coco final flush

[thedarkestone]

Hi there everyone. I'm still new to this and was wondering for how I should flush? I'm growing in coco, using Canna nutes and into my seventh week of flowering (8 week strain). Any hints and tips would be appreciated. Also, what should I be looking out for before I start the flushing process?

[loylty gets u nothing]

i like ot flush for a minimum of 10 days

ive found 14 a betetr number

plain phed water

the plants will strip themselves of colour..

looking all deficient and sick..

thats wen a plant has been flushed well

each to there own but

some1 else will tell u how they do it

take care

bil

[thedarkestone]

Cheers Bill. During the flushing do the flowers keep filling out? I just didn't want to stuff the plants up in the final couple of weeks.

[WantDaChronic]

technically the buds can keep growing until its time to harvest, but the idea of flushing is to let the plant use up all its stored nutrients instead of feeding the plant during the last week or 2. if you feed them right up uptil you harvest your buds will taste like chemicals and i personally hate that taste and i get a headache from it as well which blows my buzz big time if you flush the plants though the buds will taste much nicer, they'll go down smoother and when you think about it, it cant be that good for you smoking anything you dont have to....

 

as for how i flush my plants i have tried 7,10 and 14 day flushes and each has their own advantages and disadvantages. the 7 day flush yielded more than any others but still had a slight chemical taste. the 10 day flush has a barely noticeable chemical taste which only the fussiest of smoker will detect. downside for the 10 day flush is the yield was a bit less than the 7 day flush, but the better taste is definately worth it. the 14 day flush made for the best tasting buds without a doubt. there was no chemical taste what so ever, the smoke was extremely smooth going down, etc. the downside though was the yield wasnt nearly as good as the 7 or 10 day flush.

 

personally i think 10 days is pretty much spot on, but if you can let the plant go an extra week after its due date and flush it for 2 weeks that would be perfect. im yet to try that as im impatient as all hell, but i think it would give a bit more yield while giving the plants a full flush

[thedarkestone]

Nice explanation Chronic - thanks. Sounds like 10 days is a good way to get the best of both worlds. I'm just getting a little on edge. The smell is very strong and escaping outside a little every so often. I need a little better stink control. This is the first time I'm growing Xpat seeds and don't want to harvest too early either. Oh well, see what happens.

[bufo marinus]

If you have an EC meter, check the EC of the run-off also, make sure it is coming out clean

[WantDaChronic]

bufo's post just reminded me that sometimes coco can be a tricky bastard when it dries out. alot of the time when i have gone to flush my plants in the bath tub water has come out of the pots almost instantly and not thinking much of it i have continued with the flush. after picking up the pots and discovering they were almost of light as before the flush i have dug down and found that only the top 1-2cm has been wet and the rest has run down the sides of the pot

 

if you notice that happens to you all you need to do is give the plants a small watering, just enough to soak the top 1-2cm of the coco and water it very slowly so the water can only go down into the coco inside of down the sides. if you wait 5 minutes or so and then repeat it a few times you will be able to gradually soak all of the coco and once that is done you can flush the plants like mad and all the water will go through the coco instead of around it

[thedarkestone]

Bufo, I don't have an EC meter to check the runoff. I'll just have to do it by taste (yummy). I'm going to flush it for 10 days - that should do the trick. I'll need to purchase an EC meter for my next run because I have such poor quality tap water. I'm sure that would make life a lot easier for me. RO water would be the way to go but I just don't have the cash for that at the moment.

Chronic, with my first run I discovered that the water would run down the sides and not actually wet all of the coco. I used a cheaper coco back then and couldn't work out why I had so much nute burn/lockout. Because it wasn't getting flushed out properly when I watered, the salts would just build up. I'm using Canna coco now and don't seem to have the same problem. Mind you, I do wet the top first and give it time to soak through properly.

For my first couple of flushes I'm still going to add Cannazyme and Boost. By doing this, I'm hoping that some of the dead roots will be converted to food for the plants and the Boost will give the buds that little extra fatness.

[bufo marinus]

yeah, step by step eh, all costs money. It's just something I observed after taking readings through a grow once. Coco seems to accumulate salts easily. I found anything over 1.3 EC was waste of time as the EC of the run-off kept creeping up, but if I poured it in at 1.3, it flushed out at 1.3 and steadily dropped.

[thedarkestone]

Yep, step by step mate. As I'm growing I'm learning heaps and trying to plan for future grows. I'm pretty happy so far with what I have achieved and can see what I can do to improve things. I have to say, it's great being able to get advice from people on this forum. I'm sure it will save me making a lot of nasty stuff ups. I appreciate the input everyone - cheers.