Mid Grow Flushing

[budpuffer]

i'm looking for some advice on a mid grow flush,,,first let me say that i'm growing in 2 1/2 gal. hempy buckets,using perlite and vermiculite and fox farm nutrients....the plants are 2 1/2 wks.into the bud cycle,,,in the past i've always just used rain water, adjusted for ph ,and flushed the plants with 7-8 gals each and i've had good results doing this....with this grow i left the plants in the veg.cycle a little longer than i usually do and i'm thinking of using a flushing agent...the guy at the grow shop pushed advance nutrients final phase but i'm not doing the "before harvest flush" and i told him that...he gave me the big run around...anyway i'm looking to see what other folks are using for a mid cycle flush..other then plain water..any advice from the master growers on the site?...thanks...bp

[Wild Bill]

Why would you want to flush in mid grow? Are you getting nute burn?

[budpuffer]

no,no lock out,no nute burn,nothing wrong,plants look good...i've just always flushed when i swap over to 12/12 as a way to prevent the salts from building up...it doesn't hurt anything and the plants seem to like it,,,in fact,i recommend it... i always flush again before harvest to promote flavor but it's a pain to have a lock out issue in the last couple weeks before harvest because i didn't flush.....i looked into fox farms sledge hammer,but the reveiws on that weren't very good..i tried Hygrozyme on my last grow, but i can't say i saw a great difference...i heard about Cleanex{?} but don't know anybody using it...anyway i just thought someone might be able to give me some info help...bp

[MrShpongle]

I've read that a low strength nute solution (25% as opposed to 100%) does a better job of flushing out salts than straight water.  I'm not a chemist, so I can't speak to the accuracy of this.  I've never flushed mid-cycle, but it seems like good idea.  My pre-harvest schedule is 4 days of 1/4 strength nutes, then 5 days of Final Phase, then 5 days of straight water (150 ppms).  I've also used Clearex - it seems to work just as well as Final Phase, but requires more and is thus less cost effective than Final Phase (believe it or not, Advanced Nutes actually has some products that are not ridiculously overpriced!).

[budpuffer]

thanks for the responce...fox farm says to use their big bloom along with a high quality clearner....and that's what i'm trying to find is a high quality cleaner,,, i bought a liter of final phase, on the advice of the grow shop owner,that i might use for the final flush,but after some research i've decided not to use it mid-grow......i'll see how this plays out...i'm a "better safe then sorry"kind of guy and the last thing i want to do is harm the ladies....lol..thus more research....again thank you for the input...bp

[Kingdiamond]

Sounds like your just creating more work for yourself but its your grow I do have to question the size of your pots 2 1/2 gallons can I ask what you pull dry weight out of such a small container?

[pic book]

kd:  you're guessing smaller pots=smaller yield than he'd have in 5 gals? 

[Kingdiamond]

kd:  you're guessing smaller pots=smaller yield than he'd have in 5 gals?

That's how its gone here I started off on my first year of growing in 3 gallon pots then after using 5 gal I never looked back .

[budpuffer]

i've got a few pic's in the photo gallery from back in 2010 when i used to post pic's here that will give you an idea of what can be grown in a 2 1/2 gal.bucket...as for the yeild per plant,it depends on the strain and other varibles,but when all things are said and done i can get anywhere from a couple ozs to 4-5 oz.per plant,,,as a rule i figure 2 per/plant and that way i'm sure not to run out...lol...as you might guess with such large plants in such small buckets media and root health is very important...and a mid grow flush isn't that much work to do to prevent loc-out in the last couple weeks..a properly built hempy bucket drains quickly and it only takes a few minutes each to do,,,adjusting the ph in all the rain water is what takes up time ..i only grow for myself and usually do one grow per year.... i enjoy playing in the garden,so in the scheme of things this is just a little work for a lot of fun...i guess i'm the only one flushing mid grow,,,oh well....lol,,,back to it,,,bp

Edited March 29, 2014 by budpuffer

[Lucas]

I run FloraKleen mid grow sometimes for salt build up, depending on the bottom of pots and resivior.

[budpuffer]

thank you Lucas,...i just googled it and it is exactly what i'm looking for...although i should say "was looking" because i decided yesterday to do my flush....lol..i'm going to pick up some FloraKleen and return the Final Phase to the grow shop owner....i read a comparison between Cleanex and FloraKleen, they both worked well and FloraKleen uses less per flush.it is the only one that included a schedule for soil and soil-less media flushing through out the grow and not just as a final flush,,,,back in the day i was using tap water and i was having trouble with salt/minerial build up...the past couple years i've been using rain water and that greatly reduced the issues i was having and getting a good ph pen has helped even more...i don't mind the extra work of a mid-grow flush and a nice clean media going into the bud cycle helps me relax those last couple weeks....so i think i'll just keep doing it...thanks to those who responded with an answer.......bp         

Edited March 30, 2014 by budpuffer