Morning Lemon AK-47 Collaboration

TO FLUSH OR NOT TO FLUSH Why is this even a question? I absolutely believe in flushing my plants before harvest. There are definitely a few rebels out there who don’t flush or flush properly, who are still trying to figure out why their buds burn and taste all kinds of funky. Our goal when growing in soil is to guesstimate when our harvest day will be in order to leave us a 2-week window to flush any excess nutrients from the soil. This will then force the plants to begin cannibalizing the nutrients from the lower leaves which will progress all the way to the top of the plant. If done properly it will bring out the natural colors but spare your buds from turning yellow if timed just right. Some newer growers may freak to see the lowest leaves start to go yellow with reddish colored stems after flushing. But this is actually a good sign because it signifies that nitrogen is being depleted in the leaves. This will slowly occur throughout the plant in a last chance attempt to survive it will also deplete the next macro nutrients phosphorus and potassium. Since buds typically bulk up the most during the last three weeks of bloom, they will quickly utilize the remnants of those nutrients during the bulking up/ripening stage. Amazing fall like colors can present themselves during your flush especially if combined with a nice drop in nighttime temperatures. Essentially what we are doing is simulating each season in our biospheres. Fall like conditions signals the plants chemistry to stop producing chlorophyll which is green in color. In nature shorter daylight hours and colder nighttime temperatures slow down or even can stop nutrient movement/absorption through the plant and roots this is nature’s way of flushing. This tells the plant the end is near and it will focus on reproduction by putting all its energy into flower/ budding and or seed production in order to guarantee the survival of the species. We need to remove as many nutrients from the soil to duplicate this effect. When to start your flush is the most asked question besides when to harvest. Oddly enough they are actually connected by one thing trichome color. Yes, that’s right you need to start checking the trichome color on the buds when about 50% of the white pistils have dried and turn orange/red. You will need a 40x LED lighted jewelers loupe (Amazon.com). The loupe with led light is the bomb and you will be glad you paid the extra money on that model. I personally have tried those little 60-100x handheld microscopes but they are impossible to keep still save yourself some money and go for the jeweler’s loupe you’ll have no regrets. I’ve tried using my cell phone to take closeup photos of the buds then enlarge the photo but find that cell phone photos don’t show the true trichome colors. My eyes don’t lie! When checking the trichomes you will see they start out clear which is like looking at a clear plastic bottle. They will change into some showing partly cloudy or possibly milky in color, then they will turn amber in color. You will see a mix of all three colors on your buds. If you’re just starting out, I would suggest beginning your flush when you have more cloudy/milky trichomes showing than clear trichomes you may see a sporadic amber here and there in some of the upper sugar leaves. For more experienced growers you can wait a bit longer when you see a few more ambers showing up on the older calyxes look deeper inside the bud since the outer calyx are the youngest. Flushing your plants. You will need a TDS meter to help you gauge when to stop flushing. If you’re on a budget you can use ph. correct non chlorinated tap water. Or if you would like try a good quality flushing solution. Personally, I use a flushing additive in the water about 8 to 12 hours before I flush. I do this first thing in the morning mixed with R.O. (reverse osmosis) water. I then start flushing later in the evening putting 3 time the pots volume in pure R.O water through the pots until my runoff is reading between 50-100 PPM (0.1 EC to 0.2 EC) or close to it. Example: 1 Gallon pot = 3 gallons of R.O. water or more if needed. For those of you using tap water check the ppm of your water then add 50-100 PPM to that amount to get you into the zone. Example: Tap water measures 125 PPM. After flush runoff in the 175 to 225 PPM range would be fine. If you only have one or two plants you can use distilled or purified water also. I like to allow the pots to dry out well before the next watering which is creating a bit of drought stress (Not to the point where the leaves wilt) to the plants which is a continuation if the slight stresses we have been intentionally causing the plant in an attempt to create more terpenes, resins and THC. You will continue to water your pots to a nice 20% runoff every few days allowing them to dry out well between each watering. If after the first week of flush you find that the runoff ppm’s are still too high say 200-300-400 PPM (0.4-0.6-0.8 EC) perform another flush until you’re in the lowest range possible. Sometimes you will see your ppm’s bounce back up depending on how much salt build up was not dissolved and removed during the first flush. During the ripening phase which is now, concentrate on keeping daytime temperatures under 80 F (26 C) in order to preserve the natural terpenes and THC. Ideally having them under 75 F (24 C)with a night time temperature in 60 F to 65 F (16 C to 19 C) range would be perfect. Also maintain good air circulation and maintain a humidity level in the 30% to 35% range will help prevent any issues with mildew growth on or inside of your buds. Finally, when to harvest. This takes time and patience waiting for the trichome to ripen. It really depends on what type of high you like. It’s usually safe to harvest once you see about 5% ambers showing up on the calyxes they will be swelling up with resin and all sorts of stuff by this stage. You will see a mixture of some clear trichomes still on the youngest bud growth but you will have mostly cloudy/milky trichomes with 5% amber on the rest. This will give you more of a head type high which for some people can be a bit on the racy/speedy side. Most growers tend to wait until they see mostly cloudy/milky trichomes with about 30% amber this gives you a nice more balanced high starting off with a nice head high ending with a nice body high. Of course, anywhere in-between works well also. You will find the main cola tends to ripen first before the lowers buds so check all of your buds for ripeness. They can also be harvested in stages or if they are harvested all at the same time this can give you a nice range of different stages of ripeness to sample and see which stage you like best. Happy Harvesting! WEEK 9 UPDATE Began by selectively removing larger leaves from the buds to allow more light to the entire branches leaving a few strategically located leaves for some unknown reason. Started the big flush day 58. Used 5 ml Florakleen per gallon of water then soaked each pot with a bit more than a half a gallon of the solution early in the morning to let things soak in nicely. Later in the evening put another 5+ gallons R.O. water through each pot until I was able to get my runoff ppm down under the 100 ppm range. Let these girls dry out really well before the next watering creating a bit of drought stress. I also switched out my bloom lights and only ran my veg/bloom full spectrum lights which have a heavier blue than red spectrum while the buds finish ripening. Trichomes are some clear but mostly cloudy/milky with a greater percentage of ambers starting to make an appearance. I have turned off my cool mist humidifier in an attempt to get my humidity lower. PPF/PAR meter reading of 400 - 475 umoles @20 hours/day giving me a DLI of 28.80 to 34.20 Temperatures are 77 F and 43% humidity leaf surface temperatures are 72 giving me a LVPD of 1.32 kPa.