How to flush?

Flushing is carried out at the end of each growing cycle with the aim of harvesting high-quality plants free from fertiliser residues and other unwanted substances. 

There are a considerable number of plant flushing methods, so in today’s article we will focus on the absolute basics that every grower who cares about the final quality of their harvest should definitely know.

• The presence of salts or other residual substances in the substrate can negatively affect the development and taste of plants and crops.
• In addition to the aforementioned “cleansing” of plants or crops, which is especially important for future consumption and processing, flushing has another essential purpose, namely encouraging plants to make maximum use of fertilisers.
• By omitting all nutrition during the final week of the growing cycle and flushing the plants with water only, ideally from reverse osmosis (see the link to the separate article below), the nutrients and any as yet unassimilated salts are processed within the plant body. Simply put, the plant begins to “draw on its reserves”. The process described can also be compared to the human body, where energy that the body does not have time to process is stored in fatty tissue. Once we reduce food intake, the body uses energy reserves from fatty tissues.
• For flushing, use lukewarm water at around 24 °C. And as mentioned above, it is best to use the options offered to growers by reverse osmosis units.
• The water intended for flushing should have an adjusted pH in the range of 5.8–6. These two limit values define the pH range pH at which all nutrients dissolve as required. If the pH is higher or lower, the nutrients precipitate out of the solution. 
• The basic rule of flushing is simple. The more you flush the plants, the more nutrients are washed out of their root system.
• The concentration of nutrients in the solution gradually decreases during flushing, and this process can be stopped at any time. One example is leaving only a “pinch” of nitrogen, which is no longer enough for vegetative growth, but is ideal and at the same time necessary for the further development of a flowering plant. Regularly check the concentration of nutrients in the solution by measuring both the soil and the water.
• Timing plays a very important role in flushing. It is important to estimate the reduction in nutrients appropriately in relation to the current stage of flower ripening. If you reduce the plant’s nutrient supply too early, it will have a negative effect on the final yield.

What is needed for flushing:

• pH meter for measuring the acidity or alkalinity of the solution.
• EC meter for measuring the electrical conductivity of the solution.
• TDS meter for measuring the effectiveness of reverse osmosis (RO).

CANNA FLUSH 

The well-known manufacturer of fertilisers and substrates has created a special additive focused directly on flushing, thanks to which you can significantly increase the value and improve the taste of the harvested crop for a few pounds. Plants and their fruits are more easily freed from unwanted salts, while friendly bacteria or moulds remain untouched. We recommend it!

3 basic flushing methods:

• Passive flushing: Nature itself naturally removes nutrients from the soil, helping the plant to ripen.

• Active flushing: The grower helps the plant to ripen by removing nutrients (primarily nitrogen) from the soil.

• Flushing using flushing agents: These agents contain various macronutrients or micronutrients, hormones, enzymes, sugars, etc. Plants respond promptly to a sudden change in the composition of the feed solution in a way that is desirable for the grower, namely by suddenly beginning to focus all their energy on ripening the flowers instead of producing additional new flowers.

Whether you want to let plants in pots ripen in an indoor or outdoor environment, you can also use the flushing product Final Flush by Grotek for flushing about a week before the planned harvest, which is produced in several variants allowing the final taste and odour of the harvested fruits to be influenced according to the grower’s wishes and preferences.

If you have any questions on the topic of flushing, please do not hesitate to contact us at the well-known address info@higarden.cz.

We recommend these products:

• Canna Flush (from CZK 119)<