Organic Nutrients and Flushing Crops

We are setting up a system like your tube/DWC system, just tweaked a bit. I wanted to know: if we are using bio / organic nutes for lettuce, spinach, strawberries and other stuff do we really need to flush them?? Thanks, and keep the good work up -Mark

Answer: Mark- flushing your garden plants removes excess Nitrogen and Phosphorus compounds from the tissue of the plants. It is debatable just how much of a health concern these substances are. It is the Nitrogen compounds (Nitrates) in hot dogs, for example, that are responsible for the increased occurrence of colon cancer in people who eat hot dogs every week. This is true for every food containing preservatives, unfortunately.

Whether the nutrients come from chemical sources or from organic sources, your plants take up many of the same Nitrogen and Phosphorus compounds. Any fertilizer compounds in the plant tissue should act just like preservatives when you harvest that produce. It may be of some health benefit to flush any garden produce you grow....it's just very hard to say for sure. One thing for certain- when garden produce is flushed before harvest it does improve the taste of the produce. This may be less of a concern with organic fertilizers than with chemical fertilizers (organic fertilizers tend to grow sweeter, more flavorful produce to begin with). Hope this helps, and Happy Growing!