MJBiz - August 2023 - 29

leaves. You start to get risks for detritus.
So, we drive this hard (with nutrients)
till close to the end, " he said. " And the
last three to five days, (we) give it a rest,
because you're probably not getting
much growth out of it anyway at that
point. But if you pull back two weeks
early, you won't get your crop to the
finish line in a healthy manner. So, we
really keep that going through most of
the crop. "
Contributed photo
that the plant is focusing its energy
in all the right places, " such as bud,
resin and cannabinoid production,
Robertson said.
" Usually at that stage is where we
start to skew the overall balance of
nutrients that are being delivered
to the plant. Where we start to drop
nitrogen is where we start to increase
phosphorus and potassium. Because
there are three major nutrients: the N,
P and the K. We start to drop the N, we
start to increase the P and the K. "
Cook from Jushi cautioned, " If
you reduce nitrogen too early, you
may cause some early senescence
(deterioration) of leaves, which
potentially causes microbial or
bacterial fungal risks. "
Watering and Flushing
Another important part of pre-harvest
prep is watering and, to an even greater
extent, flushing the plant of nutrients.
Flushing usually takes place in the last
week or final days before harvest, the idea
being that nutrients can negatively affect
cannabis taste and how the flower burns.
Marco
Malatrasi
" I think our recipe, like a lot of
others, does have a natural taper in
nitrogen as you make your way through
the crop cycle, and it never really
goes away until we start that hard
flush, which is generally just a pH'd
RO (reverse osmosis) water or pH'd
city water that's going into the crop, "
Malman said.
But Malman and other growers
caution against reducing or eliminating
nitrogen too early.
" If you stop giving it food, it starves.
It starves quickly, and you can see
that plant start to decline. When that
plant starts to decline, you get natural
senescence for the flowers and the
As harvest nears-and especially
as growers get to flushing time-it's
important to monitor a plant's
moisture content, Malman said. As
plants get older, they don't drink at the
same pace and don't need the same
amounts of water to propel their buds
to grow. But knowing the moisture
content is critical. So, Jushi has sensors
installed in rockwool and coco cubes,
and the sensors are connected to the
grow's fertigation systems.
In less sophisticated facilities, Jushi
cultivation workers use handheld
moisture meters to determine how
much to reduce water before harvest.
" It's also important not to overwater
in the final weeks, which can be
difficult if you're also trying to do
flushing. The key is to find a balance, "
Golfieri said. " You're trying to be
careful to not flush the plant too
heavily, because every time you do
that, you're stressing the plant because
you're putting a lot more moisture
into the room that you have to pull
out, which could cause issues. So, even
toward the end, I'm almost cutting
back, making sure it's nice and even. "
Golfieri also noted that if plants are
fed correctly throughout their life spans,
" You won't need to do much heavy
flushing, which can be bad, because it
involves using too much water, which
can cause other problems when there is
too much moisture in the roots. "
He added: " We don't want to flush
too hard, where it takes away a lot of
the smell and even the color of a flower.
We try to do it at a point where it's just
right. "
mjbizdaily.com | August 2023 29
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MJBiz - August 2023

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