I have been doing some internet studying as I do most days and came across an interesting post which seems to go against everything I have done or intended to do. I found it very interesting especially point 2 regarding flushing. After looking into this I found flushing is often not practised by some very experienced growers.
I'm still out on this one. I do know that it would be easier for someone inexperienced like myself to look at the trichomes and calculate that they will be ready for the chop in maybe a day or so rather than calculate a week (coco) or even 2 weeks if in soil. Maybe I will flush for just 2 days. The only thing putting me off is I live in an area where show leeks and other vegetables are grown and they taste awfull, one courgette I tasted was almost metalic.
Anyhow here is the post,
Big healthy green leaves are crucial to making big dense buds.
1. Never remove a leaf from the plant, unless the leaf is already about to fall off on it's own due to over-maturity(or accidental/premature death). Pruning shade leaves to increase light reaching lower buds is not a wise choice. You will never make up for the loss of production to the top of the plant from whatever may be gained on the lower part. The answer to that is to provide sufficient lighting to the lower buds, optimal reflectivity is the best way to get more light to the lower parts of the plant. Or just remove them from the plant(why you would is another argument really, so I won't be addressing it here, but I don't recommend it either). Light loses intensity/strength based on distance from the source. So you gain relatively little from doing anything except moving the source closer to the plant, or vise versa. Leaves serve a very important purpose in maintaining plant health and vigor. Buds are not going to efficiently feed themselves without them. LEAVES ARE BUD FEEDERS, NOT BUD FOOD!
2. Never flush. Pre-harvest flushing is such a fat dense bud killer it's not even funny. Just in the hopes of getting a better-flavored smoking material. Which you won't. It may actually worsen the flavour, density, smokability, and/or potency of the buds. MINIMALLY you will lose harvested/dried weight. You're essentially starving the plant to death. When you should be feeding it what it needs to grow the BIGGEST DENSEST buds at the point in it's life cycle when that's exactly what it wants to do. Yes, I know the article mentions it, but I don't see that as a recommendation. Just how to incorporate the method, if desired. Which you should desire not, trust me. Much foolishness. Mother Nature, the best grower in the universe, doesn't flush her plants, and nor should you. AND IT WILL ACTUALLY INCREASE INTERNODE LENGTH/STRETCH, GUARANTEED!!!
Lastly, stems. Bigger, denser, heavier buds also need bigger thicker stems to pipe in all the nutritional building blocks used to make them, and to help support their weight. While controlling internode length is very effective at improving density, providing a simulated breeze of adequate strength is THE ONLY non-nutritional way to build a larger-diameter/sturdier stem structure. When the plant grows to resist the forces of wind it will naturally respond to it by thickening it's stems/branches. This benefits the buds come flowering time by allowing them to grow much larger and/or faster. In this sense you can force the plant to grow as if it were older, taller, and/or heavier than it really is. You also will have less need to support the plant by manual methods(stakes, strings, cages, etc.)
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