Can I harvest a plant in 2 goes? Take the big donkeys from the top 1st. How does it affect if I flush - though why do some people say a flush isnt needed?

harvest flush is a myth lol then why the F do i water befor harvest with plain water like 1 month ? U rly just crazy ppl xDDD If u so F sure then feed it until harvest... why bother ? Just give it a good dose like 2k ppm and cut in 2 days Ur smoke will be so bad u will throw up ur lungs... rly crazy or just super stupid ppl xDDD

so it in no way impacts the molecular construction of flower, nor can a plant excrete anything thats in the flower, but it somehow changes how it smokes? This is not how a deterministic reality works. Less resolved - blind taste tests showed a nearly 50-50 split of people who prefered flushed vs non-flushed, so obviously people can't tell the difference on the back end. If it were real, there'd be a measurable difference in the flower in one way or another, and there has been plenty of time to prove it... When someone does scrutinize it, it looks fairly laughable. cause leads to effect... it's never mystical in nature. When you make a hypothesis and can't prove it is true, you move on. That's why the entire dietary supplement market doesn't actually test their products... more profitable selling hope and nonsense to the peanut gallery. That's why you get products with a higher dose than your body can absorb in 24 hours, lol... because it's based on people's whimsical desires and demands rather than evidence.

It,s like u live in a fairytale, u goes against nature 🤣 I think, that u,re delusional, u claim that top cola ripen early, so that,d mean that ur plant grows from top to bottom, the new growth and buds also On final stage when somtimes the plant shoot some foxtails it grows already milky or even amber.... this is so crazy... u,re crazy ppl there is no way to tell smth to a crazy... all i can is laugh 🤣🤣🤣

Yes you can harvest top buds first and then the second layer later if you want. To understand, it’s more a question of stopping nutrients 1 or 2 weeks before reaching the harvest window. It’s called the final flush where during this period your plants will receive only water. Just look any nutrients manufacturer feeding charts, you will always see the decreasing amount of nutrients by the end of bloom with a 1 week flush in the final week.

As far as flushing its bro science. Flushing is a last resort to reset your grow medium, eg you have a lot of salt build up in the medium and your mediums PH is well out of range, that would be the only time I'd ever think of flushing a plant, so say I was mid veg and the plant was struggling and I check my runoff and the Ec is super high and my PH was really high or low then I'd be tempted to flush to get it closer to where it should be. As for at the end of the grow I just water as normal without nutes but that's only because my medium usually has a decent amount of nutrition in it, if my plant was starving then I'd still be giving nutes. It all depends on what your plants doing.

I have done a few partial harvests. My last one has only been the one where the lower part matured as much as the top part after 10 days after cutting the top part. Before that I'd never seen the lower part mature, that could be down to once I cut the tops it had shocked the plants and they wouldn't mature. I could have been just lucky with the last one. Would I do a partial harvest again I really don't think so. You could try it but be prepared for the lower part not to progress any further.

people kickin lizards today. tops will almost always ripen first, unless your lighting is wrong for lack of a better wording. With that being said, no... anecdote but I have never seen or heard of a successful partial harvest, or a good reason for one. the plant comes down when it comes down. this is why you have even canopy height [in 2026] people have opposing views on if drinking puss and dead skin cells and feces in your cow milk is "good for you" or not my dude. understanding what a flush is on the metabolic side for the plant, how it relates to your final crop, and how that fits into your grow style and input selection is FAR beyond what most folks you'll talk to about growing tree is ever gonna be thinking of. essentially all 'flushing is fAkEeEe' arguments come down to people quoting studies that are unrelated, referring to other crops and trying to say they're the same, or folks being lazy or lucky (even if by design like with the bumper rails that living webs provide). these folks are also the types that want to say the two dollar dirty distillate carts are the same as the single source craft terp frac ceramic carts... they are the ones thinking the fifty dollar half lb of thca in a trash bag smokes the same as that real zaza. at this point, i just presume anyone who doesnt flush or accept that most people should be flushing has done hard drughs and ruined their CB1/CB2 receptors...or maybe hasnt had any real za in a while...because you can taste when someone cares about finishing their crop correctly. thats all there is to that. if you find yourself looking for the best meds, well, you'll see which side you belong on quickly.

What Green said 👇 These ppl... How can the top cola ripen earlier then the middle or bottom one? Top buds should be the latest point of harvest, bs it was growing last and need more time to mature

Flushing means so many different things and in the past it's been mixed up with science /bro science. It's only getting rid of stuff in the medium and to let the plant use up it's reserves for a cleaner smoke at the end or to sort a medium/fertiliser problem mid grow...

