing- i would love to see a Official Debate Post between the two of them to discuss their positions.

As for the rest of your post, I can't really disagree with anything. I have 4 plants that are starting their 7th week of 12/12, I plan on giving them 3 more weeks till I chop them. I'm going to be doing the traditional flush to two of them, and feed the other two up until harvest.

And of course, I'll report back with my findings :leaf:

panhead · Nov 15, 2009

Snak said:
I know for sure that Ben doesn't believe in flushing, but I could have sworn I've read a thread where fdd2blk stood by flushing, saying it was a necessary phase to produce good bud. EDIT- I found the thread https://www.rollitup.org/harvesting-curing/242960-thc-produced-during-flushing-2.html. Like I said, Ben is a firm believer in not flushing- i would love to see a Official Debate Post between the two of them to discuss their positions.

As for the rest of your post, I can't really disagree with anything. I have 4 plants that are starting their 7th week of 12/12, I plan on giving them 3 more weeks till I chop them. I'm going to be doing the traditional flush to two of them, and feed the other two up until harvest.

And of course, I'll report back with my findings

In order for your test to have a degree of reliability or accuracy you must not have any part in the test,any knowledge about the samples will skew the results due to bias ,give samples of each weed to several people & mark each sample so only you know which is which,then tell them to write down their thoughts after smoking a sample,ask them to comment on how it burns & if it burns clean,also ask them to comment on the quality of the smoke & weather it has any degree of harshness,try to give out atleast 3 samples.

Ive done this exact test twice using family members with me telling the that one smoke was not flushed, after reading their journals it was very clear to me that when i rolled the joints & marked them as sample A & B not one person could pick out which joint came from the unflushed harvest,just the fact where i told them one was not flushed made them aware of possible flaws with the smoke so they all basically guessed,they also accepted flushing as fact because others said it was needed,i also have used the same blind method but told my family that the 2 joints i gave them were different strains when they were the same strain so they wouldnt know one was not flushed & would focus on quality issues & report accordingly.

Nobody reported harsh smoke or smoke that did not burn clean & both samples were equally praised as being kick ass smoke,in a true blind test its impossible for even the most experienced smoker or self proclaimed connasuer to report all the negative issues that are associated with non flushed smoke.

churchhaze · Nov 16, 2009

What is most important is that your buds don't have problems like being glossy (not from THC) and curled under. If you don't have a toxicity, you probably aren't overfeeding at the end.

I don't allow deficiencies throughout flowering, but don't toxify it. That's my philosophy. I feel like the plant needs to be healthy in order to make it through the cure period which is more about burning off sugars than chemicals. I think the plant needs its normal amount of stored nutes to cure for the correct amount of time.

I want it to stay alive while curing and a healthy bud has the chemicals storage it needs to burn off its remaining starches/sugars for a smooth smoke.

619SixFour · Nov 16, 2009

churchhaze said:
What is most important is that your buds don't have problems like being glossy (not from THC) and curled under. If you don't have a toxicity, you probably aren't overfeeding at the end.

I don't allow deficiencies throughout flowering, but don't toxify it. That's my philosophy. I feel like the plant needs to be healthy in order to make it through the cure period which is more about burning off sugars than chemicals. I think the plant needs its normal amount of stored nutes to cure for the correct amount of time.

I want it to stay alive while curing and a healthy bud has the chemicals storage it needs to burn off its remaining starches/sugars for a smooth smoke.

I was under the impression that flushing was needed in order to prevent soil toxification. I know a final flush is supposed to help with the taste but I am not sure. What I am sure of is that flushing is needed in order to prevent toxic nute and salt build up issues in soil and soil-less mixes. But, if toxic levels of salts and nutes hurt plant development, then one can determine that unhealthy plants turn into unapealing smoke. Thats my 2 cents on it. :bigjoint:

churchhaze · Nov 17, 2009

619SixFour said:
I was under the impression that flushing was needed in order to prevent soil toxification. I know a final flush is supposed to help with the taste but I am not sure. What I am sure of is that flushing is needed in order to prevent toxic nute and salt build up issues in soil and soil-less mixes. But, if toxic levels of salts and nutes hurt plant development, then one can determine that unhealthy plants turn into unapealing smoke. Thats my 2 cents on it.

Exactly. If the plant looks unhealthy, you're probably giving it too many nutes and thus you should flush or ease off. If you chop after its had too many nutes, it will taste chemically

If the plant isn't too dark green and it looks healthy, it isn't suffering from excessive salt build up and thus your product won't taste too green.

