Hello, I’m a new grower nearing the end of my first batch. I decided to go ahead and start flushing it.i was planning to harvest it in 7 now days but i just read am article that says to stop watering 1 to 2 weeks before. This is the first I’ve seen such a long time i know some ppl do 72 hrs of dark and no water. Is this to help the drying process? I was going to do 72 hrs before dark and no water. Do i need to stop watering earlier. Any input or suggestions would be welcomed thank you
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I don’t flush. I don’t stop feeding. I don’t do darkness none of it. I do the same thing that mother nature does outside, and the same thing that commercial growers do inside. i’ve tried all the things that Home growers say make it better. I Haven’t seen any significant difference either way. except the fact that not doing it is a lot less stressful a lot less time-consuming and a lot less work. If you really wanna do that stuff go for it. Just leave one plant separate don’t put it in dark. Don’t stop feeding it. Don’t stop watering it just harvest it. And you can compare. 
(all the people in Hydro, don’t drain their nutrient tanks and put just water in there for the last couple of days. That’s something to think about!)
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Thanks for the input. Yeah i do feel like ppl do some unnecessary stuff that when you think about it… your like who’s the magic gnome doing this to the outdoors lol i know it’s considered bro science but it makes sense to flush as in nature it’s going to be organically washed away. I’m going to do what you said and not flush one of them. The dark thing makes no sense to me so i may not even do it… i would think the opposite would be better like leaving the lights on for a full 24 or 48 before harvest. But going to pay around a bit. Thank you
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Me either, don’t do any of it. Tried it couldn’t tell the difference.
Marty
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I do all of it! I the last week I do a flush sorta, what I do is try and make sure the plants use 95-98% of the water in the rez then I just fill it back up with ro water and ph adjust., I stop feeding the last few days to get a good dryback and also lights off for 24 hours. the flushing thing really depends on how and what you feed and how much your plants accumulate as they eat all the nutrients and makes the plants smoother when smoking. the dry back stresses the plants out to make more terps according to people, I also like to get it cold the last few weeks of flower like 60-62 lights off and 68-70 lights on this stresses the plants and make them color up.
This last harvest was my third this year and third since I stated growing again completely by my self and doing what I wanted, and let me tell ya the smoke on my Acapulco gold was fire probable the smoothest smoke I’ve ever had.
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Yeah but Hydro is totally different. I am assuming hydro? I am 100% organic. I was going to go back to salts, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I am running the auto pots but with Build a soil #3 all organic, I have a tank, but just RO water. The smoke is so much better in all organic that it is really noticeable. People smoke some and go whoa! that shit is smooth. And I don’t do anything except chop when ready.
Marty
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Yeah Build A Soil is making it easier that’s for sure. I just cant seed going any other direction that hydro maybe even going DWC. I’m certain your smoke smooth/fire bud 
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Okay so now i have another question lol i was thinking of eventually getting into hydro maybe dwc but i don’t know anything about anything with hydro really I’m reading the canabis grow Bible and haven’t gotten to that part yet. Is there a particular set up for someone that’s newer and has more limited space to grow indoors? Would you not suggest hydro for a beginner? Im going to do my due diligence and research of course but just curious on thoughts opinions comments. Growing in coco perlite 70 30 rn
Thanks Justin
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This is a complicated topic TBH lol. I have a smallish grow, 3 5x5x7 tents one for drying two for flower, a 2x4x6 for clones/veg/mothers, 2 2x2x4s for genetics. I don’t know if this setup is smaller/bigger than yours. I started with Active Aqua Grow Flow 5 Gal System ( Ebb & Flow Hydroponic), it was a pain in the ass to clean them IMHO. I then switch to rock wool 6x6x6 cubes, on flood tables. I stopped growing a few years when I started again I did a bunch or research and decided to do 100 coco coir. So depending on how you want to do it you can build your own system or buy a kit setup, personally I like to build my own to spec. I use Jacks 3-2-1. I think its a lot easier than other ways and cleaner. The quality of the coco coir matter big time (buffered/flushed how many times?). I like ForaFlex quickfill and GroEzy. Also very important to keep your grow space as clean as possible. Would I recommend it? sure, gotta start somewhere. Living soil is HARDER IMHO to get it right and if you don’t and have plants in messed up/unbalanced soil your screwed. the build a soil stuff makes it easier. I like this book a lot.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cannabis-growers-handbook-ed-rosenthal/1138499123?ean=9781936807543
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Okay thank you for all that. I’ll certainly be reading the book. My grow is a lot smaller i have a 2x2x5 and just expanded to another 18x36x36 I’m going to use as the drying/seedling tent. I live in a 1br in the city so space is very limited. I’m in the process of buying a house in a more suburban area where Ill have a yard garage and shed so I’ll probably be getting at least 1 other tent not sure how big yet though, but bigger than my current size. Right now there’s 3 in flower in the 2x2x5 and 1 im going to harvest next week in the other with 9 seedlings.
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I would probably just mix up like 8 gallons and in a container with a circulation pump once a week for that amount of plants. the plants below just started week two of flower.
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Nice clean set up totally digging it
This is my northern lights auto I’m planning on harvesting in about week. It’s on week 10. This will be my first time harvesting.
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Nice looking plants, need to get it cold to get it to pop!
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Thank you, they are at a slightly higher temp than i would want them to be. i have a portable ac unit with duct was thinking of trying that but don’t want to over due it. I use it in the summer for my living room it has a fan mode with temp control just don’t know how good the temp control would work with it being on the outside. Maybe I’ll consider getting a smaller dedicated one for the tent it’ll need it in few summer anyways
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Wow those are looking pearl!!!
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Hi! The advice to discontinue watering 1-2 weeks prior to harvesting is sometimes made in order for the plant to burn off remaining nutrients in the soil, thus enhancing the taste and smoothness of your end product. Not everybody has a rule like this, though!. Most growers like to cut off water supply around 72 hours from harvest, with or without the dark cycle, to get the plant to complete its life cycle and concentrate on resin production. The 72 hours of darkness is said to aid in curing, but it’s not required. If you have already begun flushing, you don’t necessarily need to cease watering earlier unless you want to guarantee that the plant exhausts all the nutrients present in the soil. Simply ensure the plant isn’t in dry soil for an extended period after flushing!
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That makes perfect sense to me. That’s what i essentially thought what those were for. For my op it definitely makes sense to me to flush. I think I’m going to have to flush it for a slight bit longer than i wanted to also and after confirming to stop watering is also to help the rest of all the nutes get burnt off i think ill do that right before the chop but just like a 48hr period maybe i don’t want to push anything my first time would like to keep it more simple. Not convinced that I’ll need to go dark my bottom nugs are not as mature and nice as I’d like i got side lighting like half way through her flower and it definitely shows. Maybe I’ll try the dark thing next time.
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There is alot of science showing results of “flushing”.
The results obtained indicate that it is possible to reduce the nitrate concentration by up to 56% in lettuce and 61% in rocket while maintaining the product quality of baby leaves by replacing the nutrient solution with tap water before harvest.
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Okay so I’ve been using spring water should or rather could it be relatively safe to start using filtered tap instead? It would certainly be more cost effective have been trying to think of a cost effective way of getting the water besides just buying 2.5g of spring water. Was thinking of getting a table top water distiller but there like 100 bucks so idk
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