Cutting large parts off a plant usually causes major shock. Partial harvesting, while good in theory, does not provide any benefit in my experience, with second pick buds usually of lower quality than earlier picked ones, even if the early ones are slightly under-mature. These days, I just harvest the entire plant when the majority is ready and accept as it is. After-ripened buds from a shocked plant never really develop the full experience, probably due to the plant being decimated by the removal of large portions of living material that was contributing to their growth. Flushing...... I believe most people think of this as pouring gallons and gallons of water through the containers....which basically changes nothing. "Flushing" really just means stopping all fertilizers and supplements a few days before harvest and giving plain water only for those last few days...be it 7-14 days in soil or 2-3 days for coco coir/hydro....or whatever you decide. This plain water period lets the plant "flush" accumalated salts from its vascular system (supposedly). Some people may say "flushing" does nothing scientifically, but I assure you, there is a real and noticeable difference in smoking quality between flowers that have had plain water for a period, compared to flowers that were fed right up until harvest. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to "flushing", decisions based on personal experience are best. You could try various "flushing" techniques on 3 or more of your many plants and form your own ideas, but as I wrote earlier, stopping all feeding some days before harvest is what I think is best practice.

As far as staggering a harvest, i've done it before and probably won't do it again. If the tops are so far ahead to warrant it, i'd consider any behaviour that might be exaggerating it. Some difference in ripeness is normal, but if it's extreme, it's been exacerbated by something local cause. Over-crowding of canopy, too much light on top colas, or whatever else is possible. also, don't expect any larf to turn into quality buds. Staggering will absolutely get you more consistent 'levels of amber' seen in the trichomes and whatever effect is related, but it will not cause any drastic shift in construction of lower buds. An extra week or two won't change their fate... it'll simply get them to the same level of ripeness. whether that's worth it or not depends on the individual. ---As far as 'flushing' just have to make sure it doesn't die before the lowers finish. If deteriorating too fast, provide some nutrition. It will not hurt the product of the plant. Alive dead. Simple stuff. --- Flushing before harvest is 100% bro science. When the original reasons for it were scrutinized and shown to be false, some just made up new reasons The embarassment of doing something irrelevant for potentially decades is a powerful motivational force. More than a few people will fall prey to the insecurity monster in their closet. The plant has no excretion system to do such a thing. Nothing is getting 'flushed' out of already constructed flower by dumping water on roots. The scientific community never bothered with this hypothesis, because it's easily ruled out given existing knowledge. I'd bet the lab that did the mineral content testing and bline-taste test did it mostly for publicity to get their name out there. Or, maybe one of them was/is a stoner in their private life, lol. I will say that some fade can be a benefit, but not necessarily to the product. It does let you know that the plant isn't overfed and whatever negative effects coincide with toxicities in the plant. A slow degredation that in now way is a concern of decimating the canopy before the plant finishes is perfectly fine and possibly the safer way to go. I wouldn't worry about how long or short it is.. and if the canopy ever deteriorates too fast, never be afraid to add some fertilizer at a common sense dosage. It's much more important that the plant continues to function properly up until you harvest. Seems like common sense, but hey... flushing for harvest does sound science-y based on the false pretenses, but it's an imagination land concept in the end. Plus, it's nice not to have to mix in fertilizer the last week or more, lol...

Harvesting in two stages often called a "staggered harvest" is actually a very smart move, especially if your top colas are ripening faster than the lower bud sites. By taking those "big donkeys" from the top first, you allow more light to penetrate the lower canopy, giving those smaller, airy popcorn buds a chance to swell up and mature over an extra week or two. As for flushing, it’s one of the most debated topics in the community. The traditional view is that flushing with plain water for 7–14 days forces the plant to use up its stored nutrients, leading to a smoother smoke and cleaner ash. However, many modern growers and recent studies suggest that flushing doesn't actually change the mineral content within the flower itself and might even stress the plant or reduce yields right at the finish line. Since you're using Athena in coco, you have a lot of control; some folks prefer a "taper" where they just reduce the EC in the final days rather than a full flush to keep the plant's metabolism moving without over-saturating it with salts. Ultimately, if you stagger the harvest, you'd just keep feeding the remaining lowers at a lower strength or plain pH-ed water depending on your flushing philosophy. Happy Growing Growmie🌱