I think most people put too much emphasis on removing salts when imo, curing is more about starving the plant to using its last sugars and to break down chlorophyll. How is it going to live through this curing period if the buds don't have stored nutrients?

A plant without starch breaks up into a nice fine powder when dry. Swchaggy pot is generally hard and stale because its high in starch that was exposed to air for too long. Well cured pot does not really go stale because its low in starch, although the non-stale starches/sugars taste awful as well

When you get a banana, its still ripening. If they flushed the bananas, they wouldn't ripen the same because they wouldn't have the stored potassium they needed. I think it makes a lot of sense to cut off nitrogen in the last few weeks to get it to turn yellow, but nothing else. It needs the potassium especially to cure, imo.

Ant Grows Dank · Mar 18, 2011

Well I am actually going to run the test also. I have 5 SK'S, two are done done and need chopped asap. I only flushed for 1 day lol. The other 3 still need time to where I can do a full on flush.

Ill report back and let ya know. Ill also have people who have no idea test it for meh.

Because Honestly I think flushing is a bunch of hocus pocus. I've learned to listen to people on here that have 1,500+ posts.. If they have that many posts they probably discuss shit alot and know what they talking about. If I see a guy with 1 post and says something most likely I am not going to listen lol.-

TheDude007 · Mar 18, 2011

Hydro=must flush, Soil=don't have to. Pretty important to state whether your talking about soil, or hydro, for flushing. As one isn't really going to require a flush, and the other really does require one.

benny blanco · Mar 18, 2011

If your organic you don't gotta flush. If your using chemicals you gotta flush or your weed burns black and you taste the chemicals

Hum215 · Mar 18, 2011

I have done extensive tests in the past on just this subject. These are my opinions based on real trials in a real study that we conducted a few years back. It took over a year and was conclusive:

IMO:
Why flush? What problems are you having? I don't understand why you would want to starve your plants at the exact moment they want food the most to "bulk" up in those final hours. Flushing is for when you are having problems and need to flush out salts. I've been growing hydroponically for nearly a decade and a half and I've found that flushing at the end of a harvest simply reduces your yield by 3%-7%.

All flavor and harshness is controlled by sugars, starches and chlorophyl. All of which are affected by the curing/drying process but NONE of which are affected by the lack of food.

Fatten up the cow before you slaughter it. Do the same for your plant.

In curing you are looking to convert your starches to sugar which dissipate or become THC when you properly cure it, and to encourage the chlorophyl to dissipate instead of locking it in.

I can't see a scientific basis for "flushing" in hydro or soil for the purposes of curing, it's just silly to believe in the tooth fairy, Santa, The Easter bunny or Flushing for the purposes of curing, at least that is this man's opinion....

wake.n.bake · Mar 22, 2011

Hum215 said:
I have done extensive tests in the past on just this subject. These are my opinions based on real trials in a real study that we conducted a few years back. It took over a year and was conclusive:

IMO:
Why flush? What problems are you having? I don't understand why you would want to starve your plants at the exact moment they want food the most to "bulk" up in those final hours. Flushing is for when you are having problems and need to flush out salts. I've been growing hydroponically for nearly a decade and a half and I've found that flushing at the end of a harvest simply reduces your yield by 3%-7%.

All flavor and harshness is controlled by sugars, starches and chlorophyl. All of which are affected by the curing/drying process but NONE of which are affected by the lack of food.

Fatten up the cow before you slaughter it. Do the same for your plant.

In curing you are looking to convert your starches to sugar which dissipate or become THC when you properly cure it, and to encourage the chlorophyl to dissipate instead of locking it in.

I can't see a scientific basis for "flushing" in hydro or soil for the purposes of curing, it's just silly to believe in the tooth fairy, Santa, The Easter bunny or Flushing for the purposes of curing, at least that is this man's opinion....

Nice post...+ Rep for helping me decide my course of action.

Born Again Vegan · May 22, 2013

I grow organic in both my indoor and outdoor garden, I've never flushed either and Ive always had beautiful tasting fruits. I can pick a bud off a flowering plant, microwave it, smoke it, and it will taste good. No chlorophyll taste, no harshness, just a promise of what's to come. My buds have always been like this, from the first plant I grew as a newb all the way through to now three years later.

ilovethegreen · May 22, 2013

This is something that's completely self preference right now, because theres no studies or anything about this...I think flushing is stupid. why would you starve your plants? they convert nutrients into usable food...

How important is it to flush?

Active Member

Active Member

bud bootlegger

Well-Known Member

Elite Rolling Society

Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Member

Active Member

Active Member

Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member