Using Clearex to remove salts in soil grow

[Alistair]

Well, if sugar is the key here, then why not flush with molasses or plain table sugar?

There are so many products, additives and all, some of them may work well, but I don't want to waste money on hype. Even if some of these special products work, is it worth the extra cost? I'm too lazy to think about all the different additive options and their potential benefits, so, I like to keep it simple. I have several additives that I started to collect a long time ago, thinking that they'd do magic for my plants. I don't know if they are any good or not, because at the time my pH was always off; and when it's off, all the nutes and additives, etc., are useless. Once I got the pH dialed in properly, I realized that keeping it simple was the best option for me; water, food, light, temperature, etc.

As for flushing, I'd like to remember to flush once, after week four of flowering. This would be done of course, to wash out toxins. I don't exactly flush for a harvest. I have experimented with flushing, not flushing, and cutting down on the feedings prior to a harvest. First and foremost, no matter the watering/feeding schedule, I try to go light on the nutes, without under-feeding. This way, at least in my opinion, the plants leave less unused nutrients behind, resulting in less salt buildup and less need to flush for either toxins, or a pre-harvest. Just the same, when bacteria use the different chemical compounds to do metabolism, sometimes they produce acidic end products.


Oh! By the way. Between flushing, not flushing, and cutting down on nutes prior to harvest, I liked the third option the best. The leaves sure did turn yellow, though. Well, perhaps I did do a flush after all. The last month I cut down on the FF nutes quite a bit, giving a boost every now and then. I even gave a small boost to a plant about two days prior to chopping. It tasted fine. At any rate, I experiment.

 

[umbra]

For the sake of this discussion, simple table sugar is not a simple sugar. It is a complex sugar and micro organisms can not break it down. A diversified assortment of micro organisms, in particular yeast, ferment, break down, and chelate all the nutrients that the plant will absorb. At least that is true of organic nutes. When using chemical nutes, the interaction of micro organisms is completely different.

 

[PencilHead]

So I am watering them with salt water?

Yes, to small degree--until it builds up and causes problems. Pretty much everything you put in your medium will result in salts eventually once it reacts with something of a different pH.

Edit: I guess I should add that I went to RO water because I can get it at 6.5 pH, where my tap flucuated so severely anymore I never knew how much pH Lower to use. I'm finishing a lot greener now than I used to.

 

[legalize_freedom]

I guess I never took the time to look at the ingredients on a bottle of clearex. Honestly I don't know if it is much different than just using copius amounts of water. I have done my final flush with and without a product, and could tell not much of a difference.

One big thing to factor in though IMO, is to give it a good soaking first, wait 15 min and then flush. That pre-soak helps to dissolve the nute/salt build ups, and they are easier flushed.

Ali...I don't feed anything other than 1 tsp of molasses per gl of water after doing my flush 10 days out from harvest. I do agree with you to, on keeping it simple...like you said there are so many products out there that claim to do magic...when in reality...without all the basics in line...nothing is going to help your plants.

Umbra are you saying that molasses may not break down the chem ferts? Thus the reason for buying a product like Clearex?

I must admit that many of the things that I do, I do because it is the way I learned to do it, and it worked. I'm not one to question too much if what I'm doing is giving me good results. On the other hand, I'm always willing to learn new ways to accomplish my main goal, especially if it will save me a few bucks. I don't normaly go out buying products just to see what they do. I usually go by whatever nutes I decide to use feeding schedule, makeing adjustments if more or less is needed to maintain optimum health. When I do use an enhancer, I usually lower the dose in my main source of nutes. So if I'm using Snow Storm Ultra, I will not use, or at least lower the dose of my Cha-Ching....not wanting to risk an overdose of (P).

 

[umbra]

I guess I never took the time to look at the ingredients on a bottle of clearex. Honestly I don't know if it is much different than just using copius amounts of water. I have done my final flush with and without a product, and could tell not much of a difference.

One big thing to factor in though IMO, is to give it a good soaking first, wait 15 min and then flush. That pre-soak helps to dissolve the nute/salt build ups, and they are easier flushed.

Ali...I don't feed anything other than 1 tsp of molasses per gl of water after doing my flush 10 days out from harvest. I do agree with you to, on keeping it simple...like you said there are so many products out there that claim to do magic...when in reality...without all the basics in line...nothing is going to help your plants.

Umbra are you saying that molasses may not break down the chem ferts? Thus the reason for buying a product like Clearex?

I must admit that many of the things that I do, I do because it is the way I learned to do it, and it worked. I'm not one to question too much if what I'm doing is giving me good results. On the other hand, I'm always willing to learn new ways to accomplish my main goal, especially if it will save me a few bucks. I don't normaly go out buying products just to see what they do. I usually go by whatever nutes I decide to use feeding schedule, makeing adjustments if more or less is needed to maintain optimum health. When I do use an enhancer, I usually lower the dose in my main source of nutes. So if I'm using Snow Storm Ultra, I will not use, or at least lower the dose of my Cha-Ching....not wanting to risk an overdose of (P).

Molasses wont break anything down. The micro organisms break down organic nutes. The MO break down simple sugars, excrete enzymes. If I were using chemical nutes, I would look at the enzymes to flush with, since this essentially what you are doing. There are a number of them on the market. Sensi zym comes to mind. But it is not the only one out there.

 

[legalize_freedom]

Okay...now I get ya...thank you.