Flushing Vs. Not Flushing Cannabis (Pre Harvest)
There is a wide debate on whether or not you should flush your cannabis plants before you harvest them. I have tried out both methodologies and will mention the benefits and drawbacks of using both methods.
If you flush you cannabis plants, most people would recommend 1-2 weeks prior to harvest that you only feed them a weak nutrient solution so essentially the plants are starving themselves. The reason why people prefer to flush their crop is due to the fact that leftover nutrient residues will accumulate inside your plants and that without flushing, these residues are also present when you go to smoke your cannabis buds. Cannabis plants in their final phase of flowering will take up little water and nutrients and that by flushing your plants - you allow the plants to use up their remaining nutrients without building up an excess which would contribute to poor quality burning and a harsh smoke. Even with a proper drying and curing cycle... poorly flushed plants won't burn as well AND the final product will be harsher in comparison to flushed plants. Some cannabis growing purists would also argue for flushing that you should use 0 PPM or as close to 0 PPM as possible (with reverse osmosis water + PH to the correct range) if we flush with 0 PPM the plants will immediately go into shock and you will see their growth almost halt. The green colour will also turn into yellow - and your cannabis plants will rapidly progress through senescence (The condition or process of deterioration with age. Loss of a cell's power of division and growth)
My recommendation if you decide to flush your plants is to keep the PPMs very low and I recommend keeping your nutrient flush mix to be between 300-400 PPM for your final flushing during the last 1-2 weeks. You WILL be sacrificing yield if you go under the PPM recommendations... this is a known fact (even with 300-400 PPM you would also be sacrificing a tiny bit of yield) This is OK since the last 2 weeks the plants are actually ripening and going through their final swell stage. You can identify a well flushed cannabis plant by an appropriate level of yellowing of the fan leaves.
Method 2 is to keep pumping your plants with Nutrients up until the day you harvest. You won't sacrifice on any production potential (yeild of buds) but what you do end up with is an inferior smoke. The quality won't be of connoisseur quality bud. The trade off is that you would be yielding much more buds but the smoke will be harsh. Commercial growers will opt to use this method as it brings the best return on investment (weight of buds) Most commercial growers are interested in maximizing their yields and smoke quality is not as important to them as yield.
If we have a look at nature... we could also argue that in it's natural environment, cannabis plants grown out in the wild and in soil always have access to nutrients up until the day that they are ready. What we're talking about here is the excess and over accumulation of nutrients by constantly feeding the plants more then what they need. If a plant has been fed well and looked after, anything above and beyond what they need in terms of nutrients are stored within their cells and it can be difficult to force the plants to use up this excess nutrients during the final phase of flowering while they are progressing through senescence.
So in summary. Should you flush or not flush your cannabis crops during their final budding stage?
The answer would highly depend on what your reasons for growing cannabis are.
If you're growing for a personal head stash. My recommendation is to flush for a minimum of 1 week (2 weeks is preferable) you will have a cleaner and tastier smoke and you will notice the terpenes more.
If you're growing for a commercial reason; you may opt to continue heavy feeding until the end of harvest but the smoke won't be of connoisseur quality. You will yield more buds though as a trade-off.
It's also important to keep in mind that the drying and curing stage will also impact your final bud quality and the importance of drying and curing your herb properly are in addition to the flushing aspects.
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