# Using Clearex to remove salts in soil grow



## gourmet (Jan 23, 2010)

I am entering 6th week of flowering and just got some Clearex for removing salts from the soil.

My water is 8.2 ph so I use ph down to correct it.  But seeing is how I just want to wash out the salts, do I need to correct the ph in the water I am adding the Clearex to?  Can I just add it to the 8.2 ph water to wash the salts out?  I will go back later and water with ph adjusted water afterwards.


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## legalize_freedom (Jan 23, 2010)

My tap is not that bad so I really don't know what you should do...I would say run a couple gallons through with the clearex, and adjusted.

I usually bring my pots to my bathtub, and just let the water run through it for a few minutes.  Then I pH adjust a couple gallons and add the clearex and flush that through, then add the nutes I need for that week, pH adjusted of course.  But the pH of my tap is 7.0 or under usually.

mine are in 5gl pots, if yours are smaller, you could get away with less probably.


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## gourmet (Jan 23, 2010)

Mine are in 5 gal pots.  I usually let the water sit in buckets a day or two, then add nutes then ph adjust.  I have never used clearex before.  When I flushed with just water I ph adjusted it because I was not also watering afterwards.  It served as my weekly watering also.  

Is that a couple gallons per plant?  

Mary


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## legalize_freedom (Jan 23, 2010)

yeah per plant...not saying this is the "right" way...lol...but it's the way I have done it, and not had bad results.  I have not used the clearex except for my final flush 10 days out, and don't add any nutes again,  for mid grow flushes I usually just do what I posted above, without the clearex.  Good Luck to you.


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## DonJones (Jan 23, 2010)

gourmet,

Why do you have salt build up or are you going into the flush?  Where is the salt build-up coming from?

My understanding is that the reason we adjust the PH is to make the nutrients more easily absorbed and used by the plant.  It sounds like you are trying to remove nutrients so you might want to encourage nut lock to prevent the plant from absorbing them, so long as the PH doesn't get so high or low that it burns the roots.

You should be safe either way in using 7.0 water for either washing salts or flushing.

Great smoking.


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## monkeybusiness (Jan 23, 2010)

I adjusted the ph of my water after i put in clearex. I too was only flushing for a couple of hours but saw no reason not to adjust it. (Not like i would have saved money by not using ph adjusters)


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## leafminer (Jan 23, 2010)

What is in Clearex anyway? Can someone please list the magic ingredients?


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## monkeybusiness (Jan 23, 2010)

Hey Leafminer!
I'm actually out the door right now but if no-one else does it i'll dig it out and list em when i get home.


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## warfish (Jan 23, 2010)

I thought Clearex was for acne?  

The ingredients list I found for it only has 3 things listed in it...

3% glucose
1.5% sucrose
95.5% inert ingredients

sugars?  hmmm


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## gourmet (Jan 23, 2010)

Don, that's what I was thinking also.  Especially since the instructions say to be sure to spray the foliage early in the morning with clear water before blushing with Clearex.  

Monkeybusiness, I have been using Foxfarm nutes.  Plants are flowering very nicely but foliage looks rough.  Soil ph is btwn 6.5 and 7.0 (varies slightly per pot), I use a ph pen and calibrate, water after nutes added around 6.5 and runoff good also.

Plants seemed to really take the FF nutes nicely (I am not using the solubles), so although I started out with a weak mix, I was up to full strength.  However, I only water once a week so using each time.  

No sign of nute burn from all pics and all I am reading here, thought I had mag deficiency.  Added Epsom.

Flowering seem to be sucking the nitrogen life out of the plants but of course I don't want to add N more than is in the flowering nutes.

Course, then the plants got so tall they touched the HPS, I wound up having to cut the main stems back at about 3 weeks in flower...then they did it again.

Anyway, to be safe, I decided to flush, then just add water this time.  Next week add some organic flowering nutes that are on their way.

These are Sativa.  One is Full Moon which takes 14 weeks flower according to the writeup and the other Sativa's...I don't know...unlabeled freebies from Nirvana.  Going into 6th week flowering and buds are swelling on all but 
Full Moon.  Trichs clear as glass.  

Leafminer, I was surprised when I read the ingredients when it came.  Figured probably something I can mix up myself from the kitchen .


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## umbra (Jan 23, 2010)

most of the organic folks use molasses with water for flushing.


