Hydro Harvest Advice Please

[Jason]

I'm at the end of Week 11 of the GH 12 week recirculating feeding cycle. The tri's are turning white, with a few amber's on sugar leaves.
Week 12 is Flush according to the schedule. I think I want the girls to mature a bit before harvest.
So my question is....Should I repeat Week 11 feeding and let the girls continue to grow until I see the color of tri's I want?
OR Should I Flush and let the girls mature with just water and Final Finish.
My feeling is I should feed and let them continue until desired maturity then Flush.
Thanks for any insights.

[Madman960]

It's my understanding that you can go either way in hydro as you can get away with shorter flush times. No nutrients in plain water.

Madman

[RosettaStoned]

I would say feed until ready. The feeding schedule is a guideline.

[Jason]

It's my understanding that you can go either way in hydro as you can get away with shorter flush times. No nutrients in plain water.

Madman

Thanks for posting.
I've done both in my first two grows. This is the third grow. My inclination is to feed until mature, then flush. As the flush is pretty fast, just 1-2 days with Final Finish, maybe a day of water before and after.
So they won't over mature during flush.
My fear is switching to flush a little early, is that extends the maturity time un necessarily.
Today is the day, so I'll see what other's think.

[Jason]

I went ahead and repeated Week 11 feeding to let them mature further prior to Flush.

[abadtrip]

I grow in hydro and u only need about 3 days to flush but I have flushed up to 10 days and did not notice any change in bud quality. This is just my personal opinion i would feed another week and then flush.

[Jason]

Yep, that's what I'm doing.
Last grow I flushed early and lost some quality.

[JohnC]

I've only done hydro once (actually, still doing) but based on the extensive internet reading I've done over the past several months, the general consensus is to feed nutrients at your regular, desired strength until the plant is ready to be harvested; trichomes should be at or just before desired color balance (cloudy / amber). Then begin a three day flush using non-PH'd, RO water prior to harvesting.

At least that's the plan I will be following. In fact, my flush begins Tuesday leading up to a bountiful harvest on Friday!

[Jason]

I think you're right. I did a 5 gallon bucket soil grow initially and did absolutely everything wrong. You name it, I did it wrong.
Changed to hydro and all is good. Love it.

But.....

"Then begin a three day flush using non-PH'd, RO water prior to harvesting."

This I don't get. Adding water that is not tested and balanced is something I would never do. Adding unknowns to my girls is not my custom.
Regardless of articles.
I use tap water (recommended by my clone source) and pH balance before adding. I balance based on the test of the nutrients, morning and late afternoon. So if my test shows a bit high or low in the nutes, I adjust the pH of the water I add twice daily. During flower, .5 gallon per plant, twice a day is normal. Which is quite a bit in a 2 gallon reservoir.
Not testing and adding an unknown? Uh, not happening.

In my first two hydro grows, I flushed for a day or so with balanced tap water, then a day or so of Final Finish, then return to balanced tap water.
Looking at these girls, I'm comfortable feeding until they mature, then do the 5-7 day flush.
I tried to let my last grow mature during flush and it didn't work as well. ie desired effects were a bit compromised. Particularly flavor and smoothness. Just out of balance compared to the first hydro grow where I continued to feed until ripe THEN flush.
So I'll feed and be more patient this time.

[JohnC]

Using tap water that is then adjusted to correct PH is NOT flushing your DWC. Tap water contains plenty of minerals and chemicals that will be taken up by your plant's roots. And then by correcting the PH, you're adding further chemicals to your water. By using non-PH'd, RO water, you are filling your DWC reservoir with NOTHING BUT PURE WATER. There are no nutrients, minerals, or other chemicals for the plant to uptake. This, in turn, forces the plant to use remaining nutrient / mineral stores in the leaves.

[Jason]

Interesting. I'll look into that. So flushing with RO or distilled water is better than flushing with tap water.
I would add Final Finish for a day or so, just because.....

[RosettaStoned]

I just flushed mine with un ph'd water but added Canna boost and cannazym (per Canna feeding schedule). All went well but you do what's good in your heart

[Jason]

I just flushed mine with un ph'd water but added Canna boost and cannazym (per Canna feeding schedule). All went well but you do what's good in your heart

I'm not familiar with the Canna line. I should look at that. I'm very happy with GH Flora Trio, plus CalMg+. That's all I use. It works, is affordable and it works.
It would take a lot of convincing in documentation and experience for me to add cost and complication ie more $$$ and chemicals.
We all have to remember that when we smoke, we torch a huge amount of THC. Probably much more than we produce with minor tweaks.
I'm so nerdy about other things I do, like out to 12 digits right of the decimal, that this is relaxation.

I think my growth area is in near harvest techniques and post harvest processing and consumption. Handling, temps, fluids, taste , vape, decarbo, etc.

I just want to make sure my 3+ months of growing aren't ruined by the last week or two of being a dunce.

Strain is 90%. Then we get 10% to mess it up or not. Harvest and cure can definitely ruin a good grow.

Like opening a good beer, pouring it into a bowl and drinking it the next morning. Gee, that last bit of handling kinda ruined the flavor and experience.

[RosettaStoned]

I looked at the GH line but once I saw Monsanto was involved looked elsewhere. Canna is affordable except the boost product (flowering sugars) and the rhizotonic is a bit pricey but I don't use nearly the amount they recommend without any ill effects.
I didn't even really wanna grow with synthetic nutes but dwc isn't friendly to organic unless you grow in Coco, to my knowledge. As all my my stuff was given to me, I didn't want to add extra costs. Plus the extra parts that can fail. I like the simplicity of the buckets. Air pump, stone, hose, bucket, weed haha

[gbauto]

I tend to let my girls fade until I have no clear trics visible. I grow in RDWC using GH flora trio and flush using ph'd tap water for the last week-I change the rez after 3 days. Plants fade nicely and gives me a great taste.

[Jason]

Nice idea! I may try something like that. Since I just fed yesterday and still have a lot of clear trics with some amber on the sugar leaves. Once I see more white and amber, I'll remove the nutes, flush and watch the fade. Thanks.