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## gourmet (Jan 23, 2010)

THAT's what the molasses is for.  Will look that up and save some bucks next time.  Thanks Umbra.


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## legalize_freedom (Jan 23, 2010)

Don, When we add nutes to the soil every week, whatever is not being used by the plants builds up in the soil.  I find it good to flush at least at the flip to 12/12 to make sure that all my veg nute are flushed from the soil. Right after the flush I add the flowering nutes so that those are avaliable to the plant. I don't use clearex for this, just alot of water.  I also always flush 10 days out from harvest to again make sure that no nutes are left in the soil, this time I use clearex, but I know alot of folks that just use water.  This again is to make sure there are no nutes stored for the plant to uptake.  This forces the plant to use the reserves that are stored in the plant, it will really yellow out in these last 10 days...the thought on this is that it will get the chems out of the weed, makeing it burn better, taste better, and be somewhat better for you not smokeing fertilizers.  There are many, many, people who don't feel a flush is necessary.  This is one of those things that it is just a matter of taste...what you like.  It is not something that must be done, and alot don't.  Alot of folks only flush if they are seeing a problem with salt build ups, or pH being out of whack etc.  This is the way that I was taught to do things...but wether it is needed or not, is debateable...I'm not going to change my way of doing things, and would never try to persuade someone to flush that didn't feel they needed to.  I hope this clears things up for you.


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## PencilHead (Jan 24, 2010)

Acid + Base = Salt + Water.

pH of 8.5 (basic) + pH Lower (acid) = salt + water.

JMHO backed up by several centuries of scientific eveidence.


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## monkeybusiness (Jan 24, 2010)

wow, very interesting! I never thought of it like that.. 
Thanks!


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## leafminer (Jan 24, 2010)

OMG so Clearex is just a teaspoon of household sugar in a gallon of water, basically! And people pay money for it.... I must be in the wrong business.


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## gourmet (Jan 24, 2010)

> Acid + Base = Salt + Water.
> 
> pH of 8.5 (basic) + pH Lower (acid) = salt + water.
> 
> JMHO backed up by several centuries of scientific eveidence.



So I am watering them with salt water?


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## Col. Kif (Jan 24, 2010)

It was my understanding that the Sugars are there for the soil flora.  Mycorrhizae feed on sugars very efficiently.

I'm of the opinion that adding complex sugars is to bring the flora in the soil back up instead of washing away thier nutrient sources along with the salt build up.

At least in Organic Soil/Coco grows.



			
				umbra said:
			
		

> most of the organic folks use molasses with water for flushing.


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## legalize_freedom (Jan 24, 2010)

Col Kit...you are right to.  I never heard of using molasses to flush, but then I never looked at the ingredients to the flush either.  It must be that sugars break down salts?  Do any of you amature scientists know if this is true?  I feed a tsp of molasses every feeding, or every other, to give the micro beasties their grub...you are right also!

Pencil head...lol...The only reason I put all that about oppinions at the end of that last post is because we have some members who feel strongly that a flush is not necessary...I didn't want to start a huge debate like has happened in the past.

To anyone interested in more info on flushing, Jmansweed has written a very informative post on flushing in I think it was the cultivation section...if this is not accurate I will edit it as soon as I find out differently.  But if you want to read another great thread by Jman...or if you are even thinking about flushing...check it out...I always like what Jman has to say!


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## umbra (Jan 24, 2010)

Col. Kif said:
			
		

> It was my understanding that the Sugars are there for the soil flora.  Mycorrhizae feed on sugars very efficiently.
> 
> I'm of the opinion that adding complex sugars is to bring the flora in the soil back up instead of washing away thier nutrient sources along with the salt build up.
> 
> At least in Organic Soil/Coco grows.



Yes it is a symbiotic relationship. Bacteria consume simple sugars and release enzymes which break down and wash away wastes from around the root zone. While the process is complicated, using the concept is not.


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## Alistair (Jan 25, 2010)

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.


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## umbra (Jan 25, 2010)

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.


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## PencilHead (Jan 25, 2010)

gourmet said:
			
		

> 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.


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## legalize_freedom (Jan 25, 2010)

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).


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## umbra (Jan 25, 2010)

legalize_freedom said:
			
		

> 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.
> 
> ...



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.


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## legalize_freedom (Jan 25, 2010)

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


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